sunset

3 days and counting...

4am departure

13 hours driving

22,000 young adults

Atlanta Georgia. 

For His Name, and His Renown 

In January of 2010 we traveled to Atlanta Georgia to the Passion Conference. We worshipped, we learned, we were forever changed. The wave is growing into a global awakening. 
In three short days we will make the 13 hour drive again to Atlanta for Passion2011. With gifted speakers such as Louie Gigglio, Francis Chan & Beth Moore, to say that we are excited is probably the understatement of the year. 

Yes Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you ((isa 26:8))

better late than never

I always have the best intentions as Christmas rolls around. This year I told myself I was going to make home-made gifts for the kiddies, try a new Christmas Cookie recipe, going do this... going do that...


Well, Christmas came and went and while I accomplished very few things on my 'list', it was a special time with family of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.


And to you, may your special time with family and friends not end because Christmas is over, but may 2011 be an even better year than 2010 (even though 2010 was pretty awesome)...

My New Toy

To my new toy...and to many future videos...

Saturday

What do we do with an open Saturday and nothing to do? Naturally...being that the wind chill was only 0 degrees, we spend the day taking photos and making videos...outside...did I mention that I'm still waiting to get feeling back in my fingers and toes? 

Sarchets

Baby Matty

good photographs

worship

Safe Families

While I haven't known this wonderful woman of God for very long, in fact- I've only met her once, I deeply admire her passion and honesty for the Lord and His work. You can meet Traci here, where you'll find out about her family of 5, and how they are continually seeking to live for His glory, and His renown. Traci has a passion for Safe Families, a movement that's giving hope to children and families in crisis.  


In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, below is a post from Traci's blog from October 7th...this family is definitely being the change they want to see in this world...


Life as a Safe Family 


We are really doin' it...finally...we have added our first Safe Family child to the brood! And God has given us a little gift in the process. We are hosting Emery, an absolutely striking boy of 2 years old. Emery's mom is young...so very young. She was a victim of the child welfare system in our country and was never adopted...never shown unconditional love. And, she became pregnant.

She chose life.

That life is a little boy with an infectious laugh and a smile that lights up a room. 

And mom just needs some help now. She knows she is not in a healthy situation. She has been homeless for a while. No job. Nothing. 

But, she heard about Safe Families and decided to trust them, and me. She was nervous about the distance and she immediately wanted to set up visits. Today, we made our first visit. Mom is so shy and quiet, she couldn't look me in the eye. That made me so sad. I can't imagine the shame she feels. She couldn't take care of her own son. She had to ask a stranger for help. I wanted to hug her tell her how wonderful her son is...that is is obvious she has been a good mom. But, how can we blame her for not knowing how to be a GREAT mom?

She never had one! She never watched a mom and learned how to be a mom by quietly watching every move her mom made. When I think if how I became a mom, the process began decades ago as I watched my mom move around the house, listened to her conversations, and felt safe and cared for. This mom didn't have that - and then we expect her to know how to be one?

That is what this ministry is all about! My prayer is that she begins to trust me and that someday I can see her and give her a big hug and tell her how great of a mom she is. (click here for original post)


A Special Thank you to the Weldie family for sharing their story!

I'm a Winner

I never win anything. I enter contests and give-aways often, but never. ever. win...Today my luck has changed. 


I've followed The Nester for quite some time now, loving her simple and practical decorating style. A couple weeks ago I casually entered a giveaway for some fun and versatile entertaining pieces by DaySpring.


I almost thought the 'winner' email I received this morning was a mistake or spam until I checked the Nester's site and there my comment was, under the heading, "Caddy Winners". So here's to mrs. Nester and Dayspring, you've made my day a little sweeter and I'm a little more excited for Thanksgiving now that I'll have this beautiful caddy to use. 

National Adoption Awareness Month

November is national Adoption Awareness month.

While in Haiti this past summer we visited an orphanage that held over 20 children who had no parents. No one to fight for them. No one to protect them. No one to love them. No one to call mommy and daddy. My heart was forever changed. 

