My Hopes for 2011.

As I type this, it's still 2010. Christmas is just around the corner and we are getting ready to welcome in 2011. While career and health wise, 2010 (and 09, and....) was a challenging year, the year did bring high hopes for a bright future.

To choose one quote to sum up my feelings on 2010 it would be:

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." -Einstein

Choosing one word for 2010: opportunity.

With multiple challenges at work, God placed an amazing opportunity in my lap (literally- in the form of a new camera near the end of 2009). I started the year with a new hobby and it morphed into a part-time, then full-time (when I could find the the time) job.

I discovered that I loved it. And that, with some adjustments, I could possibly make it a career.

We were (still) struggling with infertility. (As I type this, we still are- please don't correct my tense use English teachers- I have high hopes that God will change this from 'are' to 'were' by the time this posts.

We think about adoption. We talk about adoption. We've yet to act upon adoption.

It is in our hearts and we do hope to adopt someday but at this point I'm longing for a newborn in our arms.

Photographing newborns is such a treasure to me. I meet these tiny, precious, miracles just a few days old and I just fall in love. I'm completely in awe of them. I take the job of capturing their brand newness seriously. I'm truly blessed to get the chance to take on this job. I am humbled and honored that parents would choose me to capture these memories and that God would use me to record this moment in their lives.

I think about adoption and how, in some cases, parents may not get to meet their little one as a newborn (and sometimes not until much later). My heart aches for them but I love that this job helps me to preserve that special newborn time.

I had a dream last night. Rusty and I were cuddling on our very own newborn. We were so happy. I believe God. I believe that He has a big plan for us. I pray, oh I pray, that His plan for us involves blessings in the form of babies. To be honest, I had lost hope that it did until I woke up from my dream last night. It was the happiest I had been in such a long time. Even as I awoke, I wasn't sad that it was only a dream- I was happy that it was God's way of telling me whats yet to come. I trust in Him. I have high hopes for this year.

As I think about opportunity in the middle of difficulty, I have to wonder if His plan for me might involve using my pain from longing for a newborn and applying it to photography. I would love, love, love to start photographing more newborns and maybe He's given me the love I need for them by making it so much more meaningful to me.

I pray that when this posts (long after I've forgotten about it and right when I will be surprised to see it) that I'm on a new career path, that I'm holding a baby in my arms, and that R and I love each other more than ever. I pray that we will be praising God for all the blessings in 2011 and thanking Him for carrying out His will in our lives.

I know I'm thankful for His will in my life in 2010. I don't fully understand it yet, but I feel so blessed.

TTMT - the RAK edition

It's the RAK edition of TTMT. Your job was to do a random act of kindness and come back to report about it. Secret Agent L is a resource for you.

My RAK:

Next week's TTMT: Show us what's in your purse. Dig it out and take a picture. The catch- you have to do it right now, no taking anything out or adding to it.

Talk To Me.... YOUR Turn!

TTMT:

Readers choice. Comment, inbox me, facebook me- leave me ideas for some 2011 Talk To Me Tuesdays. :)

Okay- This one is updated because some of you emailed me great ideas and I must have deleted them or something because I can't find them now! Sorry. :( Leave them in the comments here (PLEASE!). :)

And I guess that gets me out of participating in this week's (actually I'm auto publishing this on Thursday so I don't miss the date again....). :) But PLEASE play this week. And get started on next week's if you haven't yet. It should be fun!! And since I'm auto-publishing and changing the date- can I point out that I love when the date is so easy to write... we get to do that three times this year.

Next weeks:

This one is a do rather than an answer.... Go out and do a random act of kindness. Post the idea on your page. (For ideas see Secret Agent L's blog... you may recognize one on there from my friend Secret Agent (other) L)

best of

We have been talking about the blessings jar around here forever for awhile forever. We talked about changing the November calendar to the every month calendar. We took a photo a day of all the good things. We like remembering the good times and praising Him for them. So this idea is (almost) perfect for us. Modified a bit to showcase the top ten of each month, here is our method for tracking the best of 2011:

While not 365, there's still a lot of spaces to fill in. That's a lot of good times ahead, friends. Happy counting your blessings all year round!

Happy Birthday!!

It's my friend Lisa's birthday- she's 28 (or so) today. ;)

She's a fabulous lady with a huge heart that would do anything for anyone. When I think back to some of the times that I needed someone the most over the last few years- Lisa's been there.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!!! Love ya! :)

TTMT (yes I know it's Thursday again!)

