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After rescheduling many times due to this crazy Florida weather, we finally managed to sneak a time in to capture the sweet love and exciting new beginning of life. The Faulds' will be expecting their bundle of joy in January of 2014. Congratulations!! 

What a sweet little boy! I have had the privilege of working with this little guy since he was in his mommy's tummy. It has been so fun to watch him grow and capture all his expressions. Look forward to celebrating his first birthday in three months! 

Here is a summary of the photos I took with my camera. All the other images were from my iPhone. 

Today I had the privilege of capturing the events of Summer Fun on the Farm at Seamark Ranch. It was truly a blessing to be a part of the fun. I enjoyed watching the kids interact with one another and learn new things about farm life. So thankful for such an amazing time! They are many ways to get involved and be apart of our community through Seamark. For more information on Seamark Ranch go to www.seamarkranch.com.  

Guatemala – Day 5

This morning we started off with a climb up ‘Heart of Aqua,’ a mountain right up the street. It’s about a two hour round trip. This is the same trip the 14 years old boy, Brian, I told you about earlier this week, has to make everyday to get firewood for his mother’s business. It is quite a climb and job down, but the view at the top was beautiful. It was a pretty overcast morning, but the clouds were rolling around so we were able to admire the view in between clouds. There was also a little park at the top that had a few swings we enjoyed playing on. After we made it back down the mountain we decided to go buy a few day’s worth of firewood for Brian’s mom. We loaded up the back of the SUV with wood and headed over to drop it off at Irma’s place. When we got there we asked where Brian was and she told up he was up in the mountain gathering wood. We thought he’d be happy when we got home to see there was an extra supply. The team also had prepaid for three more bundles to be delivered when needed.

Next, we made a house visit to one of the sponsored children in the art school, Jose. As we sat and talked the mother shared a little about their story.  She and her husband had five of their own children and adopted four more. Eight years ago, her brother-in-law had died and shortly after the wife and left behind were four orphaned children. All of the children are thankful for the sponsorship and are doing excellent in school. It is very rare to have that many children in one family doing so well in their studies. They were all so proud.

After our visit we had a small visit to the market in Antigua. It was cool to walk around and check out the culture in a bigger town. We wrapped up our visit with ice cream and frozen yogurt, and then headed back to the Kunkel’s for dinner and worship time.  We had two other missionary families from the 12:12 mission project. It was a great night to end the trip. I am so thankful to have been a part of this trip and excited to go back home and share the need. There are some awesome things going on over here – many lives are being blessed and it’s all because of Jesus. If you are interested in learning more check out the www.loveguatemala.org website. And of course contact me with any questions. Or, if you’d like to get together, I’d love to share about my trip and experience. This seriously is a great ministry to be a part of and I would definitely suggest praying about partnering with Love Guatemala in some way – sponsoring a student, donating items, helping out the local missionaries, financial donations, prayer support, you name it! There is a need and several ways to show the love of Christ.

Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I appreciate the prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the people here and for lives to be changed through the love of Christ.

I’d also ask for a small personal prayer. I’m starting to experience anxiety tonight and not looking forward to traveling home tomorrow. Please pray that I’ll be able to relax and trust that God will take care of those I love and help us have a safe trip home. For those of you who know what it’s like to have anxiety and the horrible feeling of your nerves crawling out of your skin but feeling trapped, you know how I feel. I just don’t want to come home to devastating news. I need to trust in God and know that everything works together for His good, but I’m being honest, I’m scared.

Thank you all again for the support! I know God had me on this trip and wanted to use me to serve in this ministry. Thanks for being a part! 

Guatemala – Day 4

First off I want to say, Happy Birthday to Dayton and Dara! I love you both so much! Today has definitely been a bittersweet day, trying to go about the day like normal but constantly thinking of Dara and wishing Dayton were physically here! I can’t express how I feel and what is going on in my mind. I just know I don’t understand it, I’ll probably never understand it and my heart breaks. My last mission trip I was on, just about every morning started off skyping with Dayton … a time I truly enjoyed. We had some really great conversations. And some we were looking forward to when I got back to the states – he didn’t want to talk about some things over skype, he thought it’d be better in person. And this trip I find myself wanting to skype with him and tell him everything about being here. Man, I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss him! It still is such a surreal feeling. I don’t like to cry, but I cry a lot with him … tears of sadness and joy. We really had some great memories together. So today I celebrate the life of Dayton his beautiful twin sister, Dara. I am so thankful to have them both in my life!

