it truly is a miracle

Yesterday, for the first time since April, my home computer worked all day! holy cow this is an amazing thing. I got to edit some pics that I have been waiting to edit. This is so exciting, however, I am going to be purchasing a new computer here soon and I am giddy about it.

Here is a pic of some of Sam, and the others I can't put up cause they are a suprise gift...I don't want to ruin it, but I will be showing you soon!

Love to ya!

Missing you!

It's true, I do miss you! I haven't seen many of my friends in a long time! I hope everyone is doing well! We are so good, and again, as it is the middle of summer, we are crazy busy...I have fallen a bit under the weather the last few days, but I think I am coming out of it! Since the last post we have been to Kennett, MO to re-roof a house with our students. And I think that is the only actual trip we have been on. . It was really fun, and is a great way for us and our students to learn how to do some crazy stuff!

Also, I got a new little toy! It is a Flip. It is cute and fun, and one day I will be able to use it on this computer!

I also have just started watching the Next Design Star...I have decided, I really want to be a designer, so if anyone wants to redo a room...i want to do it! You should watch the show. It is on Sunday nights on HGTV.

Okay I think that is it for now! Love you, miss you...comment and let me know how you are, Steph.

Sarah.

to the 4th of July and New Friendships

Well, this 4th of July started out as any other day. We woke up with no plans...none. A few people told us they may call, but by Sat. morning, we still hadn't heard anything.

My phone rang, and it was our new friends. Heather and Tate. They invited us to the lake with Tate's family. We love new people, so without a thought we said yes. We spent the day just hanging out at the lake. It was such a relaxing day and now we have new friend! When fireworks started we were surbrised to find out that not only could we see one fireworks show, but 3. It was awesome!

Thanks Heather and Tate!

This is 2 of the fireworks shows!

This was taken at about 9:30pm. It was so dark! The "Kids", (heather) were lighting sparklers, so I was able to find a focus...when I did...VIOLA! By the way, I was able to take this photo becuase my in-laws bought me an awesome tri-pod for my B-day! Thanks Scott and Anne!
This is Tate and Heather, and Finley. We met heather first at her boutique. Catfish & Tater. you have to check it out! Blog and Website! check out the website! also, she has an Etsy!

Tate and Finley

This is my hott husband Andrew on the 4th of July! Just Chillin in his new shorts! I love this man! Hope you had a fun and safe day too!

29 and dont feel a day over 18...

This is me, yesterday, at worlds of fun in line for the Mamba...yes, that is how I chose to celebrate the Day of my birth! ROLLER COASTERS! I was listening to a birthday message and I was much happier than my face shows! Thanks to everyone for sending out a message! I am truly blessed to be in the place that I am. I have a brilliantly amazing husband, a family who loves me and supports my life, a ton of precious students who I love and who love me...and I serve a living Savior that gives my life hope, meaning and purpose..."who could ask for anything more!"

Beard Family Reunion

This is the lineage of Granny, all her kids, grand-kids and great-grand-kids...minus Heather and Ben. Back in the day, before cell phones, granny used to set dates by "meeting under the clock in union station". Happy 85th Granny!

you may think this is cool...

We had a Bible study at our home yesterday morning. Somehow, the conversation started between us and 2 girls about scripture they were studying and struggling with a little bit. The first one says, "the one I was looking at is Acts 8, where Philip is called by the Holy Spirit to speak to the Etheopian about what he was reading...here let me look it up."
At this time she pauses to look it up, and I flip it open and scan it while the other girl begins, "The one I was struggling with is in Isaiah 53, who is this servant who has to take on all this sin...Jesus wasn't around yet."
So I explain that this was a prophecy...but as I begin explaining, I continue to read...and as I was doing that I stopped, flipped back to the passage that the Etheopian was reading in Acts and read it outloud.

The scripture that the Etheopian was reading and struggling to understand "unless someone explained it to him" in Acts 8...was Isaiah 53...

Goosebumps anyone?!

Post-It attack!

So, Ben and Taylor are known around our neck of the woods for pranking us. We just got back from camp and came home to this.

If it wasn't so amazing, it would be a pain in the butt! They basically painted our walls with Post-It notes!

Hey there, where have you been?

It is sort of sick, I know. Where have I been?

