Walking on Water

“But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” – Matthew 14:27-29

Have you ever heard Jesus prompting you to do something? Right now, I am kind of feeling like He has asked me to jump off of a cliff and I am suppose to trust Him to catch me before I am splattered all over the ground. He tells the disciples to ‘take courage’ and ‘don’t be afraid’, so why are we so different? Fear of failure, fear of what people might think if we fail, fear of disappointment, fear of discouragement, fear of not being good enough to follow the path you feel you are being led to follow?

I am not a writer, plain and simple. In school, math was my favorite subject. I loved algebra, trigonometry, pre-calculus, all those calculations! With a calculator and pencil in hand, I was one happy girl. There was a definite black and white answer for every problem. But English and writing? So subjective. The ‘right’ answer was in the red pen of the teacher. Couldn’t I just read my way through English?

So why I am telling you all of this? Because Jesus has asked me to ‘take courage’ and to ‘not be afraid’. He has placed on my heart a writing project that I really cannot say ‘no’ to. I really can’t give you a lot of details right now, because we are still working on some approvals, but it is a project that I am really exciting about. And for someone who is not a writer, that is saying a lot!

In the meantime, will you join me in prayer? I sure would appreciate it!

Capture Your 365

Another peek into my week of photos from the Capture Your 365 Challenge!

a pile of books

ISO 100, 50mm, f/5.0, 1/160 sec

Day 106 – A Pile: Here is a pile of books I have read through recently. I love to read and usually have a bookmark in at least three books at any given time. What book(s) are you reading?

beach sign

ISO 100, 200mm, f/8.0, 1/250 sec

Day 107 – A Sign: I love to see this sign hanging in my backyard in my beach retreat area!

wedding dress

ISO 100, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec

Day 108 – Passed Down: My wedding dress, which I am planning on passing down to my daughter. It took me six months to hand stitch all of those pearls and sequins onto the lace bodice. One day we will cut my dress all apart and create a beautiful new dress for my daughter to wear on her wedding day.

on the edge

ISO 100, 68mm, f/4.2, 1/3 sec

Day 109 – On The Edge: There are some days during our homeschooling week that we don’t even leave the house, which makes it quite interesting to try to find creative ways to capture these photo prompts. Then I thought, oh, the globe! So I captured a photo of our globe with Colombia just off center. One day, God willing, I would love to travel there and give Lina a great big hug!

What did you photograph this week?

Capture Your 365

This week, I have four photo prompts to share with you and a couple of bonus photos!

where you sit

ISO 100, 20mm, f/4.0, 1/1250 sec

Day 93 – Where You Stand (or sit): Okay, I added the sit part. Last week, I had already taken a photo of my bare feet and thought you all probably didn’t want to see another picture of my feet. So I changed this prompt up (which we are always allowed to do) and took this picture instead. I have been reading through one of Scott Kelby’s books on Digital Photography. It was a nice warm afternoon, so I poured myself some tea and enjoyed some time outside.

lemon bloom

ISO 100, 55mm,f/5.6, 1/100 sec

Day 94 – Brand New: There are so many blooms on my little Meyer lemon tree right now. I need to remember to take care of it so I can take advantage of all those fresh lemons!

unlikely pair

ISO 100, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec

Day 95 – Unlikely Pair: After the nice warm day we had, our spring weather changed again! Substituted the cold drink with a hot one and dreamed about a nice warm beach!

morning light

ISO 100, 22mm, f/4.0, 1/15 sec

Day 96 – Morning Light: One day, I want to be one of those crazy photographers that gets up before dawn in an amazing location with all of the right equipment to get that wonderful sunrise shot. Until then, I will be happy with all the beautiful light that comes through my east facing doors in the morning.

church in the city

ISO 100, 200mm, f/16, 30.0 sec

Bonus Photo Number 1: My husband and I were in the city (San Francisco) on Saturday night. So I brought along my camera and my tripod to try to get some long exposure night time shots. With some help from his co-worker’s husband, I was able to get this shot. The city had quite a bit of fog that night so I wasn’t able to get a lot of shots like I was hoping to.

car lights

ISO 100, 200mm, f.16, 20.0 sec

Bonus Photo Number 2: From the other side of the building, I was able to get this shot of car lights out on the street.

These night time shots were fun to take! I adjusted my settings, pushed the shutter, and stepped back. Now I am dreaming of a night time trip to Yosemite with a full moon. Can you even imagine the awesome pictures you can take of Yosemite at night?

Are you participating in the Capture Your 365? If you are, let me know so I can see what you are photographing in your corner of the world!

“Moms Raising Sons to Be Men” Review and Giveaway!

Can you imagine what it must be like to be a published author? I certainly can’t, but I know a woman who is. Let me introduce you to my pastor’s wife and friend, Rhonda Stoppe.

I have known Rhonda since we started attending our church back in 2003. She is a woman who is just a few years ahead of me on this wife/mom journey and someone who has always given me godly advice and practical wisdom for raising a son.

She recently just published her first book, Moms Raising Sons to Be Men, which I have had a chance to read and thought it was filled with the same godly advice for moms that Rhonda has been sharing with the women of our church for years. One theme that kept resonating with me as I read her book is that my relationship with Jesus is an important part of parenting. Our role is not to raise perfect children, our role is to raise children who learn how to love our Lord with all their heart, mind, and strength. We will make mistakes along the way because we are not perfect people. But being real with our children and asking for their forgiveness when we have messed up, will help draw our children into a relationship of their own with Jesus.

Rhonda shared answers to a couple of questions with me, and I want to share them with you.

Question: What brought you to write the book “Moms Raising Sons to Be Men”?

Answer:  I remember thinking what kinds of kids I would raise, and really, I hadn’t a clue. This book is about older women teaching the younger women. I share not only from my experiences, but from mothers from Scripture, mothers of great men from our history, and mothers from today who are fulfilling their role of raising sons to be men.

Question: What is the most important thing a mother can do?

Answer: To realize motherhood is a ministry God has called her to.Colossians 4:17 says, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” God never intended for moms to go it alone. Through His Word, He wants to equip you to train your children to love and trust Him. We strongly influence the character of our little boys so they become the godly leaders of tomorrow.

Now for the giveaway!

I have 2 signed copies of Rhonda’s book to giveaway! To enter the drawing, in the comments, share with me a Bible verse that keeps you going on this parenting journey.

Comments posted by Friday, March 29th at midnight Pacific time will be accepted for the drawing. Only Continental US residents are eligible for this drawing. Winners will be announced the week of April 1st, 2013.

Update 4/4/13: And the winners are tystacyk and Amanda C! Thank you so much for everyone entering this giveaway!

My continuing education…so to speak

“No one can get an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process.”

-Louis L’Amour

I love to read!

We have books in almost every room in our home, and I am usually reading at least three books at any given time. I have always loved to read. I was the one who would get in trouble for reading past my bedtime with a flashlight. The flashlight would be taken away, but that didn’t stop my. I would sit by window and dream of living with Laura Ingalls out on the prairie…

A few years ago, I was reading a blog post of a friend of mine where she talked about a commonplace book. In this particular blog post, Cheryl talks about the importance of investing in ourselves as wives and moms to be reading good books to encourage us to continue in this path we have chosen to follow.

I have now filled up two composition journals with quotes and Bible verses that have spoken to me over these past few years. I was just thinking today what a gift these will be for my daughter when she is old enough to become a wife and mother.

Have you read any good books lately?