I've had a few people checking in on me as I skipped TTMT (again). Rest assured, the Hicks family is doing okay! We are just trying to get back into the swing of being back at work but still having appointments, basketball, photo sessions, and all the other things going on.

Here is another Thursday version of TTMT:

This week's:
What's a verse that you are leaning on right now? (Could be your all time favorite but doesn't have to be.)

Right now the verse I think about the most is Isaiah 40:31. It's a favorite of a lot of people (but ironically not one of mine). I actually have had it stuck in my head because I had made a necklace that said it for one of my best friends. It had been sitting on the counter waiting to be wrapped for awhile so I just tried it on one day before work and wouldn't you know- it fit. I ended up liking it a lot and made my friend another version of the necklace so I could keep this one myself wouldn't have to give her a used necklace. :) I've been reminded of this verse daily as I wear it bound on my neck and continually try to rest in Him.

One of my real favorite verses:

Hebrews 11:1- "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and sure of what we cannot see."

Though I have a lot of favorites, I don't have a lot of time right now so maybe I'll update this later.. and start taking my own advice on auto publishing TTMs so we can all play along a little better! :)

Next week's:

Readers choice. Comment, inbox me, facebook me- leave me ideas for some 2011 Talk To Me Tuesdays. :)

Okay- That one is updated because some of you emailed me great ideas and I must have deleted them or something because I can't find them now! Sorry. :( Leave them in the comments here (PLEASE!). :)

The next, next weeks:

This one is a do rather than an answer.... Go out and do a random act of kindness. Post the idea on your page. (For ideas see Secret Agent L's blog... you may recognize one on there from my friend Secret Agent (other) L)

Okay: So what's your favorite verse (or one you are currently leaning on)? Comment with your link to it here. And thanks for your patience as the Tuesdays roll into Wedn.... Thursdays. Love y'all!

Updated: If you don't blog, YES you can still play. Leave your answer in the comments.

For Sale

Just in case you don't check the {cb}h blog everyday. ;)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2011

For Sale

In case Santa brought you a DSLR for Christmas......

These lenses have been sitting at the Hicks' Ranch waiting for a good home. I thought my little sister would have a DSLR by now and they would finally have a new home but she didn't and they don't. So I'm offering them to you. Email me if you are interested.

Canon 50mm prime 1.8 II: New $120/For Sale: $65 SOLD

Canon 55-250 F/4.0-5.6 IS: New: $299/For Sale: $150 SOLD

Perspective

As I'm reading facebook statuses of what everyone is looking forward to in 2011, it strikes me as funny how perspective is so different. I lost track of the number of statuses that were looking forward to not being pregnant in 2011. After reading the first one I felt a little sting; after reading the 20th+ one I had to laugh. Perspective.

When I say, "Wow, you are so big- you look great!" to a pregnant friend, she may hear, "Wow, you look like a whale." when what I mean is, "Wow, you have been busy growing a baby, that's amazing and you really do look great. Pregnant women everywhere are jealous of how good you look and I'm jealous that you have that magic superpower that I don't have." Perspective.

When people say to me, "Your time will come" "You'll make a great mom" You are so lucky to not have to deal with kids right now" and I hurt, I really need to remember they mean, "I really believe your time is coming" "You'll make a great mom" and.... well, I'm not sure what they mean by that last one.... Perspective.

I upset a few people with my post about "Please don't tell me." People told me it wasn't fair for me to say that and that I'm shutting people out by being so sensitive. For the most part I didn't respond to those people (and if you're reading this post, waiting for a response to that, consider this my apology for ignoring you). But I have to disagree. For me, that post opened a lot of lines of communication and I've talked to so many women about the very issue. What I realized from all of it is that it's okay for my feelings to be hurt by some of those things- that's human nature. But when I was so focused on how sad those things made me, what I really need to be focused on is the heart behind the person saying those things. When someone gives you unsolicited advice, I really do believe they think they are trying to help. When someone tells you how good you look, they surely mean it. When someone tells you how great you are, they do love you.

So I've been thinking about this perspective thing a lot. The other night, a friend was here with her three kids. I was having a pow wow with the youngest and she said to me what a great mother I'll be. I know you're expecting me to tell you how bad it hurt to hear that- but it didn't. It felt good. For the first time- I believed it.

Perspective.

Here's to a new year with a fresh, new perspective. Happy 2011!