Today all the students in the schools were given a bible and a journal. Amanda, Joey and Shawna went over daily devotions with them and the importance of reading the word and talking with God. There was a large morning group and a smaller group in the afternoon. We also went over and finished up the kitchen and presented the students with a new commercial mixer, new miscellaneous supplies, a homemade pot rack and shelves and everything organized for them. They were all so excited and expressed their thankfulness and gratitude.

After lunch, we made a house visit to a boy named Thomas. His father committed suicide about three weeks ago so the team wanted to give the family some support and encouragement. They received a small food basket to help the family. Thomas is only 10 years old and walks several miles to attend the art school. Some of the pictures from today have the steep path we had to walk after driving as far as we could.  Once we left this family we met up with one of the leaders of 12:12. 12:12 is a program for building homes for the people here. They find needs and try to get the story and help out families they can help. Again, you’ll see the pictures of one of the most recent homes, almost completed, from 12:12.

It has been incredible to be a part of what goes on here. This is an awesome ministry. What I love most is seeing the relationships that are built with these people – the kindness and love of God that is being shown. 

Guatemala – Day 3

Today we started off with the cooking school. There were a lot of items brought over to help the program, as well as a lot of work to be done in the room. The ladies and kiddos of the group worked on organizing and cleaning up the shelves, while the men built a pot rack to hang over the working space. They were able to get the pot rack built and hung and it looks great! Total cost of the project was about $25! There are still a few things to be done in the room before the class meets next, so we will be going over in the morning to finish up the work. And there is a nice gift for the school that will be presented at the next class. 

Later in the afternoon, we made a house visit to man named Caesar and his family. Caesar has a wife, two daughters and a son between the ages of 14 and 10. After this visit, it was evident this is a strong family that lives by faith. Caesar has been sick for 11 years and 9 months, 8 years that he has not been able to walk. The disease I believe he said he has is Ankylosing Spondylitis. It is a terminal bone disease that has caused his spine to fuse together causing tremendous pain and other health issues. This disease has spread through his body and is said that 95% of his bones have fused together. He takes strong doses of medicines but nothing really helps the pain. He said that through the years of trials his family has grown in their faith. He trusts that this is all part of God’s perfect plan and wants to continue giving God all glory and praise. He shared his story with us for almost 3 hours and in the mix quoted tons scripture. He has experienced a few near death experiences and still through it all he says he is blessed and looks to God for strength and comfort. I noticed he wears a bracelet that says, “Live everyday as your last day.” This man’s story is truly incredible. It was a long couple hours of visiting but so incredibly awesome to hear what he had to say and after letting is all sink in really sitting back in awe of this man’s inspiration. Not once did he complain or ask why, He smiled and countless times said he knew God had a purpose for it all. He would only allow God to receive glory and would continue to seek God and His Word for the wisdom, strength and comfort he needed … truly incredible!  

After our visit, we went into Antigua for a delicious dinner. Then back to Carlos and Thelma’s for bed! 

Guatemala – Day 2

Today we spent most of our time at the art school, which is located right next to Carlos and Thelma’s home … half of us are staying here and the Bunso family is staying with the Kunkel’s (local missionary). Carlos and Thelma are the teacher’s at the art school and are self taught artist. Our team brought over supplies for the school and also taught them a new technique for jewelry making. They were very excited and eager to learn and found it very beneficial for other projects as well. There were two class sessions, morning and afternoon. In the afternoon session, we also assembled canvases. It was so cool to build a canvas from scratch. One of the other trade schools they have here is a carpentry school. So the guys were able to cut all the wood for the frames and nail them together. I learned how to measure and cut the canvas and many of us learned how to properly nail the canvas onto the frame. At the end of the second class one of the students shared her testimony and how thankful she was for the opportunity to be a part of the school. It was sweet to hear her heart and what a difference the school had made with her.

After the class we made two home visits. The first one was one of the young boys in the art school, Brian. He is fourteen years old. His father is an alcoholic and his mother works hard to provide for her children. For many years, Brian would work to help his mother but with the help from some of the teams he was able to go back to school as well as the art school. One of the teams that comes to Guatemala helped Brian’s mother, Irma, start her own tortilla stand. She has been working hard on it for two years now. Every day she walks a few miles up and down the mountain to get wood for her stand. Each bundle weighs about 50 pounds. It is incredible to hear the extreme measures the people have to go. The second home visit was Eric. Joey and Amanda, one of the couples on this trip, sponsor him. He is a student at the carpentry school. We were able to see some of the work he has made in his families home. As well as the bunk beds that were made from some of the leaders.

