Over to www.beccaep.com!

go check it out!

I didn’t ever realize the day would happen, but it did – I have no more space for pictures on my wordpress site! I’ve been in the process of creating a new blog for awhile (with unlimited space!) but it is still “in the works” Hopefully (fingers GIGANTICALLY crossed) the new blog will be up by the end of September. Until then, here’s some Things That Bring Me Joy

Dueling Banjo Pigs – it’s a whole blog dedicated to artwork of Pigs playing the banjo. Not even kidding, you will waste hours looking at the incredible (-y hilarious) artwork

Le Peanut Gallery – I’ve highlighted this blogger before for her blog Marni’s World (personal fave), and she has added a new web presence with the blog Le Peanut Gallery. She comments on high quality art, with a witty twist – definitely worth checking out! (especially for those of you who think art critiques are overtly ridiculous and high-brow)

What sites are you finding fun and unique? Let me know and they could be featured on the new blog!

2 days of our Colombia trip were spent in the small town of Turbaco, Colombia, helping out 2 missionary families that had just moved there. These 2 families from Oregon felt calling to begin an orphanage and refuge for widows in Colombia. They sold all their possessions, raised money, and soon purchased an old chicken farm in Turbaco, which is now the home of Colombia Grace Foundation. When we got there, the 2 families (with 8 kids under 11 between them!) had just moved in to their house on the farm 2 weeks before, and they already had their first orphan. Hearing their testimony as to how God has provided for them was incredibly powerful.

When we got to their farm, it was still in need of a lot of work before construction on the orphan houses could begin. There was a lot of brush that needed to be cleared, as well small construction on their house so that it could be fully livable, such as building screen doors, painting, and other small jobs. The eventual goal is to completely renovate the giant chicken coups into houses for the orphans.

Getting to partner with these 2 families to fulfill the vision God has given them was an incredible experience. Working on the farm got us excited for the work that is happening there. After reading their most recent newsletter, it is clear that the Lord has been really blessing their ministry in the 2 months since I’ve been there!

One of our big components on our trip to Colombia was hosting a VBS (Vacation Bible School) for the kids at a school that was a branch of the foundation that we were working with. During the month leading up to the trip, one of the biggest challenges for our team was planning this VBS. The night before heading to the school, there was a concern amongst our team as to if we could pull it off. As we drove up to the school, which was in a very low income area, all our fears disappeared when we saw over a hundred kids leaning over a small balcony, climbing over each other to try and wave to us. When we climbed up the stairs, at least 4 kids would jump on each person, to hug and kiss us and find out our names.

When we all reached the main patio (which was no small feat, since we had to worm away through tons of kids), the children began to sing for us. They were so eager to welcome us and show us what they had learned in school. Some members of the team even started crying because of the overwhelming amount of love these kids showed us.

The rest of the day flew by – we played games with them, sang songs, did crafts, and performed a drama. By the time we left, each team member had felt like they had made personal connections with the kids. We couldn’t wait to return later in the week to see their faces and hang out with them again. These kids made a huge impact emotionally on the team – they had so little materialistically, but so much joy, hope, and fervor for life.

(just a few of the MANY snapshots of the day!)

Well, I’m in a weird season of transition right now – I just got home from doing 5 weeks of ministry at camp and then watching my brother compete in the Junior Olympics for track! (7th in decathalon!!) I have 2 weeks of resting, and then school starts back up in 2 weeks!

Clearly, blogging has been on hold for awhile!  I’ve been working on my new blog site (which right now I COMPLETELY dislike the look of) (But I think I finally found a designer!) That should be launching some time in September. So, on that note, I will still be blogging here occasionally, but full blogging won’t fully return until the launch!

But, for those who are loyally checking back, let’s pretend it’s the first day of school – tell me about your summer, and I’ll share some Colombia posts this week!

Gopher Tortoise found at camp. He’s cute. But my boyfriend calls him a Disease-carrier.

I have been living in a WHIRLWIND for the month of May….and somehow blogging got put off to the back burner :[

As a quick update, I've been:

- Traveling back and forth from Sarasota (and almost getting attacked by a shark!)

- Spending a week in Colombia! (just wait for that post)

- Building a new blog!!! Yep...it's not quite ready yet - I still need to make it look like me, as well as export this blog over...but hopefully it'll be up in the next few weeks!

Because of the building of the new blog, my blogging here will be sporadic as I'll be busy working on some tech things for the new blog..plus, I'm headed to camp next week! Busy, busy, busy!

