My what a decade it has been!

January 1, 2010

Reflections on the last decade...

When I think back on all the change this past decade and what has happened in my life, it is nothing short of phenomenal.  For some reason, maybe I'm more reflective, or in a different mind set but this past decade seems to be a huge one in our books! 

This time ten years ago, I was a freshman in high school - the 1999/2000 schol year. 

I was attending Duncan U. Fletcher High School, the same school that my mom attended.

On September 11, 2001 I was a Junior in High School.  I sat in Mrs. Furnans Advanced Placement United States History class as we watched what was happening in New York City. I still have the quiz I took in that class, on that day - my grade was a 25%.  We were taken aback by what could happen on US soil.

I decided to do an oil painting, thought painting with oil would be different.  The results -

I also decided to take up writing on rice...yes you read that correctly! To date, the most I have written on a single grain of rice is the ten commandments, one commandment per grain.

We took a family vacation to Maryland...we have all changed so much since then!

Before I graduated from high school, I learned about how it felt to lose a techer who provided so much hope and inspiration during a difficult time in my life. She was an amazing lady. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer.  I will always remember the hope she gave me.  For at the same time she was diagnosed with cancer, so was a close family friend.

I graduated from high school in 2003, with honors!  It was a happy time for my family.

Before graduating we signed our name on the rock in the courtyard at school-

I went on to pursue my education at the University of North Florida. I wanted to be a teacher. After a few semesters there, I re-met Dennis.  Dennis and I 'dated' in seventh grade - back when dating means nothing more than holding hands, maybe getting together on the weekend - but even that hardly ever happened.  So we were 'dating' in seventh grade, summer came and I never heard anything from him.  He will tell you to this day, that was the biggest mistake he made!  We started talking three days before Easter in 2004.  He came over for Easter dinner with the family, and I guess you could say the rest is history!  We got engaged in October of 2004 and told everybody on April 1, 2005 we were getting married on April 15, 2005!  Ok...so somewhere in that one year time frame of us meeting, I moved out of my house, moved away from my parents...the steps out that front door that night that 'things went down' are probably some of the hardest steps I've had to take my entire life....I also had to learn how to wash my own clothes...and of course I had to get a tatoo!

Dennis and I got married on April 15, 2005 at Jarboe Park in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  Afterwards we set out to Orlando - for a weekend get away.  When we returned we began our search for our new home.  We ended up in Pine Barren Apartments, a studio apartment.  It was very small, but it was a place to call our own!  Shortly after moving in to the apartments we went to Dennis' brothers house, and somehow ended up taking his dog home with us.  That became our first 'baby' - his name is Buddy and he is a boxer mix. At this point we worked on rebuilding the relationship with my parents.

We also traded in Dennis' Hyundai Tiburon for a Toyota Corolla, lower monthly payment and a more family friendly car...

After about a year in a studio apartment with a dog, we decided to get a one bedroom apartment, nearly tripling the amount of living space.  We moved from apartment number 206 to apartment number 602...Three months after living there we ended up having to move out over an altercation with a fellow neighbor who insisted that we were telling buddy to get the cats...with no where to go we ended up moving in with my parents....Needless to say my parents helped us find a place to live, quick!  Their neighbors across the street had a house next door that nobody was living in. If we moved in, cleaned it out and painted it we could live their six months rent free.  We enjoyed living close to my parents and with the nice, three bedroom house and half acre back yard we decided to add another canine companion to our home.  Her name is Piper and she is a shepherd mix of some kind that we got from the Humane Society!  We took both dogs to the beach often, wore them out and they loved getting out!

My mom had continued school, when I quit school.  She graduated, with honors and was ready to teach...only problem - there was a hiring freeze, little did she know she would have to be really patient with waiting for a job. My dad was so proud of her!

