Wednesday, September 28, 2011
PICTURES OF MILLER
Baby Pictures
Friday, August 26, 2011
Addison Grace
Addison Grace is the daughter of Charlie and Beth Sizemore of Hideaway Lake. She is precious, and I really enjoyed taking her pictures and loving on her--And she smelled so good!!!! What a good and perfect gift from God to her parents!
Gordon Wedding
On August 20, Andy and I had the privilege of photographing a wedding for Akoshua and Des. Akoshua was a beautiful bride, and we really enjoyed the day being with her family and friends. That's what I love about doing weddings: You become friends with the people you photograph and get the opportunity to share in their anticipation for the big day, the nervousness when that day comes, and the emotions of family and friends who are there to celebrate with them. Hope you enjoy the shots and get an idea of what a great time we had.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Reflections of Joplin
Tonight I close out my postings about our Joplin trip. As I reflect back on the week, I know there are some things we left behind; We left behind dozens of frames filled with new photos of memories of new beginnings for families. I left behind all of my "what if's"; What if this was a bad idea? What if no one calls? What if I have to bring these frames back to those who bought them? What if I somehow misunderstood God, and we are not supposed to be at Joplin? What if it was not a good idea to bring Gracey? God revealed His plan in His time. He directed us to each individual and each family. Another thing we left behind is new friends. With some of the families it was as if we had known them all our lives. And the last thing that I know that we left behind is a city of people with hope.
As I discussed our upcoming trip with our friend Ken Brumley he put it so well. He said that we have seen so many pictures of the devastation and destruction. But this ministry would be different in that it would help bring the families hope of new beginnings. A photograph that said, "Here is our most prized possession-our family. We may have lost everything but we still have each other". And I heard those very words over and over again.
I think my favorite part of our week was when we handed the families their pictures and they replied, "What do I owe you?" or "But I don't have anything to give you." The richness of that moment, knowing that God provided a way to make this possible, would just well up inside of me.
We brought some things home with us too. The stories. Hearing the stories of each family and how they survived the tornado. Or how someone in their family did not survive. Hearing them say, "I know that God protected our family, because if we had not of gone here, or been there, or been on time here, we would have been killed."
Seeing the volunteers. Hundreds of them. They may be standing in the street holding a stop sign, or there would be a group of them working at what was left of a home and they had no idea who the owner was. It was really hard to tell sometimes if they had made any progress, or if they would ever finish.
The volunteers in all the churches working, sorting, directing traffic, being personal shoppers for families. We enjoyed talking to a youth group of 25 youth from a cowboy church in Commerce, Texas who were there volunteering wherever they were needed. We visited with them as they were eating their picnic lunch out of the back of their church van.
The many volunteer churches who had turned their buildings into hotels, cafes, medical clinics, drug stores, counseling centers, storehouses for food, water, Gatorade. And all of these services of course were free of charge.
Then there was the team of people from a church in Ft. Worth who had been on the corner of the parking lot of Forest Park Baptist church for 5 weeks cooking meals EVERY day so that people could eat. This group had arrived on the Thursday after the tornado. I talked to one 19 yr. old college student who had quit her job to come and cook meals every day in sweltering heat. She said she had not had a blow dyer on her hair or wore make-up for 5 weeks. They were also staying in a church. Talk about washing feet.....she truly had the heart of a servant.
As I came in our living room to sit down and write this, I had just had a shower and I said to Andy,"Isn't it nice to just come and relax in our home". I immediately felt guilty because I was reminded of all of those I had met who did not have a home anymore to do what my family and I were doing at this moment
Thank you friends and family for your prayers. Thank you for the frames, and the other donations that you contributed in support of this ministry. Thank you Graceworks and Green Acres Missions Ministry. And thank you to our God. Seeds of His love were planted and I know He will finish His work.
We finish with this scripture that the Lord gave Andy this morning, and it really sums it all up:
" May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
Blessings and Love,
Andy, Gina and Gracey
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As I discussed our upcoming trip with our friend Ken Brumley he put it so well. He said that we have seen so many pictures of the devastation and destruction. But this ministry would be different in that it would help bring the families hope of new beginnings. A photograph that said, "Here is our most prized possession-our family. We may have lost everything but we still have each other". And I heard those very words over and over again.
I think my favorite part of our week was when we handed the families their pictures and they replied, "What do I owe you?" or "But I don't have anything to give you." The richness of that moment, knowing that God provided a way to make this possible, would just well up inside of me.
We brought some things home with us too. The stories. Hearing the stories of each family and how they survived the tornado. Or how someone in their family did not survive. Hearing them say, "I know that God protected our family, because if we had not of gone here, or been there, or been on time here, we would have been killed."
