Happy New Year! Wait, are we over that already?! Well, you know me, I like to milk a holiday for all it is worth. First shoot of the new year was with the wonderfully fabulous Sim family.
Ya know... looking at these pictures you can't really tell how cold it was. But it was cold and I had to ask them to hold their breath while I was actually shooting so they weren't covered in breath fog!
Looky there! I even got some snow!! It may have been blowing off the trees from earlier in the day, I can't be sure, but either way it was beautiful!
I was really crossing my fingers, hoping we would have lots of the fluffy white stuff but you can't help loving this sunshine.
Love this family! Thanks guys!!
www.3wishesphotography.com
cija@3wishesphotography.com
Before I go... I have to share a story. Something that happened earlier in the day before my shoot.
I am a firm believer of writing things down, so I don't forget and I know some of you ask me to "write more" personal stuff in my blog so this is for you...
Yesterday morning I was praying about what book of the Bible the girls and I should tackle next. Immediately the book of Ezra popped in my head, to which thought “Umm… no, I couldn’t have heard that right. Maybe the Gospel of John?”
“Ezra.”
“Why do I keep thinking that? We could just do 2 Corinthians since we just finished 1 Corinthians.”
“Ezra.”
“Maybe we should tackle an OT book, maybe Esther.”
“Ezra.”
“Seriously!?! Ezra?!? Okay. We will do Ezra.”
I did some background study, and dug into the first chapter. An hour or so later I was ready to go through it with the girls. We talked about some pretty amazing things. Including the prophecy in Isaiah that names King Cyrus by name 150 years before he is born! Minds blown! We also talked about how not all the Jews returned to Jerusalem, just those who's hearts God moved. Great conversation and Bible Study. As we wrapped up, I encourage the girls to take a few minutes and journal some application, what were they taking with them? Explaining that we don’t want just head knowledge but heart knowledge… relationship.
The night prior, I got a text from a girlfriend who travels to Nicaragua every summer. Seven or so months ago I asked if this trip might be something Melia could tag along on. Melia had expressed an interest in going on a Compassion International trip, and I thought this might be a nice alternative with someone we know and trust. She was texting to let me know it is time to decide and put down a deposit if Melia was still interested in going. I wasn’t sure if Melia would still be on board, I felt like the trip might have been when she was thinking about a career in the medical field and she talked about serving as a doctor/nurse in a 3rd world country. Her career aspirations have since changed so I just wasn’t sure. So Rod and I talk to her, told her to be praying about it and to put herself in a place where she would most likely hear His answer… in the Word. Rod also asked her to be thinking about how she could raise the money to go.
After our morning study, I was putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher when Melia came up and said, “I going to Nicaragua.” When asked for further explanation she said that the Lord spoke to her through our morning study. Was she going to be like the few that returned to Jerusalem to do the hard work of rebuilding the temple or be like the many that stayed in Babylon because they are comfortable where they were? She didn’t want to let fear keep her home. As for the money she would need to raise? If the Lord moved the hearts of the Babylonians (unbelievers) to give the returning Jews gold and silver to rebuild the temple then she could trust that the Lord would move in hearts of people to help her as well.
I know that the Lord is amazing and that the Word is equally amazing but I am always blown away with how He works to answer our pleas for direction. I am writing this down, so that when I start freaking out about my 14 year daughter getting on a plane and flying out of the country to a strange land I can come back and read this and know that the Lord is in it and I’m not going to stand in His way.
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