November of 2006 we found out that we were pregnant.  Our baby was due on 07/07/07...he joined us a little early and was born on June 16, 2007. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. Seth Alan Van Deusen.  I think it is awesome that Dennis' birthday is in April, mine is in May and Seth's is in June.  Consequently, in the last decade we have not only celebrated his birthday but also his frist birthday and second birthday as well!  Adjusting to life with a new baby was different and tiring but really pretty awesome.  The first two weeks were the hardest, once he figured out the whole nursing thing, we were in there...granted now he doesn't want to quit nursing...It was nice to have my parents across the street for the one a.m. high fever 'oh my gosh what do i do' calls and also for those first few baths when he seemed so fragile and wobbly.  Seth loves Curious George!

Shortly after Seth being born we decided we wanted to start looking into a house that we could truly call our own.  Renting served its purpose but we were ready for something that we could be working towards owning.  We began searching.  To be honest, I think it troubled my parents.  At this point we had re-established a good relationship with them, and we had Seth and I don't think they wanted us to go too far.  Lucky for us, there was a foreclosed home three doors down, that was kept in near excellent conditon after having been remodeled two years prior.  That one seemed like the one for us. Now getting into this house was a grueling process, it was the biggest bet either one of us had ever made - putting out nearly $8000 of borrowed money on a house that we weren't even guaranteed was ours...God was on our side for this one, for sure....granted the amazing real estate agent definately helped keep the ball rolling.  She was committed to selling us our first home...

and 51 days after we signed the paper, the house was ours!

We love our new home...it feels soo good to be working towards owning our own home.

My sister donated blood for the first time.  I donated with her, and my mom found out that she can now donate!  She is pretty close to hitting the five gallon marker, I just reached the one gallon mark!

We got into a not so pretty car accident.  Thanks to the people at Arlington Toyota, they had our car fixed in no time!  It was just under $5000 in damage and took them less than a week to fix! We couldn't even open the passenger door all the way...

Dennis, Seth and I took to the beach, we were going a couple times a week...it was a lot of fun.

My mom FINALLY got her own classroom!  She is teaching fourth grade at Crown Point Elementary, and though it has been a challenging year so far she wouldn't trade it for the world. 

2009 also meant saying good bye to some dear ones.  We lost Ms. Jenneman in a boating accident almost a year ago.  And we lost Grandma Penn as well.  They will live on the lives they touched.  I think of Ms. Jennemann every morning as I look at the gong on the piano.  I think of Grandma Penn everytime I am sitting at my desk and I glance up to see the little mouse with the tassle that I gave her from my graduation (the day I graduated just so happened to be her birthday!)

While there was sad news this year, this was also good news - being able to witness a few miralces is unbelievable.  My mom has a bracelet that reads, "Have faith, expect miracles." It sums up these three people in my life. My grandfather having quad-druple bypass heart surgery and then having to go back in for a defibrelator and to go for a check up and see that his heart is getting stronger - a miracle:

Susan, our real-estate agent, her husband was diagnosed with a rare cancer...the odds weren't in his favor, he pulled through and is living cancer free - saving a husband and father and police officer - a miracle:

My cousins son, Jase...a romping, stomping five year old little boy full of energy one day and hospitalized the next.  The doctors not to sure exactly what caused it but was in a bad state...organs shutting down, he was on dialysis, expected to be in the hospital for quite some time, if he pulled through.  The little boy had an amazing faith, told everybody not to worry because God would take care of him.  Within two weeks he made a complete recovery - and to this day you would not even know that he almost lost his life - a miracle:

As a family we decided it would be fun to watch the sunrise over the ocean on Jacksonville Beach and then drive to the other side of Florida to Clearwater Beach to watch the sunset over the ocean.  It was a lot of fun and something that I have always wanted to do.

This past decade I have become a full-fledged facebooker!  I have used it to keep in touch with family members, old teachers, cousins, and even a few friends from kindergarden!

I decided to get back in school...I am close to completing my associates.  I have decided that at this point I want to work with the little people - 2-3 year olds are what I enjoy the most!  I went back this past semester and finished the class with a 97.9% average!  I was even given this award for my outstanding performance.

Christmas of 2009 I was blessed with the oppurtunity to provide hope for somebody, and to give the Christmas away.  I feel that I was successful in that endeavor, and look forward to being able to give back again...you can read the full story here.

