Dear World: Update

Dear World | the website

click on it. go there.

Follow Friday | RevMedia

Follow Friday recommendation:
Revolutionary Media (RevMedia)

What happens when you see a homeless person on the side of the road? We've all felt that moment of tension— the emotional freeze, the millions of questions that swirl around, the guilt that follows, the discomfort because you just don't know what to do.

RevMedia was started in 2007 with the goal to affect change in the world through artistic media and messages of hope, encouragement, and vision. In early 2008, a group of young artists partnered with RevMedia and spent two months in Portland Oregon to find the answer to questions relating to homelessness. The result was a beautiful, full-color book— Dear World.

Full of stories, examples, thoughts, inspirations, and practical application for the body of Christ, Dear World also contains excerpts of letters written by the street community to the world. Readers meet people like Miranda, a former meth addict who has found healing and restoration, and Jeremiah, a young man who, like many Americans, misjudged the economic stability and lost everything. Stories are paired with portraits, and readers are given an eye-opening view of what life is really like on the street... and how we can help people stay off it.

RevMedia has reached the 2 year anniversary of this project... and are releasing Dear World to the public, absolutely free.



Are you ready to set aside the tension and confusion associated with seeing the homeless? Are you prepared to be the hands and feet of Christ? RevMedia offers this invitation.




On Saturday, March 13th to April 11th, join us in a campaign to affect the homeless in love.

It's a simple process:
1. Download— Dear World and tell your world about it. Retweet the link, or place it in your Facebook status.
2. Do Something— After you read Dear World, do something to help the homeless. The ideas are endless. Take a homeless person to lunch and hear their story. Write your senator, or volunteer at a soup kitchen. The goal is the same— get out of your comfort zone and help someone else.
3. Document your story— Use your own words and photos, then email them to info@TheRevMediaProject.com. RevMedia will post all the stories that come in to encourage and inspire others to affect this issue.
4. Discover— RevMedia is offering prizes to three of the stories received These three stories must encompass a heart of reaching out as Christ's hands and feet. The 3 prizes include: a Hard bound copy of Dear World [valued at $65], a softcover of Dear World [valued at $45], and two Dear World posters [valued at $20].

Now is the time, world. To read. To listen. And to act.

See the Need. Be the Change.
______________________________________________

To learn more about RevMedia, and to get involved:

Visit their website: therevmediaproject.com.
Subscribe to their blog: therevmediaproject.blogspot.com
Follow them on twitter: twitter.com/rev_media
Become their fan on facebook: [ click here ]
Buy cool stuff from the RevMedia Store! cafepress.com/Rev_Media

And download Dear World on Saturday!!
dearworld.squarespace.com

Anna | sneak peak

full photo shoot coming next week.

One Thousand Gifts

Several months ago I wrote a blog post about Ann Voskamp— farmer's wife, mother of six, writer, lover of Jesus. Ann's blog has had a profound impact on my life, for many reasons. It gives me the chance to stop and breathe, to listen and wait, to ruminate on time spent and love given and worship in the every day living. Her words turn my heart back to the Father God, the One who knows my inner workings and outward walkings better than any other being. Her blog is all about seeking peace and beauty in the midst of the our busy lives— about seeking and finding Christ.

Awhile ago, Ann began a list of One Thousand Things, daily gifts from God, daily displays of His loving watchcare for His children, daily gifts of grace. What started as a simple list turned into a heart attitude, and then into a Gratitude Community, a group of individuals also committed to listening for God's whispers of love and His hand of grace extended.

I have taken up this challenge, and I am watching my heart change.

Yesterday, as I ran my fingers across the walls of my soul and pondered the difference just one month can make, I read through my list of One Thousand Gifts. I read moments of frustration set down and grace accepted. I read joy and smiled at the memories. I read steadfastness and character, and patience has its perfect work. Allow me to share a few with you.

• The Word of God that covers my pain, and reminds me to forgive and love others.
• That my life hasn't turned out as I expected, and that God doesn't give me what I assume He will.
• A God who hears, and holds, and understands, and acts.
• Uncertainties that prove God's loving care for my heart.
• Sweet, hard truth covered in sweet, firm grace.
• Time back at the Dallas Ministry Center, a place I once called home. Running my hands over doors and walls I once knew... thankful for the place, thankful that I am no longer there.
• Riding in Mandy's Mini Cooper. Getting lost in Mandy's Mini Cooper. Laughing and listening and sharing in Mandy's Mini Cooper.
  
• "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" isn't limited to physical death. My death to self is precious, too.
• Twelve-year-old brothers and cowboy jokes. Laughing at things I once thought funny.
• Counting 19,000 images in the last twelve months. 19,000 attempted grasps at beauty. 19,000 shutters opening and closing again, letting in just enough light. 19,000.
• Watching (and laughing at) my friends in love.
• Bright stars and the promise of tomorrow.
• The Valley of Vision, and all the truth it speaks.
• Peace about new places. Joy about the possibilities.
• Words of truth, notes in harmony, my sister's voice, and a congregation's soul joined with mine. Sunday morning worship.
• A table in the window of my favorite café in town.
• Waking moments soaked in prayer. Thoughts that come and crowd and recede in silence. Growth inside and fear inside, and Christ covers all.
• Counting 25 years of life, and 20 years as God's child.
  
