This year, since God provided me with a perfect job and I have been blessed with a small income.  The Lord pressed it on my heart to give some of that away!  I'm like, I have so much, even if it doesn't seem like to much, but compared to what a lot of people have...the least I can do is help some people who REALLY need help.  I picked out of a couple of "gift catalogs," where you donate money to go towards, feeding children, buying blankets, providing clean water, mosquito nets...and much bigger things like animals and building homes and stuff.  It really is fun to think of the lives you are touching!  Again it is hard to realize just how much you are helping...it might not feel like much, but you know it is, it is just hard to picture just how much.  And I want to do more...but then there would be no end! ; )

So I donated through two places, Compassion and Samaritan's Purse.  At the end of the transaction for Compassion, there was this video at the bottom of the page.  I'm glad I didn't miss it!  The kids are all saying thank you!  And it makes you realize, those kids aren't any different then us! : ) So cute!
They are thanking me! : )

I this on posted on FaceBook after giving:  It's a lot harder to part with money when you are spending it...then when you are giving it! : D
I was thinking as I was picking out the things to give...I would have a hard time spending this much money on just something I wanted.  But when I was giving it to people who really needed it...it was a LOT different....you kinda didn't want to stop! : )

Today is the last day of 2012!  I hope that I will follow God's will for my life this next year, and I can only imagine what He has in store for me!

~Sarah

No Electricity...my Camera still worked...and the stars were bright...night photography! ; )

One night, our electricity to the whole town went out during a storm.  There were about 25 polls down between here and Mcpherson!  Anyway, the next night, probably since the lights in town weren't on, you could really see the stars!  So, I did some night photography!!  Here were the results! 

 I actually cropped this one of the moon...I can't get this zoomed in with my 50mm lens.

Wow, Huh!  God's World!

The electricity came on shortly after this that night.  It was crazy that it only took them just over 24 hours to replace that many polls!  Dad hooked up our generator up to the furnace, and the fridge and freezer the morning after it went out.  Then at one point that morning for something to do, Mom unplugged the furnace and plugged in the tv to watch a movie. Then after that the generator wasn't working...that shouldn't of happened but it did.  Dad came home from work, and he found that there was not very much electricity coming out of the generator at all.  The motor was working fine but the out put of elec. was not.  Dad was sick out it...it isn't that old and has very few hours. : (  So, Dad borrowed a generator from work, and brought it when he came home from work.  Then, after he got home, we all went to Wichita to buy a new one, and get something to eat.  We stopped in newton on the way home and ate at Arby's!   Once we got home, Dad got the generator from work, going. and got the new one out.  So while he...and Robert were outside working on that, I was taking pictures!...with the loud generator going!  Then, I was inside and the lights came back on...I wasn't quite sure what happened, it took me a minute! : )  How did those lights get turned on? : D  After all that we didn't need that generator!  But now we have one that works...for the next time!

P.S.  With no lights on in the town...no street lights either...it looked weird out!  Like blue and dusky...: )

Pure Actions for Photographers Giveaway!

I saw on FB that Pure Actions for Photographers is doing a giveaway, and if I share it I can get another point, I think...  The giveaway is an ExpoDisc.  It is for achieving a custom white balance in your camera, so you don't have to do so much in editing!

Here is a link to their blog post where they explain how the ExpoDisc works and how to enter if you want...and they have two pictures for examples!  It Looks cool!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpurephotoshopactions.com%2F%3Fp%3D1437&h=8AQGwgPnNAQF3hvWh9ogDbAufCBhoTf2insLmOfG0fAhayA&enc=AZNm1NdEF_LW2VdqNZzaID08Ew-Ff8w1o3rSJJiLkpxJhRr4yN7FhMOuAvqhhmyKOT05oBAYGBdDXk0KS9w5ygSH

Ok...I do have two blog post too that I need to get done!  Maybe by the end of the week!

~ Sarah

I'm 19!