I think that about wraps up the decade, I am sure that I am forgetting something....I figured I would end with some pictures I have taken - photography has become a new love for me!  I am so grateful that I can bless others with the blessing that God has given me!

I am looking forward to what the next decade brings my way...

Mision Complete!

Mission Complete!!!

I have done many things so far during the course of the 24 ½ years that I have been around. Perhaps one of the greatest things I have done was to take pictures of a family this Christmas season.

During the beginning of December I heard a song by Matthew West titled “Give this Christmas Away.” Upon hearing that song I wanted to do something to give this Christmas away. Living in such a materialistic world, it is hard sometimes to keep the right perspective. I knew that I wanted to give this Christmas away, I wanted to give someone hope. I knew that I wanted to participate in such a movement but had no idea how I would do this. Follow this link to listen to the song: Give This Christmas Away by Matthew West

Then one day I was reading through some blogs when I learned about help-portrait. Help-portrait is a movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those who are less fortunate. It is about giving, not taking pictures. It works like this – find someone in need, take their portrait, print their portrait and deliver them. The light bulb went off in my head – this was it, this was how I was supposed to give this Christmas away. Ok so I had the idea to give this Christmas away, and now I knew how I was supposed to do this…but with who? I called my mom.
Moms are good at solidifying things! She told me about a woman at church and her two children, that their husband/father died three months ago. They came here with nothing and had to rebuild. She said they would be extremely grateful. The next day I was taking pictures. She brought with her a picture of her husband – hoping in some way I could include him in the picture. So this was it, I was to give this Christmas away through help-portrait of this woman and her family. It all made sense.

I took the pictures – the little boy looks just like his father, and the little girl is very photogenic. She gave me the picture of him, I uploaded all the pictures and did the edits, had them printed, and even framed one. I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible I felt knowing that I had accomplished just what God called me to do in this situation. With God’s timing, my mom’s guidance and this family’s need, I was able to give this Christmas away.

I have completed help-portrait number one and look forward to making this a yearly event. The one thing I wanted more than anything this Christmas was the opportunity to put hope in somebody’s heart and a smile on their face, I wanted to give this Christmas away. The odd thing is, now that I have gotten what I wanted – which was giving something away - I feel so incredibly blessed! Which makes me think about a quote from Mark Batterson’s book, Primal; “The blessings of God are never ends in themselves. And if we use a blessing selfishly, the blessing actually turns into a curse. The blessings of God are always a means to an end. And the end is blessing others. We are blessed to bless.” I have been blessed with the gift of photography, and am so grateful that I had the opportunity to bless others with my blessing. AWESOME… Don’t you just love when you get to see things come full circle?

I have uploaded a collage that includes the original pictures I had to work with as well as the edited finished results that I came up with.  What do you think?  The first two pictures I combined to make the family picture of all of them together!

Primal Review

Primal

By: Mark Batterson

We have a tendency to complicate Christianity. Jesus simplified it: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we are to live out the essence of Christianity, we must commit to being great at this Great Commandment.

In Primal, Mark Batterson explores the four elements of Great Commandment Christianity: compassion, wonder, curiosity, and power. Along the way, he calls you to be a part of God’s reformation, starting in your own life.

As Mark writes, “Is there a place in your past where you met God and God met you? A place where your heart broke for the things that break the heart of God? Maybe it was a sermon that became more than a sermon. Maybe it was a mission trip or retreat. Maybe it was a vow you made at an altar. In that moment, God birthed something supernatural in your spirit. You knew you’d never be the same again. My prayer is that this book would take you back to that burning bush—and reignite a primal faith.”

Primal will help you live in light of what matters most and discover what it means to love God. It will help you become great at the Great Commandment.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.
To purchase the book please click here.
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  I started using those little post-it notes as I reading through it to mark parts that really stood out to me.  And when I got about half way through the book I think I had more post-it flags than pages in the actual book!  It is a great read.  It pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages.

Week 49 - Pets Only!

