Out of Sorts

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you just seem completely out of sorts and you can't seem to find your way back to what is normal...this has been one of those weeks for me. Being Sick never helps, but even after I have pretty much recovered, I still feel lost and out of it. I tried to make some sense of it yesterday by just getting away to a coffee shop and seeking to organize myself but I think that my confusion runs deeper than that. All I can do is seek the Lord.

Many times when I get into these "funks" if you will, the Lord desires to get my attention and teach me some things and in order to do that he lets me get all discombobulated. I am a very organized and schedule oriented guy and so when I feel UNorganized I get frustrated and feel like I don't have control. And this may be exactly where God wants me. Sometimes I can't "organize" my way out of things...and I have to realize that I am not in control and never have been. All in all God uses these times to draw me to Himself and for this I am grateful!

Recovery

It has not been a fun few days but I am feeling better now, not completely but I'm getting there. I don't feel like death anymore so thats good!

On a lighter note, Freedom had a great launch yesterday with over 225 in attendance. Many were friends and family/church planters, but there were about 175 just from the community! That's awesome! I hate to have missed it but am stoked that everything went well!

Death

That pretty much how I've been feeling the last couple of days. Went to the doctor and hopefully I'll be feeling better soon!

Merry Christmas to me!

So with some of the Birthday/Christmas money I got this past year, I decided to treat myself to a new lens. This is a Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime. This is a fairly inexpensive yet very useful lens. The quality is great minus a little bokeh due to the 8 blade aperture. It is small, light weight and the f/1.4 aperture makes it great for low light, something I have sorely needed in the past. I recently got an opportunity to see the true worth of this lens when shooting some Senior pictures for a friend. You can see some images here(only the Senior pix were taken with the 50mm).

Here is a picture of the bokeh of the 50mm compared to the image below it taken with my 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens which creates nice rounded circles. The octagon (or whatever shape it is) shaped circles is caused by the 8 blade aperture rather than 10 blades like image below it. You can definitely see the difference, however, you really don't notice it too much in most settings.


It creates a great depth of field, however! All in all...for the price...I am very happy with the lens and think I will get great use out it!

Busy Days!

Things have been pretty busy since getting back. Orientation weekend is always busy and then getting ready to start classes and all! I only have 3 classes which is nice, although they are pretty hefty work loads. I have been making small progress through Simple Church but hope to pick up the pace now that things will be getting back to normal around here. Regular blogging will resume shortly!

Encouraging Email

Read this email that J.R. received after the launch team handed out cookies in the neighborhoods around where Freedom meets. This is awesome!

Cool People

Before I left for Louisville I had the opportunity to hang out with some good friends. I have known Mark for many years and had the opportunity to shoot some pictures of his son Noah. Cute kid!





I also had the opportunity to shoot some Senior pics of Kelsianne Regan! It turned out to be a beautiful day! I met Kelsianne a last summer at Freedom, the Regans have become good friends!

Word Is Out!

Check out thereveal.org! I can't wait to see what God does with this! Read more here!

Update.

Its been a few days since the last post and I'm finally in one place for a while again, so I need to post. After spending all last week at the coffee shops in Georgia, I just couldn't find it in me to stop by over the weekend. The place I was staying doesn't have the internet, so I just did without...it was kind of nice. The end of the week was great, I was able to see many different friends in a short period of time and a lot of accomplishments were made.

I left Georgia on Monday morning after attending Freedom Church on Sunday where they had another great preview service in preparation for the launch on Jan 27'th. It was great! After leaving GA, I spend the evening with a close friend and his family in Eastern Ky before coming back to the Ville this morning! It was a great break, and one that I needed. I definitely feel rested and ready to begin the final stretch! Lets do this!

Lovin it!

Learning

I am sitting at Woodstock Coffee House...it is 5:48...I have been here since 11:30. Im tired...but its been a good day. I've learned a lot. Here's a couple of things.

Border Breakout Effect.
Torn Edge effect.
Curled Image effect.

Total Money Makeover

I was able to finish up The Total Money Makeover last night! My thoughts....Amazing! What a great book! One thing is for sure, my finances are going to look a whole lot different in 2008! As mentioned, I have never been terrible with money but now there are goals in place and I know what I am striving for! Everyone needs to read this book!

Play Time

Among the number of things that I desire to learn about, a couple are making templates and designing page layouts for albums and such, along with just general creativity. I was able to play around with a couple different ideas inspired by the Kelby Training and wanted to share!

This is suppose to be May 10'th like the other one...oops! :)

Education for Creatives

In an effort to better my skills as a photographer, I signed up for a one month membership with Kelby Training. It is specifically designed for teaching Adobe software and in my case, specifically Photoshop. Basically, for $20 bucks you get unlimited access to a whole host of video tutorials teaching photoshop and a ton of different programs. This has already been beneficial and I am just itching to watch some of the other tutorials this afternoon. If you have any desire to learn the full potential of these programs, this is a great way to do it! It will definitely be worth $20 bucks!

Meetings

I had a really cool meeting with this guy yesterday and am pumped about his vision and goals! God is doing some cool stuff in Georgia!

I have some other meetings with these guys this week as well, also with some other friends before I leave for Louisville early next week. Its been great to see and catch up with everyone!

Title

Had a great time setting up with Freedom yesterday @ 6am! It was neat to see it all come together. I can't wait for things to really get rolling in the next few weeks!

This week, I've got a whole lota nothing planned...specifically, that is. I imagine I will spend the majority of my time in coffee shops where I will be reading and researching/learning. It will probably be a pretty uneventful week, but hopefully, a productive one!

Back in the ATL!

After a nice and enjoyable Christmas and New Year, I am back in Atlanta for a few more days until on the 15'th I head back to Louisville for my LAST semester! It was a very nice break though, and it's not quite over yet. I have nothing hanging over my head and I am just able to continue to relax and read and spend time with friends. It is very nice!

Christmas was good, I got to spend a lot of time with family, went skiing at Breckenridge, and Brought in the New Year with my girlfriend who came to visit me! It was great!

Way Ta Go Michigan!

Well, So far New Years has been pretty awesome! Spending time with family, my Lady, and watchin some great foodball!