Autumn.

I love autumn. The transition from the unbearably hot summers to a slightly cooler temperature is one of the biggest reliefs, until it shoots back up to 85 every other week. Summer is just too warm for outdoor pictures so the 70 degree weather has been amazing and a welcome change. 

However just because it's fall doesn't mean I automatically have awesome things to photograph. I still work during the prime shooting hours (I'll get a sunset picture eventually!) and my sister isn't the most willing person to get her picture taken multiple times. So trees are my go to, they don't move and they don't mind.

Also: sunflares. I love them almost as much as bokeh.

Bruno is often my study but he only works for doggy biscuits and only for a very limited amount of time. 

But when Littie is there he's alive and willing to even be athletic! 

During the month of November I've been nannying overnight (or nearly overnight) every week. The second and third weeks I was at the Crites and they get some seriously awesome natural light in the boy's room. 

(favorite)

I spotted the flower/weed in the yard and immediately went for my camera because IT'S SOMETHING TO PHOTOGRAPH BESIDES A TREE! I loved photographing them while in Washington (see here) except I couldn't blow it and take a picture at the same time and get the neat bokeh I got in those pictures. :(

While my new lens isn't macro by any means it has some awesome focus on it which my first lens didn't. Needless to say spending more money is worth it in regards to the quality of the pictures, it's a whole new world!

Loving the bokeh!

And then for a big surprise after picking my dad up I saw that our front tree is changing! Yippee! 

I love the vibrant and warm colors associated with autumn. I'm still missing the really cold temperatures and rain but maybe someday I'll be living somewhere else that gets that and I'll appreciate the mild falls that Texas has. But for now I"ll just enjoy the cooler weather that lets me play outside (I played war 3 days in a row with 3 boys) and take walks with the baby where I get to wear boots. 

Wrecking Ball-Miley or God?

Unless you've been living with no interaction with the world it's pretty much impossible to not know about Miley Cyrus and her recent antics. This post isn't about how far she's come from her roots and what a horrible person she has become because there are posts from seemingly everybody about those aspects of her. Rather I want to write about how she is just like all of us and even has given all of us a great picture of God's love for us.

Hannah Montana came out right when I a preteen but I wasn't allowed to watch it which of course didn't stop me. I watched it with friends and knew all of the songs by heart right up to the end of the show. Miley was that perfect person who had everything including Jesus apparently. She made mistakes and chose a different direction in music than I wanted to listen to. I applauded her for getting engaged and staying with one man for a few years rather than bouncing from guy to guy and while I didn't approve of her lifestyle choice she was still a role model in some aspects. When We Can't Stop was released I chose not to listen to it due things I had heard about within the song. I was fortunate enough not to watch the VMA's but was still subjected to her antics from the news and facebook for days on end. But now I'm looking at her a bit differently.

After her engagement ended I decided that there was nothing good left in Miley Cyrus and wished I could block her out completely. Until I read about when she sang Wrecking Ball in a concert. To hear about her breaking down as she sang a song documenting the end of her relationship with Liam made me look at the song. I heard it on the radio and immediately I felt for Miley. I grieved for her and can't listen to the song without thinking of the feelings the song displays for us all to hear. And besides the thoughts that pop up with that song now I was shown that there is another way to look at it as well.

While the chorus is heartbreaking coming from Miley it's a huge message of love and redemption coming from God. It's the perfect picture of the human and God relationship here on earth. We sin and fall away from God and often blame it on Him while he constantly showers us with love we can't even begin to understand. Jami Nato, the instagrammer above and who inspired me to write this, attached to the photo Romans 8:38. "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.". 

And this brings me to another instagrammer, Melissa Lyons who creates art and lives here in San Antonio, who has been writing mini blog posts with pictures about how people who aren't Christians write things that fit so well with God's message to us. She used Mumford and Sons for her example but Wrecking Ball is another example that I think sums up God's love in a way that is shocking coming from an unbeliever. I remember in Trusting God by Jerry Bridges it said that God uses sin to further His message. He hates that sin but He is able to use the sin to reach other people or to convict the sinner. 

This is something I've been mulling over recently and ended up getting the push I needed from different people to put it all together so it makes sense. 

Too much to truly handle

In the past year or so my eyes were opened to a lot that I didn't know were issues or things to be concerned about. I learned about handmade and small businesses, human traffiking, adoption in the US and outside of it, international and domestic politics, and other "grown up" things I didn't really understand, namely taxes and and how the government uses them. As each problem and issue was brought to light I felt like I needed to become its advocate right then and there which doesn't work very well with so many issues to be passionate about. I've become pretty  passionate about certain topics, abortion and modesty, in recent years but the others are new and exciting and give me lots to think about.

And that's the problem. These topics give me so much to think about that I get overwhelmed and can't handle the topics that I am passionate about. What's going to happen to me and my family with Obamacare? Will we get in a war with Russia and their buddies because of Syria? How am I supporting adoption and other organizations in Africa? What about blogging and small businesses? Buy handmade or buy local? These and so many other thoughts are what go through my head any time I have time to think for a minute.

So I've decided to focus on a few and leave the rest completely up to God. Me being passionate about politics is not necessarily going to change anything and worrying about the government and my taxes is a worry I don't need quite yet. But amid those concerns are some issues I do want to become an advocate for, things I consider important to me and to the general well being of more people.

I will always be passionate about abortion and modesty because those are issues that have become personal in different ways. However I've recently become a big supporter of small businesses, especially handmade businesses. I'll do a post on that at another time but in the meantime I've been spreading word about the small businesses I've found and that do excellent work and profit real people and not CEO's and China. I want to support adoption in Africa but actually adopting isn't an option so I've found other ways. I aim to support those who are adopting from Africa and need help fundraising to bring their little one home as well as supporting Amazima Ministries. I found them through Katie Davis' Kisses from Katie and can't wait to start supporting children's education in Africa. Because of that book I started supporting a little girl named Maria in Columbia who is just about to turn two years old. :)

I can't support everyone and their problems but a few I can advocate I will with all I've got. This life is too short to ignore every organization and problem because of being overwhelmed. I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use these causes for Him and how He's going to use them to grow me.