Wow, 19 seems pretty grown up!  Yesterday was my Birthday...it was a good day!  In the morning we watched some little houses...I actually got up earlier than normal...but still not that early! : )  It made the morning last longer than I am used to. ; )   Sometime during the morning, I was holding Wesley, and Mom asked Wesley if he know how old Sarah was.  He shook his head or something so Mom said, 19.  He said, "Wow!!!  Now you can hold me!"  And I said, "I have been holding you since you were born!"  : )  So cute!  Then Rachel said she wanted a Birthday card, but I was like but it isn't your birthday, it's mine.  She decided to make me a card, and Mom helped her.  Here is what it said:


Mom made me a double layer cake on the pedestal cake plate that was a family members...it was Wacky Cake, with homemade vanilla frosting and baby blue Happy Birthday Sarah, and edging.

Uncle Tim came this weekend to help Grandpa work on a trailer, and so he and G&G came over for dinner of Papa Murphy's.  I had a small bowl of mint cookie ice cream, then another bowl of cake and cookie dough ice cream.  I was pretty well STUFFED!

Ok, well I started writing this "the day after by birthday" but I have not finished it so I am going to finish it, although it won't be as good as if it was still the day after my birthday. : )

I got some really cool presents...a wrist watch & pretty navy blue shirt from Mom and Dad, Grandma crocheted a blanket along with a zip up "tiger" sweater, slippers, and a couple bracelets, and the OU bracelet she bought it Oklahoma, that I though she was buying for herself!  

Turnign 19, I thought back to last year more than I did when the new came...

I wonder what the next year may hold...it very well could hold the biggest things in my life!  Interesting to think about, scary and fun!  : )  It seems that life is moving so slow, but God's plan is perfect...if only it were as easily to say as to follow it!

Here is some pictures of my family from the biginning of this year...I'll post some pictures too soon that I have gotten this spring!!!

B&W

Color

I love this picture...yeah no make-up, but I love how her arm is around my shoulder!

: )  At the Park!

I wonder what the next year may hold...it very well could hold the biggest things in my life!  Kinda scary and fun to think about!  : )  It seems that life is moving so slow, but God's plan is perfect...if only it were as easily to say as to follow it!

I copied this from another girl's blog that I follow:

"Everyone asks me how to find the man or woman of their dreams. The best way I heard on how to pick a mate was this. You run as fast as you can for Jesus Christ, commit your life to Him, love Him, sell out to Him, and stay devoted to Him. Then you start looking to your right and left and see who is running at the same speed. And you wave at them. And if they stay up with you, after a while, say, 'Come on over!' And you're running together. That's how you find your mate."

-Unknown

Pretty good advice! : )

~ Sarah

Favorite Pictures of 2011

Well, at the end of December (2011), other photographers were picking out their, "Best of 2011," pictures, and posting them on their blog.  So...I am going to pick out some of my favorite pictures from 2011.  Although, I will only include pictures I took with my, new and awesome 60d Canon camera(50mm 1.8 lens), which I got July, 14th...so it isn't a full year... just to set that straight.  Here they are!  This is going to be fun..I'll put captions with the pictures!

These first pictures will not include my photography jobs...I will put some pictures of those shoots at the end.  Here we go!...be prepared, it is a long post!!!

This was a "special" picture. ; )  It was the VERY first picture I took with my new camera!

Trying what I had seen done before, with the piano, and blurring!

I started at first using manual focusing...now I never really use it, much easier using auto focus! 

This is looking out the little security hole in our hotel door in Branson, on our little vacation w/ Grandma and Grandpa. The hotel is one where the doors open to outside.  That is our Ukon in the picture. : )
We went to a family member's wedding, before that though we went to Branson!   

This was at the wedding, I edited out the background and put in a picture.(that I didn't take)  The "real" background was the gym wall.  I really liked this picture, the way they are looking at each other was un-posed, and it was one of my favorites!

A kiss I was able to capture!!!   Haha, the man tapping in front, it does distract but...

The Cake...this was a shoot that I took twice, and the second one was a LOT better.  So the lesson was, always take two + pictures of a subject.  It might make or break that certain picture.

My Locket!

I like this picture's sharpness, the B&W contrast, and the...mood, or feel, thoughts of what this picture could be representing....an afternoon of drawing... 