But, to my faithful readers that still check (anyone?), I would LOVE to hear about your summer! Let's create conversation - leave a comment below telling a story about the coolest thing that has happened to you in the past month :]

You would think that being home without the constraints of school and campus ministry, I would be blogging and doing photo stuff all the time, but I am realizing how hard Self-Motivation is! There’s this little voice inside of me that says “it’s ok, you can blog tomorrow”…but right now, I’m squashing this voice and writing away! Since my last TTBMJ (things that bring me joy post, I have FINISHED finals, moved my stuff home, went on a trip to Georgia, and returned home…so I’ve been busy, but all of it has been fun! Which brings me to this week’s post:

Things that are bringing me JOY:

Just Dance – if any of you have a wii, you need to purchase this game RIGHT NOW. Every time I play, I feel like Beyonce, even though that is preeeeettty far from the truth :] I LOVE coming home and playing this with my sisters!

Sarasota – I’ve been trying to figure out when to visit my aunt/uncle/grandmother/boyfriend for awhile, and the dates aren’t seeming to work out. but I WILL get there! Plus, it’s my uncle’s BIRTHDAY today!!! (shout out!) and he just got a jet-ski!!!

Mother’s Day – for those of you that live under a rock, this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. Sadly, I was flying home and had a meeting on Sunday, so I didn’t get time to fully appreciate my step-mom. I DID get to go to about a half hour of our mother’s day lunch, which 2 of my grandma’s and Tami were at! Tami – I love you and I am so glad to be considered your daughter :]

Friends, have a lovely Tuesday – I love you all so dearly! And to any mommy readers I may have, Happy Belated Mother’s Day!

This past week, I got to spend some time in the mountains of Georgia. It was a great time getting to hangout with with my InterVarsity Chapter, while also getting to worship the Lord. Plus, being the mountains of Georgia, it was GORGEOUS. (and Freezing! like 32degrees one night!)

It was a fantastic sabbath week from blogging (I pre-blogged last weeks posts), twitter, facebook, school, and photography(!). I had so much fun just sitting and getting to hang out with my community. It provided such a great start to summer – coming home on Sunday, I felt so relaxed :]

Anyway friends, have a happy Monday! Look forward to a new Things that Bring me Joy tomorrow, as well as 2 sessions coming later in the week! And because everything is better with photos, here is a picture from the top of Sharptop Mountain that I took last year:

I TOTALLY have writer’s block right now – it’s Monday night, at 11, and I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow to drive to Georgia…so I had the idea to blog ahead of time! This was great in theory, until I got to Thursday. Or today in your time. (that sentence sounded very Inception-y) And for the past half hour, I have been staring at my screen trying to think of something to blog about. It really brings my Lit class from this past semester, when I would have a few hours till my paper was due, and all I had to show was a blank word document…but friends, I WILL PERSEVERE!

Often, when I have writer’s block, I surf the web – Procrastinator right here! If you’re looking to procrastinate as well, I recommend:

To My Wife – this guy writes post-it note length notes to his unknown future wife..some are sweet, most are funny, and all are cute!

Catalog Living – this lady writes about the people that live in the rooms catalogs depict. and it’s hilarious.

Hulu – I did just give a shout out to Hulu. But more specifically, Community, which is one of my most favorite shows on television right now. It’s about a study group at a community college..plus, most episodes comically poke fun of other TV shows and filming styles! And it’s funny.

Happy Thursday!

When a few girls in my small group asked if I could take them on a shoot, I practically squealed with delight! I love these girls SO much, so I knew it was going to be a fun evening! I even got to help pick out what they wore AND do their hair and makeup…which is SO much fun for me :] Christina, Emily-Kate, and Brittany all looked GORGEOUS – they made my job easy. Plus, I had a helper on this shoot – Grace came along for moral support, and held the official title of “bag carrier and compliment giver” :]

We didn’t really know where to head, so we just started driving along Thomasville, and found this park with A-mazing light, as well as cute little spots (like a bridge and a lake!). We spent about 2 hours shooting, giggling, and acting like girls – what more could a I ask for? All 3 girls were totally fierce – they brought ‘it’ (I can’t quite explain what ‘it’ is…I just know that they had it!) Looking through these images made me totally happy…I hope you enjoy them too! (quick note: Since Emily-Kate is featured on the blog often, she asked for this post to focus mainly on Christina and Brittany)

Emily-Kate – you are BEAUTIFUL!

Christina had a GREAT fierce face :]

Doesn’t Brittany have such classic beauty? Like she just popped out of the 40s?

I LOVE the one above

EK – I LOVE this red dress on you. SO fierce :]

I loved this cute little bridge!

All three girls have HUGE BEAUTIFUL eyes…don’t you agree?

Girls – thank you SO SO much…you are all BEAUTIFUL women, and I loved taking your photos!

Friends, have a wonderful Wednesday…Thanks for checking out the blog, and come back soon!