Our Budding Photographer

Jake has been savvy with our iPhones since before he could walk or talk, and my camera roll has been filled with different portions of his face on many occasions now. I've deleted hundreds, if not thousands by now, of pictures of just his cheek, up his nose, many of his forehead, and sometimes his shoes when he does not have the camera flipped around. The other day, however, I came across a few that were, well, almost artistic:

I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination, but this boy might just have an artistic eye! Or maybe I'm just another crazy mom who thinks her child is a creative genius. Either way, I had to share!

Wordless Wednesday

A thousand words...

They say a picture can be worth 1,000 words, but this past weekend at our retreat I challenged the ladies to have a photo just say one. Set loose with a camera and words on a page, the ladies went out (myself included) and captured the true essence of some of God's truth. Rather than telling you about it, I'll let you decide for yourself whether or not they succeeded:

UNITY

"I am in them and they are in me. May they [future believers] experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."

[John 17:23]

WORSHIP 

"We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him."

[Matthew 2:2]

CREATION

"And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, 

because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation."

[Genesis 2:2]

BEAUTY

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment... Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

[1 Peter 3:3-4]

SALVATION

"He will come again, not to deal with our sins, 

but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him."

[Hebrews 9:28]

HOPE

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

[Romans 15:15]

REFLECTION

"As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart."

[Proverbs 27:19]

LOVE

"Three things will last forever- faith, hope, and love- and the greatest of these is love."

[1 Corinthians 13:13]

WISDOM

"For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it."

[Proverbs 8:11]

PURITY

"Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!

Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you."

[Psalm 86:11]

PRAISE

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."

[Psalm 150:6]

SACRIFICE

"This is real love- not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

[1 John 4:10]

THANKSGIVING

"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, 

and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

[2 Corinthians 9:11]

STRENGTH

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."

[Proverbs 31:25]

TRUST

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

[Proverbs 3:5]

At the end, each group could also add a photo of a word of their choosing. This one brought tears to my eyes...

HOME

What TurningPoint Church (TPC) feels like to all of these women. Until we enter 

our true, eternal home in heaven, I am humbled to think that I had a part in planting this 

church to be a spiritual home here on earth. The church, after all, is God's house.

I could frame each of these pictures on my wall... and some of them will probably end up there. I think these pictures speak volumes... much more than just 1,000 words... and all of them will be etched into my heart always. Who knew that a simple activity at a retreat could end up meaning so much? It makes me want to create a photo project for people to participate in with me... almost! I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them!

A Jake's-Eye View

I've mentioned before that Jake has quite the obsession with the iPhone. In fact, he probably knows how to use it better than I do! We have implemented some rules around it and now he knows that he has to ask to get it and even if he asks, he doesn't necessarily get it every time (to his dismay). But my favorite thing about him using it is the photos that end up in my Photostream when I get it back. Let's take a peek at a few, shall we?

This is one of about 70 that he took on a golf cart ride (he's on my lap). If I scroll through them fast enough, it's actually like a flip-book video!

Most of Jake's pictures are self-portraits. Nothing annoys me more than the trend of teenage girls who take and post pictures of themselves on social media. I hope he's not traveling down that path.

An artistic shot of his leg... if he ends up with his Daddy's calves, they will be fantastic. True story.

One foot on mama's leg. From this you can see who he inherits that rockin' arctic tan from!

Another self-portrait. I have many of these... many. Narcissism, anyone?

Random window treatment in the doctor's office. Maybe he took that one for my benefit...
I mean, the boy does see just how often HGTV is on in this house!

I also end up with random paint pages and Mickey Rockstar pictures. Too fun! I do love the mouse.

 The view out our back door... probably some of his best work yet. It's actually a picture of something.

But I've saved the best for last... imagine my surprise when I saw this one. Perhaps he already understands the concept of blackmail because here is proof that mom fell asleep on the job! 

Whoops! Parenting fail caught on film by a 2-year-old. Gotta love it.

Biggest Loser and A Heavy Dose of Sarcasm...

I'm not even going to lie... I should not even be allowed to call myself a competitor in this Biggest Loser contest!  I'm not sure why it has been so difficult, but this time around I have not really taken the steps to eat better or work out more.  In fact, I think I've gotten worse!  I could list a million excuses (sick kiddos, Mother's Day, our MomSource event, etc.) which have kept us incredibly busy and offered opportunities to gorge myself on sweets, but it really comes down to a lack of commitment.  I set a goal weight to hit before our beach trip this July and now realize that with five pounds (and some major toning) to go, I'm never going to get there if I don't focus and start today.  So after I get rid of this last piece of cake that has been lingering at our house (because obviously it would be wasteful to just throw it away!) I'm back to reaching for a piece of fruit instead of chocolate and getting my rear end back to the gym (or at least out the front door for a little jog).  Somehow the scale numbers continue to drop little by little (probably due to stress more than anything else!), but I know it's going to catch up to me if I don't make some changes.  So, hopefully I won't be as embarrassed to report my progress next week.  If you see me eating a cookie this week, please slap it out of my hand and then show me a picture of Heidi Klum on the runway four weeks after giving birth to her fourth child.  And I'm suuuuuurrrrrrrrre that there was no tummy tuck involved.

