Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photos for a Cause- Compassion Sale

I absolutely cannot believe that it is already the Holiday season. It is my favorite time of the year by far, but it always seems to sneak up on me.

One thing that always seems to burden my heart this time of year is gift giving. I love to give gifts. It is one of my favorite things in life, especially when you know that what you are about to give someone is something that they are going to cherish. What an awesome feeling! But if you are like me the question is always... what does this person that I want to buy for need... usually the answer is... absolutely nothing. I know if you asked me right now what I wanted or needed for Christmas it would take me a few minutes to even think of something I wanted that I don't have or can't get pretty easily. Think about it for a second... what do you really need. Make sure you are defining the word need the way it needs to be defined. Hard isn't it.

I was blessed to travel to 8 different countries this year. Traveling is my favorite thing to do. I think the Lord wired me to move around... go places... see things. Along with travel comes exposure. Exposure to life. Not the American life that I see everyday, but life where things are not okay. Life where enough and plenty is not a common concept. Life where people die everyday from lack of the most basic of things. Food. Water. Clothing. Things I take for granted every single day. We are a blessed nation. A blessed group of people. But not everyone is as fortunate... in fact... the majority are not as fortunate.

Now this would normally be the part where I would throw some statistics at you to make you see how bad off people all over the world really are. But if we can be honest for a minute I think we all already know. I have seen it first hand. Up close. You may not have. And that is okay.

But we all know that not everyone has enough. Enough food, Enough water, Enough shelter. So this Holiday season I would like to propose an small and humble alternative to the normal gift giving.

Last year I had this idea and it turned out way better than I could have ever expected so I thought why not try it again.
For the month of November and December you can go to my website RachelJonesPhotography.com and purchase any print from my galleries and 100% of the profit will go to Compassion International. Also this year, 100% of the profit from any shoot booked for the month of November or December will go to Compassion International.

What is Compassion International you ask?
Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.

Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 25 countries.

For more info on Compassion International you can visit www.Compassion.com

So for those of you who are fans of bullet points (like me) here is how it works:

- Browse through the galleries
- Find a photo or photos you would like to purchase
- Click on the Compassion Sale option at the top of the home page.
- On that page you will find a paypal button. Follow the steps from there and chose your size and quantities.
- After you have completed the paypal process then go to the contact tab at the top of the home page of my website. Simply put your name, email address, and then in the comments section put;
1. The name of the gallery in which the photo is found
2. The number ID of the photo(s) you ordered (photo ID is the number located in the top right corner of each photo)
3. Quantity of each photo.
Click Submit and you are done!
Your photos will ship to you within 10 days of your order.

Thanks for taking the time to even consider helping out in this way.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Very Merry Christmas!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Pictures of Egypt

No explanation necessary.

Life.

I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I"ve learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know


If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Sara Groves