Silence

Well, friends, it's time to let you know that I'm not going to be blogging much at all these next few weeks. My heart is recovering and what I need right now is rest and peace...and alot of time with the Lord. So that's where I'll be; not blogging. But I love you all and hope you all have wonderful days.

I wanted to share with you a couple pictures of the happy times that surrounded me in my time of pain. One is my best friend Emily newly engaged, and the second is my close friend Cherith with her brand new baby boy.

I ask that you think on the Lord's goodness and remember the hope He has given His children. Please pray for me as well, and the situation around me. There is always such hope, even in the midst of troubles.

"The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You and You give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." Psalm 145:13-16

Love, Caroline

I can't take it!! :)

Ok, sorry but I can't rock the modern look for too long...I don't know exactly why but it's too much for me. Ergo...NEW facelift is on the way! Hopefully it will be amazing :) I know you probably all think I'm crazy for changing this thing up so much. What can I say, I have a lot of free time at work. Speaking of free time, this is the last week of BluDomain's Happy Hour (a famous photographer Q and A time-- LIVE!) and Nate of "The Image Is Found" is on!!!!!! I'm eating dark chocolate and enjoying every minute of throwing questions at this famous photographer. Check out Blu's blog. It's on my link list over there on the left.

Also, school is starting up in 3 days which means I probably won't have as much time to blog. Someday when I get a laptop, I'll be able to blog during boring classes *evil snicker* Just kidding...who does that? I take my education seriously! :) But I will keep up with the blog to the best of my abilities. 18 hours this semester though...whew!

Did I mention that Megan is back? So exciting! Friends are awesome. We all watched High School Musical 2 again last night. Yay. :)

I will give you $1 so you can go download this song...

Man...what a day. Very surprising. Anyway, the main reason I'm writing is to share with you this amazing song that has helped me keep my focus on our sweet Savior today. It's Crown Him by Enter The Worship Circle (Ben Pasley) from his album Chair and Microphone. Go to iTunes and DOWNLOAD IT!! Just one song people...you can afford it. :) Ben's voice carries so much passion and emotion and the simplicity of the guitar and voice only are refreshing. The lyrics are the most amazing part. Here they are:



Listen all you unborn children, and those yet to be born again
A seed from the God of heaven… was planted here in the world of men
He grew up only to be broken, He grow up only to be buried
“Hold on,” I heard the prophet say, “hold on, that’s not the end.”

‘Cause when the cross went up, the curtain came down
And a hush ran across the stage, but when the stone was rolled back
All the angels came ‘round, and the earth stood up on its feet to say…

Crown Him Love, crown Him Alive and Well, Crown Him God of Our Salvation
Crown Him Lovely, crown Him Beautiful, He is God and we adore Him…



I love the reference to the curtain being torn in two. We have free and sweet communion and fellowship with the Creator of universe and it's details.

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Psalm 96:4-5

Hello Modern

Well, wow! What do you think of the blog overhaul? I've just gotten on this huge modern-loft-style kick. And these are the effects of that! It's funny to me that I had just posted something about HSM2. How can you go from 11 years old and wearing socks that don't match on purpose, to being 30, flirty, and thriving (with a killer sweet loft) in one day? I don't know...and I'm neither 11 nor 30. So...alright.

Hope you're enjoying it as much as I do!

What time is it?!

Yay, High School Musical 2! I just loved it and wanted to show my 21 year old enthusiasm towards this movie made for 9 year olds. :) It makes me want to get up and dance. Bill O'Reilly even had a little segment of it on "The O'Reilly Factor." I was so proud. He had a great thought though-- 17 MILLION households watched it Friday night on the Disney channel. Does that mean clean entertainment is making a comeback with kiddos? We'll see... :)

Meg gets back tonight!! So does Erin!! I'm so very excited! This morning, I drove past HSU and saw all the new lil freshmen running around playing "Campus Tag." I remember that like it was yesterday! It's wild that so many people will be graduating this year. But still, I'm really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this year. Father we trust you.

Hope you all have a good day!

Worship is More than a Song -Ross King

I don't think it's a bad thing at all that worship and music go together; I want to see the term worship applied to other things such as having a conversation with someone, painting a house as a service, reading a book, and tons of other things that can be done to the glory of God. I remember once one of my Dnow girls told me she wanted to be a Christian, but the thought of standing around worshipping God for the rest of eternity in heaven seemed boring. I knew what she was getting at, but kinda turned the question around on her asking if worship is just something that happens when music is playing. She completely got it as soon as I asked that. Then we talked about how awesome it is that almost ANYTHING can be worship, if it is done for God, in praise of God, or to further His name and glory. How awesome is that!? Worship is unlimited. If you are reading this right now, please! break out of the mold that says worship is music. Worship can be alot more than music...and what a gift that is!! The very next thing you do could be worship to God.

