First of all, let me preface this post by saying that I’ve been holding off on writing this for a while. This is kind of a hard post for me to write because it’s so personal. Anyway, here it goes… Looking back I don’t know why I thought this road was going to be smooth and the way easily defined. It has certainly been nothing of the sort. I expected a challenge, but I did not expect the inner struggle. Back in September I knew the Lord was giving me this photography business. As clear as day I heard Him say, “Use it for Me. This isn’t yours. I give it to You now and I can take it away.” With excitement I bought a camera and started out on this new journey. I quite literally had nothing else. For the first month or two I felt so elated. This was one of my dreams and now it was finally coming to fruition. After a while this question started to plague me, growing stronger with each passing day: How do I use this for Him? The details and necessities for running a business became abundant and I wondered if this is what He wanted. With no clear answer I continued moving forward. Thankfully, the new year brought with it fresh vision. I was at a conference called Passion when the revelation hit me. I was sitting in my seat listening to the stories of those who are enslaved in our world today. I heard lots of statistics, but the stories…they pierced my heart. This particular story was about a young girl from Europe who was set up on a blind date by her friends. Innocent enough, right? Minutes into the date, her date drugged her drink. He pretended that she suddenly wasn’t feeling well and took her outside. No one suspected. He threw her into the back of his car, bribed the man at the country’s border and was gone. No one even knew where to look or what had happened to her. It hit me that this could happen to anyone. It became personal. That girl could have been my sister. She could have been my friend. Suddenly she was no longer a number in a statistic. I heard her voice, I saw her face and I felt her pain. Then, I knew. The rest of this post is over on my new blog here.

Bridal's in St. Augustine

I had a lovely time in St. Augustine with this lovely bride! Read the full post here!

A Valentine's Post

My hubby so graciously agreed to take some Valentine's Day photos with me. The rest are over at my new blog here.

A little update...

Hello guys! It feels like I haven’t written here in a while, probably because I haven’t. Hehe. I’ve been running around like crazy these past few days and well, sleep has been more of a priority than blogging. I love traveling, but it sure is draining. Since Sunday, I’ve been going all over the Jacksonville/ St. Augustine area for sessions and to see my family for a while. There’s been a lot of getting up early and staying up late. Now that I’m home, all I want to do is curl up next to my husband and chill! I’m tired, but very thankful. Anyway, I have several exciting things to share soon. God has given me some new direction and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds! I also have a new baby (camera) coming in the mail tomorrow!!! Woohoo! I’m finally able to upgrade and can’t wait to have it in my hands! Well, that’s about it from me for now! I have to run get the laundry. (My life is so glam! Ha!)

Here’s a preview of what I’ve been up to! I think I may have found a new love for sunrise beach sessions.

I hope you all have had a good week so far!

To see more photos visit my new blog HERE!

Friday Photo Tips

                                          Before                                                                              After

Hey guys! Today I thought I’d share a few little tips on photography I’ve picked up along my journey. I’ve been so blessed by others who have shared their knowledge and I want to pass along the blessing. I’m self taught, so I’ve really appreciated those who are willing to share their expertise. I am so very thankful for those people! I know there are a lot of phenomenal photogs out there and I’m no super pro by any means, but I do want to share what I do know! A lot of you may have learned all of this stuff already, but some of you may not! Everyone starts somewhere! Hopefully I can do several of these, and if you guys like it I will get more and more advanced with each one. :)


To read the tips check out the post on my new blog HERE!

A cute bow tie and a lovely dress...

You could hear coughing every few minutes. Poor Wesley had some sort of sinus something or other, but that didn’t keep these two from having a good time. Wesley and Lindsey are such an awesome couple. He’s the funny one that makes her laugh and she’s the sweet one that makes him smile. All you have to do is look at them to know that they’re perfect for each other!  My husband actually goes way back with these two. He was able watch their love story unfold first hand. From what he said, they’ve always liked each other but it just took a few years to come to grips with it. They started dating a few months before Lindsey was heading off to college at the University of Mobile. They were planning on doing the long distance thing until Wesley ended up winning a scholarship to UM in a drawing. Funny how things work out! After engagement and graduation, they got married a few months ago. But before Lindsey retired her lovely lace wedding gown to the closet, they decided to a fun “after the wedding” shoot. How could I turn down these two, especially with her in that dress and him with a bow tie? Adorable! Here a few of my favorites from the session. It was so hard to pick! The light was so perfect and dreamy.

