Shooting with Soul ~ Exercise Two: Your Shadow

Ah, finally I have checked off the next exercise in my photography book.  My book, "Shooting with Soul", has been sitting on my desk collecting dust again.  But today I decided to move on to the next exercise - my shadow.  (Check out my previous post to learn more about this book - Shooting With Soul)

The above picture is a picture from many years ago.  My friend was the one with the camera so I didn't take the picture.  But I still love the picture because of the memories it brings back.

My family does a lot of hiking and last year I wore my "cowgirl" hat hiking.  I rarely wear this hat because, even though I love it,  I can never find an outfit to wear it with. This was actually the only time I have worn this hat. I'm glad I did though.  It made my shadow look neat and the granite rock made for a nice and (mostly) uncluttered background. Although when my mom looked at this picture she didn't know that I was wearing a cowgirl hat until I told her.  Shadow pictures can definitely be hard to interpreted Sometimes. 

Last summer when we were camping at the ocean my favorite part was waiting on the beach for the sunset.  While waiting as the sun went down I noticed how long the shadows were.  This picture makes me look like I am standing on stilts.  I really like this picture because of the golden color the almost setting-sun gives off.  

These last two pictures are from today.  The sun was hitting our front yard at an angle.  The perfect recipe for great shadows.  The garage door makes for a plain uncluttered background so I snapped a few pictures before the sun went completely down.  

It felt great to take my camera outside today and snap some pictures.  I never seem to have the time anymore for this favorite pastime of mine.  

I can't wait to see what the next photo challenge in my photography book will be!

My Prayer Board

Two things have been on my mind these past few days.  The fact that we are constantly in spiritual warfare, and what God has given us as our main weapon to fight against this kind of warfare 

Thinking back to last Sunday's sermon, which was on prayer, I was convicted of the power of prayer and important role it plays in our spiritual walk with God.

When I think of prayer a certain movie comes to mind.  Last October I went with my Mom and sister to see "War Room". If you haven't seen this movie, it is a very powerful, convicting movie about prayer that I believe all Christians should watch. I was encouraged and inspired by this wonderful movie.  click here see the War Room Trailer .

If you asked me what the one area in my walk with the Lord that I struggle with, without any hesitation, I would say my prayer life.  I pray everyday but I never feel like I'm focused or really pouring out my heart to the Lord when I pray.  I do it often as if I'm doing it just to check it off of my list of things to do for the day.  I have a prayer journal and whenever I write my prayers down it helps me to stay focused as I'm talking to my Lord but I don't always have the time to write down all my prayers.

After watching War Room I wanted to find a place to make into my 'War Room'.  I wanted a special room set aside for prayer where I could pin prayer requests and Bible verses on the wall. Unfortunately I could not find a place in our house that isn't already being used for something.  We don't have a large house and all our rooms have a purpose.  I was thinking of clearing some space in my closet but my closet is already packed full with too much stuff.   

When one way doesn't work though, you'll find another way, you just have to be a little more creative in your thinking.  As if out of nowhere, an idea came to me!  Since I didn't have an actual room to devote to prayer I needed something else that would help keep me focused as I pray.   I created what I call my 'Prayer Board'.  It has a list of prayer requests to remind me of what to pray for and some inspiration and guidelines for prayer.  I also ripped out a notepad from an old address book I don't use and added it to the board to write down daily prayer request and things I'm thankful for each day.

The clipboard I used was found at a thrift store (where I pretty much find most of my stuff). You can find them at Wal-Mart though.  I see this style clip board whenever I am browsing through the 'office supplies' aisle.   

On the inside of the clip board I decided to make a place where you can write down prayers that have been answered.  I also struggle with memorizing Bible verses so I stuffed some index cards (I use index cards for everything, they're so useful) into the pocket and each week I can write down a Bible verse to study and pray about.

This took me no time at all to put together.  I love being creative and organizing so I really enjoyed making this board. You can personalize it any way you want.  Now when  I pray I can grab my prayer board and everything I need is right in front of me to help me stay focused on Who I'm praying to. Another plus with this board is it will work great for traveling.  My family goes camping a lot in the summer.  When you find a nice quiet place in a beautiful valley or while taking in a majestic mountain view, there's no better time to pour out your heart to the Lord in prayer.  

With my new 'Prayer Board' I'm looking forward to growing closer to God in my prayer life.  Prayer is our strongest weapon  against the enemy and just like all weapons, we have to learn how to use prayer.  Only by  devoting a certain amount of time each day to prayer will we begin to reap the benefits and effectually fight off the enemy.  

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2

Focusing on the Year Ahead

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” Psalm 96: 1-3

It feels like 2015 was just yesterday, oh wait, it was. 

