Kevin Was Right

I would like to start this post by saying that God is good.  I spent the weekend at the beach with my youth group.  We stayed at a place called Myrtle Beach Christian Retreat.  Our first night there, a guy named Kevin went through an orientation with us.  One of the things he said was, "A lot of cool [spiritual] things have happened here."  I think it's safe to say that most of us were in immediate disbelief.  But boy, were we wrong.  The most amazing things happened this weekend and I'm still in awe at how God works.  We got there Friday afternoon and went straight to the beach.  After playing a little bit, we went and checked in to the retreat and hung out till dinner.  Afterwards we had orientation with Kevin and then we went to Broadway on the Beach!  We got ice cream, went on some rides, took lots of pictures, and walked A LOT.  The next day we stayed at the beach most of the day except for a couple of hours at the pool. That night we had communion and a foot washing service.  Ryan, our youth leader, has washed our feet once before and we all bawled, so naturally, as soon as the tub of water came out, tears started pouring.  God was present.  Ryan washed all of our feet and told each of us "If I do not serve you, I do not love you."  I personally have been struggling with submitting to God's Will.  But now, I feel that what God is asking me to do is a way of Him serving me.  He's guiding me so that I will have a better future.  Now that is love.  Ryan gave us a moment to pause and to speak if we wanted to.  I knew God was urging me to say the 3 things that were constantly popping up in my head, but I couldn't gather the courage.  Then Ryan asked if there was anything that was running through our head, over and over again.  At this point I just smiled.  It's like, "Alright, God.  I get it. You want me to say it."  So I did.  "Have Your way in me, Lord.  I am so unworthy.  Thy Will be done." Submitting to God's Will is not easy, but you have to remember that God's plan is better than yours.  His plan will prosper you and not harm you.  Though it's hard, I have a strange peace.  Throughout the rest of the night it was one answered prayer after the next.  My heart was overjoyed.  I couldn't stop saying thank You.  Our youth group set out on this trip for two main reasons.  One, to re-group with one another and God. Two, to have fun.  I am extremely happy to say that these two goals were accomplished.  Although we didn't believe Kevin, he was right:  cool things did happen.

Now it's time for pictures :)

Something I want to do one day.

Everytime I capture an animal or insect, I like to think they are posing for me :)

A friend of mine, Sarah, and I went walking around the retreat center to get some pictures (she also likes photography).  This is a handful of her favorite flowers.

Photography by Sarah.

Photography by Sarah.

Photography by Sarah.

I'm not sure what this is, but it looked cool.

There were a lot of dead jellyfish washed up on shore.

Dead things are pretty fascinating.

Photography by Sarah.  Catepillar bites :)

Flower leaf.

Another flower leaf.

Haha, this lighthouse was at Broadway and I edited it so there was nothing but black all around it.  But it needed something and thats when I spotted fireworks on Picnik.  So I had a little fun with this picture :)

Pretty lights!

"Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep?" ~ Fanny Crosby

Swirly

I edited this one twice.

This is the original.

The ocean is breath-taking-ly beautiful.

At Broadway.

Sea shells!

Sarah drew this :)

I heart apples. haha

Some random guy made this drip castle.  I'd never heard of a drip castle before so Sarah and I made one.  Our's wasn't as cool as his though.

This is John's sand castle that he worked really hard on :)

Colors!

This one reminds me of a pearl.

A few of the youth went on that huge swing ride.  I thought it made a cool picture.

Awesome tree.

I love how the bark criss-crosses on the tree.

Sky

Feet in sand.  (Toes painted by Sarah haha)

Two things I would like to say.  If you have never danced in the rain wearing a dress or jumped into the ocean fully clothed, do it.  I did both of these this weekend and there's just something magical about it :)

Song of the weekend: I Hope You Dance ~ Lee Ann Womack
"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean."

