South East Conference

Right now I am in Talladega, Alabama at the Shocco Springs Retreat Center for the South East YWAM Conference. After a 12 hour ride on an old school bus with no heat or ac and 38 people we arrived at this peaceful retreat! Because of the grace of God I somehow slept the WHOLE way only waking up for potty breaks...LOL. GOD IS GOOD! It is absolutely gorgeous here and IT IS FALL!!! I was so bummed that I was not going to get to experience the brisk fall air and turning leaves. BUT I get a taste of it here! There is a beautiful lake here surrounded by beautiful rolling hills covered with bright orange, red, yellow, and green trees! Ahhhhhh. The topic of the week is Acts One. We are striving to be like the disciples in Acts one so that we can experience God's outpouring of his Holy Spirit in Acts 2! I am SOOOOOO excited for all that God has to teach me!

Shallow Depth of Field

This picture is my shallow depth of field picture portraying intimacy with God. We were studying about how there are tons of ways that can draw us to a place of intimacy with God. Sometimes we are taught that the only way to find intimacy with Him is through reading the Bible, journalling, or being silent. All of these are GREAT things but God created us all to find intimacy with Him in different ways. The ones I related to the most were finding intimacy in the outdoors, caring for others, supernatural experiences with God, and being an activist for causes that are heavy on the heart of God. I find true peace and intimacy taking in the beauty of Creation and all the little details God placed in creation for our pleasure. My great grandfather Poppy built a vacation home for us in the Poconos Mountains by a lake. I have found so much peace sitting down by the lake soaking in God's Glory. So as soon as we were released to take intimacy photos I walked down to our lake and climbed up onto the rickety old dock and took this photo.

Self Portrait

These are my self portraits! I couldn't decide on one! This week's topic was Maturing in Christ. We have been learning how to grow from infants in Christ to mature men and women in Christ. We have been working and wrestling through confession, repentance of sins, and forgiveness. The first picture is me on a slide. It represents me because it is a colorful picture and to me color portrays JOY. I am filled with the joy of Christ! I also has someone prophesy over me that I will always be young at heart so I figured that a picture of me on a slide was appropriate. The second picture of me was fun to take. I was walking through the local town of Winter Garden and I walked past an old dance studio and I saw this picture of a dancer on the window. As I began to take a picture of it I realized I could see myself in the window. So of course in the middle of town I began hitting dance poses and snapping pictures of my reflection in the window. I am a dancer and I LOVE to dance in worship of my King. I feel like dancing is the only way I can worship God with my whole self!!!

Fast Shutter Speed

This is my first successful fast shutter speed picture also portraying the character and nature of God. As we studied the mysteries of God I decided to take a pictures of water rings on the lake to capture how the Gospel starts with one and spreads because it is living and active!

Slow Shutter Speed

This is my first successful slow shutter speed picture. We were to capture the character and nature of God. I really wanted to capture the wind, because it was when Jesus calmed the storm the disciples truly saw His authority and power as God. I am in awe of my Savior!

Restoration

This photo is my portrayal of restoration. This little boy's name is Christie. I have visited him twice in the Straseni Orphanage in Moldova. The second time I was there, as I cradled Christie in my lap, God spoke to me and said "you will be his mom." I am 100% confident that I clearly heard God because I would have never come up with that thought on my own. I have been praying for God to move the mountains that stand in the way of this becoming a reality. Mostly I have been praying for the laws preventing American from adopting children from Moldva to be removed. Two days before coming to Orlando I found out that the law had been removed!!! Now I am praying for and trusting that God will take care of all of the other details. I am praying that God will restore Christie's life and that He will bring Him home with me! Please join me in praying for Christie's safety and protection. Pray that He knows how much His heavenly Father loves him. Pray that God will let me know when, where, and how to move towards adoption him. Pray that God will supply the funds and all the details.

Here are my photos!

I am so sorry I have not updated my blog in a while! Things have been crazy busy here but INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL!!! I am learning so much! Here are my photos I have taken. We have a project each week that couples with the topic of the week. This picture was my portrayal of intimacy

This is our new class room!

We have class in ARMY TENTS!!! LOL I absolutely adore this place. How awesome it is to learn about Lordship while sitting in a sweaty army tent! I LOVE MY LIFE!!!

My Best Buds!

I LOVE these girls! On the left is Cara who is a picture of Joy! She is so much fun to talk to and laugh with. This girl has such a heart for Jesus it is contagious! On the right is Kimber. She is the one I got to know well first. She is incredibly wise and strong in her faith. She is also about my age so we love to come to each other when we need laugh about living with mostly 18-20 year olds...lol. I am amazed how God can give you such deep friendships in such a short amount of time! He is so good.

First Photo Project

The assignment was to take a picture portraying communication. This picture is of Jessie Anderson, our school leader, and his daughter. I wanted to portray the communication of a father and daughter relationship. I saw this scene through a crowd and had to capture it. It communicates so much comfort to me. I can remember being a little girl and whenever I was scared, sad, or broken I knew I could crawl into my daddy's arms and be protected. As a girl in her father's arms you can let down your guard and you know you a safe and loved. As and adult I know I can still crawl into my daddy's arms, but I can also crawl into my heavenly Father's arms and rest in safety, security, and love.

Class with John Bills

YWAM Orlando

This is YWAM Orlando! If you go down the road and turn right my home is right there. Then if you go further is is 198 acres of divinely arranged and given land. We are the very first class to ever stay on this new base. We are the pioneers with no air conditioning in high 90s heat, living in trailers, dirt roads, mosquitos, cockroaches, port-a-potties, and tight living quarters, BUT I wouldn't change it for the world!!! Prophecies have been spoken over this land years ago. Slowly they have been coming to pass. Now... over this DTS class new prophecies have been spoken that we are the class that the revival is happening in AND we are seeing it!!!! God is INCREDIBLE!!! He is speaking!!! His LOVE covers all!!! I am head over heals in love with my Savior!!!!! I will run this race!

(More to come...its laundry time!)

My room. My bed is top right.

First Picture EVER

Soooo I just learned how to turn on my camera!!! Progress! Thanks to my INCREDIBLE Uncle John I have a camera! He was amazingly generous and gave me his old DSLR camera! This was my first picture. Not that good but I am learning! THANK YOU UNCLE JOHN!!! This is a picture of a classmate Leah Griffis.

My home

This is my home for the next 3 months. Its a double wide trailer. 14 girls live here and I live in a room with 6 other girls. The community here is incredible! It seems like rough accommodations, but I LOVE it! I wouldn't want it any different.

Welcome to my blog!

Hey Everyone! God has been moving like crazy in my life over the past year and a half. It has been a WILD ride and I have loved every minute of it!!! Hopefully, I will have time to update you on all that God has brought me though. It all has lead me hear to YWAM Orlando. It is AWESOME knowing you are exactly where God desires you to be. More to come...trying to figure out this blog thing!