Later that week we visited a tent city to pray and care for the people living there. We approached a group of women and children to talk with them, pray with them, & tell them that people all over the world are praying for them.  While talking to one of the women, I asked her if the child on her lap was her daughter...She told me that it was not her daughter, but that the girl's parents were killed in the earthquake and that she was now taking care of the girl on her lap. She had no relation to the girl or her deceased family, but was now in charge of this precious young life. I was speechless, but managed to tell her that the little girl was beautiful. 

She asked me if I wanted to take the little girl home with me.

My heart was broken and forever changed. 

It is estimated there are 143 million worldwide. This number does not include abandonment (millions of children) as well as sold and/or trafficked children. 

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans.

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home.

Studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen.

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals.

Another study reported that it would only take about 7% of Christians to adopt one child for all of the world's orphans to have a home. 

Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. (james 1:27 NLT)

Check out some awesome adoption blogs here and here.

Elijah Graham

To my brave, strong and beautiful sister, congrats to you and David on your beautiful new baby boy. Thank you for the invitation to share in such a beautiful moment of your son coming into this world. He is a healthy 10 lbs. 8 oz. 
And to answer your question Archer (big brother to Elijah), he is a big boy, but- no...he's not bigger than your house.

Elijah Graham, born on Friday morning at 7:42am

11.5.10 

Christmas in November

Yesterday I got the phone call, they arrived! I felt like it was Christmas morning, you know, that moment you wake up as a kid and CAN....NOT....WAIT...for the rest of your family to wake up so you can open your presents?  Ok, maybe not that excited, but pretty close.

I bet your wanting to know what's oh-so-important? We finally pulled the trigger and designed and ordered new business cards. We designed, tweaked, re-designed and re-tweaked some more. Who knew you could spend SOO much time and energy on a 2x3.5 card? As you'll see, we went with the less is more concept- so here's to keepin' it simple. 

Let's just say I'm a very happy girl with our new business cards. As much as I hate it when people say this...I heart our new cards.

Thank you to gotprint.com & Mr. UPS, you have made my day.

And to you? Don't be surprised if you get one of these thrust into your little hands the next time we see you, I love 'em that much.

the oppressed

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. ((psalms 82:3))

Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud ((proverbs 16:19))

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. ((Isaiah 1:17))

And to expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence. ((aw tozer))

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered. ((proverbs 21:13))

new & improved

After a much needed extreme-web-makeover...I'm happy to announce our new website is up and running...check out our new finkstudios home by clicking here


And for your viewing pleasure...enjoy this photo from earlier this summer with my beautiful sister-in-law and her sweet daughter.

time to check out the website! go to www.finkstudios.com!

finkstudios friday

We started out the day with two of life's necessities...

Went to the lakefront...

Did some test shooting with an HD camera...

Randomly found this is the sand...crazy huh?

And ended with practice for tonight's event...

Off to film a wedding today, cheers!

hannah

This girl is a-mazing. 


I met this beautiful lady just over 7 years ago over kung-pao and pot sticker sauce...pf changs served us well, never a dull moment in the restaurant world! Fast forward 7 years and facebook worked it's magic in re-uniting us. I was giddy when Hannah emailed me about being in an upcoming christian film and needing some head shots. Only Hannah could pull off having no formal acting experience and landing the lead roll in Salty Earth Pictures upcoming production (Journey to Paradise). 


Check out more information about Hannah in Journey to Paradise by clicking here 


I can not wait to see where God takes this lovely lady. love ya girl!

first things first

Let me just put this out there right away...I don't like to write...I really. don't. like. it. 

I lack eloquence and wit, and am insanely jealous of my sister-in-law who has a way with words. Somehow she perfectly captures and paints her thoughts as precisely as van gogh painted starry night. So, now that I've got my dirty little secret of disliking writing out on the table...what I do enjoy is taking pictures. Pictures of anything and everything...You name it and I'll photograph it. It's been a growing passion over the past couple years, and added with Dan's gift for videography, we've taken our hobby to the next level, and it's been quiet the ride so far. 

So why start a blog when I have a fear of writing and making a fool of myself through these words? Don't expect any witty or profound writing here, but a display of our favorite things, our work and our interpretations of this journey called life. 

And because my first official post cannot be without a photograph, I leave you with a few images from our recent trip to Haiti. where the children are beautiful, and the people's faith is beyond anything I've ever experienced.