Kiddos

Here is a new pic of Sam which gives me a good excuse to tell him how proud I am of him. He got Student of the Month in his Geometry class recently and also got the Coach's Award for Waterpolo this season. He's hangin' in there with high school! Way to go Sam! And you are still one of the cutest kids I've ever seen! :)

Okay maybe cute and kid isn't as appropriate as it used to be.

I Love you - MOM



Here is one of Grace after she got her hair done. I've found a new hairdo is good motivation to pose for Mom...

A man I respect and admire...

Pastor Garrison from New Genesis Bible Church in New Orleans spoke tonight at the Harvest Mission meeting on being vaccinated by religion. He commented how many people who go to church have only been vaccinated, they get a little dose of God but not enough to infect them and give then the disease. Just enough to feel religious but not enough to give them dis-ease from sin. But that God wanted to infect us all so much so that we will be contagious in our disease. Speaking from James 1:19-39 - he urged us all to not only be hearers of the word but doers as well.

My kids left full of praise for his preaching style and how they felt like they were interacting with him and how he made the time go by so fast and made everything sound so interesting. He made a huge impression on them. Not only that but when he met them, he looked at them in the eye and spoke to them like they mattered. Asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and remembered their names. And then there were the hugs. He hugs everyone. An incredible man with an incredible gift from God as a pastor. And a wonderful end to our weekend.

Fire

No picture just reaching out for prayer for the hundreds who have lost their homes this week in the fires. My mom had to evacuate today. The fire was on her street. And she was faced with having to decide what to take and what not to take. With fire literally all around them my mom and sister made it out okay. We are hopeful that her home is still standing because her answering machine is picking up. But there are many who will find out in the next couple days that they no longer have a home. And my heart breaks for them.

Sorry for not posting anything recently. Been busy and work and at home.

Hopefully I will have something soon to contribute.

By the way...my previous post of the twins? Scott and Kim had to evacuate from their home too today. They had to leave so fast they didn't have time to take anything with them. They just scooped up their four kids and drove away. So pray for them too.

Thanks

Ava and Jake

Here are some pics I took for my friends Kim and Scott. These little ones round out their family of six with 4 kids under 4. My oh my. We had pee, poop, tears and a lot of laughs doing this shoot! I hope you like the pics.

Orange Circle

The gals and I had a blast down at the Orange Circle today on our photog outing.

Jeanette - thanks so much for coming prepared to teach. You did a great job. And thanks for lunch too!

I focused on the architectural abstract type stuff which is not what I normally shoot but here are some I liked. I played around with photoshop on some of these but only adjusted saturation and contrast and then did some dodging and burning.

Hope you like em!







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Louisiana bound

The Harvest Mission Team is headed to the New Orleans area on a scheduled trip to continue their work rebuilding churches in the region. Because of the recent hurricane, Gustav, we might also be doing relief work with Samaritan's Purse.

And I'm going!

I've wanted to go to that region for some time now and I'm thrilled at the chance to serve and experience relief work first hand. Not only will it make a practical difference in people's lives but I think it is also important to show God's love to others, especially to those in need.

The trip is Sept 19-28, so please keep us in your prayers that we will have opportunties to make a difference in people's lives both materially and spiritually. And for those of you who know me...pray for my physical stamina and for restful sleep. I don't think I've ever done 10 nights on an air mattress before!

You know I'll be bringing my camera...taking pics of everything except for myself because I expect to look like I do when I go camping! I don't think I'll have an internet connection while I'm there but I will definitely blog my trip.

I'm really excited!

Friends

Its good to have friends!! I am just reflecting late at night tonight the value of friendships. No matter what kind or how deep, they are all valuable. I cherish the friendships I have now more than ever.

I have never been one for socializing as such. I tend to keep to myself and keep my nose clean of gossip and all that. I don't usually mesh well in any one clique.

But we went to Disneyland tonight with a group of former co-workers who are now just friends. And I have to say I really had a blast. You are all great people.

All you all...that were there at Disneyland tonight. You are special to me and I'm so glad I have you to count as friends.

I recently reunited with friends I haven't talked to in a long time. High school friends who "knew me when". And I love being able to email Patty and talk so openly and honest and after so many years we just connected again like sisters. Linda who has been such an example to follow and a friend in time of need.

I have David and Karen who feel like family to me. You guys know me better than most and have been there for all of life's bumps along the road, encouraging me in my walk with the Lord and I encouraging you.

And all my photog buddies who support me and I them. It's just so great to have people in my life.

