Curious Since Tot

Are you one to always be trying new things?

I sure am! I have always been curious and wanting to explore new things. I guess that goes hand in hand with my love to introduce new things to people, and inspire them. 
Sometimes I will even take a different way home just to see new scenery or possibly discover someplace I didn’t know even existed, though sometimes it gets me into trouble! 
 Like a few weeks ago, I did just that!
I decided to try a different way home and got lost in a maze of road construction. I ended up driving over a metal slab puncturing my tire! After waiting for hours on the side of the road with a flat tire,
(all the while having episodes of America's Most Wanted flashing through my mind),
the tow truck finally came to rescue me.
On my way home

 I asked myself “Well, was it worth it Tash?” 

The answer?
A big fat NO.

Yet still the drive to explore new things and see new scenes beckons me.

~

There are a few firsts in my LIFE
so far this year:

I took a sewing class.

I haven't created anything with my new sewing machine I got as a wedding gift.

So, I decided to take a sewing class. 
 I was surprised to find that I already knew some of the fundamentals of sewing thanks to my Grandma DeBord. She introduced me to the sewing machine at age 10.  I made a quilt for my doll, though not without flaws, I was still so proud of it. 

My grandma made many different outfits for my mom and her siblings when they were in school, and I will never forget a very special dress she made for me when I was young.
 It had  puffed sleeves,
Just like Anne of Greene Gables : )
 it almost touched the ground, and you could pretty much twirl till you'd float : )

  So anyways, while the sewing instructor was teaching others how to thread their needle, I pulled out my bag of ‘fix it’s’ and sewed some of my clothes that needed a little fixin’. 

I sowed a pillow case.

One main objective in taking that sewing class was to learn how to make ruffles. The instructor informed me about the ruffle foot, soonest chance I got I went out and bought one.

A ‘ruffle foot’ replaces the foot which is the base of where the fabric meets the needle and holds it down. It looks very intimidating, but its actually is complicated in order to  make it easier for you! Make sense?

I LOVE ruffles. They are feminine, beautiful and timeless.

I liked this project
 but I discovered I have NO desire to be a seamstress.*

I signed up for a 5k!

 I have been running more, I am very excited about this next ‘official step’.

Started saving for Retirement.

That feels good! But its pretty far away, just a few years ; )

I bought a bike and new kicks.

I haven’t owned a bike since I first learned to ride one at age seven.

Strategic motivation to get me outside and kickin! Or pedaling! Lol

Added Kale to my diet.

Have you ever had Kale? This is a first for me!
Its a superfood-One of the healthiest foods on the planet!

Yet another attempt to be superwoman ;)

Add to your salads or sandwiches, its great mixed with greens like 
spinach and sprouts!

I cooked an artichoke.

 For my fave -spinach artichoke dip.
Never Again.

All that work for so little meat? Not worth it.

MOVED.

ALL our stuff.

This was the first time we have moved ALL our stuff together.

That was no easy task!

We finally have one room for all our clothes.

This is my new favorite room in the house :)

We had a ton of help!  Thanks to Masters Commission from Floyd,

 family and friends.

Wow, that job was not for sissys! Thank goodness we had help!

Launched my website!

http://www.sparklingreflectionsphotography.com/
 is up and running! I only spent months upon months critiquing it!

Session packages available for all walks of life and I am passionate about capturing those amazing moments. 

 

Married for two years.

Officially April 23^rd, 2012

Has been so amazing! And I love being married to my soulmate John! These last 2 years went by so incredibly fast!
My confession is that I still get butterflies when I hear him pulling into the driveway after work and I still blush when he comes into my work with or with out two coffees in hand ; )
He's such a hard worker, a fantastic cook, and has an amazing heart, and super thoughtful. There is no one who makes me laugh like he does, he is most clever/witty person I know!!!
 Im so thankful God brought us together and Im excited for the years to come!


SOON TO BE A FIRST:

Missions Trip to Honduras with my HUSBAND!

I have been talking about this for months I know! I just anticipate an amazing connection with the kids and John. I know they will just ADORE him, they don’t have daddy’s or good male role models in their lives and I just know he will be able to fill a little if even a fraction of that void. And John, he LOVES kids!!! I know he is going to want to go back every year. All those sweet little brown eyes just capture you for life!!!

