google reader works!

If you are like me and follow Ashley Ann's blog, you know she had issues with google reader picking up her new posts, so I got nervous. I put my new blog on the sidebar here to see if it worked, and it does! So If you get a chance, change my link on your sidebars (if I'm on there) to http://www.jennanicolephotography.com/! Thanks:)

I hope you are all having a great day!!

the blog has moved...

First, Happy Valentines Day!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day and got to celebrate with people they love! 

I had a pretty great day, even though I worked. Scott sent me a bunch of tulips to work and I was so excited :) He's awesome. 

But, you can read about that (and my heart-day crafts) HERE! 

Yes, my blog has moved. I decided to upgrade to have a real website for photography purposes, and it just so happens to be a blog too :) 

You'll find a lot of posts there already, because I wanted to put pictures on there so people had plenty to see in the categories section. I like that you can have galleries too. I'm pretty excited. There are some finishing touches still, but it's done enough to share! 

I'll miss it over here, but hopefully it'll be an improvement :) I'll put a link for this blog on there somewhere when I get time...

I hope you all had a great heart day and remember our awesome Lord and how much He loves us! 

Jeremiah 31:3 :)

heart day treats.

Today was great because I went in to work at 7, thinking I would be there until 7:30pm, and I got to leave at 11am! That is 8 hours of time I did not have before. So what did I do? Bake. Heart day is quickly approaching. I love everything pink and heart shaped, so I'm excited.

I stole this recipe from one of my favorite crafty/picture-filled blogs, Fly Through Our Window. It is a recipe for homemade peppermint patties. Yum. I had to try. Let me tell you a couple things I learned before I jump to my photo documentation:

1. Too much powdered sugar is not good, which comes as a surprise, since it's great. 

2. Darby said hers were too soft, I had the opposite problem. 

3. I basically made edible play-doh. Really good-tasting edible play-doh. Fun? Yes.

You can click here for the original recipe :) 

 [combine sweetened condensed milk with peppermint extract, and mix powdered sugar in, I recommend to NOT use all 4 cups...mine looked really crumbly before i smooshed it together]

[cut mini heart shapes out of the play-doh peppermint filling]

[maybe put the drop of red food coloring in while it's still somewhat liquid...i maybe waited until the end, so instead of pink peppermint filling, I have red-speckled peppermint filling]

[remember how I said Darby's were too soft, and I had the opposite problem? i threw these in a bowl together about 5 min after I finished cutting them all out..]

[melt 3 cups of chocolate chips and 2 tsp of shortening on low heat, mix, and dip hearts in with fork]

I just threw mine in the fridge hoping it'd speed up the drying process!

Happy heart-day crafting/baking!!

Mark 5

We had campaigners with the high schoolers tonight, and I felt so encouraged. I feel like everyone was listening and discussing, and really getting a lot out of it. Steve talked about the story of the dead girl and sick woman from Mark 5:21-43. 

I'm just going to make bullet points for the things I liked. I think that's easier to read :)

* Love that Jairus came to Jesus in faith asking him to come heal his dying daughter, and that he stuck with Jesus while He decided to stop and talk to a woman he healed on the way, and when someone came to tell him that his daughter had died, and when people laughed at Jesus when he said his daughter was just sleeping. So many things could have made Jairus say "nevermind" or to try to rush Jesus, but he didn't. 

*Love that Jesus was a constant presence with Jairus, encouraging him, when he hit lows in his faith. He is always there for us, to push us on when we feel like there is no point. 

*Love that Jairus didn't get his wish in his own timing, and in a way he would have chose. He learned a lot about faith and patience and Jesus's goodness despite His plans being different from ours. If we are patient and willing to walk with Him, letting Him call the shots, we will grow so much more, both in faith and character. 

*Love that when the little girl came back from death, she got up and started walking, and that Jesus told them to get her something to eat. This is us when we start out on our walks with Christ. We have this new life, immediately start our walk with Christ, and we NEED something to eat. That can be community, church, really anyone that will come beside you and push us and encourage us to keep growing. Without this, our walk will come to a stop. 

