engagement photo shoot : Ric & Julia

Another sister is getting married! Julia will soon be married to Ric, or as I like to call him, Ic. Ric proposed to Julia over a year ago and I'm finally getting around to posting some of their engagement photos. My bad... Julia asked both myself and my sister-in-law Mallory to take the engagement photos. So we made a power team and took a few photos at Southwood and a lot of photos at Maclay Gardens.  These are a few of my photos. You can check out their blog here: Miller Life.

Tube Wars

The game that we call Tube Wars. We hook up two tubes behind our boat and a person gets on each tube. Then, the war begins! Goal: To throw the competitor off their tube. Rules: 1. No hitting, biting, scratching, pulling hair or hitting below the belt.  Everything else is on the table. 2. Best score after three runs win and the winner must face the next competitor. Scoring: 1 point - You remain on your tube and throw the competitor off their tube. 2 points - You jump to your competitor’s tube, engage your competitor, and pull them off while also falling off. 3 points - You jump to your competitor’s tube, engage your competitor, and throw them off while remaining on the tube.

Crab Huntin

One weekend, I took to my two youngest siblings, Elaina and Nathaniel, to the beach.  The sun was setting and it was getting dark.  Nathaniel told us it was time to go "crab hunting."  I decided to go along even though I wasn't sure what he was talking about.  And there we were on the beach with my phone, a flashlight, and a gig spear thing. To crab hunt, you shine your flashlight on the shoreline and when you see a crab you run after it like a crazy and spear it!  We were hunting for ghost crabs.  Once speared, Nathaniel likes to take the crab's biggest claw off and keep it. We all got a turn to try to spear some crabs and succeeded.  When we decided to call it quits, we probably had speared about 30 crabs. It was quite the adventure.

Baptisms

Recently, my two youngest siblings were baptized!  A very cool thing to be a part of!  NT decided he was going to be baptized on Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011.  Elaina decided quite some time ago, that she wanted to be baptized on her birthday when it fell on Mother's day, which happened this year on her 14th birthday, May 8, 2011. As a Christian, we get baptized to publicly confess that we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior.  He set the example and He commands it.  It symbolizes the washing away of our old, sinful self and rising again to life, putting on our new self.  It is an outward expression of an inward decision. "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." - Romans 6:4 "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan." - Mark 1:9 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20 NT's Baptism Elaina's Baptism

The Impossible is Possible

It has been said that it is impossible to lick your elbow. Elaina proves that to be wrong and shows the impossible to be possible.

The Miller Blog

This boy I know, Ric Miller, is being deployed to Afghanistan as a Marine officer. And when he gets back, he's marrying my sister and then he'll be my brother. Lucky boy. Check out their blog: Miller Life. Hopefully, Julia and Ric can keep it updated. Please keep them in your prayers! It's going to be quite the journey! Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Cystic Fibrosis: A Way You Can Help

I love being apart of this!! I have made a commitment to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to participate in their annual, nationwide walk event called Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis.  I have been a part of this event for a few years now and I’m excited to do it again! I personally know two students, a sister and brother, who have Cystic Fibrosis (CF).  Currently there is no cure for CF and the average life expectancy is 36.5 years.  Please view their story in the video below. Please help find a cure. You can visit my page: http://www.cff.org/great_strides/TriciaChason to make a donation.  All your donations go straight to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis! I hope you consider donating to the cure for CF.  No donation is too small! Thank you so very much! Tricia Chason You can learn more about CF at www.cff.org

"You Are More"

I’ve been going through a study on the book of Job. Awesome book, intense study! In chapter 25, one of Job's friends, Bildad, talks about the inferiority of man. In Job 25:6 he says, "How much less man, who is but a maggot—a son of man, who is only a worm!” Bildad calls men maggots and worms. Neat. Is Bildad right? Are we just maggots and worms to God? Here’s what Job thinks: Job 10:8-12, “Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit." In Genesis 1:26-31, God talks about making ‘man in our image, in our likeness.’ Not only that, but He also told man that he would ‘rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ God made us in His image and then put us in charge of ‘everything that has the breath of life in it.’ Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knows us, He knows when we sit and when we rise, He is familiar with all our ways. Before we were even born, He knew us and he set us apart. And that’s just a few verses from the Old Testament. There are plenty more in the New Testament, such as Luke 12:6-7, Luke 12:24-28, Ephesians 2:10, to name a few. And then, because He loved us so much and He didn’t want us to pay the price of sin, He died for us. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." So does God think we are maggots and worms? I don’t think so. After studying this, a song came to mine. “You Are More” by Tenth Avenue North.