Christmas Photos

This is a photo blog!

I am actually thinking ahead this year! Can you believe that? I am thinking CHRISTMAS!

I asked my sister if I could borrow her family and take some promo pictures of them. Of course she said yes, because she awesome! So last weekend I went to her house and set up my Christmas scene. Here are a few shots I got and some information about how you can get your family Christmas pictures made!

Check out my Facebook Page and my website - www.clicktasticphoto.com

Project 434

I was going to write a blog about Project 434, but I just haven't had the time. So, instead I am going to "steal" the Youth Pastor's Newsletter article. So, thank you, Sean Cawthon for your amazing words about this event.............

This past Sunday, October 3, the Youth department hosted a Purity Ring Ceremony in the sanctuary. Twenty-six students and their parents, all total about sixty-five, met at 5:30 pm for a final session before entering the service at 6:30 pm. The event was well attended by the church body and I am incredibly grateful for the turn out. We have awesome members here at First and I for one love you all.


Following the service, the Youth department escorted the entire group of youth and parents to the Fellowship Hall for a banquet style dinner. We set up the tables in one long line right down the middle and then formed a T on the end to accommodate all guests. We set out the church china, silverware, glasses, decorations, and set up some nice music for background ambiance. The first item on the menu was Caesar salad, which was prepared by my parents, Sonny and Shirley Cawthon who drove in from Tyler just to help with this event. They actually made the salad and the desserts. We filled the glasses with water and tea and as soon as the salad course was finished, we began bringing out the main course. Handmade chicken cordon bleu with a red wine shallot sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Italian cut green beans were the main course. And finally, we had our “just” desserts. We served two options for this course and prepared individual chocolate pudding tarts and coconut-cream pudding tarts, both served with ripe strawberries and plump grapes. Hot tea and coffee helped to complete the evening meal.


Keri Moreno set up a professional backdrop and used her very nice camera to take family pictures and a great shot of the whole group of youth. Additionally, several other key people helped to make this event an awesome night. Keri and Eli Moreno, Eric Shipp, Bob and Carole Bogart (my awesome in-laws) and myself made sure that the tables were served, bussed, glasses full, and needs attended. You can imagine a service of seventy hungry folks, there is a lot to stay on top of and this incredible team rose to the occasion and performed beautifully for our Lord and the families. None of us realized the extent of what we would need to do to make this happen. And when the dishwasher broke, we rallied one last time around our two huge sinks and hand washed each item. Now that’s love! I am so proud of those who selflessly serve these youth and their families. I could never thank them enough.


Finally, I want to introduce you to our chef for the evening. Jason Gray is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Cooking school of Dallas and currently works at Lone Star Park as the pasta chef. However, his handiwork has been seen recently on Wednesday nights at Oasis dinner. He has recently started a catering business. He is highly recommended. His number is 972-822-9932. If you have a dinner party or family event and want to have someone else take on the task of preparation, then Chef Jason Gray is your man.


The service itself was incredible. The church body stood and applauded as the youth and their parents made there way into the sanctuary. It was a majestic moment followed by O, Worship the King. Sammy gave the opening prayer and it was very graciously given. Eric and Eli read Scripture. Steven Turner played a wonderful song. The parents and the youth stood up at the altar and made their vows of purity before God, each other and the church. We closed with All Hail the Power of Jesus Name, presented the youth and parents to the church with a special charge for the body of believers and then David Turner spoke a message of truth to the youth and then closed us in prayer.


I have to say that I am humbled by all parts of this event. There was extensive planning and preparation. Many worked tirelessly for this moment. Many supported us throughout the entire process. I thank all of the parents for allowing us to work with your young men and young women. I thank you parents for your efforts to diligently work hard for your children and to raise them in the way of the Lord. We love our youth and we love serving our King of kings and Lord of lords.

What's new with us!

Were do I begin? How about we start with the most recent!

Some of you know what Eli & I have been going through, but for those of you that aren’t aware….We are going to ADOPT A BABY!!! We have prayed and thought about this for several months and we both feel that this is where God is leading us right now. We went to our first adoption class last night, through a Christian agency called Covenant Kids. We are hopping to adopt a newborn and bring it home from the hospital. The class was great! The lady told us all about the road we are about to take a trip down and the waiting list could be anywhere from tomorrow to two years! I have to learn to be patient and put everything God’s hands!

