With the Click of a Camera

The past few months we've been part of a few photoshoots with some of our now dear friends. Kamee Nuzman (www.jameejune.com) and Katrine Kirk (www.kitschbykat.blogspot.com). Here's a sample of what we've been up to..................

Swallow Your Pride

The most valuable lessons we learn in life are not always the easiest. Learning to swallow your pride and grow from a situation takes discipline and a humility that not everyone is able to attain. I love the saying “God loves to mold us, but He’ll chisel if He must.” This rings so true in our lives by the way God is constantly molding us to become the person we are called to be, but when we face something about ourselves that needs to be drastically changed, God will chisel away at us. It hurts, it’s painful, it’s not something enjoyable, but at the end of the day you know it’s for the better.

I’ve faced a range of emotions in this season of my life. I’m changing and God is the one changing me. He’s chiseling away and I’m enduring and persevering because that’s what God has called me to do. I don’t want to be stuck in one way of doing things and not willing to waver from learned behaviors. I have to unlearn and then relearn. Rather than focus on the negative aspects and the things that would bring me down, I’m focusing on the future and focusing on where God is leading me.

When we are incapable of learning and growing we are incapable of leading. Our leadership is limited by our willingness to change and grow; if we are not growing we are dying.

A debrief from Kenya

As I ventured to Kenya for a second time this year, the emotions I felt were different. I was not overwhelmed with the smells or the scene of poverty overrunning the streets of the slums. I noticed, more prominently this year than last, was HOPE. The children at the schools are filled with so much hope, so much optimism of their future. They dream dreams larger than most American children: Pilots, teachers, neurosurgeons, aeronautical engineers, doctors, nurses, and more.

So many dreams that need filling; how do we help them, how do we improve their situation, is there anything we can do? I saw first-hand how much we can do. God gives us all the resources and abilities we need to help. Most of the time it requires us to be passionate about something and have the discipline to learn more about what's going on and how to help.

“The great miracle and mystery of God is that he calls me and you to be a part of what he is doing in history. He could, of course, with no help from us proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ with lifeless stones, feed the entire world with five loaves and two fish, heal the sick with the hem of his garment and release all the oppressed with his angels. Instead God has chosen us-missionaries, agricultural engineers, doctors, lawyers, lawmakers, diplomats and all those who support, encourage and pray for them-to be his hands in doing those things in the world that are important to him.” Good New about Injustice by Gary A. Haugen

New Neighbor

There are no more boxes on the floor, nothing left to unpack, and only a few walls are left to hang pictures up. I feel accomplished. In the midst of studying for finals and preparing for my next classes, working, and rescheduling our wedding, I have successfully moved in! It was not without the tremendous efforts of Vince, Mike, Matt, Joey, Ellice, and Rebeccah. I don't know how much of my new place I actually set up, because I had so many people helping me. But I feel a weight off my shoulders now that I'm living there.

Moving is always an adventure. But to add to my adventure, I find out the first day I'm moving in that my neighbor is crazy. Yep. I met my neighbors who live above me and they both told me, in two separate conversations, that the lady who lives next to me is crazy and to not be afraid to call the cops. WHAT?! Exactly, I didn't really know what to think. All I could think of is, great what the heck did I get myself into and I'm supposed to live here by myself?!

I finally met my neighbor, she doesn't seem so bad. Maybe a little paranoid, ok, well maybe more than a little. But that's all. I mean who isn't afriad of spiders trying to attack you?! LOL!

Nesting

"Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.' Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and wihle he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:18-24

I move into the place Vince and I will be living in once we are married. I cannot wait to start "nesting" as some have dubbed getting ready for marriage and a family of my own. I've got my essentials and I am ready to start learning how to take care of a household and learn how to be a wife.

Growing up I have always wanted a family. I've dreamed of that day when I would find the perfect man who I would marry and have a family with. Now that God has brought me the perfect man, I am able to start preparing for our life together and our family together.

Whenever I start thinking about starting my life with Vince I get so excited and get this warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that it will be OUR family and OUR house and OUR rules and OURS!!!!

Those Are Fighting Words

"If you want to you can"

"It's your decision"

"I'm fine"


For the most part I'm an even tempered girl, I enjoy peace. I have a tendency to shut up and not say anything when something is bothering me. I would rather ignore a situation or just let it settle quietly than openly talk about it, because that meant things could get heated and frustration would follow. I didn't like it.

I still don't like doing that; however, I am learning the key to a successful relationship and marriage is being able to openly talk abuot what's bothering you without getting frustrated. Vince and I do get into heated discussions, we both have strong opinions about certain things. But at the end of the day, I still love him and I still want to marry him.

Fighting is healthy. It's when there is no compromise or willing to find that level ground to walk on that fighting becomes hazardous to the health of your relationship. We're bound to disagree, we're two separate people. But one disagreement is not going to be the end of our relationship, it will only show us what we need to work on and where we need to improve while allowing us room to grow and stretch ourselves and become even more so the person God has called us to be. Iron sharpens iron.

Engagment

October 30, 2009 at 10:30pm, after frantically re-planning and stressfully reconfiguring his plan, Vince Bautista got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Unbeknown to me of the trying moments just before the proposal, tears of joy streamed down my face as pure happiness and ecstatic joy reverberated throughout my entire being.

We were at the Masquerade Ball at Crossroads that night. I was enjoying my time dancing and laughing, but frustrated that my boyfriend was not with me at all. I saw him in little intervals as he was passing by. I couldn't understand it. Of course, later I found out that he was preparing to propose and my dancing and refusal to leave the dance floor was the result of his frustration and frantic demeanor. I almost ruined my own engagement without even knowing it!

So as I was getting frustrated at him for not being with me that night, he was growing even more anxious as the moment of his planned proposal time grew closer and closer.

Getting engaged for me was something I dreamed about. I had played so many different scenarios in my mind of what I possibly wanted to happen. The night I was actually proposed to, all those scenarios and countless hours dreaming of the day were but a flash of light in time. Vince proposing to me was the most wonderful and romantic proposal I ever could have asked for or dreamed of.

It was a perfect proposal. So much better than those fairy tale proposals in those cheesy romantic movies! Mine was real.