To see more visit my new blog HERE!

My little sister's birthday...

“Hey Jenny, guess what?” Katie asked. “I sold my doll house. I don’t really play with it any more and mommy says that I’m growing up.”

It’s true. A few days ago my baby sister turned 9 years old! I am officially getting super old! Ok, maybe I’m not super old…but I might as well be 23 going on 50. This year I had to get my baby sis something a “big girl” would want. Apparently Justice is the Limited Too for youngsters now. (Does anyone else remember Limited Too? That place was the bomb dot com in grade school! Hehe!) When I saw this vest I thought, “yeeeeeesss, she neeeeeeeds this!” Not really, but it was way to adorable to pass up!

Anyway, since Katie is such a big girl now I wanted to take her out to lunch and let her order from the “grown up” menu instead of the kids! So we packed up and headed to San Marco, which is a really adorable part of Jacksonville. I actually grew up very close to San Marco, but that was before Katie was even a thought! It’s nice to be back and reminisce about my childhood. We used to ride our bikes with our dad all over the area. My favorite thing to do was to ride down to the grocery store for ice cream sandwiches and then eat them down by the St. Johns River. Now my parents live on the outskirts of Jacksonville on some land. I’m sure Katie’s memories will a little bit more adventurous than mine. She has more places to roam than the small backyard we played in as kids.


The rest is over HERE!

The Word and the needy...

Have you ever read a passage of scripture and thought, “I’ve never really read that before.” Well, if you’re like me you’ve probably read it several times but skimmed over it. I’ve been reading a Psalm a day for years, but it hasn’t been until recently that I realized how many verses are about God’s view toward the needy and how He calls us to take action. I can’t believe that I’ve had a relationship with Christ for 17 years, all the while having a huge and blaring blind spot in my life. Many people are dying all around the world because of many injustices. If scripture is filled with God’s heart for those who are oppressed, then why don’t we talk about it…or make it, I don’t know, a priority? That would make sense right? People all over the world are malnourished, enslaved and abused while we live the good life in America. We say love Jesus, but we don’t love like Jesus. He sacrificed everything to reach the world, to meet people’s physical and spiritual needs. What have we been doing? Not that for sure.

I’ve definitely written about this many times, but I have become more and more aware of the need to be awakened to this issue. We don’t talk about it because, well, it’s not comfortable to hear. It’s not pretty. But ignoring these scriptures will cause much more harm than simply us missing out on part of scripture…this effects the world. This effects eternity. Will many die without Christ because I choose to ignore their needs? My eyes have been opened to how much scripture speaks about caring for the poor and doing justice for the oppressed. If God cares so much about us looking after the poor and needy, why aren’t we giving our lives to do something?

So I challenge you to read God’s Word and ask Him to reveal if you have been ignorant to this. Are you blind to what you should be doing with the money you posses? Are you blind to how many people are dying in oppression and injustice? Are you blind to how much God speaks about this issue?

Here are a few of the verses that I’ve been “awakened” to lately:

“He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.” (Proverbs 28:27)

“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed.” (Psalms 9:9)

“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives ro rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame the  blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” (Luke 14:12-14)

“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brother. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart agains him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”(1 John 3:16-18)

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:5)

More over at the new blog HERE!

Passion 2012

(Side note: They didn't allow high end cameras in The Dome...sad day. Thus, I only have these iphone pics.)

Can you imagine 45,000 people all in one room worshiping Christ all at once? Think about what might happen if that many followers of Christ came together for one purpose? Well, I don't have to imagine it anymore. I lived it.
To say that the past few days of my life have been life changing would be the understatement of the year. On Monday a group of 18-25 year olds at our church headed up to Atlanta for the Passion Conference. (If you've never heard of it you need to check out http://www.268generation.com.) This year there were 45,000 people that gathered in the Georgia Dome to hear the word, worship and join together for the purpose of making Jesus famous. Speakers like Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, John Piper, Beth Moore and others brought the Word with power like I've never seen. The worship was phenomenal as well. Worship giants such as Hillsong United, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, Lecrae, David Crowder and Kristian Stanfil led us in song. Even though I was incredibly excited about who would be there, it wasn't about the them. They didn't want to put their name in lights. In fact, that is the last thing they wanted. The name of Jesus was lifted high above all else.