Once again, the year seemed to have flown by. I can't believe that we are now in 2016 and 2015 is the past. Looking back on 2015 I can confidently say it was a good year. I had ups and downs, good times and bad times.  Many of my dreams come true, but many of my dreams still remain just dreams.  It was a year of new friendships and painfully watching old friendships fade.  A year full of laughter and tears.  But through it all God has always been by my side.  That is why I can say 2015 was a good year, and I know that each lesson I learned in 2015 was to bring me closer to Him.

Briefly taking a look back over the past year I would like to share with you a few of my highlights:

• In March my mom, my brother, my sister, and I went on a road trip to visit our relatives in Illinois. It seems so long ago that we all piled into my brother's car and drove, drove, and drove until we finally reached my aunt's place in Illinois. We had a wonderful visit and made many new memories.

• In the spring my family worked at a Christian living history camp called Rock-N-Water. I learned so much and made so many wonderful friends during the two months we worked at Rock-N-Water. I'm looking forward to working there again in 2016 (this year).

• My biggest accomplishment of 2015 was making my Astrid Cosplay (you can find information about my cosplay on my cosplay page - My Cosplays). I took my sewing skills to a new level. Cosplaying Astrid has long been a dream of mine and it's truly an amazing feeling to make a dream of yours come true. I hope to make many more cosplays this year.

• In November I turned 20. To me that is a big deal because I'm no longer a teenager. On that day I created a list of goals for my 20th year. (you can find the list here - Twenty and Blessed)

Looking back I am also reminded of the many sad and difficult times I faced in 2015.

• Saying goodbye to my best friend as she left to go to college in Texas was difficult for me. I'm thankful that I can still communicate with her but it's hard not to be see her as much as I used to.

• Watching my brother enter the Coastguard only to come home with a medical discharge was a trial for my whole family. Seeing someone you love so disappointed wasn't easy. We prayed that God would heal him and I'm still trying to understand why God sent him back home.  But we take comfort in knowing that God's plans are always the best.

• Continually doing my best to trust in God and be content is always a constant struggle for me. I want to find my purpose in life but each day I have to learn to surrender myself to God and trust in Him for my future. 

I know that many of the struggles I faced in 2015 I will also face in 2016. But I know that just like God was with me in 2015, He will not leave me in 2016.

But enough about 2015 - I have decided to focus not on the past but on the year ahead. I can't wait to see what lessons God will teach me this year and what new skills I will be able to learn.

If I were to come up with a list of resolutions for the new year, it would sound a lot like the list I made on my 20th birthday. I have thought hard about it and have decided upon three main things I hope that this year brings:

1. To learn how to sew a dress without a pattern and and how to make my own pattern (this skill will be so helpful in making cosplays)

2. Become a better sister and daughter. God has made it clear to me that my place of service is to my family. I want to be kind and loving to my siblings and respectful to my parents.

3. To grow closer to God. I want to reach a point in my walk with God where nothing else matters. I want to 'fall in love' with God.

I'm looking ahead with a hopeful heart, thankful for the year that is past, and ready for the year to come.

Happy New Year!

My Second Cosplay ~ Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon

I can't believe this year is coming to an end already!  This has been a great year for me. One of my dreams has been to make a cosplay. I not only made one cosplay this year, but two.  I made my Astrid cosplay from 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' over the summer months and these past few weeks I have put together a Hiccup cosplay for my brother.  I plan on eventually making him a cosplay for Hiccup from the second movie but I needed a simple cosplay that I could quickly put together.  So here we have Hiccup from the first movie. 

Step one was getting all the materials for the cosplay.  I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on this cosplay so I tried to use what I had instead of buying fur and fabric.  I did have to buy the green fabric for Hiccup's tunic.  I used fur scraps that my sister didn't have a use for to make Hiccup's vest.  

For the tunic I used McCalls pattern 3658.  It's an out-of-print pattern that we happen to have because my mom found it at the thrift store a few years ago.  I modified the tunic by adding the eyelets and leather lacing to the neckline and the 'rip' Hiccup has at the bottom of his tunic.  I also added quite a bit of length to the tunic because my brother is tall (he's taller than me!). The belt is just a long strip of brown fabric that I found in our scrap pile.  It's simply tied in the back and the knot is covered by the vest.

The vest was the hard part.  Sometimes the cheap way is also the hard way.  We did not have enough of one fur for the vest, so I took all the fur scraps we had and cut them into pieces and sewed all the pieces together.  Since it's fur I had to sew it all by hand!  Not what you would call a piece of cake.  Because of this the vest does not look identical to the vest Hiccup has.  It's unique.  I think it has a more authentic look, since I used mostly real fur scraps.