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July everyone!! I had a wonderful day. We all went swimming, but then the storm chased us out. So we ate dinner and then got a little dance party going on. It was hilarious! Shout out to my sister, Jennifer: the best dancer ever. ;) Then Mom told us there were fireworks outside. I love fireworks! And I was really excited to get some pictures. We didn't think our neighbors would do them this year because it was raining slightly, but they pulled through! They were absolutely beautiful.  Here's the pictures for the day :)

Made by my boyfriend and his mama :)  Happy 4th!

Let the show begin!

Explosion.

Elphaba's broom :)

Flower!

This one doesn't look as pretty on here...

This one is nothing special. Just a bunch of dots.

Woah.

Electrifying.

Spiky.

This one reminds me of a sunflower.

Spider?

Pretty!

Favorite.

Rainy window.

It was POURING!

Listen to this: Star Spangled Banner ~ The Gaither Vocal Band
And with that I bid you a goodnight :)

Pictures Galore!

 It's been a very eventful weekend! Thursday was Naomi's birthday.  Naomi is my forever friend (cheesy term, I know, but it fits :)  So she spent the night and we had a lot of fun staying up till 6am!  Next day, my cousin and her husband came to visit and it was Eowyn, my niece's, birthday!  She turned 5-years-old and we had a big cookout.  Over the weekend I took quite a lot of pictures and have enjoyed editing them and exploring the many ways of Picnik. 

Ooh!  While Naomi was over I had a very defining moment in my music life.  I played her the song that I'm writing, and she told me what the song made her envision.  And guess what?  She said exactly what I had in mind when writing the song! I was beyond excited and very encouraged.  So then, I played it for my parents and they told me they know that tune from another song.  Good feeling gone.  I'm still not sure I believe them (one can only hope they are wrong).  I'm not really sure how I'm going to figure out if I "stole" the melody of another song, but I'm still going to finish it. I've worked too hard on it to just stop.  So anyways, that's my weekend in a nutshell. 

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  I'm hoping our neighbors will do fireworks again this year; they're so pretty. I think my camera has a firework setting, so I plan on putting that to use :) Here are some of the pictures I took this weekend.

I went out to get more shots of the sunflowers after getting some inspiration from another photographer's blog. 

I took this one a long time ago; before I was even into photography.  I'm not sure why I love this picture so much.  After all, it IS a dead sunflower, but I still think it is beautiful.  I think of someone who is lost, dead, and without Christ, humbled to the point of bowing their head to their Creator and receiving the sun (Son) shining down on them.  This picture is what made me realize that I wanted to do photography.  Not necessarily as a business, but for the purpose of getting myself in the habit of acknowledging God's beauty and worshipping Him all the while. 

This is the most amazing bread ever.  And my church bakes it :)  This loaf was made by my sister.  There's a long story that comes along with this bread, but that's something you should ask my pastor ;)

This picture was an amazing accident.  Naomi was hitting the balloon up in the air for me so I could try and get a picture of the balloon but I couldn't really see (the sun was too bright) and I snapped it and this is what I got (Well, after some editing)!

Greeeeen!

Random, I know... I played Yahtzee and was impelled to take a picture of the dice.  I think it came out well!

Waterfall into our pool.

Water drop on a pool float.  Vibrant.

You know that nest I took pictures of last week with the egg still in it and an unknown number of babies?  Well, here they are!!  This is the only one that would really poke its head out.  So cute!

Nice and cozy in 90 degree weather. I don't know how they do it. Especially when the Mama Bird comes and sits on them!

Same one as up there.  He moved around and was looking right at the camera :)

As if I wasn't lucky enough, we found ANOTHER nest! These babies were more lively, but smaller.  If you made the slightest noise, they would skyrocket up with their mouths wide open.

I told you they skyrocketed :)  Loooove this one!

  Wishing everyone a relaxing day off tomorrow and fun celebrating your freedom with your loved ones.  Hopefully next post will include firework pictures :)