To wrap up the day, we had dinner and a small worship time at the Kunkel’s and had the opportunity to hear Carlos’ testimony. It was a sweet time and looking forward to tomorrow’s journey. 

Ps. All the photos I'm posting now are from my iPhone ... I failed and left my cord to my camera at home :( But when I return I'll post all the photos from my camera. 

Guatemala – Day 1

As I left the house early this morning, I walked into each of my family members room’s and kissed them on the cheek and told them I love them. Last night, I hugged and loved my G*ma and my Bestie and her little man. It’s a bittersweet feeling to travel, my last trip I came home to very tragic and life changing events. I lost my close friend Dayton to a car accident and two weeks later a sweet friend, Lindsey, to cancer. Although, I cannot allow the fear of losing someone I truly love to keep me from traveling and doing what God has called me to do, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. It’s hard enough to lose someone close to you and even harder with circumstances leading up to and following the loss. It’s been seven months since Dayton’s accident. It has forever changed my life. I have been broken down. I’ve experienced new types of heartache. I have questioned. I have been angry … lots and lots of emotion. And most of all, I have searched God in a whole new way! I was angry with Him for a while. I questioned Him more than I have ever questioned in my life. And as I question Him, I’m still thinking in the back of my head, ‘Who am I to question God? Have I lost my mind?’ I can say that through my suffering and my pain I am searching for God. When I was in the Philippines, Dayton shared with me that he was starting to read the bible. He wanted to figure things out for himself. He didn’t want me to share anything about the bible, he just asked where he should start … Old Testament or New Testament … I suggested the New Testament and started reading along with him. It just brought me back the beginning, but I didn’t get that far into it because when I came back to the States things didn’t make sense in my little mind. Needless to say, I still don’t understand why God took Dayton from this earth. I don’t understand a lot of things, but through these months of being broken and battling with anger, I do know God is using this situation for something bigger than I can image. It’s a struggle to remember that, but I have to remind myself daily, even though it’s still hard to accept.

This trip is another reminder of how God works. We started around 6:00am and drove to Miami, boarded our flight to Guatemala, had another couple hour drive before arriving in Magdelena, where we will be staying this next week. We had a mini orientation after a late dinner, made a quick house visit to a local family whom they have been working closely with to help. Then it was off to bed a little after midnight. I will most certainly share in more detail about our house visit. 

Welcome to my blog ... 

I love expressing myself mostly through photographs, but occasionally, I'll share through words. Photography is my passion and my joy. When I held my first camera - an old hammy-down, heavy metal Minolta - I knew I had found something I truly was interested in and wanted to learn more. I was in the eight grade when I was given that old Minolta and I would take it every where capturing as many film pictures as I could afford. I continued taking pictures throughout high school, but it was just for fun. Once I graduated high school, I decided I was going to be a health major and continue on to become a Doctor of Chiropractic. After about a year and a half into college I knew something was off and this wasn't the direction I was supposed to be going. So the next semester I signed up for all art classes. I told myself I'd give it a semester and if I didn't think this was it, I'd go back to the health field. Well, I fell in love and knew then that art was my future.

In 2007, I started booking free photo shoots to get experience working with people, different settings and lighting. During that first year, I published my first website and blog and by the next year I had returning clients. I have slowly been building my photography business. As I have taken time off for travel, ministry, family and life. Even though my focus the past few years hasn't been to grow my business, I have continued capturing the world around me every chance I get. I've had many challenges the past few years, good and bad, and have grown in so many areas. I'm thankful for the opportunities that have come my way and the experiences I've faced.

This year, I have decided, is the year to get grounded and focused on photography. I will continue working on my Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts with a focus on photography at the University of North Florida. I don't need a degree to be a professional photographer, but I am eager to learn and know that the educational experience will benefit me in more ways than I can imagine. I love school. I love to be challenged! And I look forward to earning my degree.

I am excited for this year and all it has to offer. I'll be growing my business, continuing my education and enjoying life along the way. My blog will be a place where I'll share my journey and express myself. Most of it will be through pictures - photo shoots, photo projects, photo travels, photo studies, instagram photos, iPhone photos, ect. Feel free to follow along and be a part of my journey! 

With Love, 

Tracy Jones

Life with Tracy Blog is under construction!