*Love that Jesus was not too busy to stop and talk to the sick woman. If anyone ever had an excuse to keep walking, he did. When we are too busy to stop for people, we miss out on the Lord moving. Our eyes are so fixed on ourselves, and our schedule, that we miss out on so much that He has for us. 

The thing about all this that is awesome, is that I read Mark 5 this morning in my time with the Lord, and didn't walk away with all of this. It just shows the value of reading His word and digesting it with other people. Very cool. I am so blessed to be able to do this with high school students. 

lauren & brad [engagements]

I had the opportunity this past weekend to take a few engagement shots of my friends Lauren & Brad. They were juniors at TC when I started leading, and I really liked that they dated [which says a lot, since they were in high school]. 

Now they are getting married! I'm so excited to celebrate the big day with them. I had such a fun time taking these pictures. I laughed the majority of the day. That may have been partly because Randi was my assistant, dressed to fit her description. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean if you look through all the pics :)

Anyway, Lauren & Brad are such a fun couple to be around. It was very cold outside and nobody complained once. Click here to see the final cut from the day! 

Here are some favorites [if you don't have time to click there]: 

DIY calandar

100% of my crafting ideas come from someone else. Blogs, friends, you name it. I feel especially excited about this craft. I saw my friend Jen making one at her house one day, and knew I needed to make one.

It's a little journal calandar! There is an index card for each day, and every day you write the year and a sentence about your day. You can use it for a few years, and then that way each day you write, you can look back on what you did the year before. Right now my little calandar just sums up the things I did. I have one day that said something more along the lines of "God working on my heart", and I would like more to look like that .

All you do is cut an index card in half, 180 something times, cut out pieces of cardstock, or vintage post cards, same width, and stamp the date on top of each index card (with no year), place it in a holder, and you're finished! That easy. Here is mine. This picture is from the 13th, because I meant to blog about this a week ago...

[Here is the original site of the idea & Here is Jen's little calandar]

..if you decide to make one, share your pictures! 

heart shaped pies:)

 Yesterday I went to grab lunch with Shannon in Northern KY before meeting Scott to drive to Ohio. We went to McAlister's, ate great food and caught up, then went to Borders, where I bought 2 Penguin classic books [you know, the ones with the cloth old fashioned covers? I had a gift card, so couldn't resist]. 

We headed to Shannon's to bake to our hearts content. We made mini blueberry heart-shaped pies. I got her the mold for the pie crust for her birthday this year, so we figured we might as well make pies :)

We also had bumped into our old roommate, Jeana, in the parking lot earlier, so she came over to eat pies with us. It was great catching up!

Wow I've missed taking pictures. Shannon made the first 3 or so pies, while I photographed, then she let me make the last ones. They were delicious by the way. Here are my favorites! Enjoy :)

[lots of flour..i've learned my lesson]

[you can buy pre-made crusts, or make your own]

[cut out the pie crust shape with the mold]

[fill with 2 tablespoons of filling]

[place on other side of mold, place the piece with the cut-out on top, and press together]

 [melted butter and sugar on top]

[bake @ 375 until golden]

Yeah, I will be purchasing a mini-pie crust mold asap :) 

Also, one of my resolutions this year is to learn how to cook and bake more, so pass on any delicious recipes you think I'd like to try!

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,

we wait for you;

your name and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

 My soul yearns for you in the night;

in the morning my spirit longs for you.

Isaiah 26.8-9
 

I just like this. I also like that my bible study is getting close to my favorite part of Isaiah...the last half :) I'm pumped. 


I want my spirit to long for the Lord and His renown, for it to yearn for Him. And to walk with him patiently, soaking in His grace and provision and goodness in each season.


...On another note, I'm getting antsy for spring. I want some of this:

i like lists.