My mom found some dark green sweatpants at the thrift store.  I had to basically turn them into leggings.  I had my brother put them on and I figured out how much excess to cut off.  Hiccup has a few stitches on his pants so I cut a few holes in the pants and weaved in the same leather lacing I used for the tunic. 

I was at a loss as for what to do about the boots because I was using the only boots we had that would work for my Astrid cosplay.  My mom found a pair of slippers at the thrift store that to my surprise fit perfectly for Hiccup.  the only thing I added to them was some extra fur on top to make them a little higher.

That is pretty much it for the costume part of the cosplay.  Since I have an ax for my Astrid cosplay my mom thought it be neat if we had a prop for Hiccup.  I agreed but I was in the middle of sewing Hiccup's tunic and wasn't really feeling like I wanted to take on more work.  To my surprise my Mom and my brother made Hiccup's shield from the movie (I am so lucky to have a Mom who loves to create stuff just as much as I do and is always helping me with my projects).

They made the shield out of foam sandwiched in between two pieces of cardboard.  My mom did an amazing job of painting the shield and adding the metal edges (which is actually just poster board cut and painted with silver spray paint).

There you go.  That is how I made Hiccup's outfit for my brother. My brother makes a pretty good Hiccup, if a I do say so myself. He is kinda in that awkward teenage stage still so he fits Hiccup perfectly.  The only problem is his hair is not quite long enough for Hiccup but at least it's the right color.

Since we still had a lot of snow outside, which is not going to be melting any time soon,  we both put on our cosplays and took snow pictures.  Below are a few of my favorites.

 

Christmas is Almost Here!

Today happens to be a wet and rainy day.  We've been getting so much rain and snow these last few months and it makes me so happy!  The weather forecast is even predicting possibly a white Christmas this year!  That makes me even more happy.  

I really don't really have anything in particular to say but today just seemed like the perfect day to sit down and write something.  I'm going to share with you some of the projects I have been working on this Christmas season.  

Christmas is a time for giving.   This year I decided to put together something simple for my friends at church.  My mom found some adorable yet simple gift bags at Joann's and she decorated them with paint, a potato and glitter.  She carved a holly leaf in the potato to create a homemade stamp. She also used carrot to make the red holly berries.   The glitter I think is what really makes these bags perfect for Christmas.  She sprinkled the glitter on the paint before it dried.

I filled the bags with a small jar of homemade pumpkin butter and a small bag of candy.  Lastly I added added a candy cane because it's not Christmas without candy canes, right?

I was meaning to take some nice pictures but I've been too lazy to get my camera out (meaning run upstairs to grab my camera that is sitting on my desk).  Fortunately, my Mom took some pictures with her camera or else I wouldn't of had any pictures to share.

We have also been busy baking cookies.  Cookies for us to eat and cookies to give to our friends and neighbors.  Last night we made sugar cookie cut-outs and frosted them.  We had fun seeing who could make the most creative cookies.  

Today I made ginger cookies and dipped them half in white chocolate. There's a tutorial for making these cookies here: http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/12/white-chocolate-dipped-ginger-cookies/ 

I took the easy way and I used 'Betty Crocker's Gingerbread cookie mix' that you buy at the store.  These cookies are surprisingly easy to make yet they look very festive and yummy.

So that's just a little summary of what's been keeping me busy these past few weeks.  I can't believe Christmas is only three days away. I'm really excited and can't wait, but at the same time, I'm not ready for Christmas to be over.  

Oh, I almost forgot.  I have officially started making my second cosplay.  It's not actually for me, it's for my brother.  I plan on making him a Hiccup cosplay from How to Train Your Dragon 2 eventually.  We may go to a Anime/Cosplay Convention in January and since Hiccup's costume from the second movie is so complicated I decided to make him a cosplay for Hiccup from the first movie for the convention.  I'll have pictures and a tutorial on my blog once I finish it.  

Merry Christmas!

Mary's Song

I don't know why but, whenever Christmas times comes I am always so fascinated by the songs that are written in Mary's perspective.  Songs like "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant and "You're Here" by Francesca Battistelli.

I think the reason that Mary's story has always seemed so fascinating to me is because she was just a girl.  She was probably not even twenty.  Maybe sixteen or seventeen.  She was most likely facing struggles similar to the struggles I face.  She was nobody special but she had found favor in God's eye's and she was to become the mother of His Son.  

I love learning about the women in the Bible because I find myself relating myself to them.  I believe that we can learn a lot from Mary.  