As for this weekend, I should be able to squeeze in a workout because we finally have next-to-nothing on the agenda!  The movers were at my parents' house this week so I'm sure we'll be over there to lend a hand (or make it more difficult by adding two kids into the mix!) at some point.  We also have family photos tomorrow with my uber-talented friend, Cory, from Wilkes Photography and this time I'm setting my expectations very low as to how the kids (and by kids I mean Jake) will do.  Here lately he seems to suddenly become shy (which he is NOT) at the sight of a camera, so hopefully he'll at least look in the general direction at least once.  

As a parent, I've learned not to have some idealistic image of how something is going to go because more than likely I'll end up disappointed.  If you want proof, I should post a copy of the baby dedications at our church last weekend.  In my mind, we would stand there and everyone would "ooh" and "ahh" over my babies as Josh blessed them and presented them to the Lord.  Instead, Lilly screamed every time I tried to hand her to anyone but me and Jake rolled around on the stage because I wouldn't pick him up.  Oh it was a sight!  Thank goodness for my sister who saw my "get up here NOW!" look that I shot her because she swooped in to the rescue... meaning she grabbed Jake and ran out of the auditorium while we wrapped up!  Yes, sweet, peaceful moment indeed!  The good news is that at least we'll color coordinate!  I think I have finally mastered the art of coordinating outfits for family photos, which is really based around finding < BRIGHT! > colors that match and using them in different ways.  You can even use clashing patterns as long as there are some solids to balance it out.  Here is our color scheme:

Now if I can just figure out how to accessorize, I'll be all set.  I for one was not born with that gene.  If anyone has a suggestion or two please throw it my way!  And Josh may end up in a yellow shirt if he chooses.  I give my man options.  Only two, yes, but options nonetheless.  :)

I also plan to hit up the neighborhood yard sale tomorrow in hopes to find some treasures for our house.  We recently rearranged the upstairs and I basically have three new rooms to decorate.  We're really trying to stay on a tight budget, so my plan is to find some goodies and also recycle some of the stuff we own and make it new.  All blogs make it look easy, so I'm sure it will be a piece of cake.  Especially since I'm so darn crafty.  {to be read with a heavy dose of sarcasm}

Other than that it's another Sunday at TurningPoint... and I've lost count at what number this one is, which means that we're not quite so new anymore!  I love Sundays because it's a weekly reminder of why we do what we do.  Each week since launch we've seen new faces, people who swore they'd never step foot in a church, and several salvations.  When our weeks get jam-packed, when my days with the kids seem long, when it feels like we have something scheduled for every night of the week, and when it seems like there is never time to just rest, God makes sure to remind me every single weekend that it's all more than worth it.  What I also know is that when I cry out to Him and beg for rest, He gently whispers, "soon."  I don't know if "soon" means tomorrow or if "soon" means three years from now (which in comparison to a life span, would be soon!), but that's the answer I get every time.  Soon I will find rest, but not today.  Today there is still much work to be done for His kingdom.  I guess I'd better get to it.

Have a great weekend, blog land!  Any fun weekend plans on your horizon?

February Photo Ops

I saw that a friend of mine is doing this and think I'll join in the fun.  I'm a failure at Project365, but surely I can take one picture a day for a whole month, right?  Especially since I've been given a topic and have my iPhone on me at all times now!  So here's the challenge, originally brought to you by Chantelle:

I'm not going to post them daily, but in spurts since that's kind of how I roll on this blog anyway!  So here are days 1-3:

[February 1 - My view today]

For a lot of my day, I sit in front of my laptop as I sell golf trips to a resort in Miami.  Pretty random for a gal who lives in Kentucky, right?  But it makes sense if you know the whole story!  Notice the jump-a-roo in the background... baby gear has pretty much taken over every room of the house!

[February 2 - Words]

For the first time this week, I started my day off with THE Word... which is always the favorite way to start my day.  Even though I hate getting out of bed early, I love being up early.  And when I do this and spend the first part of my day with Him, I feel like He rewards me with more time that day.  Weird I know, since every day has 24 hours in it, but somehow He makes it work.  [As a side note: I have no idea why this uploaded upside-down much less how to fix it!]