I learned so much in such a short amount of time. You could say that my mind is on overload right now! I really could go on forever about what I took away, but I'll try to keep it fairly concise.

1. Don't count this generation out.


Who says that college kids can't make a difference in the world? Not Passion! I love that they truly believe in our generation. Together we raised over 3 million dollars in 4 days to help free the 27 million slaves all over the world. We are coming together for the cause of FREEDOM and we want to see modern-day slavery abolished in our lifetime. I truly believe a great movement is coming. This generation is not content to sit in silence in our comfortable pews. We want to stand for those who are trapped in injustice. We believe that worship is wed with justice. We are doing something now.


2. You don't have to wait until "the system" says you're ready to make a difference.


The will of God is now. We are here to make much of Jesus. We don't have to wonder, "what is God's will for me" because His will is to make Jesus known in whatever we do. Burry the the question of "I don't know what to do in life." If you are passionate about art, music, teaching, etc, go for it and spread the news of Christ as you do it. Sure it can be scary to be bold in everyday life, but we minimize that fear by maximizing one fear - living and insignificant life. I don't know about you guys, but I have always feared a wasted life. I dont' want to jump on board the movements of God late in the game. I want to be fully immersed from the get-go. From now this will be first on my prayer list - that the words will be given to me when I open my mouth to proclaim with boldness the mysteries of the gospel...wherever I am. (Eph. 6:19)


3. Be saturated with the Word and take it literally.


This year they really emphasized the Word. For the first 30 minutes of Passion we read different passages together and for one whole session we stood and read the entire book of Ephesians, pausing to ask the Lord to speak to us through His Word. Man, was it powerful! I was challenged to truly study the Word of God and not to depend on teachers. How do I know if they are speaking truth? I need to saturate my mind in the Word of God. What God says is true and I can take it literally. God definitely spoke to my heart about specific things I need to take literally and hopefully I will be sharing about it at some point.


4. Trust His voice.


This is one thing I've been struggling with for the past year. God has asked me to do some things that seemed pretty crazy at the time. In comparison to a lot of things in scripture they weren't that out there, but for me it was a huge step to leap blindly into the unknown. I want to be at the place where the Spirit prompts me and I obey immediately...without questioning if it was Him. I want to know. At one point the voice of the Lord hit me so strongly that it pierced to my very core. It was clear. I was sure. I pray He continues to grow my faith as I follow His leading.


5. The purpose of life is not to make it to death safely.


The second day of Passion a woman named Christine Cain spoke about her work with girls in sex trafficking. After she rescued one particular girl and told her about Jesus she said, "If this is true about your God, why didn't you come sooner?" That really resonated with me. Sure, helping people trapped in slavery can be dangerous, but the point of life isn't to stay safe! I may have to go into the darkness to share the light! Isn't that the point? Light is most effective in darkness. A lot of times I am afraid of the evil in the world. Still, Christ said that not to fear for He has overcome the world. The power of God dwells within me. I have nothing to fear. I can go into the darkness in Jesus' name with boldness.


6. Indifference to modern day slavery is not an option. We have to rise up and do something.


I will definitely be posting about this in the near future. God gave me a specific vision on a way for me to take action against this. He started to work in my heart about this last year, and my resolve to be a part of the solution has only grown. Hopefully I will be sharing soon. Slavery is an ugly thing. Sex trafficking is even uglier and there's no way to soften the details about what goes on. It's just plain uncomfortable to talk about. I realized that I can't be ashamed to speak up. Jesus wasn't ashamed to stop and heal the leaper - an outcast of society. He did a lot of things that were uncomfortable. If I need to take on some of the ugliness of this issue in order to see justice, so be it.



The rest is over here.

The cutest baby ever...

I did a session for the cutest family ever. Check it out here.