And I wanted you all to know that. No pic...no flare in this post. Just heartfelt gratitude.

I am blessed in more ways than I can count. And my best friend of all - Brian.
I love you.

More From Sedona

I finally had a chance to go through my images from our quick 2 night trip to Sedona, Arizona. We really did have a good time. The place we stayed was top notch, set outside of town in the middle of a canyon. And we got a killer deal. Here are some pics to enjoy If you look closely on the far left of the first picture you can see our casitas for the resort we stayed at. I took this pic on a hike. You literally could look as far as the eye could see. Just gorgeous.




The next picture was taken during our off roading Jeep tour. This rock is called Submarine rock. We happened to be on it right after a shower with lightening all around us. Yeah - it was kind of dangerous...but oh so beautiful. Check out the kids hair standing on end...you could feel the electricity in the air.






More from our Jeep tour. Brian had a blast driving on rocks and down utter cliffs. We did scream and cringe a bit but it was a blast. Sheryl Briggs pointed us in the right direction with this one. Here is the Jeep at Seven Sacred Pools and a big cliff we were glad we didn't drive off of. It was a giant sink hole in the middle of the desert woodlands.








Here are the kids having fun at Slide Rock, a natural rock slide river. It was very fun. Sam ended up jumping off this cliff with my permission and prayers.




If you guys ever need a place to for vacation this area is chocked full of things to do. I highly recommend it.

For those of you who haven't had enough pics of Sedona - feel free to visit my picasa album with all of the pics from our trip. Here is the link: CLICK HERE

Sedona Skies

We are here in Sedona, Arizona and as we were eating dinner on the patio where we were entertained by the most amazing light show. I hope you enjoy the result. It was quite a site. This was done hand held.



More pictures later...

Please keep the Laurie family in prayer. They lost their son Christopher today in a car accident. He was not only a great husband and father of little Stella, but Christopher was a great asset to Harvest as art director. He will be missed terribly by so many for his creativity and kindness. His wife Brittany is expecting their second child. Thank you.

Crissy

Summer Fun

What a party it was! Here are some pictures of Sheryl's beach birthday party. It was a great time of fun and fellowship and music! It gave me an excuse to pick up my camera again after a little break and it felt good to look through that lens again. I played a lot with manual settings with these because of the bright sun and glare from the water. Thanks Sheryl for giving me the excuse to dig in once again. I hope you like the result. Here are some of my favorites.

Embedding Slideshows

I just found out that you can do this... And I thought huh...I should try it.
So here are some good pics and some throw aways from the hike we did in the spring and some of a concert the kids had for Jazz Band. Family shots mostly not "artsy" ones.



what do you think? If you have a gmail account you can upload pics by clicking on the photos tab and then you can select the slideshow option. It gives you a code to paste into your blog and that is it. Sweet and simple. I'm sure other sights provide this too but I'm a gmail user so...there you go.

:) If you guys know of others please comment and let and me know what they are!

Crissy

New Chapter

I know I've been terribly delinquent in posting lately. Aah what can I say? Guilty as charged. I would love to say I've been honing my photographic skills but dare I say, I have not held my lovely camera in my hands for the past few months. Just taking a creative break and dealing with some other stuff in my life.

Part of which is praying about what to do for a job. Believe me I considered everything not really knowing the direction that would be best. But you know how it works...when it's the right thing...it is so clear.

I will be beginning a new chapter in my life next Wednesday when I begin a new job with the apologetics ministry called Stand to Reason. It is a fantastic ministry that I will be proud to be associated with. I am so excited to grow in every way. It had the perfect balance for me as a mom and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

It is bittersweet leaving Harvest because I truly loved working there. But of course we will be there every week in fellowship and I hope that I won't lose the great friends that I've made there.

My first day is Wednesday, June 18. Please pray for me and my family as we make this transition.

I promise as I get settled in...I will break out my camera and take some awesome pics of flowers (per our latest challenge girls). And I can't wait to meet soon at Mariann's.

Take care and I promise I will post a new pic soon.

God Bless you all.

Crissy

Portrait of A Gentle Spirit

I took this portrait in Mexico last month. This woman came to the medical mission outreach. She was standing waiting for a family member who was getting seen by the doctor and I asked her if I could take her picture. I love this picture not because of anything I did, but because her image shows strength of character and quiet resolve. The community that was being served was extremely poor, living in lean-to's that had dirt floors. Despite the hardship, there was still gentleness in this woman's eyes. Kindness and gentleness. And I will remember her.