Self-portrait November 6, 2010

I have enjoyed playing with photography for a while now, and recently took a continuing education photography class so that I could learn more about my camera – so I could take pictures with the letter settings on the dial instead of just the picture settings.  I learned SO much in my class, and had so much fun. My favorite assignment was to take a self-portrait from behind the camera.  I’m pretty proud of mine, so I thought I’d post it on here.  Enjoy!

Because I knew you … November 5, 2010

Today finds me in a weird mood – sentimental, thankful, hormonal, who knows. Anyway, there is a song in the musical Wicked called “For Good”.  This seems to be on my mind today.

“I know I’m who I am today because I knew you.”

Today has me thinking of those who have made me who I am today. God has a way of crossing our paths with others who He uses to prepare us for the roads He is leading us down. Having Kirsten in our lives (see my previous post) has gotten me thinking back to when I was a teenage girl. I am a completely different person than I was – or ever thought I’d be – when I was 15.

I am thankful that:

• my dad knew everyone in the country and I was terrified to do anything I wasn’t supposed to, because I would most certainly get caught
• I was involved in extracurricular activities that kept me too busy to get into too much trouble
• my parents were the strictest parents EVER and I was never allowed to go ANYWHERE or do ANYTHING that “normal” kids were
• I had an unmistakable turkey-turd green mustang that was unlike any other car in the county – everyone knew my car
• as I went off to college, I got involved at the Baptist Student Union, and my friends were (for the most part) kids who loved Jesus, and challenged me to make my parents’ faith my own
• God brought people into my life with very different struggles and journeys, and allowed me to walk through those with them

The bullets could go on and on.  Over the course of the last 20 years, I can look back now and see that God has grown and shaped me through the people in my life.  I started with the intention to talk about some specifically, but that list became too long.  Some I am still very close to, and some I haven’t seen for years. But I am grateful for all of the faces, and the memories they bring.

I think in my life, my parents got to a point that they were just trying to keep me safe (and keep me from making too many big decisions with 15-year-old logic that would screw up my life) until I was old enough to make decent decisions on my own. I feel sure that prayer was a BIG part of it, too.  Lots and lots of prayer.

Anyway, today is a little ramble-y, but this gist is this: Because I knew you (you know who you are, sweet friends), I have been changed for good.