• Coffee with a friend. Stark truth, stark honesty, stark love for one another. History and sweetness, and faith in God's hand at work.
• Entering new chapters and closing the door on old ones. Running my hands down the roots and bark of my own history... and finding abundant grace there, as well.
• Seeing my once-had-dreams on a silver platter, and realizing with joy that God has changed my heart. My desires are not what they once were.
• Hyperion Espresso's americanos. Always the same, always delicious, always perfect.
• Thai coffee.
• Mom's sweet, firm words confronting pride inside of me. Learning to walk humbly with people as I learn to walk humbly before God.

Want to join in? Become a joy finder? Consider joining the Gratitude Community— just jump in with your own list.
How to begin your own 1000 Gift List :|: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life

Oh, the words

Oh the words, the words.

I sit wrapped in a blanket on my couch, staring at my cup of tea, rolling the pen back and forth between my fingers, touching the pages of my journal.

Where are the words?

It feels like months since the words poured out my heart on creamy pages, months since the pen chased thoughts over lines and through feelings.

But it hasn't been months. Not even days or weeks. I've smoothed the pages of that journal before drawing black ink across them, every single day. I've recorded feelings and moments on computer documents, every single day. I've spoken truth, and spoken feeling, and spoken the words that needed to come out, every single day. So why does it feel so long ago? Why do I feel so distant from my own soul?

Maybe it's not the words that I'm looking for. Perhaps it's the thoughts. Perhaps it's the depth, the questions, the wrestle that precedes the peace. Yes— I've written every single day. But have I reflected back every single day? Have I dug down to the inner parts, the hidden parts, and faced the sweet and the ugly buried deep inside of me?

Yes. I have. Somewhat. But not with words. And I can tell.

I go back, flipping through pages, scrolling through documents. When was the last time I did this? I trace my fingers along the walls of my soul until I find what I'm looking for— the last time I remember putting my wrestled-with-growth into words.

Snow and Grace. The reminder to accept God's outpourings, and the challenge to remember that it is sweet.

…

I stop and marvel, a quiet laugh escaping my lips as I shake my head in disbelief. That was so, so long ago. So much has happened since that day, just one month past. It feels like years, in many ways, and sometimes it feels like just a breath away. Much has changed… some things that can find words, some things that are still growing and shaping inside of me.

Just one month. A month full of many things. A furry of activity and action, all quiet, all beneath the surface. Questions soundly answered. More questions quietly raised, but asked in faith instead of fear. Closing the door on good chapters of life, and opening the door to better ones. Blessings counted over and over, grace and gratitude becoming new themes.

Again, I marvel. The soul's growth knows neither rhyme nor reason, but rests securely in the hands of a tender Father, Lord, and Lover.

Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in Thee, the divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells. —Valley of Vision

He has led me well.

Today I feel...

perfectly content

Brandon & Kathryn | Couple Portraits

Meet Brandon & Kathryn. They are young, they are in love, and they are living life to the fullest where they are right now. Married in October, both in school and working, and now expecting a precious little baby, life is sort of crazy for them right now. But they are some of the sweetest, kindest, most God-centered and God-honoring people that I know.

Kathryn turned 21 the weekend before last, so my sister and I drove to Frederick to spend the day with them... and to do an amazing snowy portrait session for them. I love you guys, and I'm so glad that we're friends!



Brandon's the kind of guy that keeps everyone laughing, if at all possible. My cheeks and sides hurt by the end of this shoot!




Kathryn and my sister Amie are best friends, and are a lot alike. One of their many similarities is the ability to pose at the drop of a hat, without any coaching. Totally makes my job easy!


I think I have the best job in the world. I get to take happy pictures of beautiful people in love. Could life get any better??




We had to climb around locks and chains and under bars to get onto this bridge, but it's where Brandon proposed, so it was worth it.


Brandon's got some amazing blue eyes. Just like the sky that day.


And Kathryn has the most stunning green eyes, ever. I'm sure their baby will have amazing eyes, too.


Girl, you are gorgeous!!


Aren't they precious?


I couldn't have been happier about the light that day. Warm, bright sunlight reflecting off snow. It made my heart happy.








This snow was at least 2 feet deep. There were times I sunk to my knee without touching the ground. These kids are brave.


And romantic.


And adorable.


Brandon's tough guy shot.


Which melted to a smile when he looked at his wife.


Because she just makes him do that, you know.


Because they're in love, of course.


And they like being in love.


And we're all excited about the little one on the way.






Of course, we had to get a Kathryn+Amie picture. Best friends, of course.