Not My Typical Blog Post

There's a crispness in the air that one can just feel as October creeps towards us. For the last few nights, I've gotten home with a chill in the air, a feeling that my fleece will become a permanent piece of my everyday wardrobe soon and a pumpkin spice latte on my mind. (I've never had one, but I really enjoy the smell.) Another thing fall makes me think of is the countless football games I've gone over the years to see my friends play or watch a game with my friends.

Most of my friends know I'm not a huge football fan. I don't go to many sports event period. I do however enjoy going from time to time. I went to the Aggies football game a couple of weeks ago with Elley, our new student director at the church. That game was simply delightful. For those that don't know, Elley is from Kentucky and still learning about Aggieland, which made the game even more enjoyable.

I'm pretty sure no one expected me to write about football this morning. For those of you who don't know, I have a twin sister with down syndrome. Her name is Lori. Lori isn't a big sports girl herself and certainly would never play football, but I saw an article on yahoo the other day that warmed my heart. This is the story of Ike, a boy with downs, and his Varsity football touchdown. Watch the video and read his story. This brought tears to my eyes this morning as it is simply beautiful. These are the football stories I enjoy.

Stephamiah!

Get ready for a photography intensive blog! After months of not having all the pictures edited from Stephanie and Jeremiah's wedding, I have finished! This was such a fun wedding and I'm incredibly happy for these two friends of mine. First, the rehearsal!

Excitement was in the air!

Maybe some nervous butterflies too?

Some preciousness....

And some fun dancing down the aisle after the rehearsal...

The next day started out with some getting ready and being silly
before the wedding commenced!
(Pictures are in no particular order, because I've got to make it to youth soon!)

Something To Really "LIKE"!

For those of you who are not yet aware, I am a youth counselor at A&M UMC. I also love photography and missions. When you put this all together, there's this unique mathematical equation:

youth counselor + love for missions + photography
= joye photography missions fundraising!

Through my photography, I want to express God's creativity in the world around me, as well as introduce the world to things that often go unseen. joyephotography is not a business. It may one day be one, but right now God doesn't have joyephotography or myself in that place. Who knows what he has as far as the future, but for the moment this is not.

Having said this, I am a youth counselor at A&M UMC in College Station, Texas. We are currently trying to raise funds for our Spring Break Youth Mission Trip. All of my photography "proceeds" for the moment will be going directly to this mission trip, either to fund students to get there or for supplies once we are there.

If you'd like a photo session*, I would love to shoot one with you. It doesn't matter what kind of session it is! Portraits, engagements, bridals, weddings, friends, families, kids, newborns, every day life moments, events, sports, retreats, etc. *Each photo session is for a $50 minimum donation for the A&M UMC Spring Break Youth Mission Trip! Get excited! :)

joyephotography is now on facebook if you would like to "like joyephotography" or invite a friend, a dozen friends, or all of your facebook friends to support this cause and get some neat pictures made in the process.

Embark

I'm embarking on an adventure.

This will be an unspoken adventure for the time being.
I'm not really sure where it will take me. (Shocked? Ha!)
This adventure begins with a necessity for this:
wix.com/stegokarlen/joyephotography

Todos se murieron.

School started back up. I'm still not on the side of being super excited about it, but I'm at least adjusting. I only have 12 hours as of right now: 2 communications classes, a sociology methods class and a Spanish class on the Mexican Revolution.

One of my friends asked how classes was today. My reply was, "It was good. Everyone got shot." I forgot that they didn't know I was in a Mexican Revolution class and unsurprisingly, the majority of people I know do not have an extensive knowledge about the revolution. All the leaders of the revolution end up dying by gun shot either in assassination, battle or by another revolutionary leader. Our professor ended our class today telling us how everyone got shot and then said "Todos se murieron." That's that. What's the moral of this story? My classes aren't that much different than in semesters past.

I'm excited about Aggie Sisters for Christ starting up again. We start back on Monday. I'm incredibly excited about that. The other big thing I'm excited about is youth, which should be a given. I'm starting to get a bit more ecstatic about my group of friends' bible study now that we've looked at a few book options.

It should be a good semester overall. I just wish there was a way I could take a Portuguese class.