Half way through the year,

and there are more adventures to come! : )

Happy SUMMER SEASON everyone!!

3 Days Left! Enter to Win a Free Photo Session*!

In celebration of launching

www.SparklingReflectionsPhotography.com 

 I am giving away 3 PRIZES!!

ONE FREE SESSION OF CHOICE*, 

AND a second prize of

 50% OFF ANY SESSION PACKAGE 

for any NEW booking,

 AND 30% OFF to 3^rd place winner!!!!

 Heres how to WIN!

1.      Simply go to www.SparklingReflectionsPhotography.com

2.      Click the FACEBOOK link and like fan page

3.      Like as many pictures and comment to increase your chances of winning!

(1 comment per photo)

4.      Send a facebook message with your desired session and date!

How simple is that!!

CONTEST ENDS AT MIDNIGHT MAY 31st 2012

Thanks to everyone who peeked in the Sparkling* Reflections website and for all the comments and support!

                       

*Free session does not include wedding packages.

Milestones April 2012

The month of April 2012 was been the craziest month in my career
AND my personal life was just as eventFULL!

The LINK OPEN HOUSE

I had many events for the LiNK club in the month of April! And WOW, that was a lot of planning, prepping, organizing, shopping, budgeting, calculating, ordering, setting up, tearing down, writing checks to venders, and writing reports! PHEW!

 "Decorating Ideas" ladies luncheon with local designer Karen

Towards the end of April, a few members of the LiNK club went to Des Moines for a day trip on April 27th. We toured the Des Moines Art Center, the Iowa State Historical Museum, and had lunch at a fancy  restaurant called Barrattas. They had fab healthy and tasty food and a front row seat to the scenic downtown of Des Moines. With full tummies we then went out for dessert- aka shopping! Junk Jubilee is a hot new annual event in downtown Des Moines, vendors from near and far display their goods transformed junk into art and creative treasures. I was in awe!!! This place was beaming with creativity at every turn!

Junk Jubilee Des Moines, IA

After Junk Jubilee we had gourmet dinner catered at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines before the Memphis Musical performance.

John {my hubs} was able to come meet up with us for the Memphis performance and he loved it! The Memphis musical performace left us all awestruck! The performers had the most amazing voices I have ever heard LIVE! The main actress/performer was especially amazing and seriously talented!

 I got chills throughout the entire performance and John was talking about their voices weeks after the performance! It was definitely the whipped cream and cherry on top of a wonderful day trip : ) 

~

Not only was April full of work related events but 

April also holds my birthday {now 27}

and on April 23^rd our 2 year anniversary!

An eventful month indeed!

AND THATS NOT ALL!

 last month we found out we had to find a new place to live!
On April 5^th our land lord informed us our house was sold and we had 30 days to be out!

I prayed. And prayed. God please help us, I trust you to open the doors. And boy did God come through in a powerful way.

We have just moved into the city were John and I both work. The president's daughter of the bank I work at has had their home on the market and they said we could move in! Its a nice updated home about 1 mile or so from work. No commuting, or wasting 20 minutes to and from work, savings on gas will be immense!

I just think about how if I hadn't gotten a job here 2 years ago who knows what would have happend. I am just amazed how God orchestrates everything in His perfect timing, He always proves Himeself faithful.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

 who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

I am just  LOOOOOOOOOVING  the whole process of organizing and redecorating right now!  Unlike cleaning,  I just like the result of cleaning, but organizing? I enjoy the whole process and the result! Can you relate? Haha....

Thanks all for being patient on my lack of posting! The whole process of moving has consumed my life.  Do you ever feel like your life is in COMPLETE chaos until your house is in order???

More consistant posts to come after my house is in order and all blissfully organized : )

Pictures of our new home coming as sooon! 

“But, what if God wants to send me to Africa?”

“But, what if God wants to send me to Africa?”

or

“What if God wants me to marry someone ugly?”

