Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Creative Church Conference


I am thrilled to be attending the Creative Church Conference this weekend at the Boise Vineyard as artists and creative arts leaders from all over the country gather to explore what it means for artists to be in community. 

As I have been preparing my heart for this weekend, God has been highlighting the word fully to me. It means completely or entirely, to the fullest extent, without reservation, without exception. 



Then he brought me to Luke 13:10-13:  

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 

When the ruler of the synagogue protested because he was healing on the Sabbath Jesus says, ought this woman whom Satan bound for 18 years be loosed from this bond?"

As an artist, I feel the gap between where I am and where God is calling me to be and I think that a lot of us can identify with being bound for a long time in our creative lives.
Bound by fear, unbelief and insecurity in all its ugly forms. 
Oh how many times I have felt bent over, crippled under the weight of my own inadequacy. Unable to fully straighten myself.
But Jesus never leaves us where he finds us. 
Jesus calls the woman over - yes, we play an active role in our own healing - spoke words of freedom over her, laid his hands on her and then healed her on the spot.


 And her only response was to glorify God.  
My heart is full of excited expectation for all the staggeringly beautiful things that God is going to do in and through his creative ones this weekend!
Are there areas in your creative life where you are feeling bound in the things God is calling you to walk (or run!) in that I can pray for you about? 
There is still time to register for the conference at creativechurchconference.wordpress.com


* Note: All Photographs are from the 2012 Creative Church Conferences

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Hoping Our Way Through Heartache






The phone call came in the middle of an otherwise normal afternoon. She could tell from the sound of my voice that I had not heard the news yet and would only say that there had been an accident.

That I needed to contact my husband directly.
That she was sorry.
And then she hung up.

In the stunned silence of that moment, everything that I knew fell away.
I could only pray and try to remember to breathe as I waited for him to call.

He was doing a medical procedure with a patient from prison and was stuck with a needle.
The patient had tested positive for Hepatitis C and there is no cure.

He would have to be tested every 3 months for Hepatitis C and HIV and we could no longer try and conceive a child for the next 6 months.

For a couple who has been struggling with infertility issues for the last 3 years and desperate for another child, this too felt like its own kind of prison sentence.

Infertility carves wounds wide and deep, often heavy and hidden inside a mama's heart.

Yet there is still hope among the heartache. 

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:5 NLT)

We found out today that Tim's blood work came back negative for both Hep C and HIV!!
Oh how grateful we are for God's love and mercy and shout out from the rooftops of His faithfulness!!


We begin again, choosing to hope our way through the heartache.



Thursday, January 16, 2014

A Frame A Day - Day 16


Tucked into the corner of this little cafe poring out words on the page. There is just something about a coffee shop that stirs the imagination.  

A Frame A Day - Day 15



The memories of childhood fall on the walls of where we call home. 

A Frame A Day - Day 14

Well, today was the first day that I missed taking a shot :/ Normally, I would have quit because it was no longer "perfect" - whatever that is. But I will give myself some grace and post my new favorite picture that Tim took of Emma and I instead :)

Life is not perfect friends, so don't buy the lie.


A Frame A Day - Day 13


Vineyard Writers' Studio's Creative Cafe at Dunn Bros. 


A Frame A Day - Day 12



Sledding and snow cones!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

A Frame A Day - Day 11




This beautiful ornament was part of the wrapping on Auntie Heather's gift to Emma for her 3rd birthday. It now hangs from her dresser mirror as a reminder of her Ballerina Birthday Party and her love of dance.

A Frame A Day - Day 10



Learning how to slow down and enjoy a picnic for 3

A Frame A Day - Day 9


I adore this picture. I love the mixed patterns, the varied shades of pink and just look at that light! This represents so much of Emma's childhood for me. All of the whimsy and playful ways she is exploring her world.

A Frame A Day - Day 8




           Creative scarf styling!

A Frame A Day - Day 7



Flowers in winter bring an early spring to        the soul. 

Monday, January 6, 2014

A Frame A Day - Day 5

 

 
We had home made stew to stay warm on the coldest night of our lives. As I write this post, it's -26 with a wind-chill of -51!! Painful banging and popping is our companion tonight as our old house shivers in the cold.

A Frame A Day - Day 4


May I pour you a cup of bubble tea?

A Frame A Day - Day 3



We stopped to play some vending machine games after seeing the movie Frozen.


Sunday, January 5, 2014

A Frame A Day - Day 2

I started off this project posting in a separate project page to try and keep organized but it was not allowing me to post from my iPhone / iPad the way I wanted to. So now plan B is to move these over to the main home page and then I can hopefully keep this organized via labels.

Home made pizzas and family movie night. We were watching The Croods and Emma says:
"My daddy is like her daddy" We lost our minds in laughter!! Out of the mouth of babes.


A Frame A Day

A frame a day is a creative project where I am going to attempt to capture the beautiful moments of our everyday lives and choose just one photograph a day for an entire year.

My hope is to be more intentional about living a creative life, to grow as a photographer and tell the story of who we are as a family one frame at a time. At the end of the year I will turn them into a coffee-table book to give to my daughter when she becomes an adult.

Because the truth is how we spend our days is how we spend our lives and I want to be present, living fully and pressing out onto the edges of this one and only life. To look and really see the beautiful drama played out before me.
Here we go.....


Emma showing off her drawing of her new baby deer, cutie.

The Words Of A Child



We were just hanging out together, right in the middle of a normal day. It was Friday afternoon and we weren't doing anything special when these words were spoken by my 4 year old.

"I love this day".
 
"You do,  what do you love about it" I asked, a little surprised at the sudden sentiment. 

And then she said the words that would changed me.

"I love you about this day" she said simply, with the kind of pure love that only a child can give.

It caught me off guard and the moment was held there, suspended in time as I felt something shift inside of me. Love wrapped inside the words of a child and given as a gift to her mama.

I gathered her up in my arms and snuggled in tight; mindful of the moments that pile up high and spill over into a life lived in love.
 

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

To Begin Again



So here we are on the first day of a brand new year, filled with all of the wide-eyed wonder and  hope that a new beginning brings.





I am hoping to be more intentional in my creative life this year and have committed to a couple of exciting projects so that I can carve deeper rhythms of grace into my creative process.

The first one is a 31 day writing challenge by Jeff Goins. Its called My 500 Words: A Writing Challenge and the idea is to write 500 words everyday for 31 days. The goal is to establish a regular writing time and finally get all of the ideas out of my head and down on paper. WAHOO!!
I would love for you to consider joining in! You can find all the details here:
http://goinswriter.com/my500words/





The other project is a year long photography project called A Frame A Day.
I am going to attempt to capture the beautiful moments of our everyday lives and choose one photograph a day for an entire year.

My hope is to be more intentional about living a creative life, to grow as a photographer and tell the story of who we are as a family one frame at a time. At the end of the year I will create a coffee-table book to give to my daughter when she becomes an adult.

Because the truth is that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives and I want to be present, living fully and pressing out onto the edges of this one and only life. To look and really see the beautiful drama played out before me.

In what ways are you going to begin again?