Dan & Nina.

I'm sorry for being absent here, we have been busy doing all the last-minute work for our Kenya trip & I have been working on some portrait sessions while the weather is beautiful. Fall is such a great time of year to take portraits, especially if you have Christmas cards in mind. I'm still amazed that I get paid to do this now.....I'm beginning to see a dream come true, one that I've been praying over and chasing for several years now. 

So I thought I would share a couple shots from the weekend.....enjoy!

Looking back every year.

So far, we have taken a picture every year we have been married. I thought it would be a fun thing to frame in one of those larger multi-picture frames and show the number for every year we have been married and see how we change & how the family someday grows. We don't always do it on our anniversary, but sometime during the summer we try to get someone to take a picture for us.

We end up with some pretty hilarious outtake versions every year. Who knows how hilarious they will be once you throw in future family members right? Like a puppy maybe? 

How do you guys document your anniversaries? Do you do anything similar or are we the only strange ones? 

Very Belated Birthday Update.

Summer has once again been super busy for us. Family time and other community commitments tends to eat up most of our waking hours. Hopefully this Fall I will be able to claim some hours back for the purpose of writing again, as I do so deeply miss pondering and thinking through things enough to share with you all.  It has proven time and time again good for my own thinking as much research into scripture and prayer goes into the deeper posts. 

But till then, I thought I would catch you up through something I love.

Photography. 

These are back from my birthday in May, but hopefully they show the joy our community here has brought us and how thankful I was to be able to celebrate with them. 

Life is definitely not where I thought it would be by the age I am. But there are so many things I am extremely thankful for. 

All in His timing.

'And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.'

Romans 8:28

Shutterfly Free Photobook.

In case you couldn't tell, I love photography. Which also means that I end up with a ton of pictures and just can't keep up with them all through regular scrapbooking. I try, believe me or just look at the bottom shelves on all our bookcases. But these little gems are a great way to document a special trip. Shutterfly offers photobooks, and I got at least 2 of these from them (the 8x8 ones), I can't remember where I ordered the larger guestbook from. 


But I love them. And I'm not just saying that (I am not an affiliate of theirs)  I just wanted to share a product I love with you, friends. I ordered our first photobook as a guestbook for our wedding. I loved the way it looked, made up of the engagements pictures we had taken and notes from all the guests throughout. 

So when they had a deal going where I just paid shipping, I decided to try and make another one of a family trip we took. Once again, I loved the ease of their software online in making it. You can save your progress so you don't have to complete it in one sitting & the book itself looks awesome! 

I have never been disappointed with the way these have turned out. I even made one for my sister of her wedding (I just can't find the box I packed it in right now to show you). Which turned out just as amazing! They are so fun to look through and easy to make soon after you make a trip (you can upload the pictures onto Shutterfly directly from your memory card if you wanted to).

So why not give it a try?? I actually have the ability this week to email anyone a code for a free photobook (for 1st time shutterfly users,  50% off for all returning customers).

So if you are interested......just comment with your email address.

Happy Tuesday! 

P.S. I have also used Snapfish and FreePrints for other printing services. Shutterfly is usually my go-to. But FreePrints lets me print directly from my phone, very convenient. 

Christmas.

Sorry it took me a few days to write about our Christmas, we have just been enjoying a few days to ourselves. Working on projects that have sat for too long, watching movies and just being together. 
We had a pretty quiet Christmas Day which was exactly what we needed. It worked out perfectly in that way after going skiing at the beginning of the week. 
Just us enjoying each other's company on Christmas morning. Starting out the day slowly, taking it all in, reading the Scriptures together. Enjoying a small celebration together. 
Pretty perfect really. 


Probably much like the first Christmas was when I sat and thought about it. (little rabbit trail) 
Just Mary & Joseph and their sweet new baby. I wonder if they thought about how everything would change from that day on. How much that baby meant to the world, even if the world didn't recognize Him. 

In the afternoon we headed to my sister's house where we skyped my parents all together. Which was fun! Then the four of us headed to A's extended family Christmas celebration. So it was a great balance of our own family just being, and seeing the wider family and enjoying each other's company. 