1. I woke up at 7 today in a panic because I thought I was working for some reason. I jumped up out of bed, grabbed scrubs, grabbed my phone to call and tell them I was going to be late, only to finally realize I don't work today [once I got them on the phone]. It's fine. I got right back in bed :) I did realize that this is the second day in a row where my phone alarm didn't go off. I'm going to need to figure that one out...

2. I looked back at my resolutions from last year, and feel excited I did a good amount of them, but a lot of them (the top half) remain resolutions this year. I think that they are just the kind of things you work at always. I want to keep working on them though. I may or may not write a post about resolutions. We'll see :)

3. I saw the 3rd Narnia movie on Friday. I loved it. It didn't line up with the book 100%, but I still loved it. It was full of great parallels, of course. Gotta love that C.S. Lewis. 

4. I had a fantastic weekend. I met A LOT of people that are wonderful and got to catch up with a favorite friend I never get to see :)

5. I met baby Sawyer. So excited. She's adorable. I'll just put a picture here.

6. Today I get to see Katie Lindeman again :) She's going back to school too soon. I'm going to miss her. 

7. Fayette County starts back to school tomorrow, so I am ready for a new semester of Tates Creek YL! There are going to be some different things, which breaks my heart, but I'm excited to get in there and watch what God does at TC and in the lives of students. 

8. I want to read a lot of good things this year. Including scripture. I may try reading the bible in a year. I know, this should have been decided yesterday, but I don't think it's too late :) I've got my eye on a few books too.. 

delight

I apologize in advance that this isn't a Christmas-y post. I promise it came from a sermon that talked about Mary. 

There are days that I am incredibly thankful for the hard things in life. It is usually when I slow down and take the time to listen and remember.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians:

"That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" [12:10]

I am truly thankful tonight specifically for my battles with cancer. I don't talk about it a lot, in fact, I don't think about it a lot anymore, but it has shaped me. I think the lessons I learned and the way Christ shaped me from it affects my every day life, even when I'm not aware of it.  

I just listened to this sermon from Southland's weekend services a few weekends back (I missed that week). I loved every bit of it. At the end a woman gives her testimony about the hard things recently in her life and how God is still the same as He was before. That he is still good and he is still worthy of our praise. 

I don't think I knew just how good and just how worthy of praise He was until my life went out of my control. Until it got hard. I mean it when I say that next to meeting Jesus in a real way, those experiences [having cancer] were the ones I've been most thankful for so far. It was a gift. I love the word Paul used in 2 Corinthians. Delight. You could probably tell. I made it giant and bold.

If you are going through the sad and hard and the unfair right now, don't rush through it. Cling to Him. He is there waiting and you can not come out the other side unchanged if you do.

awaited

In the past 2 days, I have seen Crossroad's Awaited play twice. Once with Scott and friends, the second time with family. If you are in the Cincinnati area, you should definitely head out there tonight or tomorrow if you get a chance. I love that they are really just proclaiming the good news. Every day for over a week. That is a lot of people that get to hear it and respond. 

This video is the first song they played. It was before the play started for the kids. It's my favorite. They give out the music from the play on cd's for free, and I listened to this one a whole lot on the drive home yesterday. 

The video is from last year's play, but it was the same. My friend Andrea is on the left tearing paper. She's an incredible singer.  You can hear her sing in the background a little. Here is her website with her husband Tye, you should give them a listen :)

This probably won't be my only post today, just wanted to share this song. I really like the words.

Today is my last day off work for the next three days, and I get to go to Southland's Christmas service tonight with some of my favorite people :) A great way to start off the weekend.

surprises, celebrations, crafts, and friends :)

this weekend was wonderful. 

you can read some of the recap's here and here [jen & rachel's blogs]

i got called off work on friday all day [huge blessing, i had SO many crafts to finish], so i crafted all day then headed to jen jen's to help get everything ready to surprise our friend shannon, who was getting engaged on her way to kentucky for girl christmas. andy proposed to her at windy gap [where they met] and they arrived to a house full of shannon's besties and her family! she was so surprised!

