Fireworks!

I just LOVE fireworks! Don't you?
My husband & I went to Chicago last summer, and their weekly fireworks display (over Lake Michigan) is far more amazing than any 4th of July fireworks I've ever seen! These images are from that trip, and I adore them! I love the fantastic lines, the vivid colors, and the contrast against the night sky! They're obviously not typical fireworks photos; they were taken with the camera in motion-and what fun that turned out to be!
Fireworks most often are a celebration, a rejoicing, in our country's independence and freedom. Our founding fathers wanted a place where we could be free to worship God, where no one would tell us we couldn't! Likewise, we were once ruled by sin. When Jesus died & rose again, He conquered sin's grip on us, and has given us the chance to be FREE! We're now free to do what's right in God's eyes. Romans 6:22 says, "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life." We're free now to depend on Jesus! How sweet is that!
On another note, we may not always be so free to worship Jesus in this country. Enjoy it while you can (dont' take it for granted!), and pray for the joy (which is our strength) when persecution comes (Matthew 5:11-12)

Daddy

Father's Day always seems to get left behind...Mother's Day gets all the attention, and all poor Dad gets is another tie. My dad won't even wear a tie. Ever.

So, in honor of my daddy, I've created a special treasury just for him--full of some of his favorite things! Check it out here! (Here's a sample of it)
...and I've made a special section in my shop for cards especially for Dad.

I've learned so much about my Heavenly Father from my dad. Every time I get myself into messes, it's always my Dad who's been there to help me out of them. Like the time my friend and I accidentally ripped the door off my car...and dad left the friends' house he and my mom were at to come rescue us...He is always serving and giving, and he never complains. He has such a soft spot for his kids! Not to mention his little grandson! You should see him!

One of my favorite things about my dad is that he's willing to admit when he's wrong and say he's sorry. Because of his example, it's so much easier for me to do so too.

I'm also thankful that he kept us in line. Hebrews 12:6-7, 10-11 says,
"'My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,

Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.'
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?...

For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

How good it is when the Lord disciplines us! His heart is to see us partake in His holiness and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness!

Ephesians 1:3-6 says,
"Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

Praise God, the Father who loves us with perfect, complete love, even better than our human dads can!

Flickr, Finally!

I now have a Flickr account! And it's full of photos you'll find in my shop, and ones you don't see in my shop anymore, and maybe even a few new ones! They're organized by sets off to the right side to make your search more logical :) I can make prints and cards from any of the images you'll find here. Just contact me (or leave a comment here)! Check it out!

Santa Margarita Lake

My husband wanted to go camping last year for his birthday, so we tried Santa Margarita Lake. I have lived on the Central Coast of California for about half my life. All that time I had no idea that this lovely place sat nestled among the hills only 15 miles away! What a remarkably stunning spot!
Fishing on the lake:
The view from our tent at sunrise:
Along the hiking trail:
Cards in my shop made from Santa Margarita Lake images:

Rusty Wheels

I know that not everyone will appreciate these the way I do...but humor me and look for a moment anyway :) It was a foggy morning on the farm, and I had noticed this old trailer with a flat tire, retired along the orchard. Each of its four wheels had been painted and repainted numerous time, and strangely enough they all looked completely different! The colors fascinated me, and these photos are almost abstract. In short, I am SO thankful that God created color, and for the way colors compliment and contrast each other. Now do they appeal a little more?
I've just posted two new sets of notecards featuring these very images! Click--here--to see!

Promontoire de Cafe

The smell of fresh coffee brewing makes me stop and stand still for a minute and just breathe in the scent. I love these images because they bring you up close, out into the fresh air, and wanting to share with a friend!

The Little Hills Rejoice!

Delightful Tulips!

I am delighted to present my three newest sets of tulip notecards!