The next step, while we are waiting, is to get all of the paper work together, copies of driver’s licenses, social security cards, birth certificates, marriage license….the list is endless!!! We also have to put together a “Life Book”. This is a book about mine & Eli’s life that will consist of pictures of us, our house, the baby’s room, our family’s, letters and whatever else we want to put in there. The birth mother uses these books to decide on what family gets to adopt her baby. The way this agency works is that the birth mother gets to pick the family she wants her baby to go to. We decide all the criteria’s for the baby, like boy, girl, race, age, etc….and then they lay all of the “Life Books” that match out on the table and the birth mother picks one! Very exciting and scary at the same time.

Also, during this waiting period, we have books to read and reports to do on the books. Don’t get me wrong, I will do just about anything for this to happen….but I really think some people that give birth to a child should have do some of this stuff!

She said that we should be moved up on the list around November; not when we will get a baby, just when we will move up on the waiting list. After we move up will have a ton more procedures to go through with, like home studies, CPR training, fire inspection, etc…. Right now I am just focusing on the paperwork and the “Life Book”.

Prayers are greatly appreciated right now!!

My birthday MONTH!!

Ok, so you only turn 30 once in your life right? Well, I am going out with a bang! After all that has happened…maybe I want to turn 30 every year. Where or where do I begin?

It all started when Eli brought home my doggy birthday present. Which by the way…puppies are bad! He is a good puppy, he just chews on everything! I love him though. Last weekend, Eli told me that he had a surprise for me, but I had to find it. He gave me a hint that it was in my valentines present. Well, our inside joke is that my truck is my valentines, birthday, anniversary & every other event, present. So I started poking around in the truck…he gave me a hint that one thing had to do with the name Jack. I finally got it and looking in the jack compartment of the truck and found a bottle of perfume!! Then Eli said there was something in a “box”. There is a glove box in the very back of the truck and there was a new pair of tennis shoes!! WOW!! Presents everywhere. On Monday of this week Eli & I went to the Records Building in Dallas and registered our business name…we are now the proud owners of Clicktastic Photo USA! I am almost 30 and already a business owner. We then went to the bank and opened a business account. After that we worked on our web page and it is finally up and running! This is all amazing to me! I cannot believe we are so blessed by God. He is AMAZING! I put everything I have and will have in God’s hands. He is my Savior and Lord. Thank you God for everything.

This all makes turning 30 on May 25, awesome! This is year that I will never forget. God is good and life good.

Check out my website…..let me know what you think.

www.clicktasticphoto.com

So much, so little time!

It has been a long while since I have expressed my feelings on here. That is what I started this for….but where does the time go? I remember when I was in school, I thought I was so busy because I had school, homework, and of course my FRIENDS!! Boy, do I wish could back to those days. Now I have about a million more things on my plate. I am not complaining, really, I am not. I have so many AMAZING things happening in my life right now. I really feel kind of bad because I don’t deserve all of these things. I am very blessed, but sometimes I wonder if I deserve all that I have. Let me just start at the beginning……

I know everyone knows the song, “I am so excited”! I am totally singing that song right now! Some of you know that Eli & I are taking a leap of faith and trying to start our own photography business. I eventually want my own studio, but for now I am just going to take outside family photos. This is a dream of mine for a while now. I finally convinced my husband to get on board this train and let’s just do it. I have loved photography as long as I can remember. I am the one at family events with the camera in my hand. I am always the one taking the pictures, never the one in the pictures. I have been taking pictures here & there for a while now. I have even shot a wedding! Now it is getting serious. I have a name picked out and everything. I am in the process of publishing a website and getting my business name registered. I never realized how much goes into starting a business. I have to save all of my receipts now, and that is hard for me!!! Oh well, if that is the least of my problems, then I have it made in the shade with some pink lemonade! It is all just a lot. It is really hard to work a full time job, a part time job, be so involved at my church and try to start a business. Sometimes you just have to thank God for unanswered prayers. Late nights and early mornings, hours and hours of sitting behind a computer cropping and editing pictures! I love every minute of it though! I guess that is one plus to me not getting pregnant yet. I am not saying that I don’t want to get pregnant; I am just saying that God has a reason for everything! This is the beginning of another chapter in my life. So get in touch with me for all of your photo needs!!!

