change.

Change. Change is something I’ve been thinking about recently. There are a lot of changes going on around me and I guess that’s what prompted it. Change isn’t always bad, BUT sometimes, actually most of the time, change is bad.  For Christians when things start changing that’s usually a bad thing.  I’m seeing people around me change -- what they use to say was wrong and sin, they are now doing. Why is that? To me it is very scary. It first makes me look at myself to make sure I’m doing what I say I believe. Yes, things did change with me once I begun thinking about this myself. Second, it scares me for those people that have changed. I’ve realized that these people aren’t all of a sudden changing, but it’s what has been in there hearts all along, but now for different reasons it is coming out. What I’ve also observed is once one thing in their life changes (this may even be small to most people), they begin slipping and before they know it they are doing, saying, etc. things they never thought they would. A lot of Christians these days say that the outward appearance doesn’t matter much, but only the inward. That statement isn’t a complete lie because that’s how the devil works -- mixing a little truth in with a LOT of lies. Yes, we are suppose to be most concerned about our heart, but that doesn’t mean we forget the outward. The outward appearance is what reflects what is in our hearts. I think people completely forget about this or they close their eyes to it because they don’t want to change the way they are living. It is easy to say what you believe, but it is completely different to actually live what you say you believe. When we claim to be Christians, but we look no different then the world than that shows that our heart is really in the world. We might be able to talk “godly”, but the way we live out our life will show who we really are. With the changes going on around me, the two “beliefs” I’ve thought about most is 1. Why do I wear skirts, dress modest, etc. 2. Why do I do, and strongly believe in courtship? I don’t do these things because it’s what my parents say I need to do or because that’s what my sisters have done. Those reasons aren’t good enough and with time it would show how I really feel about these things. No, I do these things because this is what I believe is True and right. This is what God teaches and therefore is what I want and need to do. I’ve really appreciated my dad’s messages on Wednesday nights about God’s commandments. There are so many that I’ve forgotten about or that I haven’t seen as being a commandment from God. And what comes to mind is the verse “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15

I’ve had this on my mind and I decided to write out some of my thoughts and post them.

Sun n' Fun 2011

I realized the other day when I looked at Hannah's blog that I never posted pictures from Sun n' Fun. I had switched out camera cards in my camera and completely forgot to even download the pictures. I figured it was better late than never. So here you go...

It was cool to actually be able to go with Matt this year. :) We went with Patrick and Hannah and I had a really good time.  

Brandon with his mom's sunglasses 

Dancing with the music...

Blue Angels--- 

With all the storms that went through Lakeland around the time of Sun n' Fun, it was very muddy and we saw lots of stuck cars.

too cute

When I was taking pictures of Analee the other day, I got this one of Alayna. I thought it was too cute not to post.

I've seriously neglected blogging lately:(. Life is so crazy! It's really hard to believe that next week, I will be 4 months away from getting married. Time has really flown by and I know it's not going to slow down. It's really exciting, but also kinda' scary when I think about all the stuff that has to get done before now and then. When I got engaged, I pushed a lot of stuff to the back of my head and decided I wouldn't worry about it until May or June. Well May is almost here!

It is so nice to now have a house! The closing had been scheduled three different weeks, but the third week it actually happened. The Lord really blessed in that situation as Matt and I never thought we would start out in such a nice place. Now I'm looking forward to cleaning the place this weekend! I love seeing dirty things come clean.

It's also been nice to have my future in-laws around for a little while. We've enjoyed getting together with them and the three J's.

Well, I'm sure y'all are tired of me rambling -- until later...

roses

Here's just a quick picture I took with my phone's camera of the beautiful roses Matt sent me. These are so huge and they aren't even all open. Thank you Matt -- I love you!

some faves

Here are some of mine and Matt's favorite pictures that Susan took for us. I loved all of them and it was really hard to pick out some favorites. The ones she put on her blog were on the top of my list, but here are some more that the two of us really like. You'll probably be able to figure out some that were his and some that were mine. :)

This is the spot we got engaged...

Thank you so much Susan for taking our engagement pictures! You did an amazing job and we are very happy to have these.

past.present.future

I'm behind on blogging and I am attempting to catch up. The beginning of March, we had Tj and Susan's kids for a little over a week. We had lots of fun and I loved having kids around to photograph. :)

This little girl has so many fun expressions! She doesn't say very many understandable words, but she has her own way of communicating. I loved how she called me "mama" -- so sweet! She also really loves Matt and she LOVED when he was around. She would usually go to him over me. 

One word to describe Josiah ---- ENERGY

So present life --- wedding plans are coming along good. Matt and I got quite a few things accomplished Monday night and it's all becoming real to me. My dress is ordered and I seriously can't wait to get it! Unfortunatly, I have to wait awhile.

I guess this would fit the past catergory better, but oh well. It was a lot of fun photographing the wedding on Saturday! It was a great first experierence and I can't wait to get to do more in the future, Lord willing. I was surprised but I wasn't really nervous. Once the wedding actually started, I did get kind of a nervous feeling, but it went away. I didn't have as much time as I wanted with Joy and the girls, since it took longer for them to get ready then planned, but it worked. I found out some cons to being known by everyone in the church AND being the photographer, but the overall experience was great! I seriously could do a lot more! Check my other blog for wedding pictures. I have a couple up as a preview for all those that have asked me. I'll have more up once I have them done. I guess that would be the future. :)

olivia

A couple weeks ago, I took Olivia's one year old pictures. I loved photographing this litte girl. She is such a happy baby and is growing up so fast! She did a wonderful job and was very content the whole time. You can see more pictures here.