"Sunlit Tulips"

"Pink & White Tulip Bundle"
"Stunning Tulips"

Learning Through the Lens

I'm amazed at the way the Lord seems to parallel life lessons with whatever stage I'm in photographically!
It started with the first black & white film classes I took; what struck me then was the CONTRAST. I loved to push my film so the blacks and whites were stark and clear. Shortly after this, I started Bible College and began to learn so much from God's Word! As I studied, I found that God is holy, set apart, and requires holiness from us (Leviticus 20:26, I Peter 1:16). Right and wrong became stark contrasts, and I was forced to sort through things in my own heart and life. I loved that (after a few open-ended philosophy classes) there is ABSOLUTE TRUTH, and I talked about it, and defended it. I also hurt some friends in the process.
I came to understand why it is so necessary to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), and how gentle our heavenly Father is when He teaches, disciplines, and directs His children (Hebrews 12:5-7, 11 and Revelation 3:19). At this same time (though I didn't put it together until later), I had begun to appreciate the different tones of black and white, which give an image depth and detail. Don't mistake me; these tones don't subtract from the blackest of blacks or the whitest of whites, just as speaking the truth in love doesn't make the truth any less absolute.
An intermission in Bible College gave me the opportunity to live out what I'd been learning in class. God took my lessons beyond mere words and academia to life! It was at this point that I began to explore COLOR photography; it was really the first time I'd even been able to see in any way but black and white, so trained was my eye. I found the color truly made my images come to life! This is when I started to see the parallels between God's lessons and my photographic studies.
I put my camera down for awhile, and have only taken it up again this past year. And with it, comes another lesson, maybe less technical and more artistic: My husband and I moved recently from the gorgeous California coast for life in the dusty, flat, often smoggy valley. With this move, God has given me a desire to search for the beauty here, amidst that which is commonly considered not beautiful (I've even heard it likened to armpits and hell!).
I realized--and this part is much more difficult--that I must find the beauty and rejoice in my circumstances, and in every trial I face! (I Peter 1:6-9) Because the beauty is there, the Lord promises it is! (Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.")

Here is a bit of the beauty I've found around my new home, and I pray it stokes you like it stoked me:

The almond groves in full blossom:

Rusty wheels on an old trailer:

Tulips from a friend:

The peach orchard in bloom:

Bent Tree of the California Pinnacles

From the Pinnacles of California! My husband and I went for a hike there last June hoping to be able to explore their famous caves. We got there a week after the wildflowers were in bloom, and a week after they closed the caves for the bats' "pupping season." There's a whole "maternal colony" in the Bear Gulch Cave. Seriously! That's what it says on the Pinnacles Website. Anyway, we still enjoyed the hike, and I came away with this image, which I love. It seems to me this tree is bowing before its Master:

winter through the almond trees

More proof that there is loveliness to be found in the valley! I went for a walk late one chilly winter afternoon (Me and four dogs), through the almond groves. You can see the buds, signs of hope for spring! (They are actually beginning to blossom now--photos of them soon!)

What is Love?

I am saddened by Valentine’s Day kitsch. It’s heartbreaking how our culture associates it with love. People throw the word “love” around like they’re playing catch with a baseball!
I hope to point out what God intended love to mean, and how very much He loves us:


LOVE COVERS ALL SINS ~Proverbs 10:12

BEHOLD what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! ~I John 3:1a

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ DIED FOR US. ~Romans 5:8

Greater love has no man than this: that he LAY DOWN HIS LIFE for his friends. ~I John 15:13

There is no fear in love; but PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because HE FIRST LOVED US. ~I John 4:18-19

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ~I John 3:16

Doesn’t sound too romantic does it? But how sweet it is to be so loved! My plea is that you consider then, His love for you, how you “love,” and what you mean when you say it.

My little children, let us not LOVE in word or in tongue, but IN DEED AND IN TRUTH. ~I John 3:18

Love suffers long (is patient)
Love is kind
Love does not envy
Love does not parade itself
Love is not puffed up
Love does not behave rudely
Love does not seek its own
Love is not provoked
Love thinks no evil
Love does not rejoice in iniquity
Love rejoices in the truth
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. (From I Corinthians 13:4-8)