 Week 49 - Pets Only! We happen to have a very photogenic dog - when the camera comes out she literally will sit at my feet until I start taking pictures of her.  This isone of my favorites - don't like the glow in her eyes but any edits I do just don't quite look right. Check out the other i heart faces entries.
 

Value Gifts for the Holidays Blog Tour

Foolproofing Your Life by: Jan Silvious

Precept Ministries (Kay Arthur) radio co-host discusses how attempts at coping with difficult people often fails, because they are what the Bible refers to as “fools.” Silvious provides tools to help readers get along and conduct relationships in a way that honors God, while preserving their own sanity.

I found this book very enjoyable to read.  The writing style lends itself to being an easy read with an incredible meaning.  I love the scripture that is tied to the dealing with difficult people in our life. 

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

To purchase a copy of this book please click here.

99 Ways to Increase Your Income by: Frank Martin

Successful entrepreneur and author of over sixteen books. Provides tips to generate more cash, and rebuild or supplement an income, while hanging on to existing dollars.

I must admit, upon recieving this book I read through the entire thing as soon as I took it out of the package.  It was a quick easy read.  I like the way the book was organized, it shows you ways to increase your income at work and at home.  I would definately recommend this book.

This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

To purcahse a copy of this book please click here.

Week 48 "Sweet Dreams"

Week 48 "Sweet Dreams"

This is a picture of my little guy napping before his 2nd birthday celebration!

Check out all the other great entries at i heart faces.

My little man...

Seth is quite an amazing little guy.  I like these 'self portrait' style pictures that I have taken with him recently!

Books!

Treasured/God Gave Us Love/ God Gave Us Christmas

by Leigh McLeroy/Lisa Tawn Bergren

Treasured: Cigar boxes. Refrigerator doors. Scrapbooks and sock drawers and top shelves. These are the places we store our treasures–the keepsakes that tell the story of whom and what we’ve loved, how we’ve lived, and what matters most to us.

God is a collector, too, whose treasures are tucked securely into the pages of his book: a golden bell here, an olive leaf there, a scarlet thread, a blood-stained cloth, a few grains of barley. Each of these saved artifacts reveals a facet of his heart and tells the story of a Father whose most precious possession is…us.

In Treasured, Leigh McLeroy considers tangible reminders of God’s active presence and guides us in discovering evidence in our own lives of his attentive love.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

To purchase this book please click here.
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This was an awesome book that reminds everybody that we are special and loved by an almight Father.  This was a true 'feel good' book and a page turner, I couldn't put the book down once I started it.

God Gave Us Love: As Little Cub and Grampa Bear’s fishing adventure is interrupted by mischievous otters, the young polar bear begins to question why we must love others… even the seemingly unlovable.

In answering her questions, Grampa Bear gives tender explanations that teach Little Cub about the different kinds of love that is shared between families, friends, and mamas and papas. Grampa explains that all these kinds of love come from God and that it is important to love others because…

“Any time we show love, Little Cub, we’re sharing a bit of his love.”

This sweet tale will warm the hearts of young children as they learn about all the different sorts of love, while the gentle explanations of each provide a valuable opportunity to encourage children to share with others a “God-sized love.”
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
To purchase this book please click here.
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Having read other books in this series, I knew I would enjoy this one.  My two and a half year old loved all the bright pictures, but didn't quite sit through the whole story.  I'm sure in time he will!

God Gave Us Christmas: As Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate the most special day of the year, the curious young polar bear begins to wonder… “Who invented Christmas?” Mama’s answer only leads to more questions like “Is God more important than Santa?” So she and Little Cub head off on a polar expedition to find God and to see how he gave them Christmas. Along the way, they find signs that God is at work all around them. Through Mama’s gentle guidance, Little Cub learns about the very first Christmas and discovers that… Jesus is the best present of all.

This enchanting tale provides the perfect opportunity to help young children celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and to discover how very much God loves them.
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
To purchase this book please click here.
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Having read the other books in this series, I was excited about reviewing this one and adding it to our collection!  My two year old didn't make it through the entire story but he got bits and pieces at different times!