Ride for the Bear.............

The Lindsay Foundation dedicates itself to helping children with special needs. I really enjoyed being able to take photos for the foundation! It was so cool to see all the bikes and all the riders. To know all those people came out to help special needs children filled my heart with joy. Having a child myself who is hearing impaired I know this foundation is doing an amazing thing.

Faith......................

So things have once again changed a bit. But like I said, I am taking things as they come. To be honest when I first had the thought to do photography for families that suffer with cancer I wanted to make everything completely free. That just sounded crazy to me, all I could think of was the cost and can I afford it.? I will have gas, cd, bubble envelopes, mailing cost, and everything else that goes with it. I was originally going to charge cost to these families but have decided not to.

I guess this is where faith comes in, right? When I think about service money never crosses my mind so why would I charge. Service is something you do for someone else without getting something in return. I must have faith that things will work out!

Ah....ha Moments

When I first had the idea to take photos of the faces of cancer I thought to myself that this would be a nice thing to do for others. As it turns out this is a very nice thing others can do for me. I find that the more I get involved with cancer the more I learn about myself and what it really means to serve others. I think to myself is this my talent I want to share or is this a talent my Heavenly Father gave to me to share with others. I believe this is a talent that Heavenly Father gave to me so that I could share it with others.

I have enjoyed being involved with the cancer community! It really puts things into perspective, like whats petty and whats important. Seeing people fight for their lives or hearing stories of children fighting for their lives really opens my eyes to what I am willing to make a fuss over or just say who cares. I am finding myself to be less offended by others and more understanding ( or saying who cares).

I am enjoying this journey very much! I am so excited about being involved with a foundation called CanCare. They truly know what it is people need in their lives. I have learned more from them in the past few months then I have learned in the past few years. I'm not sure if that is sad or if CanCare is just that amazing, maybe it's both.

When I die it wont matter what car I drove, how big my house was or even how much money I had in my banking account. What will matter is was I a good mother and wife and did I serve others. It's the relationships I build that I will take with me, not my earthly possessions. In the world we live in today it can be hard to remember those things but I try to remind myself often.

I am far from perfect and make mistakes daily but I am trying my hardest. I know my Heavenly Father knows my heart. When I return to him I want him to be proud of me. Life can be messy but we must try out hardest to clean it up before we return to live with him again.

So much to do..................

So I've been meeting with foundations left and right,I'm trying to get my website up and running, trying to fulfill all my responsibilities as a mother and wife, and everything else I have going on. I thought I could do this all by myself but as time goes on I realize I need help. Since I am doing this with no financial gain, I have realized that I may need to ask people for donations of any kind. It can be a cute hat, chair, stool, bench, tutu, cd, envelopes, or anything to help provide nice photos for these families. If you donate money it will go to buying the supplies. I don't have everything figured out yet, I'm just trying to take things as they come.

A New Journey....................

It was hard deleting all my photos on here of people I love or know. I want this blog to be about photographing cancer. I had the chance to be a Layla Grace follower and I must say she has changed my heart in many ways, one being that I have a deep passion to photograph children with cancer. It is because of her that I am now starting a new journey working with different foundations doing just that.

I don't just want to photograph children with cancer, I want to give hope to them, wrap my arms around them, and tell them how proud I am of them for fighting this nasty disease. I may be doing this for selfish reasons, but don't we all!?

I am still in the process of meeting with foundations to see if I will be a good fit for them. I have 2 foundations that I will be meeting with in the next few weeks and one that wants to get back to me after talking to her boss.

The more I think about this the more joy I feel. Anyone who knows me knows patience isn't one of my virtues. I know it will take time to spread the word and get in with foundations. I am so grateful to the foundations who call me back and take me serious. Not all foundation get back to me or even respond to my e-mails but what that does is push me even harder to make sure I am matched with the right foundations.

I don't know where this will take me but I do know this is what I am suppose to be doing.

Riding Through Life...................

This is Alex, he is a cancer survivor! This summer he is biking from Oregon to Virgina to raise money for CanCare. Alex said, " I want to bring awareness to the staff and volunteers at CanCare who wake daily and seek to comfort those going through the physical and emotional turmoil of a nasty disease."

I had the chance to meet Alex on a CanCare volunteer training weekend. I can't wait till Alex starts his journey across America! If you would like to follow him you can go to ridingthroughlife-alex.blogspot.com

Soul Searching............

Cancer isn't always a bad thing, I know, I had it and it saved my life! I am now wanting to give back. I've been going through a transformation this year and it's been amazing! I am so proud of myself and I've never been able to say those words till now. I've been touched by the spirit in so many ways and been prompted to take photos of people with cancer and cancer survivors. When I started the photography journey I wasn't sure where it would take me until now.

I will be focusing on taking photos for people with cancer and cancer survivors! I am so deeply touched by children with cancer and can't wait to have the chance to work with them.

My feelings on doing this is people with cancer already pay soooo much in medical bills and to charge them for photos, just isn't right. I like the idea of taking photos of cancer survivors to give hope to those with cancer. Also, I know when I had cancer I didn't feel pretty and to be able to make someone feel good about themselves gives me such joy. I also like the idea of the person with cancer being able to look back on those photos and say "wow, look what I accomplished"!