Grandma

Last weekend I went to my Great Aunt and Uncle's to take some portraits for them. My Great Uncle just finished writing a book about his father and his stories and needed a portrait for the book's inside flap.

I'm glad I work at a assisted living facility because they also asked me to take head shots of them for when they die. As they so delicately said, "Well, when one dies and at the memorial they have a big picture of the deceased at the entry." And my aunt and uncle are not a photo family. It was the first time I took photos for at a memorial.

Luckily, they also had me take some portraits of them together for Christmas cards which was much more pleasant.

Afterwards we went back to their house and my grandma came over (she lives across the street from them). We all sat around and talked about who passed at their place and I talked about the people who passed at mine. It was very interesting to hear them talk about death so candidly but I guess at their age it is a normal topic.

It reminded me of going and seeing the movie, "Up" with my best friend and her grandma (who lives at my work). When the main character's wife passed away I was in tears. I thought the movie was so sad. . . and happy but the beginning was so sad but my friend's grandma didn't think anything of it. I think she even fell asleep a bit. :)

Since my grandma was there I thought I would take some pictures of her and me. Here are the pics from that day.

Laodicea

Today at church I heard an amazing sermon on the church of Laodicea and how they lived lukewarm. It was an amazing sermon talking about how Laodicea was a wealthy city. It was known for many things like; clothing, medicine, and wealth. But the Lord tells them that they are lukewarm because of their comfort. How they are poor, blind, and naked spiritually.

It really convicted me and made me realize how lukewarm my life is and how easy it is for me to live in comfort. I don't want the "cancer of indifference" to take hold of my life. I want to live passionate and fully.

I want to live with Christ in the center of my life.

"light without sight is perpetual night"

I've decided to take a break from the ever time consuming Facebook. I could be doing so much more with my time then "staying connected" with people.

I want to change, grow, and center my life, not on myself, on God.

I want to stop living my life for my feelings but for my convictions.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"

Rev. 3: 20-22

Weddings

Today, I photographed a wedding in the Salem area. It was raining all day till it came time for the wedding and pictures. We were sooo blessed with great weather and light for photos. Here are some pics from that wedding and another.

Joke of the week

So there was this boy, Chris, who at a young age injured his eye and had to have it removed. His father being a wood worker made him a wooden eye. He sculpted it and painted it so that it would look as realistic as possible. However, growing up was still hard. All through school Chris would get teased for having an eye made of wood.

Senior year of high school Chris decided to finally go to prom. At prom he also had plucked up the courage to ask someone to dance. He had nothing to lose since he would be graduating soon and leaving high school. Well, he looked around the room and his eyes fell on Lani who happen to have a hump on her back. Lani, at the same time, too decided to ask someone dance with her for the same reasons as Chris.

She looked up and they locked eyes. Chris walked across the room and said, "would you care to dance with me?"

Lani replied, "WOULD I! WOULD I!"

He angrily said, "At least I'm not a HUNCH BACK!"

More jokes to come.

CNA

I passed my CNA test!!! I am officially a CNA now! Whoohooo!!! Can't wait to take my CNA2 so I can work in hospitals!!!

"Ambition"

"Ambition"

Fear hides behind my heart in the darkness

Not allowing it to fully grasp my heart or mind

In fear that fear itself will crush my hopes and dreams

But in pushing forward fear will always lag behind

Weird dream

Last night I had a weird dream. I can't remember the beginning but I was in some HUGE building. . . like a high school but 10x's bigger. It also had a movie theater.

I'm not sure why but there were huge animals roaming the halls. The animals weren't mean but they were big and none of the animals were recognizable as real but they could have been prehistoric.

I don't remember the exact progression but I ran into a couple that I grew up with since I was a child. Sherrie and Dave's daughter, Kate, was a childhood friend. I ran into them at the front of a movie theater. I could see the food counters and it was pretty packed. We were talking when all of a sudden we see some person flying through the air. and we see something green and tentacle like shoot out and grab another person. Fear shot through me but so did that feeling of nails on a chalkboard.

Sherrie said, "I don't want to be near here." And started to take off up some stairs but the stairs just lead us up and then down in practically the same spot. People were rushing to get away too. We ran and I remember kicking out a plastic square of a dividing wall so we could just get to the other side. It was all rushed in my dream. I called my parents and ended up finding them and some other people from my parent's church. We all ran up and found some secluded room that seemed safe.

We stayed in that room for awhile. It had a bathroom and running water. There was a group of people in that room who were from Africa and played the bongo drums and danced. I remember the night before we left the room they started to play the drums and dance. We all joined in.

The next day we packed up all our things. I don't know how we knew the monster was gone. We never fully saw it and we never heard anyone tell us it was gone. I packed up my backpack which was abnormally large. I packed up a My Little Pony cup, some disney toys, and other childish trinkets.

I don't remember what happened right after that but it then switched to a movie theater. . . the same one that the dream started out in. I ran into my friend Aubrey who was going to see some movie I didn't want to see. As I talked to her I looked up on the wall and there was poster of a new movie coming out. On the poster was the green monster with the long tentacles that had started the fear in my dream.