Let me just say that if you are genuinely concerned about my whereabouts on the ole' blogspot, maybe you should consider writing a check for me to purchase a working computer for my home. Work and blogging do not go hand in hand for me quite like the FB and work. So that is where I have been. So Andrew brought his work computer home, so I thought I should catch up just a little! (but only a little, cause I don't have many photos to share...I have about 4 photo shoots to edit, however, Photoshop is on my computer that has crapped out!)

Since March..

• We took the 10th grade girls on a retreat
• My cousins Tammy and Tyler came to town and we got to hang out in April, that was super special.
• We went to Springfield for Blast from the FN past. A little Icthus reunion.
• We have had a hundred youth events
• My BF Jenny came to town for the week, which was awesome! It was awesome to have her visit my home for the first time.
• I went to Austin for a quick "visit"
• I had my Nephew and Michelle staying with me for 2 weeks! (Which was a bitter sweet treat-I will say without much detail)
• My mom and Dad came to see us.
• We worked after prom-which was pretty fun
• We redid our back yard and now have an awesome out door space to hang out in.
• We started doing these one day mission projects in the summer!
• We went to the lake with a fam. from church-but it was so stinkin cold, I didn't get in. (but good news, we are going to the lake tomorrow)
• we went to see my all time favorite band...311 along with Ziggy Marley with Andy and Bridget from Springfield.
• I got to see Amber, Titus and Justus.
• and we got back from camp in PCB Florida on Monday. We took 45 people for a week.

and since we got back on Monday we worked a 12 hour Tuesday and a 15 hour Wednesday! SOO...we aren't going in today!

Now we are planning what is next! Today we purchased our hotel, car and plane tickets to California for Chris Sturgeon's Wedding! we cannot wait!

I have a few photos on this computer to add so enjoy what I have for now, and I will definitely hook up my hard drive and add some more later! Excuse how horrible they are I have not put much time into the "art" lately!

I love you all!

this is an older photo and my hair doesn't look much like this anymore!

this was a Lock out that we did. We took the students out from 9pm to 8 am. went bowling, to a movie and to play ultimate Frisbee. We finished off the night with breakfast!

this is a shot from an Easter photo shoot that I did with John , however I haven't had a chance to edit yet cause of the whole computer debacle.

This is from the girls retreat!

I will be back soon with some good stories and with some photos that are actually decent!

Ski trip

So, we just got back from Colorado, Winter Park...We took 23 people, 9 parents, 2 kid sisters and 12 boys. It was soooo much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!!

I spent a whole day taking photos of the boys boarding. We did have a few accidents though! 2 broken wrists, a mild concussion, and 12 stitches...our motto became "Go Big, or Go Home...or to the infirmary". We went with Student Life, Steve Fee came out and led worship, which was wonderful and David Rhoads spoke, which was also amazing! The last day, we got to the mountain at 8:30 and skied till 3, we then waited for some stitches to get finished, and then we headed to Denver, ate, and then continued on our way! We got back to KC at about 8:00am and then we all went to work and school! We are a little crazy and I am a little tired, but here are some un-edited photos that I took of our boys!

Thanks for stopping by!

Taylor Elaine

Some of my best friends, Jessie and Larry just welcomed their new baby girl into the world. I went up to Omaha with Andrew to take a few photos! here are a few!

Prayer

It has been a few days, and as I don't have any photos to post just yet. Let me start by saying that I hardly ever post things like this, but I feel that it is time I start! My heart is heavy and I am exhausted.

I would love to ask you all to say a prayer for the youth that Andrew and I minister to and also for Andrew and myself. As of late, Andrew and I have been bombarded by students coming to us with hearts of repentance for choices that they are making that are "not neccessarily great"...As it is a joy to us that they seek refuge in us and come to us so that we can call on the name of the Lord together, there are weeks and months that are just overwhelming. If you understand what I am saying, I just ask that you would pray for the burden that Andrew and I carry that we are trying to give to the LORD. We tell our students your guilt and shame are gone, that is the hope we have in our crucified and ressurected Lord, and yet I can't seem to let that burden go. These students are the only children I have and the love and responsibility I have for them is far greater than I could have ever imagined feeling. Please pray that the Lord would walk them through whatever He needs so that they will come to a greater understanding of why we would ever choose to give our lives to serve this Most Holy God.
So to those of you in the ministry, I will pray for you as I am sure you share this responsibility. and for those of you with kids, I will pray for you as I know that you also share this responsibilty.
We are starting a new study throughout our church on prayer and I can't wait to see the fruit that is produced!! Love to you all!