andy did really well. such a pretty ring for a beautiful girl! i'm so excited to see what Christ does in their lives as they get married! she will be the most beautiful bride ever :) 

saturday morning was girl christmas! we decided 2 years ago that all gifts had be homemade, so it's now crafting christmas! all the crafts were wonderful. i have such talented friends. 

scott came down to lexington to meet the friends, it was really fun. i think he may have been a little overwhelmed at the amount of people. he only has 2 other people his age in indiana. we probably hung out with about 16 people. :) i like my friends.

so saturday was literally full of hanging out and fellowship all day! from 10 am until midnight :) julie and seth were also in town to surprise shan shan, so i got to see lots of people i don't get to see often!

sunday was spent resting from all the staying up late. we were all acting like we were still in college and staying up past 1.

so...awesome weekend. shannon is getting married!! i can not wait for that wedding :)  

Young Life

This morning the Lord has given me such a thankful heart for the ministry of Young Life. I am so blessed to be a part of His moving in the lives of high school students. I am so thankful that He uses me in spite of myself, that He moves me out of the way so that His purposes, His truth, and His love for these students can be carried into that school. 

I had the opportunity to speak at our club last night, which is not my favorite thing to do. I have lead YL for 6 years, and this was my 4th time speaking in front of club. I always feel the same. I love that I get to tell them truth, because I'm passionate about what I'm talking about, but I hate talking in front of people. But He is awesome, and moved me out of the way, and I can say that whatever came out of my mouth last night was all Him. 

I got to talk about how we fill our lives with so many things [relationships, money, school, success, image, family, sports, etc.] hoping that they'll fill us, but how we always come up wanting more. I got to tell them that it is because we are made for more. We are searching so hard to fill the holes in our lives, and nothing seems to work, but the Jesus came to give life.

This morning I met with our small group of girls before they headed to school for the day. I love that these girls get up early to talk about the Lord. I love that they are consistent. I am just so encouraged at what He is doing, because I can tell you one thing. They are not getting up early for me. They're not getting up early to eat with Megan & I. They are getting up early because Jesus has the words of life. Where else are they going to go? [John 6:68]. 

My prayer is that He could continually open my eyes to all He is doing, and all He wants to do in the lives of these students. I want to be bold and encouraging and loving and full of truth. I want to proclaim the gospel clearly, as I should [Colossians 4:3-4]. Mostly I want Him to keep using me, keep pushing me out of the way to get His love across. 

I hope that, Lord willing, I get to be a part of what He is doing in the lives of high schoolers until I'm way too old to be hanging out at basketball games. And maybe a little lot beyond that (because I probably already am).

gnome wars.

The other morning I got a text that read "when you get a chance, check facebook". What did I find? 

This:

 Not only this, but an album with 15 more similar pictures. Hilarious. 

So some background...

I am dating a boy [far right...no, not the gnome] who leads YL in Indiana. YL guys are at his house almost every night. They decided to steal this gnome and take "senior pictures" with it. Can I mention that Scott is 27 and Evan is now in college? It's fine. Hilarious pictures. 

So... of course I happened to be with a YL girl at the time, and we decided that we HAD to upstage these photos. So, we did. 

The girls went to the Vogel household, crept around their house in search of Megan's gnome, Periwinkle. Yes, it has a name. After much creepy searching, they rang the doorbell to ask for the gnome. Megan sweetly lent it with some hesitation. 

I met the girls (all dressed in our v-neck white tees and backwards baseball hats) at Chipotle for some delicious dinner and gnome photos. 

The people at Chipotle (great people) loved us. One particular worker kept walking by the dining area. I think on purpose. They thanked us when we left. No big deal.

We then headed to my house where the rest of the shoot happened. 

We are now in a full-blown gnome picture war. 

I think the only way to end this is if all involved in the gnome war go to see the new gnome movie coming out...Gnomio and Juliet. That point can be argued, but it only makes sense. I hope you enjoyed the craziness.
 I sure did. 