If you grew up in a Christian home as a child you may have had these thoughts enter your mind. I soon grew into maturity knowing God would not want me to marry someone I didn’t love or want to be with. But the fear of being called to Africa?  A desolate place that sounds scary, dark, full of disease and of war, that never ever really changed, just never really had the desire to go there.

Until lately, Africa especially Uganda, has been on my mind and heart.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11

A few weeks ago, when John (hubs) and I thought the Lord opened the door to our dream home (relatively). We have been waiting and searching for the right home, well since about the time we got engaged, so over two years. So when this particular home opened up, it seemed like perfect timing and it was just a beautiful new home with land practically everything on our wish list.

But when our plans fell through, it was disappointing and yet we were actually slightly relieved when it didn’t work out.  

But here we are back to house hunting again. It did affect me a lot in that I was doubting so much about our lives and questioning whether we are in the right place. Even though I do know God opened the door for our jobs and it seems God has been opening the doors for John in ministry and other opportunities. He was asked to join Youth for Christ and is now working with the Chaplin from the training school, and has been officiating and training youth in basketball. And let me tell you I am a very proud wife!

SO all that to say, in my grieving and disappointment of losing the house I thought was for us I struggled with discontentment.

And the question “Now what?”

Then, I picked up Kisses from Katie. A book that has blown me away.

I couldn’t get through the first couple of pages with out sobbing!!!

Nearly ever page thus far was piercing as it resonated in my heart that I have lately been missing the point.

Watch Katie on Youtube

Katie Davis explains

“I laugh now when I think about how stressed out I was about geckos in my bed, children eating erasers,  and learning to cook beans on an open fire, was my laundry by hand with a bar soap, or bathe outside in the bucket. Every day, though, as I looked around at beautiful, expectant faces with huge coffee-brown eyes hungry for the love of Jesus, I know that I was here just to love, and the rest I would figure out in time”

See her blog at Kisses from Katie blog

WOW. I have MUCH more comforts in life, so what could I be ungrateful about? And I was left thinking ‘What have my thoughts been consumed with?' Sometimes when you get caught up in discontentment it really helps to put things in perspective. Maybe my priorities need some adjusting!

Back to Africa…

Awareness in Africa has been rising quite a bit in the media lately.

Have you seen the Kony video??? Kony video Though I think the 13.7 million dollars raised should also definitely be going to safe houses and clothing for the kids and not just catching Kony, I think it’s a good start to ending the injustice there.

And recently John found a new movie that was definitely less televised called 
Machine-gun preacher.

 Its almost like the Christian version of RAMBO.

It is a true story that takes place dead center in the battle grounds in Uganda that Kony’s video talks about.

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who gets saved and accepts Jesus as his Lord undergoes an astonishing transformation finds an unexpected calling as the rescuer of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization. For Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives - and eventually his own. 
The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement.
Its gruesome, but its really happening.

The true Sam Childers

Its gruesome, but its really happening.

~
This movie and events so impacted me, it was all that was on my mind.

 I know my dad would just love this movie! He is a minister and is passionate about 

fighting injustice and saving tortured children for Jesus.

 I have to evaluate myself, what am I doing to help?

 I know everyone has a specific calling. But if this were happening right in front of you and you walked away and said “That’s not my calling”? Who does that sound like!!! Remember the Good Samaritan story? Luke 10:25-37 

Now, you won’t find me catching the next flight to Africa,

BUT for the first time in my life I am more open to idea and have a new found heart for the African people.

When your love is stronger than your fear

And that verse now makes more sense than ever.

Perfect love drives out fear.

I John 4:18

I am reminded of a time when my love for Honduras children over came my fear. A few other missionaries and myself invited the girls from the orphanage to have a sleep over and we had such a fun night, getting prettied up and just laughing.

Well to my horror, a month later when I got home from Honduras, I was the childrens church guest speaker for IMI Pastoral Conference. And one morning
 I scratched my head and found LICE 
in my FINGER NAIL!!! 
 a TRUE friend of mine whom I will always be indebted, combed through my hair entire head of thick hair every hair! My dad told me he was sorry that happened and I looked at him and said “It’s a small price to love a child”.

