~Mike and Megan~

Mike and Megan were married a couple of weeks ago in beautiful Ada, Michigan. This has to be one of my favorite weddings I have ever been too. Both families were tons of fun. They had so much love for each other and God. Another fun thing about this wedding was that the bride is my roommates cousin. So Lanell and her whole family were there. It was so much fun and her mom made some great cake.

This is my roommate and really good friend, Lanell dancing.

Mike loves Ford trucks so of course we took many pictures with the trucks.

Kyle took some absolutely amazing pictures at this wedding, he always takes good pictures but these have been some of my favorite. I wanted to share with you some of his pictures so you can see how amazing and talented my boyfriend is. The week before this wedding we bought a Canon 5D for Kyle and I got his Canon 30D and we are saying good-bye to my Canon Rebel, so these pictures are the first ones that he took with his new camera. It is a pretty crazy story how we got the new camera, but just know that it was a huge blessings from God that we got it and for the price that we got it for.

~Jim and Lisa~

Jim and Lisa were married in Muskegon. It was a nice warm sunny afternoon. We took a little trip to the beach to get some great pictures and the girls were even willing to go into the cold water. Jim and Lisa were both tons of fun and very excited to get married.

Matt and Heidi

Matt and Heidi were married out at beautiful Gun Lake. Which happens to be one of my favorite spots in West Michigan. Instead of having just one flower girl they had about six princesses who all walked down the aisle. They were all so cute and so much fun to take pictures of. It was a great day full of love, joy, and fun!

Eric and Sara

Here are a few pictures from the first wedding that I shot with Dan Johnson Photography. Eric and Sara were such a fun couple. They loved getting their picture taken and were willing to drive all over the golf course for the best spots. It was a wonderful wedding to have as my first with Dan Johnson Photography.

Finally an update...

I know that it has been a long time since I have updated you all on my life. I went for a long time without internet and then once I got I just have not had much time to be on it. I thought that now would be a good time to let you all know what is up and how I am doing. So here it goes:
During the first week of July I started a almost full-time job working for Dan Johnson Photography, the same place that Kyle had be working. I started doing some marketing work and making a lot of phone calls. Once I was done with that I have now begun to design wedding albums. I am enjoying working there a lot. I have been able to develop my photography and designing skills. Along with this job Kyle and I have been able to book weddings through Dan. When Dan is already booked for a wedding or is a couple can’t afford Dan’s package then he passes them on to us and our package. Kyle and I have been able to book six weddings for 2008 and we except to book even more. A week and a half ago Kyle and I got to shoot our first wedding alone without Dan. It was great! It went really well and was tons of fun. We also have been able to go and shoot a hand full of weddings with Dan. This has helped us learn and build our portfolio. I really feel that God has blessed me with this job and I am looking forward to learning even more. I am now looking for another job on top of this one. So that I can make some more money as well as get some health insurance. Please pray that God would provide another job for me.
In mid-August I moved into a house with three of my friends from Reformed Bible College (Kuyper). The house is wonderful; we live in an older part of Grand Rapids. We love our house and our neighborhood. I also am really enjoying living with these three girls. It is tons of fun!
When I returned from California I started to attend a new church about twenty minutes from my house. It is called New Life Christian Church. It has been great! It is a smaller church that it really on-fire for the Lord. We love it and are looking forward to becoming more involved.
Another thing to note is that in mid-August a good friend of mine Ani from Romania who I met in College was diagnosed with cancer. Since then we have been on a hard journey with her. She has been having treatments and things were looking really good. Until a week ago when she went into the hospital and found out that the cancer has spread up her back and into her brain. It is not looking too good for her, but we still believe in a miracle for her. She has had a really good past few days and I have been able to visit her on Sunday and again today on Tuesday. Her mom will arrive from Romania tomorrow and we are praying that this will lift her spirits and that she will continue down the path of healing.
Other then all of that things have been going really well for me. I have been enjoying my family and new brother-in-law. I have continued with my girls small group. I also have been enjoying some fun times with other friends and Kyle. I am looking forward to a fall that is coming quick and hope to maybe do some traveling this winter. Thank you all for you support and friendship sorry that I haven’t kept you all updated on what has been going on.
In the next week I will post some of my wedding photography so that you can see and not just hear what I have been up to.

Pray for Ani...

I know... I know... it has been forever since I have updated on my blog. Life has been crazy, fun, and brought a lot of change in the last few months. I promise I will give a good update on my life in the next week. For now though I wanted to ask for your prayers. The picture below is me and my dear friend Ani. I met Ani my Sophomore year at RBC. She came to me from Romania. She lived on my floor that year and last year. Ani is tons of fun. We would stay up late talking about boys, God, school, missions, and the future, we would have fun girls nights and we some great Applebee's nights as well. In mid-August Ani was diagnosed with cancer. She has been fighting strong ever since. Today we found out that the chemo has not been working the that the cancer has spread from her hip area up her spin and now they believe that it is in her brain. At this point we don't really know what the doctors are thinking or exactly what they are going to do. We know that our God wants to see Ani healed and cancer free. We are standing in that truth, claiming life and health over her, and praying that God would heal her quickly and take her from this pain. I am asking my friends and family today to pray for Ani as well. Don't just pray that she will be healed but proclaim life and healing over her body and life. Ani needs people to stand with her in this fight and I am asking you to please stand and pray for Ani today. She is an amazing women of God, passionate about social work and missions and ready to serve God whatever He may call her to do. I will keep you all updated on her and thank you in advance for your prayers