Warning: It gets sappy...

Wow, I've been neglecting the ol' blog! Haven't blogged in a week!

Summer is coming to a close and I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda happy. Summers are wonderful, but too much free time can get boring. And when I have free time I just think and think and think. Too much thinking can get boring too. :) I'm very ready to see friends I've missed and get back to my lovely little apartment (which I rearranged yesterday!).

So highlights since I left you hanging:

1. I went to Dallas for a weekend to see my brother and his wife and their puppy! It was good times had by all.
2. HSM2 Soundtrack came out! Can't wait for the movie. I know I'm a nerd...who cares?
3. Set up a date for our Girls Bible Study leaders to meet and share thoughts, pray, and worship our great God.
4. Found Carla Bruni, a folk singer from France and fell in love with her chilled sound! (Her french album is the best.)

Yep, that's mostly it! I told you...not much going on towards the end of summer.

Can I just share something sappy? One of my favorite things this summer has been the journey towards photography as a career for me. The thing that makes it so special to me is that now I take time to notice the smallest details of beauty throughout the day. It has made me so much more aware of how the Lord's hand is active in our lives. The tiniest thing, like leaves on a green tree, can make me smile and praise my God. And that makes my day so much sweeter. I want to be obsessed with Him. He is so good. Another little thing, I found a quote by Jeff and Julia Woods, a photography couple with FOUR kids, and it just made me happy. Quite honestly, (and this is the full Caroline here, holding nothing back) I wanted to pursue photography in the beginning because I could look cool. I had this mentality that it would be all about me. Terrible pride. But now I see things so much differently. The Lord has opened my eyes again to the fact that I am not here on earth for me, but I am here for Him, and to be his hands, feet, arms, heart, to those around me. I am no longer trying to build myself into an amazing person to be looked at, but I am in awe that the Lord might want to show Himself through me. I am only a vessel...and to be such I need to be empty of all my pride and self-centeredness.

Anyway, here's that quote: “As we grow together with our four children, we continue to learn that our most precious treasure comes from the relationships we share with family and friends. This is what feeds our passion for our profession. We count it a great honor to be given the opportunity to capture images that encourage our clients to embrace the relationships and the special times in their lives.”
–Jeff and Julia Woods

We Are Not Unaware...

Last night I was present in a conversation about getting cancer and all the troubles it brings and how most of us will get cancer at some point in our lives. Just so you know, I really do not enjoy conversations like that, and last night was no exception. I just wanted to go outside and look at the beauty of a night sky and get away from all this hard stuff of life. And that's ok.

But later I was thinking. This is life. Life is full, ever so full. Full to the brim with things like excitement and weddings to things like depression and divorce. I can't pretend the bad doesn't exist (although sometimes I'd like to try)...but I have been given a reason to be fearless in the face of it all.

The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

We would be foolish to avert our eyes to problems and trick ourselves in believing everything is dandy. And I am not going to find my "joy" in turning my eyes from the obvious, claiming naivety--THAT is asking for it. But what I am doing is looking straight in the face of the things- all the things- that come in my full life, acknowledging they are there, but knowing my God is greater. I am finding my joy in the truth that life is hard but God is greater.

There is so much joy in embracing the truth of the moment-- that God is going to provide in His divine manner, no matter what the situation. There is false control in averting our eyes from what is actually happening.

I'm not sure if I'm getting this across well...it is so deep in my heart. All our hopes and dreams of getting out of life predictably, easily, and on schedule are NOTHING compared to God's surpassingly more powerful and more beautiful plan for His children. We can't get our minds around that, it seems...but it is true no matter the way things seem.

When will we as Christians claim that bold promise God freely gives? How much will it take?

The World Spins Madly On

"You can spend your whole life working for something just to have it taken away." -Brett Dennen

My new music love is Brett Dennen. He's great to chill out to. This one line in his song, Ain't No Reason, stuck out to me. That line could seem really tragic, but it depends on your focus. It is a harsh reality, that everything on earth is subject to decay and disappearance. But that is all the more reason to pursue eternal things and hold lightly to the material things of the world. I keep coming back to that thought. This verse sums it up perfectly and completely:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mat 6:19-21

Our spiritual "things"- our soul, our salvation, our God-molded hearts, our pursuit of His heart- those things can never be taken away from us. No matter what. I think it's awesome that Brett Dennen and the Bible can even be saying the same thing there. God can use any and every means to get His message across. :)

You are a window the sun shines through

Hi everyone, I finally got to go take some pictures! I just went around town looking for cool details and textures. Here's some of my favorites that I came up with. I know it's not as interesting as people (and it wasn't nearly as much fun) but it's always nice to try something a little different...

I especially like the last one with "grace" written on the side of a dumpster. Just cool.