NOW I said this before my friend combed through my entire big head of thick hair, and I have THICK hair. Tears filled my eyes through the process- I am not sure I would say the same thing AFTER that experience-IT WAS AWEFUL, but when I said it, I meant it. 
And my friend...
 well she went and got a haircut after that.LOL.

Ever since, going to Honduras through Impact Ministries International for four consecutive years I could first hand see the 
amazing growth of the kids, frowns turned upside down, how Jesus called us into this destitute place and worked his hands through us and helped changed their future for eternity. There is nothing in the world like it!!!
 A piece of my heart will always belong to those deep dark brown eyed kids.

If you want to go on a missions trip to Honduras with us?

We are going June 28^th-July 4th

My husband and I along with some of his family and some of mine are going to Honduras at the end of June this year. CAN’T WAIT! The Lord has already begun to lay things on my heart of what we can do for the orphan kids. People come from all over the United States to simply love the unloved and make a Christ’s hands and feet. 
~

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

I Corinthians 13:2

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.

I Corinthians 13:13

2012 One Month Down

Can you believe its February already?! 
We are already one month into the new year of 2012!

So, here is a snap shot as to how my
 New Year’s Resolutions are going:

{Growing deeper}

Well I haven’t been doing daily devos like I want to get in the habit of doing, 
but I just got done reading Heaven is for Real has really been enhancing my faith.
 Now I going to be reading:

 'Kisses from Katie" 
{An 18 year old senior class president and homecoming queen leaves everything to move to Uganda because of her passion to follow Jesus, she is adopting 13 young women and established a ministry!!! Wow, I can't wait to be moved by her courage!}

{Getting Involved in Impact Ministries}
 I am using my pastoral minor and made it official this month! I am now a “minister” ordained through Impact Ministries International. 
The Lord has been laying many things on my heart of what we are to do when we get to Honduras this summer. I AM SO SO EXCITED to have my husband, Dixie (his mama) and Grandma Bonnie come! 
I anticipate much hugs, laughs, and yes tears…
{this will also fulfill our “vacation” new faces and places goal this year, we may stay a few extra days and tour the islands}

{Honduras IMI orphanage with our kids : } HOW I MISS THEM!

Wendy the first orphan<3 the girls just love sparkles!

~

 {Cultivate: be creative every week}
 I got an itch to be productive and creative over this last weekend.
 I am so into the chalk board paint! Its my obsession right now! 
I got some great ideas on Pinterest. So this weekend I worked on my chalk message boards, and painted the side of my fridge with chalkboard paint!

John was surprised when he first saw that I painted the side of the fridge. 
 He really liked it! And said, “When are you going to paint the rest?! 
He didn't mind being that  our fridge is umm… well… vintage ; )

 {Before}

So I painted the rest : )

{After}

I just LOVE it!!


And thats not all...

I even painted the top of my kitchen table 

with chalk board paint! 

Little obsessed I know

~

{Physically active} 
I would say I am doing ok, I go in spurts.  I could step it up (literal) : D

{Recipe}
 I did try a new recipe this month it was a Hot Chicken Dip.

Id take a picture but it has already been devoured! YUMM!! 


{Organize & rid of clutter}
While going through more 'stuff' these last few weeks, 
 I found a tin full of souvenirs from my dads travels, trinkets from places I have been and a perfume bottle from my mom when I was little. 
I love rediscovering treasures like this!

~
{Take a class}
 I signed by for a sewing class the end of Feb!
Watch out world Im takin on the machine! Yep, Im scared too.

{Develop Photography} 
At this moment In Focus Photography an amazing, booming photography biz 
(whom I met through my dad) is looking at my website and doing some critiquing before launch. The owner Mary was SO amazing and helpful. She wants to take me out for a day teach me some tricks of the trade. Wow, Im just so humbled by this.
 I just need to set up a time to go to Milwaukee!

{I have been taking different shots around my house, I LUV vintage cameras!}

I think I have a good head start on my goals this year!

 But I still have a lot of work to do!

Share your ambition!

 What have you accomplished so far in 2012?

Did you accomplish anything on your list yet?

MAKE A GREAT YEAR!