New Puppy

Dear friends,

I think that a puppy has to be one of God's most wonderful creations! And guess what?! We just got a new puppy! We haven't named her yet, so if you have any good ideas, comment and let me know.



Stand strong in Him!


Only in Him,
Charity

Back Home

Dear Friends,

SOOO...I have so much to say and so much to tell about all that has happened and all that I have seen over the past 2 weeks, but I am afraid that I won't be able to do it on one blog post in a time span of 15 minutes. But I better say as much as I can :)
We are back from New Zealand and the jet lag is finally beginning to set in.

It was such an amazing trip! I felt so close to God's heart while I was there. There was no TV, no internet, no phone calls, no socializing, but just God, my Bible, family, and my ipod, (but hey, if I just had my Bible and God, I'd be set anywhere! :D) the icing on the cake was being surrounded by majesty at each turn of my head.

I wish I could post pictures, but once again, I am unable to do that...soon though, VERY soon!

I don't know how to explain this, but, I get so caught up in the drama of life that so many times I fail to hear God's voice which mostly comes in a whisper, but while I was in New Zealand, I was able to hear His voice loud and clear, literally screaming, "I love you!" "Don't you see, you are so precious to me?" "All this beauty is for you!" I love the way He captures and romances us through the beauty of His creation that is meant for us. Every little flower, every majestic mountain, every arid/lush valley, is a token of love from the Lover of our Souls. Isn't He so good and so amazing?!

I am sorry, I must be cinderella, the clock has struck 12 and I must leave.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might dear friends!


Forever in Him,
Charity  

Lovely Greetings from New Zealand!

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the land down under...New Zealand! We have been here for 3 days, and have done so much!

The flight from Raleigh to Los Angeles was pretty uneventful except that we almost missed our flight... :) From Los Angeles to Auckland was quite uneventful too. Well, besides the fact that we were in the plane for 13.5 hours! It was a very comfortable ride, nonetheless.

Once in Auckland, we managed to get a rental car and tried to make our way to our hotel. Now Auckland is New Zealands' largest city and you absolutely don't want to get lost there. Guess what happened to us? We basically got lost! But hey, we got a wonderful tour of the city :) The rest of that evening was just jolly, filled with quite time, nap, and dinner.

Yesterday we took a 12 hour train ride from Auckland to Wellington. We went along some beautiful countryside and took many pictures, but unfortunately, don't have the means to upload them just yet. It was an amazing experience, and such fun, seeing that it was my very first train ride. So we arrived in Wellington about 8ish and attempted to find our hotel, which we did. The dinner hunt began...we walked for what seemed forever looking for a place that was open to grab something to eat, but to no avail. We ended up having a gourmet meal from McDonald's. :)

So today was an activity filled day. We walked all about the city, walked on the wharf, took a tour of Parliment, went on the Cable Car, and then went to the Te Papa museum. All in a short 5 hours.

So now is time for winding down...I will post updates along with pictures very soon.

God bless!

Cheers,
Charity

My Life Thus Far, Part 2

Hello friends!


Well, I am continuing/finishing my post on "My Life Thus Far" as promised, I have not forgotten :)


The last weekend of March was a special weekend for Faith and I because we got to spend the weekend with our wonderful father at the beautiful Callaway Gardens in Georgia for the Vision Forum Father and Daughter Retreat. It was a treat to also be with our best friends the Edmondsons during the duration of the weekend, and fathers and daughters from church! 


It was a time of spiritual refreshing and bonding with dad. We had so much fun hanging out and reconnecting with dad. We got an overdose of wonderful teaching (not a bad thing at all!), got to have high tea, did a few photo shoots, watched a hailstorm, and had so much fun being together. 


We had talks on adventurous femininity, what a good young man is looking for in wife, the role of daughters in the home, protecting the daughter, and so much more! I plan on doing separate posts on the details of the messages we heard there.


The best thing about the weekend for me was, besides getting to knowing Jesus yet even more, was the time God allowed us to spend with dad. I treasure every single moment of these times.

  It was absolutely gorgeous there, and I was blessed by how many fathers and daughters were there!

It was so great to be together and spend the time with dad! We had an absolute blast playing out on the lawn and enjoying the beautiful day. 

The high tea was...yummy :) Though I have to admit, I was really hoping for more food and I had gotten excited about having scones with devonshire cream and crumpets, but alas, my hopes were dashed and we ended up not having those.
We enjoyed dressing up and taking these photos. 


So we had some crazy weather while we were there. It hailed badly and rained hard...

Faith and I had fun posing and taking these pictures:

And then just a few random pictures Faith and I took to say "hey" :)

I did some photographic shoots of the area and love to take pictures of nature in general, so this is the website where you can find all my works: Beauty Rising 

p.s. the site is still in the works :)

The funny thing is, there has been so much more change in my life thus far...I guess that is why I blog, I will never get caught up on my life thus far, because it is forever changing. 

The blessing of the Lord be upon you,

Charity

~Isaiah 28:6

Laminin

Dear Friends,

As I was studying for an Anatomy and Physiology exam tonight, God reminded me of something quite spectacular. A tiny cell adhesion molecule (protein, really) called laminin. I'm sure you have seen it, but Jesus was so sweet to remind me of it in the midst of this stressful week called "finals" and I wanted to hopefully encourage you as well :) This protein is so incredible, and frankly, my brain is so fried I don't want to go into all the science of it, but just look and see it:

How incredible?! I am amazed at the fact that the God who created this universe is LITERALLY holding you and me together!!! My mind is blown away and my passion for Jesus grows every time I see a picture of it. It leaves me feeling so humbled, for certain but intensely loved.

I pray that each and every one of you will feel His nearness this week.

Psalm 139:13-16
For You formed my inward parts;
         You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Marvelous are Your works, 
         And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret, 
         And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
         And in Your book they all were written, 
         The days fashioned for me, 
         When as yet there were none of them. 

Oh Lord, thank you for Your nearness!

His bondservant,
Charity

p.s. Pt. 2 of "My Life thus Far" will soon be posted :)