This was from the parade where G&G G. live.  I think he looked at me as I was taking the picture!  I don't remember if I cropped it, I may have.

This was using back light from the setting sun, and using my pop up flash.  I thought it was so cute!  Wesley is adorable!

My awesome piano!  I love playing!!!

Sleek, and perfect.

This was a, "Naked Lady," flower...yeah weird name!  In like three or four days it went from this short budded shoot, to a tall "naked" stem with a cluster of pretty flowers on it!  The flowers made for AWESOME pictures!

I really liked how this one was focused...and the bracelet was made by a lady in Kenya, I think...and those are the good smelling lilacs from the lilac bush in our back yard! <3  I did this 8x10 with this verse I loved, framed it and it is hung on my wall.

A feather Wes, found!

A rose, and some photoshop actions!

More fun with some free actions.  

Neighbor's puppy...cute ! : )

Little Sister!

This is my bowed psaltery!  It is set up like a piano, with the white notes on the right(left above), and the 3, 2, 3 sets of black notes are on the other side.(right above)   The bow is laying on top.

Fall colors!

The blurred flower behind the, "in focus" one, kinda looks like a reflection in a mirror.

I had Rachel, run, and jump. This one turned out good!

Dad's blue pickup, cute little sister and fall colors.  Cute picture!

The apricot tree's fall leaves...that tree has many different colors...Green, yellow, and red! ; ) 

A Bobcat skid steer from Dad's work, on a trailer, here at home.

The teeth of the bucket!

The background I think is a little to busy, but it is kinda neat too...

The apricot tree again!  Love this picture, so sharp. 

I was practicing my, "wedding" photography.  It didn't turn out too bad. : )  I actually use the eye shadow out of there, and my makeup bag is the pink thing underneath. 

Me, in the mirror!  

Several pictures from this great shoot with my little sister.  The scarf made for cute pictures!

Love!

This turned out good...the tree looks beautiful!

Ballet Shoes Ornament. 

Last winter and this winter, I have noticed that there are/was, AMAZING, Pretty, sunsets!!!  You would't think that there would be pretty sunsets in the winter...well, especially this year, that would be, WAY OFF. ; )  Only God could do something like this. 

"Midwest" Peppernuts mom made, and Christmas lights Bokeh!  

Rachel with a hat Jonathan made for her, using the, "nifty knitter."  Love this one!

These are the, "real, and best" peppernuts! ; )  They are sooo good!   The peppernuts are more like a really dense cake,  they are not hard like the peppernuts people make around here in the Midwest...mom did make some though. ( pictured above)  They are cut out using a donuts hole cuter. 

Then after they bake, you dip them in powdered sugar frosting!  The family would usually do them in red and green, but we didn't have red, or very much of it or something, so this year, we kinda broke that, "tradition," we did blue and green. ; )  I helped dunking them in frosting...the younger kids did this too...  Kinda fun dunking the peppernuts!


Now for some business pictures.

I took her picture to use for her business picture....and she is using it!  This was for free though. : )

Dennis Jernigan Concert...first real "paid" job and I enjoyed it!

"You are my all in all," I think it was the first song he did.  He had everyone sing...neat!  And, I actually played a beautiful arrangement, that I love, of this song at my graduation. 

C - Family Pictures!
I was happy with how I did, at this shoot...and they were good posers. : )

A friend who is also a photographer, Kayleigh, asked me to help her photograph an event.  We had fun!

Saw a friend from dance there helping/volunteering, Miss H.

I went with Dad, and Robert when our church poured a concrete slab for a shed.

Our yearly pictures!  This was the first year that I took them with my new camera!

Credits to Mom, she took this one! : )

My brother took my pictures!

And for the last picture, here is a little thing I tried!  I'll will tell about that in another post...neat?!  Yeah! 

P.S.  One more picture...this is called night photography.  You set your camera to have a, long shutter speed.  This means that the shutter is open longer, and allows more light in to the camera...with the use of a tripod, (so there isn't too much blurring, because the picture takes a while to record) you can take pictures at night!  Because there was so much light let into the camera, there are stars in the picture, that I couldn't even see!

~ Sarah