[February 3 - Hands]

I love photos of hands.  I have no idea why, but I feel like they can tell so much.  We have three separate pictures of just hands hanging on our dining room wall.  I didn't even realize it until I put the third one up, but they really do tell a story.  The first is a picture of mine and Josh's hands on our wedding day, the second is our hands on my Jake-belly bump, and the third is a picture of Lilly's tiny fingers clutching her daddy's hands just moments after she was born... quite possibly my favorite.  So as I said, they tell the story of our family.  But in this project I am committing to taking all new pictures, so here are my favorite pudgy fingers in my life these days:

I know we're three days in, but it's not too late to join up!  I think it's a fun idea and you can link your blog to her blog if you participate.  Tomorrow's does make me a little bit nervous as I feel a bit awkward taking a photograph of a stranger, but I'm sure I'll figure something out!  Happy Friday everyone and here's to more more blogging (I hope!) this month!

Newborn Photos

When we lived in Illinois, a great friend of ours was a fabulous photographer (you can check her out here) and took gorgeous photos of Jake as a newborn.  She did them in our home and I thought, hmmm, maybe I could do that someday.  Since we've moved and she was not available to drive all the way here to photography Lilly (c'mon Jan, it's only a 9-hour drive!) I set up a little area in our house and did what I could.  The first batch were taken on day 13, and Jan suggests that newborn photos are done before the baby is two weeks old.  Honestly, I cut it a little bit close.  She was pretty much mad the entire time, but I did manage to get one or two:

I was hoping she'd sleep so I could really position her the way I wanted to, but she wasn't having it.  This girl loves to sleep, but she does not like to be messed with while she's snoozing!

A week later I couldn't resist and tried again.  She was still wide awake, but in a much better mood.  Here are some of my favorites:

This one makes me smile!

My "money shot" of the day came out a teensy bit blurry, but it will end up in a frame somewhere anyway:

I am still learning a lot... I'm finally pretty good with the functions of my "fancy" camera and have lighting pretty much figured out, which is half the battle I think, but there is plenty of room for improvement.  I can't wait until Jake is older and will actually cooperate and follow instructions so that I can use him as my guinea pig.  And if I could just learn how to edit in Photoshop I'd really be in good shape!  *sigh*  Guess I'll add that to the list of "things to do when I have some free time."  So basically I'll get around to it in about 18 years!  In the meantime, I need to get back to playtime with the little ones!

The Cutest Subjects

I think I've mentioned on here before that I love photography.  No, I'm not going to attempt to ever start a business with it and I definitely have a ton to learn, but I'm always excited when I get to use the knowledge that I do have to take pictures for a friend or family member.  So when my sister, Mindy, asked me to take some pics of her son, Adam, when she was in town this past weekend, I jumped on the opportunity!  Jake was with me, too, and thank goodness our oldest sister, Angie, came along to help us "herd" the kiddos... they were all over the place!  The pictures were taken at the Kentucky Horse Park, which lent us so many beautiful places to shoot.  It took me a little while to get my settings correct (like I said, I'm no professional but I do always try to shoot in Manual mode so I can practice) but by the end of the day (and about 500 shots later), I think we got some good ones!  None of these are edited (aside from making a couple of them black and white) as my sister is the Photoshop expert, but here are a few of our fav's:

Such a serious face, but I thought it was so sweet!

Yes he is holding a shoe... it made him smile, so we went with it!

Despite my efforts, his Mommy ended up getting the "money shot" of the day:

I love this one I took of Adam and his mom... her hair comes out so beautifully in photos!  Then again, it's incredibly beautiful in person, too:

Of course I took some of my favorite little man, too.... but mostly just got his back as he ran all over the place!  That boy loves to go go go!  I actually liked the shots from behind though as this captures his personality at this age:

My favorite: 

And how did we keep the kiddos occupied and smiling for the hour + that we were out there?

First off, Auntie Angie was essential!  Thank you for coming along and entertaining them both! 

And the real secret?  Oh yes, our kids love the iPhone.  Here's our geeky children with their gadgets... too funny:

My sister was also sweet enough to take a couple of prego-pics of me and Lilly, but I'm saving those for another post since this one is already pretty picture-heavy.  Besides, I am way behind on a belly update, so I'll have the hubby take one today and let you know how it's going tomorrow.  I have a doctor appointment later anyway.

Apparently I passed the test because I get to take pictures of this whole family in the fall!  Yay!  And luckily I won't have a big belly to work around since photographing toddlers takes a lot of bending over, laying on the ground, etc.

I hope you enjoyed your daily (double) dose of cuteness today!  Thanks, Mindy, for letting me practice my favorite hobby on my super-dooper adorable nephew!  Oh how I love that little guy!