My Grandma, Anneliese

Yesterday was my grandma's birthday! My aunt Margie collected some old photos and had my grandma look through them and made notes on what they were. She then put them in a scrapbook. The book is currently with me as I try to make scans/copies of each page so that each member of the family can have these amazing images and memories to keep! Trying to find a scanner that will scan the 12x12 book is proving itself a problem so I think I will try to

photograph the pages and see how that goes. If anyone knows of a scanning solution, let me know! And happy Birthday Grandma!

presidents day date!

So, we didn't make out for Valentines, but we made it out for Presidents Day! Andrew planned a perfect date!

First Stop - Nara! This place is a little gem. I could eat there everyday. We stopped in for their sushi happy hour! $3.00 rolls and like no one was there...and it is sooooo good.

Next stop was to the movie theatre on the Plaza! Andrew took me to see He's just not that into you in the VIP lounge. It was pretty swank! And the food was really good, we just had some southwest eggrolls! yummy!

And our last stop was to McCormick and Schmick's for dessert! We had the "Chocolate Bag"! It is infamous and we must be the last of our friends who have not eaten one! Let me just say, it totally lived up to the hype.

This is the chocolate bag. It is sculpted out of semi-sweet chocolate and filled half way with a white chocolate mouse. It is filled the rest of the way with fresh fruit and the plate was drizzled with Raspberry puree! uh, yeah!
it was okay

Needless to say, but I will, my husband is a stud and I love him very much, he is my favorite. Thanks Lover you are really cute!

My Guest Bedroom...and target.

If I could re-decorate everyday, I would. I love pieces that will last and that can be used for muliple things. So, I happened across the ITSO cubes at Target one day. Oh my gosh. I have fallen in love. I can find a use for these in every room of my house. (Which is really only 4, so it isn't that big of a deal!) Anyway, here is a link to see more itso at Target! And here is an image of my guest bedroom with 2 itso cubes and a canvas drawer!

Have a great day!!

More Painting w/ Light

I got a call from Sesha this week and she told me that she had seen my painting with light images. So she told me about this guy. M::R::I Light Painting and she told me about this link to Toxel..com. It is sick! So after checking out the examples, you should follow the links! It makes me want to go out tonight and take some photos!! whoo hoo. hope you have been inspired too!

Love to you all!

30 hour famine

So every other year our youth group does 30 Hour Famine. It is a World Vision program that raises awareness and money to help put an end to the 26,000 kids who die everyday from hunger related causes. Last time we did this, in 2007, we raised 5,000 as a group of 30. I am trying to do my part to raise money this year as I ask the students to. So if you want to take part in 30 Hour Famine with me you can click here and make an online donation to the cause!! thanks so much!

Today's Big Thing

So a few days ago I found out about Today's Big Thing. I have checked it everyday since. It is a nice little break from my day. Maybe check it out here! The day this links to is the one where a kid just got out of surgery. It made me laugh a little!

Book Art and patience

Andrew and I just got some boxes of encyclopedias from Scott (Andrew's Dad). I was wondering what I could make out of them and I ran across this stuff! WOW! It is beautiful, I would love to give my hand a try at it, but this for sure would take some patience...What do you think. the artist here is Brian Dettmer. Check out more here.

Get ready!

I have a couple thing that I want to tell you about!

So I will start today and post continuously for the next few days!

Andrwe and I went to Springfield Last weekend and visited some friends. More specifically we went for the Red Velvet Art store opening. It was full of beautiful people and beautiful art, and yummy cupcakes!!

We stayed with David and Misty Potter and they are so sweet and took us out to Ocean Zen, which is the greatest place to eat everywhere. I had the Garlic and Herb Grilled Portabello Mushroom Napoleon! OH MY GOSH!! It was super amazing!

While I was there I ran into a friend of mine Janae Hardy. Used to be Janae Short. I took her senior photos quite a few years ago, and as far as I can remember, I think she was the first one that I ever took. We talked a little bit and she said something about her photos. Turns out she has been taking photos for quite a long time and her stuff is awesome! So check out her blog here, and keep checking it from the link on the side.