only happens once a year,

  Birthdays, every kids favorite day. its adults favorite day too, until they hit about 29. 

but i say Greater things are yet to come! 

i  love birthdays. i love my nieces and nephews birthdays. they ask about it all year long and when it finally comes they are so excited and don't know what to do with themselves.

Caleb was so shocked at all his gifts, he kept asking "mom is this mine? i can take it home?".

 kids. birthdays. love.

hugs all around

where does the time go...

wow..july was my last blog update. how sad that i stopped blogging. life has been pretty crazy, amazing, and beautiful. i have pictures to prove it!
and where might these pictures be you ask?? all in different folders on my computer, waiting to be edited, organized and posted. so if you bear with me, with a lot of hard work, creativity, and lots of coffee and snacks i will go back into 2011 and post the pictures of some of the awesome memories i captured.
 of course not all will  be on here. some moments cannot be captured through a lens but simple must stay in our hearts and minds.

2011 was quite a year...but guess what people?

Greater things are yet to come. 

that statement still blows my mind.

so my dearest peoples. let the organization begin!
i shall leave you with one of my favorites from this year. just so you come back with i pull my life together...

now this picture may not be the most creative, the best angle, or the most interesting. (it was captured by the self timer on my camera, standing on top of a cardboard box for crying out loud). 

but this picture can literally sum up the entire 2011 year for me. 

2011 started with a beautiful god given friendship with Amanda

and continued on with the beautiful God given friendships of theses amazing people who are pictured. 

the saying goes, "you are who your friends are".

well if i could be half of what theses incredible people are, then my life would be of worth.

everything that happened 2011 was shared, experienced, prayed over with one or more of these beautiful people. 

thank you Jesus for them, they are a true blessing. 

and this water...

symbolizes the baptism that saves you also.
not the removal of dirt from the body
but the pledge...1 peter 3:21

this was one of the most beautiful and most memorable baptism i have ever attended. it rained so hard this fine first saturday in june and yet this did not stop my beautiful church family.
so many people showed up to support and pray over all the people who made a covenant with God that day.
it was a beautiful thing to see.
the picnic was moved to church afterwards, and that too was amazing.

the rain was an added some spice to the photos. 

(nazar hurt his foot the day before playing volleyball,but our brothers were there to give him a hand)

life is art.

im in a bit of a runt.

in a bit of a jam.

stuck.

thinking. pondering. waiting.

need inspiration, only to realize 

its EVERYWHERE.

art is everything.

art is everywhere.

art is now.

i need creativity to be able to breathe.

i need to do theatre to be able to function

i need to fuel the passion

i need to dream again.

i need to believe.

its time for me to fly..

(special thanks to an amazing women & friend, Allison Keith Shoffner,

this women always puts some creative juices in my life) 

Expecting the Unexpected

                a couple months ago i met Amanda's mom Julie. This women is amazing. She tells me i am her 20 years ago, a compliment i will strive to live up to. and Julie came to our youth service at MGC. She loved it. she met our friends, and loved them too. Julie works at a Christian elementary school by Angels Camp as a music teacher. She invited the boys (jimmy,zanko,dima,mark,andrey) to come lead chapel at their school one time. 

she had never even heard them play. this women has great faith :D

so we all talked about it for a couple weeks. they guys were saying how cool it would be to go, talk with the kids, encourage them, play some songs. no big deal right?

wrong.

God has a way of using us the most when we least expect it.

to us it seemed so simple. lead worship with some songs. i said a poem. talk with the kids. no big deal.

except for when these kids thought the band was the most amazing thing to hit their school. 

they asked for autographs, and all talked to each other about "how cool these guys are!" 

the were like the Christian jonas brothers. : D

one of the directors said after 20years of the school, all the guest speakers, all the bands, he never felt the anointing of the Lord as it did that morning. 

a teacher at the school was recently going through a really hard time. her son was in rehab & it wasnt going well. she was the only one who could talk to him, who he would listen too.

she was really down, and struggling with all this but she later told Julie she felt so blessed and encouraged by the worship. she said she felt like she could face this trial & she knew God was on her side.

the impact the band had on the kids is priceless. 

i remember being 11 years old, in elementary school, when a traveling theatre group came and performed. i told myself that day i wanted to be on the stage. i was inspired. 

and i know so many kid at this school were inspired as well. 

God uses us.

He uses our talents.

we just have to let go, and let God.

julie. i love this women.

kids worshiping. check out the girl in the front. 

they practically got mobbed

planners, shoes, hands, they wanted everything signed.

they guys said their hands were sore the next day.

the 7th grade girls were the shyest : D

pictures are moments captured.

these we did about last summer, when Tanya was pregnant with Katya.
im babysitting Katya this morning and remembered these pictures. so i thought to put them on the blog.

and heres the darling little girl now. this girl is always so happy. its amazing. i love her so much!

kids

you gotta love them. they just melt your heart. kids are so totally amazing. they are so honest, so innocent, so amazed at the world. its crazy to think how much they discover everyday.

kids love with all their hearts. they don't have any bias, no judgement, just love.

sure they argue, get mad, but then they are your best friend again in 5mins. they don't bring up past mistakes, past regrets. heck, they cant even remember them. they don't stay mad longer then half an hour, and they are always better after a nap.

no wonder Jesus told us to be just like them. we can learn a lot from kids.

reminds me of a show i was in my freshmen year, "All I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten"  (by Robert Fulghum)  http://www.peace.ca/kindergarten.htm   that play had a lot of truth in it. imagine how different the world would be if we honestly shared, treated others they way we wanted to be treated, if we said sorry when we hurt someone, cleaned up our own messes. such simple things yet so deep and true. 

so people, lets be a little more simple. love more judge less. forgive more, regret less.
lets take an example from these precious beautiful creation of God and take naps, they help us deal with life :D

(shout out to my niece, Leah, Happy 5th birthday my beautiful Princess-Barbie-penguin-girl) 

“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.  I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

Luke 18:15-17