I also got a fisheye lens for Christmas from my sweet hubby this year. So I had great fun playing with it all day. Now I just need to learn how to properly use it haha! 

Hope you guys had a great Christmas! White Elephant with 50+ people has to be one of my highlights. 

//Capturing Moments with My DSLR//

Sometimes I feel so clique in my passions. Making it hard for me to share them with others.
A love for Africa feels so common now. Yet my young heart didn't understand that's what was happening when I was there after High School. Before it was a 'cool' thing to have a heart for. It wasn't something I had planned for, or even longed for.
It happened when God orchestrated my being there without me even realising it would.


And if I could have stayed. I would have.

But then I never would have developed other passions I have in my life, so its probably a good thing I didn't stay in the heart of Africa. Although Africa certainly stayed in my heart.
It's been 8 years since I was there, and still I get this deep longing when I think about that trip.


I'm learning to listen to those deep heart pangs. They tell me things. Things I perhaps hadn't realised I was passionate about. They make it hard to ignore.



Art always captured my attention in school, even though I was never very talented at it. It was the class I was excited about all day when I saw it on my schedule. The one I invested the most time into. So many of my high school art projects were centered around photographs, you know the kind you have to get developed because digital images were still a dream yet to come. They just drew me in. Something about working with an image that was captured, it displayed something I could never create with my two hands and a pen. It captured and said things that I could only hope to with paints or even words.


Another thing I am passionate about (who knew I had enough things to talk about for a month! And almost have...oops!) is photography. I look back on these pictures from my trips to various places & so badly wish I could go on a journey around the globe again with my DSLR. Capturing the beauty in a more detailed way, a more skilled way.

Sneek Peek of a Dream.

I don't talk about this passion much either, because again it feels so common. Making me feel so insignificant. But reading Emily Freeman's book A Million Little Ways nudged me. Reminding me that there is always someone who will make art in the same way as you, who will do it better than you, but that is not the point. More thoughts on what I have been learning next week though. 


I have big dreams with this passion. Really big ones, and I'm still waiting for them to bear fruit, in the meantime I have been learning a lot about software, cameras, light. 
I have to want to learn it, because I have to make it a priority in an otherwise busy schedule. 


The huge blessing is that despite all the equipment I own, it was all given to me in one way or another. The Lord has given me all the tools I have needed so far to keep pursuing this passion, I own 3 DSLRs (I was given all of them, one is my new baby!), a full version of lightroom (another amazing gift!), a tripod (Christmas gift), 2 books on learning your DSLR (won in giveaways from other blogs!). The only thing I need are more memory cards because I can fill the ones I have in the space of a few hours!! haha!

I share all that to praise God, who has given me more than I deserve when it comes to this interest. For no other reason.  

Pray about your passions! You never know what He will do....

And someday I hope to figure out how the Lord will use particularly my passion for Africa, Children and Photography for His glory. Because that would make me burst! Feel alive! Feel made for what I was doing! 

This post is part of my 31 day series for the month of October, 
fighting through the fears and sharing the confusing passions I have. 
Hoping to figure out the bigger picture of all these interests.

A Fall Tradition. Fun in the Orchard.

Well if you follow along on Instagram (@GloriousWithin), you will know that we went Apple Picking & to the Cider Mill last weekend. So far I have been 3 times in the last week and a half, might be one of my Fall favorite activities!! I couldn't resist sharing some of our pictures from that trip. It has become one of our Fall Traditions. 
(See Here for fun at the same place last year! And Scroll down for other images for our yearly apple picking visits)

I did have several other gorgeous shots, but I saved these as I begin brainstorming on embarking on the 31 Days journey starting next week. 
More to come on that soon! 

Outfit Stats: Shirt (Old Navy), Necklace (DazzleMeDeals), Jeans (Old Navy), Boots (TJMaxx, a few yrs ago) 

Just in case you were interested:

Any of you have any Fall Traditions? Anybody else planning on doing the 31 day challenge?

Last year I did 31 Days Of Thankfulness.