April Photo Challenge

Greetings & salutations! 

Can I just say - you are each doing an incredible job at the April Photo Challenge! I have been looking at some of your photos, and am seriously amazed at the creativity I'm seeing! 

I will (hopefully) be critiquing your photos over the weekend, and maybe even posting some of my own. :-) If you would like to send your photos to me so I can post them on this blog (so everyone can see them and you'll be famous) then please send them to: e.photographychallenge@gmail.com

Also, some of you are becoming worried about not having time to take/edit/post the photos for this challenge. I completely understand your time limitations, but seriously, you don't even need to spend half an hour on it. Five-ten minutes should be sufficient and if you're really stretched for time, then cut short your teeth-brushing time or something! (We'll forgive your bad breath, don't worry...)

Anyway, if you've managed to read that monologue you're doing well! Keep up your fantastic work, and have a very blessed and reflective Easter celebrating what Christ has done for you! 

April Photo Challenge | The countdown begins...

{3 Days till the APC starts}

Because I am hoping to instil some excitement in all of you, I thought I'd start the countdown till the photography challenge starts on the first of April! (Which is coincidently also April Fool's Day. Hmm, interesting... *grin*)

Before you all get too alarmed (Don't worry, I'm not really going to play a trick on you. I'll probably forget all about it, and you'll be the ones playing tricks on me!) I thought I'd post a few photos that I took this morning...

{6.45 A.M. I left to go for a walk this morning, but promptly ran back inside and grabbed my camera when I saw how beautiful the morning sunshine was! Isn't the lighting amazing? I kept thinking about mango sorbet (one of my fav. things to eat ever) whenever I looked at this photo! Slightly random, but it's so golden and smooth and... okay, never mind!}

{Another shot of the same flower. I didn't even edit these ones!}

{Just had to post one last one! Isn't God so incredible for creating so much beauty?!]

Have a blessed day!

2012 | Another sort of Journey

I don't know about you, but I find journeys exciting. When we were younger our family used to go road tripping a lot (way back when we seemed to have so much more time on our hands) and I used to love them more than anything. We'd get up super early, while it the sky was still a deep blue and the air was cold, and rush around frantically trying to get everything in the car before finally leaving (generally about thirty mins late) for our trip.

A few weeks ago, I was blessed to be able to attend a different sort of journey - one that went straight to the  heart. On this week-long retreat out in the countryside, we studied spiritual heart conditions and gained incredible insights into His amazing, unfailing love for us along the way. It was so good, learning to love Jesus with a deep appreciation for who He is and what He's done - not just with the emotional "warm fuzzies" which I could never seem to muster.

And it was also a lot of fun! Our group of about fifteen got to know each other really well over the week, and  by the end of it we all felt like sisters. :)

{Awww, I love these girlies! Sadly, I don't have photos of all of them - but here are some!}

My prayer for you is that you'll come to know and experience Christ in new and incredible ways as He takes you on the greatest journey of all - to His heart! :)

A/N: I'm considering posting a photo challenge for the month of April - but I need to know if you guys are willing to participate first! So pretty please contribute to the poll on the side. Thanking you in advance! :)

So blessed...

God is so good to me! It's amazing how quickly time can fly and yet each day has been filled with incredible new things that my ever-loving Father has been teaching me. You will get a chance to hear about some of these things in the next few posts in the next few weeks but for now I just wanted to let my faithful blogging friends know that I am still alive and have been enjoying my blog hiatus! However, posts are on their way! :)

May Christ be your joy this week!

2011 | A Photographic Journey

2011.



What a year this has been! But specifically for photography. I think I enjoyed taking photos more than the previous year- not having to think so hard about the meaning of f.stops and metering definitely made the process a whole lot faster, at least! And I had a lot of fun experimenting and breaking all the composition rules. (But shh, don't tell!)

I thought I would share with you some of my happiest photos from this year. I don't say 'best' because I'm a self-confessing perfectionist and I always think my photos can improve! But these photos all made me smile.

| January |

{taken at Annual Conference - loving the catchlights in her eyes in this photo}

| February |

{cat + warm early morning sunshine = happy photo}

| March |

{photography wise, perhaps this isn't the best photo. But this was taken at a children's program, and the little girl in the picture grabbed my camera and took a self portrait - I thought it was adorable!}

| April |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

| May |

{imagine the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, warm sunshine streaming into a rocky cave and the soft gritty feeling of sand under your feet, and you might understand why this photo makes me happy}

| June |

{the joyous strains of a newly acquired viola began to fill our house around this point - I just had to include a photo of this very [squeaky] exciting time}

| July |

{ so many }

{ happy memories}

{and happy smiles from this month}

| August |

{not really focused but I love it anyway}

{happy times with happy people with big cameras}

| September |

{birthday food}

| October |

{because sparklers are happy things}

| November |

{Adoration: music & memories}

| December |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

{for God so loved the world that he gave it his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him won't perish but instead have eternal life. John 3:16}

May God bless all of you in the new year 2012!

Love,

Eloise

Trusting

{Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you. 1 Peter 5:7}

To borrow a quote from a friend, "doubt is just faith in something other than God". 

"Faith reminds itself of what the Scripture calls 'the exceeding great and precious promises' says Lloyd Jones. "Faith says: 'I cannot believe that He who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible, it would be inconsistent with the character of God.' So faith, having refused to be controlled by circumstances [or feelings!], reminds itself of what it believes and what it knows." (taken from  this inspiring blog)

Photo of the Day

{"...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..." Ephesians 1:4}

WA: Children's Institute

{Warning: images portrayed in this post may be highly embarrassing to certain individuals, and I apologize in advance :-) Also, I didn't take all of these CI photos - credits also go to Olivia D, Emmie D, John N. and whoever else had my camera throughout the week! :P}

Introducing: a Perth CI!

{For those of you who have no idea what a CI is, here's my sketchy dictionary definition of it: a program where you teach children about life and God and why some things happen and what the Bible says about it. Throw in some stories, songs, and crafts and you have a week full of fun and learning!}

So while I've taught maaaaany of these programs before, this was to be my very first interstate one.

It was amazing.

{Welcome to the Children's Institute!}

{CI director}

{The other CI director}

For those of you who have ever thought our Melb children's programs are crazy at times, you should come do a WA one. It was insane. Here's proof:

{So. much. fun!}

It was incredible seeing God move in the lives each person as each night went past! I saw leaders being stretched and strengthened as they overcame obstacles, children opening up and being receptive to each truth that was presented to them, and parents being encouraged by the teaching.

{"Miss Eloise" telling the aforementioned story, and "Mr. John" in a skit as the wise man who built his house on the rock instead of the sand}

Teaching children doesn't come without challenges though. One evening in particular, I was completely stressing out. I had to tell a story, teach a particularily hard lesson (stronghold diagrams ring a bell with anyone?!), sightread/improvise on the piano one of the CI songs that I hadn't known we were doing and on top of it all, some of the children in my team were being really difficult and constantly acting up that night. I remember going into the bathroom and feeling completely overwhelmed. I have perfectionist tendancies, and deep down, I was scared of messing up in front of everyone. But I remembered a phrase that I'd heard at a Conference once: "If our failure will bring glory to the Lord, then we need to be willing to fail and possibly look stupid for His sake."

And guess what happened when I gave up my pride and told God that I was willing to look stupid for Him? He did faaaaaar more than I expected or hoped!!! Truly, God is great.

Over all, it was a good CI. It didn't go perfectly, and there were things that could have better (on my behalf, that is!). But the most important thing is that seeds were planted, and I'm praying that there will be a lasting impact.