On top of all of that, Eli gave me an early birthday present. Can you believe I will be 30 on the 25^th of May? Me 30, NOWAY!! Eli brought home an 11 week old Rottweiler puppy on Friday! I finally gave him a name...Hercules! He weighs 29 lbs and he is solid muscle! His paws are so big. As many of you know, I have a 10 year old rott now. She is the BEST dog I have ever had! Herc is a pretty good dog so far, besides the chewing. He has only had like 3 accidents in the house and he will go into his create and not whine the whole time he is in there. But, oh my, the chewing….he chews on my feet, my ankles, my dresser knobs, my other Rottweiler’s bed, my other Rottweiler, socks, shoes, and the corners of the walls! He has also cleaned everything out from under my bed. I still love him. He is so cute and will be so big really soon. I can’t wait. He is the best birthday present ever, but am I ready to have a puppy again? It has been 10 years since I have had a puppy.

We have about 100 other things going on in our lives right now, but I really don’t have anymore time to get into them. I just want to say that GOD IS GOOD! God has put many great and awesome opportunities in front of right now. It is all in His hands.

Just a couple of things...............

Let me just start off by telling you that I am very mad, so this blog might be a little HARSH to some people! Just prepare yourself before you read this! This is your WARNING!!!!

Let’s start with whole baby thing…….

I 100% believe that God has a plan for EVERYONE, even the sinners! You will get pregnant only in GOD’S time, or if you have not ACCEPTED Jesus in your heart, maybe you will get pregnant when SATAN wants you too! I know that Jesus is in my heart and I know that I will have a baby, whether I give birth to it or if I adopt it! And I know that whenever I have the PRIVILAGE to have a child living in my home…..NOTHING will stand in my way of me being a MOTHER! Just because you give birth to a child, doesn’t make you a MOTHER. A MOTHER doesn’t choose other things over their child. A mother is someone who is living FOR their child. A mother would do ANYTHING for her child. A mother will be there for her child when they are sick. Your child should be your whole world. I WILL HAVE THE BLESSING OF A CHILD….IN GOD’S TIME! I might be 40 years old…..but God will not give me more than I can handle. Jesus is my Savior, and I have complete faith in Him. I may be impatient at times, but I have faith in Jesus Christ! And please, don’t ever say “It is so easy to get pregnant, what are you doing wrong?” YOU may be able to give no thought to it and just get pregnant, or maybe get pregnant to keep a man in your life……but not everyone can do that! Does God have his hand in me or others not get pregnant right off the bat? OF COURSE! He has His reasons that only He knows. He is watching over me and my family and the time is not right for him. Am I ok with that? Well…..I am, I am just impatient, but I know in my heart that He has a plan for me and my family! It is not my plan or YOUR plan….it is GOD’S plan and you my little friend are not God. I am not even sure you know Him. I pray for you daily to find him and to let him your heart. I will continue this prayer until the day you wake up and see that he loves you and he wants to be in your life!

Bottom line…if you have something to say to me, then say it to my face not to my back. Oh wait…this person never sees me, never talks to me, and has never been in the same room with me, so what gives you the right to talk about me….nothing better to do? I just found out that this person has now blocked her blog! WOOO HOOO! I am not going to block mine. If I have something to say, I want you all to know about it. Ok, I feel better now! Thanks for reading my frustrations!

On to the GOOD things! Can I just say…I love the YOUTH kids at the church! Eli & I went to YouthCue this past weekend with the youth choir. There were about 13 kids and about 7 adults that went with us on the trip. We went to Waco and the kids preformed at Baylor University on Sunday afternoon. The kids worked really hard for this event and it showed! The kids sounded amazing. This weekend really showed me that I am not as young as I used to be. I had 3 teenage girls in my room and they giggled and laughed and did the high pit screaming…….WOW! Did I really act like that when I was their age? Really?? On Saturday, the kids were in rehearsal all day, so Eli and I had the day to ourselves. We went to the Waco Zoo! I haven’t been to a zoo in a really time! We were like two kids! It was sooo much fun. We had a BLAST! Of course I had my new camera….so I will post some pictures. All and all, it was one of the best trips that we have been on in a while! The kids were well behaved and just amazing. The youth group is going on a Mystery Trip during Spring Break and my heart is broken that I cannot go with them! They are going to have so fun. We really have a great group of kids. If you have a “youth” kid, you should send them to First United Methodist Church in Irving! AWESOME!!!