Seeing the volunteers. Hundreds of them. They may be standing in the street holding a stop sign, or there would be a group of them working at what was left of a home and they had no idea who the owner was. It was really hard to tell sometimes if they had made any progress, or if they would ever finish.
The volunteers in all the churches working, sorting, directing traffic, being personal shoppers for families. We enjoyed talking to a youth group of 25 youth from a cowboy church in Commerce, Texas who were there volunteering wherever they were needed. We visited with them as they were eating their picnic lunch out of the back of their church van.
The many volunteer churches who had turned their buildings into hotels, cafes, medical clinics, drug stores, counseling centers, storehouses for food, water, Gatorade. And all of these services of course were free of charge.
Then there was the team of people from a church in Ft. Worth who had been on the corner of the parking lot of Forest Park Baptist church for 5 weeks cooking meals EVERY day so that people could eat. This group had arrived on the Thursday after the tornado. I talked to one 19 yr. old college student who had quit her job to come and cook meals every day in sweltering heat. She said she had not had a blow dyer on her hair or wore make-up for 5 weeks. They were also staying in a church. Talk about washing feet.....she truly had the heart of a servant.
As I came in our living room to sit down and write this, I had just had a shower and I said to Andy,"Isn't it nice to just come and relax in our home". I immediately felt guilty because I was reminded of all of those I had met who did not have a home anymore to do what my family and I were doing at this moment
Thank you friends and family for your prayers. Thank you for the frames, and the other donations that you contributed in support of this ministry. Thank you Graceworks and Green Acres Missions Ministry. And thank you to our God. Seeds of His love were planted and I know He will finish His work.
We finish with this scripture that the Lord gave Andy this morning, and it really sums it all up:
" May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
Blessings and Love,
Andy, Gina and Gracey
Friday
On Friday we left the motel late again because I spend the morning editing photos and uploading them. This would be our last day to take pictures. We went back to the aquatic park where we would meet a family to give them their photos. They were anxious to see them as soon as we got there. There was one photo of the baby that I couldn't get to fit on an 8x10 so I kept going up and finally got it to fit on a big poster. That was the first picture I showed them. When the the mother and grandmother saw the picture they both cried. They were so thankful for all of the pictures and then Cindy said, "But I don't have anything..." I said yes you do now, you have all these pictures. She then said, "but I don't have anything to give you." I told her that she wasn't supposed to give me anything. Just seeing their reactions meant more to me than anything they could have given me in return.
Later that afternoon at the same park Judy who we had met earlier in the week came by because she had Joplin t-shirts she wanted Andy and I to have. Judy is the neatest lady! She brought us the shirts and brought Gracey a little porcelain clown, which she loved. When Judy was 50 she decided to go back to school and get her teaching degree, which she did and then taught school, elementary school for I think 12 years!!! She is an awesome lady, so full of love and laughter. We are so much richer because of having met her and her daughter Marcy.
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Then Friday evening we had the opportunity to photograph a large family. They had all been effected by the tornado. They are a beautiful famiy, and such sweet people. The oldest grandaughter had just returned from camp, where she had given her heart and life to the Lord and been baptized. What a great celebration! We enjoyed our time with them so much, and were so blessed to get to know them.
Later that afternoon at the same park Judy who we had met earlier in the week came by because she had Joplin t-shirts she wanted Andy and I to have. Judy is the neatest lady! She brought us the shirts and brought Gracey a little porcelain clown, which she loved. When Judy was 50 she decided to go back to school and get her teaching degree, which she did and then taught school, elementary school for I think 12 years!!! She is an awesome lady, so full of love and laughter. We are so much richer because of having met her and her daughter Marcy.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday
On Thursday we left the motel late because I had spend the morning on the computer editing and uploading pictures. We decided to take Gracey to a nearby aquatic center that had a water play area. Before leaving the motel we had prayed that we would meet more families that we could minister to and photograph because we wanted to redeem our time. While Andy and Gracey played in the water I me two more families who had lost everything they owned in the tornado. Their stories are always so interesting and I have enjoyed listening to each one. We photographed one of the families on Thursday night and tonight we will photograph the other one plus one more.
Later Thursday evening we had the opportunity to spend some time with Mindy and her three children. They are staying at their church at this time until they can find other housing. Mindy is a single mom and we were so encouraged by her testimony and her faith in the Lord to take care of her and her family. She is completely at peace with what is going on in her life right now.
Tomorrow we go home and we have been blessed beyond measure to have the opportunity to meet and photograph the families that we have made friends with. Please continue to pray for these families as they go in with their lives.
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