I can't imagine what would have been going through Mary's mind when the angel came to her and told her that she would bear God's Son.  The Bible tells us her response: 

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to your word." Luke 1:38

I am amazed at how willing Mary was for the Lord to use her.  She humbly accepted God's plan for her, even in knowing that it might change her life forever.  Following God would cause her a good deal of pain and embarrassment but nothing mattered because she knew that the Lord's will for her was the best.

Her faith and trust in God is an inspiration to me. I want to be like her. I know that God most likely won't appear to me the way He did to Mary but I know that God has great plans for me. With a humble heart, like Mary, I want to give up all my plans and hopes to God. I want to come before God with a heart willing to serve and ready for God to use me. Even when it doesn't make sense I know God's plan for me is the best.

And Mary's story doesn't stop there.  Luke 1:46 - 55 is just beautiful!  I often will read through this part of the Christmas story and never really take to heart this part of Mary's story.   

Along with a servant's heart Mary has a heart bursting with thankfulness and praise to God. I can only imagine how hard it would have been for Mary to follow God as she, a virgin, became pregnant with God's Son. Many of her family and friends probably shamed her. Joseph even planned to divorce her quietly until the Lord intervened.  Yet through all this Mary had a heart full of thankfulness.  Her words never once show resentment for what God was doing to her but instead she praised God for His goodness to her.

"My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savoir, for he has looked on the Humble estate of His servant, for behold from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name and His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation." Luke 1:46-50

I want to know her secret.  When I get overcome with life and the many struggles that are a part of life thanking God is the last thing on my mind.  But thanking God should be my response for everything.  Everyday when I rise and when I go to sleep I can thank God for His goodness to me. There is always something to be thankful for if you search your heart long enough.   

There is a beautiful song that has truly captured the essence of Mary's story and Mary's song.  It's called "Be Born in Me" sung by Francesca Battistelli.  This song is actually what has inspired me to write this post. 

I have found that I can listen to this song over and over again (I actually have listened to it over and over again as I wrote this post) and the words inspire and speak to me every time.  

    

I was thinking about the phrase 'be born in me'.   It doesn't only apply to just Mary.  Though in physical terms it perfectly describes Mary, it can apply to us spiritually. Because of Christmas, when God sent His Son into the world to save us, He gave us something special -  Jesus living in us. 

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20

Because of what Christ did we really are not that different than Mary.  This Christmas I want Jesus to be "Born in Me".  I want my life to be an example of God's love.  Just like it was obvious to those around Mary that she was carrying God's Son, I want my love for Jesus to be obvious as well. When the world sees me and my life I want them to see Jesus who is in me. 

So what about you?  Does Mary's story inspire you as it inspires me?  I hope that this Christmas season you find the true Joy that can only be found in Jesus living in your heart.  He will come and fill your life with love. 

God has great plans for you and me if you are willing, like Mary, to humble yourself and with a thankful heart place your future in God's hands.  Be ready to be amazed at how God will use you!

Thanksgiving Blessings

I find it kinda ironic how the day after Thanksgiving we have Black Friday. Thanksgiving is a day to focus on our many blessings and having good times with friends and family.  It's just silly how the day after we celebrate being thankful we are once again out the door early the next morning buying more stuff and trying to find the best deal.

My family used to have a Thanksgiving tradition to help us remember of what we were thankful for throughout the year.  We put a decorative box on the table and throughout the year we would write down something we were thankful for and put it in the box.  On Thanksgiving we would open the box and read all of the slips of paper that said what we were thankful for.  

Sadly, we no longer do this tradition and often times I wish we still did.  As we have grown older we have grown out of many of our traditions.  When I have my own family someday I can't wait to bring back this tradition and start many new traditions.  

Just recently I have been trying to focus more on being thankful and having a heart that is content.  Last year I had four jars on my desk that I decorated and slips of paper to fill out and put in my jars.  I had one jar for prayer requests, a thankful jar, a jar for good times,  and a jar for Bible verses.  Sadly, this year I'm not doing my jars again.  I still have them I just wasn't motivated to do them this year.

One thing I love to do is journaling.  I have too many journals, to be honest, and I just keep buying more because I love them so much.  Just recently I have started writing in a special journal. I call it my Thankful Journal. Each night I try to write down at least three things that I'm thankful for to help me keep my focus on God and His goodness to me.  I can usually think of about five things to write down.

This year I'm most thankful for my family and friends. I usually say this every year but this year I'm especially thankful for my family because I'm learning that even when my friends grow distant or move away and I don't see them as often as I used to I will always have my family.  

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving with friends and family.

With Thanksgiving past it is now officially okay to listen to Christmas music and decorate for the holidays. Only four more weeks until Christmas!