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! :)

thankful

just reminded this morning of how good He is

thankful that His greatness magnifies my weakness, and that the whole process of recognizing how badly I need him isn't a burden, but a blessing. 

it's only then when I can appreciate grace, because I recognize my need for it.

I am thankful that we serve a God that doesn't require us to work harder or do better, but just loves us and pours out his grace on us. 

 ²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

[jude 24-25]

happy birthday shannon!!!

I don't know anyone that loves birthdays more than my sweet friend Shannon. Usually she lives with me and we cover our house with signs saying things like "good morning, princess, it's your special day!!", but then she moved to South Carolina. :(

Shannon, I like you SO much and am so happy we're friends. I hope that everyone in SC will celebrate your day of birth! Here is a little photo compilation celebrating you :) I'll start with the earliest ones. We were so little when we met! 

 

[forgive the disposable camera]

 

Shannon, I'm so happy you were born!!!

natalie's seniors

Natalie is a senior! I had the privilege of getting to photograph her for her senior pictures. She is too cute. I've also had the privilege of watching her grow in her faith. The Lord has big plans for this girl. :)

We set out with Randi as my assistant [fantastic assistant by the way] and went everywhere from medians with tire swings, to people's front yards, to Waveland. Here are some of my favorites!

To see all of them, click here