Today was also Cherith's baby shower! She's due in September. It's just crazy to see all my best friends growing up around me, getting married, having babies...amazing! Cherith is the first of all the friends from HS to have a baby! This was my favorite picture. Little baby shoes! Nothing is sweeter when it comes to baby stuff :)

One thing that was so amazing at this mother-daughter baby shower was all our moms. It was amazing to sit back and watch Cherith open gifts and then hear my mom and my friend's moms lean over and make remarks about how, "Oh, she'll use those plenty" and, "When Elizabeth was a baby, that was her favorite thing" and "When I was in labor with Karen..." The stories that have been cherished in their hearts came through not only their words, but their facial expressions- looks of motherly joy, the "knowing" look, and contented radiance. It was amazing and humbling at the same time. They had all been there, they knew the joys and the pain; they deserve such honor. Sometimes I get frustrated with my mom for "mothering" me when I'm 21, but I've begun to see things in a different light since this afternoon. Mothers are truely amazing.

Oh, the situations we get into :)

Soooo yesterday was a very interesting day. I'll start off with Thursday night: I decided after much back-and-forth-ness NOT to go to the photography seminar. It was just too much of a sacrifice monetarily, time wise (for massive amounts of extra hours put in at work to finance this thing), and school-wise (I'd have to skip a whole week! haha). Sad, sad, sad. But I was ok. I'm hardcore planning and saving to go NEXT year! The whole situation was almost kind of humorous. :) But then Friday, 10:00 came and registration went live. I couldn't help myself! I was sure they would sell out oober fast (they did, the seminar was booked within the first 3 MINUTES of going live...crazy), but I just had to register so I could get that email saying, "Sorry, but you didn't get in the top 40" and close the door knowing I had "tried." So I registered at 10:40. Ha. And then went about my day, finished work, got into my car to go home...

And then the phone rang.

"Hi Caroline, this is Kelly Clark. (AH!!! World famous photographer on the phone with me!!!!! :))Well, you didn't get in the top 40, but all the photographers decided we'd stay an extra week and have the same seminar over again with a different group of 40. You made it into that group! Do you want to come?"

Oh, the irony. What a situation. I'm pretty sure I'll never forget this haha.

Love, Caroline





P.S. No, I'm not going to the workshop. I just can't right now, but all in all it's a hilarious situation. I hope whoever gets my spot is blessed by it. I also hope you all know that I am thoroughly enjoying this funny situation...and am looking forward to next year like nothing else!

P.S.S. And Thursday night I got to just sit and play guitar for a while, figure out some new worship songs for the coming semester, and worship my amazing, loving, God...who does indeed have an awesome sense of humor :)

P.P.S.S "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare!" Psalm 40:3-5. That pretty much sums up my heart right now. So joyful :) Thank you Lord!

And we're going live...

Oh, good gracious. I haven't sweated a drop yet today and now I can't stop! (Maybe that was too much information for some of you, but if you know me at all, you should be used to it.) The Photography Seminar that I looooooong to go to is going live with registration TOMOROW! I CAN'T WAIT! But it's going to sell out within the first 10 minutes of being live. How nuts is that? There is a huge number of people who want to go and only 40 slots. It's first come, first serve, so you can bet your bottom dollar I will be on the website with my typing hands all ready to go at top speeds! It gives me butterflies just thinking about it! How exciting! I hope I get in, but I won't die or anything if I don't. :)

Ok, back to real life. Haha. I've been thinking alot about the Girls Bible Study that Meg, Kassie, and I lead. With a new semester coming up soon, we'll be starting up a new season with the Bible study as well! I'm excited about planning stuff and following the lead of our amazingly creative God. :) I'm also trying to get together a new set of songs for worship. It's awesome. I love getting to pick out songs for worship and surrender that area to the Lord. We don't know what kind of study we are going to do...last semester was more like a share time where whoever felt led would "teach" or share something God had placed on her heart. It was great, but this semester, I think we are headed into an actual study season. I'm heartily glad. I need it.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated on both things. Love, love, love to you all!

Hold Lightly

Knowledge means nothing unless it is put into practice...Here are some verses and thoughts that have made a huge difference to me today.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world...The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." I John 2:15, 17

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Mat 6:24

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. -Jim Elliot.

I've had ants in my pants or something spawning me on in this race trying to keep up with earthly possessions. I mean I have been freaking out. I admit it- I've held on to the things of the world with a death grip. And the tighter I hold, the more things get out of control. Jesus offers so much peace and we turn Him down for...what? I do not know...but I do it all the time. I want to follow the Voice full of untamed splendor and persistent beauty.

Sweet Jesus forgive me. Be so near. Thank you for this realization, help me put it into practice so that Your name may be praised and honored. Oh how much I love you. Clarity, Lord, please give clarity and rest. Amen.