new pics

oh and new pics up on the site

beyondbordersphotography.blogspot.com

check it

End of summer

Bittersweet. That's my word for the end of the summer. It was a good summer. I t started with moving JA to Boston... and actually now that I think of it it ended with me visiting them in Boston.. how funny. Sandwiched in between camp was the Dominican trip and other random good memories. Camp was fun this year. I kinda figured it would be my last year since I graduate in May and all so that was good and sad all at the same time. The DR trip was good. Nothing major moved in my heart, but not every missions trip I go on is going to radically change me. Sometimes you just need to serve ya know? But my summer seemed to be plagued by my inability to draw near to God. I was tired... okay exhausted most of the time. This led to a heaping pile of selfishness.I constantly chose outter comforts over inner reneweal (i.e. time in the Word, time in prayer). It was like I was stuck there too. I made valant efforts don't get me wrong to get out of my funk... but nothing was happening. I would talk to God on occasion about how stupid I was being, but then the next day I would push snooze 5 times again and fall right back into the habit. Then towards the end of the summer when I felt like I was making it a little closer to God it happened. Guilt. ugh. I felt like... okay here is a holy holy God who has this relationship with me and all I can manage to do lately is think about me, myself and I. So now who am I to try and come back to him? I knew it in my head... and i really think I knew it in my heart that God is waiting with open arms and that we don't have to be punished in order to come to Him.... Christ took that on the cross. There is no action that can earn me anymore of a right place with God. That is so hard for me to grasp sometimes. That a holy God has a relationship with me, and that I don't have to be punished when I sin... he forgives. So in the midst of wallowing in my guilt for a while... thinking if I could just feel some sort of punishment then I could start over with God...He spoke... don't you love when that happens. He spoke through Jarrod at AG one night. He reminded me that yes I will mess up, but I am free from guilt and shame and if I just run towards him with all my life then He is there. He won't love me any less no matter what I do. So here I am. Humbled once again by the amazing grace of my God. He has relit my passion for his word and for serving him...and he is slowly but surely making "me" less of a priority to me. Now i just need to learn to worry about today...not tomorrow...not May... today. Oh what a challenge for me. But all in all summer could have been better. It could have been worse. God never changes. Praise the Lord he changes me though.
Hello Fall
Hello Freedom
Hello Life

I think I'll go to Boston

Well I am here. Boston. I love it. Technically I'm in Gloucester which is oh so cute. Two of my best friends in the whole world live here and I am up for a visit before school starts back. I got here Saturday after a very early and bumpy ride from Atl. Saturday afternoon Manda and I went for a bike ride around the HaBah(Harbor) and around Gloucester. It was oh so fun but I definitely almost took out a little girl on my bike.. oops. Then we grilled out for dinner and ate on their porch that over looks this baseball park. The sunset was awesome and I actually had to put sweatpants and a long sleeve tee on bc it was so chilly. Oh how i loved it. Fall is my favorite and we are still melting down in Alabama but up here it's already getting cool. Then Sunday we went to church at their cute little Gloucester community church then went out to lunch at Not Your Average Joe's ( so good). Then Josh headed to work at the bucks and Manda and I went to the cutest little town ever called Rockport... it looks like a movie...we walked around for a bit and went in some shops then it looked like it was going to rain so we headed home and watched the perfect storm (which was filmed in Gloucester so that was pretty cool), watch the Olympics, took a nap, edited some photos and then decided to go see the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.... loooooooved it! Today we got up early to go to her job (she nannies for a family in Beverly) and it was so rainy and chilly outside I love it! We took the kids (Kennedy and Caleb) to the Children's Museum in Boston. I felt so cultured... all these Boston moms taking their kids for a day of intellectual play and educational adventures...it was fun. Very different than Alabama thats for sure. We've just been hanging out at the house for the rest of the afternoon. I took a nap as the rain pattered on the window and the chilly breeze whistled through the open window. I love New England. I could live here. Amanda is off tomorrow and then Wednesday Scott, Ree and everyone will be arriving in Boston so we will meet them in the city. Then we head for NYC until Saturday. I am excited... I love these places. What a good week.

where did it go

Oh how quickly I lose focus....
simplicity...
where did it go?

the B-I-B-L-E

I love it. A Friday night.The Word of God. Priceless.

Random Thoughts

Well we are back safe from the DR. It was an amazing time their and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to go. God is good and I will never forget the faces of those precious children. It really puts lots into perspective when you go to a place like that you know. Anyways I put lots of pics up on FB and my site (beyondbordersphotography.blogspot.com) so check them out! I don't have much time to blog but I wanted to just put down a few random thoughts I have been having. God is so good with me. He knows I need one word at a time. For example my word for the first part of this year was simplicity. I knew that is what God told me to work on ( not that I work on only one thing at a time but you know what I mean). Sort of a conviction motto if you will... but I have been working on simlicity for a while... and have done really poorly at it... but God felt the need to give me a new word yesterday and it is "purpose". When God speaks to me so directly I try my hardest to discern what He wants from me. I have been so so busy lately that I haven't really had time to even think about what I am doing, but I have been convicted of that and of how much I have forsaken my purpose. What is my purpose? The fame and glory of God. If I am not doing everything for that... pointless. If my relationships are not doing that...a change must happen. I have quickly shifted to worrying about my satisfaction over my purpose.... which is wrong. But praise God he doesn't leave u where we are. So I am excited to be on this journey with God as he works the meaning of purpose deeper into my life. I have made it my point in my time in the Word to seek out truth. Proverbs 23 says buy truth and don't sell it. What is truth? It is the person and entity of Jesus Christ. So how can I know truth? Know Jesus. Everything about Him is truth. In a world that is full of everything but truth, I need to be saturated in truth, my Jesus. So like the title implies this is a bunch of random thoughts compiled into one blog. Thanks for all your prayers and support for our DR team... it was felt tremendously. Glad to be home. Remembering purpose. Seeking Truth. Buenos Noche.

THE DR

So I am all packed... and it is only 10:42pm.... pretty much a small miracle. Nevertheless it is all in there... i hope... and hopefully weighing in at less than 50 pounds to avoid the oh so annoying airline bag weight fee thing...we will see. But I cannot believe it is here... I leave for The Dominican Republic in about 36 hours. I am beyond myself excited. I don't feel ready though. Like I don't feel like I have prepared my heart to go... if that is even possible. I am so excited to see God work though.... He doesn't need me to do anything but He has blessed me with this opportunity to go see His hand move in such a depraved and poor place... oh man I am blessed. Keep us in your prayers while we are gone. We will be tired. We will be drained. Emotionally. Physically. Mentally. So say a prayer when you think about it. I will be back 7/11 (My Bday :)) Hope you all have a wonderful week. And I hope camp runs smoothly... I have no worries :)
Much Love. God is so good.
+Rach