Brian and Beth Ponstein

Last week Friday, June 29, I got to experience one of the best events of my lifetime. My sister, Beth got married to a wonderful man Brian Ponstein. It was a wonderful event. We had a great evening and I am so happy for them both. Here are a few pictures that Kyle Bultman took of that evening. (check out more his wedding photography at http://www.bultmanphotography.com) The pictures are kind of backwards in order of that day but I hope you enjoy them.

the cake

the big toast that I had to give

there first dance together

me trying to dance

my beautiful sister

we were both sick of smiling at this point

my dad and sister

the church

walking out of the church, they are MARRIED!!

the car


jumping in the air

our second cousin, Moriah, the flower girl and my sister, Beth.

the women

me with all my flowers

my parents

Beth and Brian Ponstein

this is a flower that was in the front at the wedding it was in memory of my cousin Abby Matthews, who passed away in a car accident on June 29 last year.

walking in the park

Beth and Brian

the men

crazyness...

How crazy life can be... I have now been back from California about a week and a half. To be honest it seems like it has been a month. Life coming home from DTS has been harder then I ever thought it would be. Coming home was walking into a world of wedding planning, Christian bookstore, being a friend to all, and never really stopping. In a week and a half my older sister will be getting married. As soon as I came home the preparing and running around began. I just don't think I was really ready for all of this. Until yesterday I haven't stopped going since coming home on June 9. You might think I am I going over board, but really we have had showers, dress fittings, making center pieces, and much more to do. Finally yesterday I said I was doing nothing for anyone and that I was taking the day off for me and Jesus. And that is what I did and it was wonderful!
The other crazy thing about coming home has been going back to work. I have worked at a Christian Bookstore called Kregel for 4 years off and on. For the most part I have always enjoyed working there, but after coming home I can hardly stand being there. I am not sure if is because I can't handle all the "Jesus Junk" or if it is because I know that God is calling me to other things. But please pray that I will find a new job soon and that I will know it is from the Lord. Side note: we got a new t-shirt in at work that says "Jesus died for myspace in Heaven" And myspace is in a different color and has the same font as myspace online. I got a laugh from that t-shirt and thought to myself 'what are they going to think up next.'
Another crazy thing has been trying to spend time with everyone. One of my best friends moved away for two years three days after I got home so I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. Plus I wanted to see friends from school, church, and everywhere else I know people from. It has just been hard because people seem like they want to see me then when I get with them they don't really want to hear about what has happened to me or even see my pictures. I kind of expected this coming home, but it has been harder then I thought it would be. Another sad thing about friends is that I have had hardly anytime to e-mail or call people from my DTS. This has been something laying really heavy on my heart because I love these people so much and I was with them almost 24/7 for 5 months and now I haven't spoken to anyone since coming home and I have only e-mailed a few. I have been praying that God would give me time to communicate with them or that they would just call me up.
There are things that I have enjoyed about coming home though. I have had some good times with God and really haven't fallen into a valley after the mountain. I also have been enjoying reading. I am reading the book, "The Only Road North" By Erik Mirandette. It is a book about three boys from my area who went to Africa and took dirt bikes from South Africa to Egypt delivering medication and sharing the gospel. The story ends sad, but it is powerful. It is cool to read about them because they were from our community.
Really though even though life is crazy there is still joy. One of the biggest things God taught me over DTS is joy and I have been able to stand in joy even when the world around me is moving 100mph.

Home again...

This evening at 9pm I returned back to Grand Rapids, MI after another long day of flying. I figured out that in the last five months I have been on 18 flights. I am ready to stay in one place for a little while. Right now though I am not sure what to think about being home. It all seems like a dream. And it all is a little overwhelming. For the first time in five months I will be sleeping in a room with no one else. My bedroom is filled with my books, clothes, and is a really big mess. I saw my parents, sister, and Kyle tonight for the first time in five months. It all just seems so crazy. Yet it is also exciting.
But on the other hand it is really sad. I had to say good-bye to people yesterday and today that I will not see for a long time and some of them I may never see again. It was much harder then I thought it would be to say good-bye to all of them. At graduation last night during the first worship song I just began to cry because of how amazing God is. He brought together 15 students and 10 staff from around the world, with totally different backgrounds, personalities, dreams, and passions. He brought them together for a season and for one purpose and that was to know God and to make Him known. And that is exactly what happened. We all grew in our own walks of knowing God better. But we also made God known in the central coast, Kenya, Rwanda, and even the places we travelled to get there. It is just so amazing how our God works. I feel so blessed that God choose me out of all the Christians in the world to be a part of that experience and that season. It is sad as this season has ended because we won't all be together. But it is also exciting that this season has ended because now we get the joy of seeing God work in and through each other in new ways.
Right now I am just filled with so many emotions. But I do just want to praise and thank God for the season of my life that He has just brought me through. May I never forget it...

Back in the US

Well we have now been back in the US for about two days. It has been a lot harder coming back to California then I ever thought it would be. This morning I sat in a coffee shop just watching people spend about $4.00 on a cup of coffee then another $2.00 on a bagel and cream cheese, all the while they are wearing clothes that cost them more then what it would cost someone is Africa to eat for a week. It is hard because these people around me didn't see what I saw and didn't experience the things I did and these people probably never will. The question is what to do about this. We live so different here in the US then they do in Africa and to be honest it doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem right that we can spend so much on things we don't even need when there are people that have nothing to spend on things that they desperately need. Things are not right, but the question is, is there anything we can do about it or will this always be the way it is? I pray that the Kingdom of Heaven will come down on earth and things will change...soon.