This is far from over.

thankful

I am thankful for a lot of things. I know it's no longer thanksgiving, but I think reminding ourselves of what we have to be thankful for is something we should do everyday. 

Here is a little list. 

1. I am thankful for family. I'm thankful that I got to spend 6 hours in the car with my brother twice this week. And see my Dad and stepmom. We never see them, so it was good. I missed my mom though, and our extended family we usually see on Thanksgiving. 

2. I'm most thankful for the Lord. I'm thankful that my life is filled with hope and joy, regardless of circumstance. I'm thankful that my hope doesn't come from the world. I'm thankful that He is unchanging, and that His love will never fail. 

3. I am thankful that I could spend an evening with high school girls being silly taking pictures in public with a gnome when they could have went to a rave dance. I love hanging out with those girls, and love that they can have an awesome time and not wake up feeling guilty. [whole post dedicated to this soon to come..with photos]

4. My community in Lexington. I am surrounded by the most fun and encouraging people ever. I won't ever take that for granted.
[yes, old pic. this is the most recent pic of a group of us girls together...crazy! girls, lets get on that. i don't mind putting it here cause it reminds me of wearing dresses everyday. i miss that. and i like that cheryl is in it :) ]

5. My job. I have a great job. I really like being there (when I'm there). I really like taking care of kids and their families. It's a great opportunity to reflect Christ to families who are at their lowest, and what more can I really ask for in a job?


I hope you all had a great day of giving thanks and that you got a chance to reflect on the Lord's goodness and His compassion and love that never fail. He alone is what our hearts long for.

random things

random picture for a random post. this is a tree downtown outside of third st. stuff that i like :)

1. i wish you all could have been flies on the wall at our house the other day. there are no words to describe our morning. lets just say i knocked randi's milk glass[freshly poured] out of her hand all over the kitchen and proceeded to say "oh no!" over and over again. holly just laughed as we tried to frantically clean. randi then burnt her fingers. other things happened. i won't get into it.

2. club was AWESOME the other night. we sang some great songs, turkey bowled [yes, bowled with a turkey that had holes drilled in it], we made hand turkeys on shirts. and got some more girls to sign up for weekend camp. i'm pumped.

3. i'm writing in all lowercase. i like lower case i's.

4. megan & i met with our small group of high school girls the other morning. i like them. they're great. i love that they actually read and come excited to talk about things they underlined. i also love the story of God books we're using. rick scherr is great.

5. it's almost thanksgiving. i'm going to north carolina. it's really far away.

6. if you are a pray-er, be praying for a family i know. i can't give details, but the Lord knows.

7. at work i made a hand turkey and put it on the cabinets with everyone's pre-made turkeys and indians. nobody has noticed or said anything about it.

8. i tried holly's coffee yesterday. it wasn't horrible. heather brought at peppermint  mocha with her to work yesterday. i tried it too. still don't like the coffee taste, but it's not horrible. baby steps? who am i?

9. read John 1 today. well, half of it. it's really cool to think of the reality of the words, and not just read it. you know? we are blessed. and that is an understatement.  

10.weekend camp is this weekend! we leave tonight at 7 :) i'm so pumped to hang out with some awesome girls and talk about the Lord, and zip line, and live in a western  village.

11. i woke up with really curly hair today. treat.

postons :)

I need to start this post and admit I have a problem.

I take WAY too many pictures. I mean in general, yes, but also doing photo shoots. Does anyone know what I can do to stop [other than the obvious answer]?! Lots of pictures are good, and I guess you just have to take a ton to get a good selection, but a selection of 50 or so would do the job just as well as my final selection of 480 something. 

I'm open to advice. Thanks.

Ok. On to the Postons!! What a precious family. I love them very much. I'm so excited little Silas gets to grow up with parents who love the Lord like Micah and Angie do. What a blessing! I am so thankful for them. 

Here are my favorites! Click here for the final cut :)

 

Also, if anyone knows how to make a collage of a bunch of little pictures on here, I would love to learn! Susan? You do that alot! :)