One last thing…..if you do not know me PLEASE DO NOT TALK ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK! If you have something to say about ME…..tell ME!

February 2010

Can you believe it is the middle of FEBRUARY 2010? Well, I can’t! Everyone always told me, “the older you get, the fast time goes by.” Boy, is that the truth??!!

First of all….THE SNOW STORM OF 2010! That was so awesome. I don’t think I have ever seen so much snow here. It was so fun to get out and play in it. We built a life size snowman. The snow was so beautiful. Here is a picture of us with the snowman!

Yes, Eli is trying to bite of his head!

As most of you know, Eli bought me my pro series camera! That’s right PRO!! Ok, I am not a pro photographer, but give me a couple of weeks! Just joking! But I am working on it. I am trying to get a website built. It really isn’t hard, just a lot to think about it. Do I use this program or that, what do I make my prices, what pictures look the best, etc…..A lot to think about. My website is almost ready. I have a couple of more things I want to add to it and then….I will give everyone the website! I have been taking pictures left and right. I love to take outdoor photos! I took my sister’s daughter out in the 32 degree weather a couple of weekends ago to take pictures. She is a professional model. She didn’t say one thing about the cold; she just stood there and smiled. Me, on the other hand….my hands were FREEZING! I got some really great pictures though! I want to post pictures, but I don’t want them to be stolen off of my page and posted somewhere else, claiming that someone’s else took them! They are on my facebook page and they will be on my photography website. The are copyrighted on my website. So, I am almost there. Pray that everything will go will and I will do well at my new adventure! Here are some of the pictures I took of my sisters kids!

Ha Ha….no denying I took these pictures! My name is all over them!J

Today is my dad’s birthday! I am so blessed to have him in my life! He is a wonderful man and an even better dad. I cannot put it into words how much I have him. He has always been there for me and I hope and pray he will continue to be. A lady at church is laying her mother to rest today, which makes me think……I am blessed to have dad as long as I have had him and hopefully another 50 years! He is awesome and I love him dearly.

Well, I guess that is it for now……I am in a bad mood and just want to go home! I will write more another day. Peace out!

2010 has great things planned!

Oh my goodness, I don’t know where to start!! I have been so stinkin busy, like always. I left off at Christmas so I will begin in 2010! Can you believe it is 2010? I can’t, that is just very weird for me.

Well, for New Years Eve, Eli and I just hung around the house. I was so sick and didn’t want to get off of the couch and Eli is just a “homebody”! So, hanging out at the house was PERFECT for us this year! I had just taken some Nightquil and was asleep by 10:30! Woo Hoo…I am a big time partier, I know! What a great way to start off the new year….peace & quite! Well, that didn’t last long.

Work has been BUSY! I haven’t had a chance to breathe. But I like it that way. I really do work better under pressure. I love to be pushed! I was asked sometime last year if I would be interested in running the church’s webpage. I didn’t think about it to long…I love the challenge of something new. Even know I know it will be hard at times! I have just started playing with a “fake” website to learning everything. Can I just tell you, that is so much fun! I didn’t think I liked to learn, but this is great! I am not a pro yet, but I will be one day. I hear you can make the BIG BUCKS doing that.

January is full of birthdays too. We have my grandma (Rocky), my cousin (Sean), my cousin’s babys (Kyleigh) and my best friend, Debbie’s! All of their birthdays are in January. I have one wedding and a baby shower (for a friend) that are on the same day (tomorrow)!! We are having the family birthday party at the end of January (which I a making a cake for). I love my family, they are great.

On top off all of that……Eli & I have decided to open our photography business! I cannot believe I just said that….our own business!! That sounds great. It is a lot of work too. I have been thinking of names forever. I have a couple picked out, but I don’t want to say them until it is my name and no one else can steal it! By this I mean, I have to go to the Dallas County office and pay for my business name and get a Tax ID. There is so much “behind the scenes” work to do. But I am TOTALLY ready for it! I have been going home at night and working on my “business” stuff. Pricing, lab development, getting a good camera, putting scene together, getting a portfolio together, you name it! I already have my first gig too. Well, it’s not a paid gig, but I am going to taking pictures at an event at the church for a Youth Choir fundraiser in February. I am so excited about this new chapter in our lives. God is with us in everything we do….which means…this is a good thing.

February doesn’t slow down any….EVERY WEEKEND in February is busy and booked! I will write more on February in February! Thanks for reading!