Life as a Suzal

Where can you find hundreds of people representing dozens of countries around the world that all have something in common? This past week Lukas and I have been quite busy volunteering at our church’s biennial Missions Conference. It was a blast! I was amazed and extremely blessed meeting so many people who live oversees and in sometimes very difficult situations to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are about 30 people from my church who volunteer to put on Kids Programs during the day while the parents are in sessions, and make sure that the conference runs smoothly, helping out where needed. I was very excited that I got to hang out with the high school-ers from the group and make many new cool friends!

Also, I have to brag on my most amazing husband. Originally he was going to work with the high school-ers with me, and also take pictures. However his schedule got filled up very soon in a way that he was able to best use his talents, so high school dropped off the list. He did entire conference coverage, taught a seminar, met one on one for photo questions, and did over 18 family photo sessions for prayer cards. He did it all with a huge smile on his face and hug for me whenever we ran into each other during the busyness. And even today after getting home, while I take a nap to recover, he has been working hard editing everything from the week. Isn’t he amazing?! I LOVE my hubs!!

Make sure to check out his blog describing the week at the Missionary Conference! He also put together this AMAZING slideshow that shows how the week went. Please remember to PRAY for our missionaries around the world.

Missions Conference 2010 from Lukas VanDyke on Vimeo.

Photos: Canon 1d Mark III
Video: Canon 5d Mark II
Edited in: iMovie
Additional Photos by: Susannah, Anne, Quincy, Lauren.

Music:
Devoted to You, By: Carly Simon & James Taylor
I Saw the Light, By: David Crowder
How Deep the Father’s Love for us, By: Selah
Foreverandever Etc, By: David Crowder
Greater Than We Can Imagine, By: Sovereign Grace Music

Last Saturday, Lukas and I did a fun Photo Shoot at a friend’s Studio. It was kind of like the Contrast Concepts shoot we did last fall, (minus the bride aspect /props) but in an indoor type setting. We had a studio director, videographer, shoot stylist, makeup artist, three photographers, and four fun models. It’s just such a fun experience having a bunch of creative people working together in one place and I love it!

All to say, at the end of the shoot I wanted to grab just a couple close up shots to see the difference with studio lighting than the natural lighting I usually use. Compared to my other Headshots, these are so…I don’t know,  clean!

Make sure to check out Lukas’ site for a different take on the shoot!

And this one just for fun!!!

Here are 15 Resolved Quotables that stood out to me from this year’s conference from our speakers, Rick Holland, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Steve Lawson, and John MacArthur. Can anyone get all 15 right? Leave a comment and see!

1. “Jesus is not your therapist, Jesus is not your coach, and Jesus is not your guru. Your self help manager. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords…Jesus is not your homeboy.”

2. “You put your weak life into His strong hands, and He will uphold you”

3. “Too many of us want the public without the dedication of the private”

4. “The faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first”

5. “…You can get it that wrong, and you’ll end up in hell. You can get it almost right, and still end up in hell.”

6. “These men all have letters after their name. Mine come before.”

7. “We used to beat up guys like that”

8. “True Christians are distinguished from unbelievers, true Christians are distinguished from nominal Christians by their obedience to Christ.”

9. “I fear that many Christians have a tame and domesticated understanding of what it means for Jesus to be King.”

10. “What we want is an experience so that we will not have to keep ourselves in the love of God.”

11. “…On the other hand I’m fighting with everything I’ve got for the protection of the the truth in the life of the church in the world.”

12. “I pray that we are never unamazed at how MUCH the LORD has done for us!”

13. “Gazing at Christ’s beauties, his glories, his excellencies, elevates the soul to higher vantage points so that you can see and worship Him more clearly.”

14. “It’s really important to get Christ right. Who is he?”

15. “If you don’t experience joy, find something to repent of.”

I just have to laugh at this.  One of my friends told me she even lost her shoe in all the rumble!

Enjoy…!

Lurking behind the seemingly peaceful doors, thousands of people lie in wait…

Ok guys! Ready for this?! You know what to do!

Mike and Mark open Pandora’s box…

And the beast emerges!

They’re free! But little do they know…

…that they will have to stop again. And these guys in green mean business.

Yes, yes, yes, everyone has to stop.

Now listen to Mark.  Ok, we’re going to do this walking.

Listen everyone! Say it with me, waaaallllkiiinnnnnng.

No, no, you can’t go off to the right. Stay straight.

The fierce guys in green keep it all in control.

Walking, waaaalllkinnnng…

Then a gust of air blows with a mad rush to get seats! Bibles are thrown, people jump on chairs and fall to the floor, shoes are lost! People lay across seats desperately clinging to their hope of sitting near the front…

And that’s what it’s like to get seats at Resolved. Or you could just come a little late and get stadium seats in the back. Kudos to Mark, Mike, and the fierce guys in green who kept everything under control at yet another year of Resolved.

The Resolved Conference 2010 is finally here! For those of you who don’t have any idea what I am talking about, check out www.resolved.org. Lukas and I have been here since Thursday morning, and Palm Springs is nice and toasty just like last year. Lukas has been backstage alot, while I have been mostly in the bookstore helping fold and sell shirts. I just have to brag on my husband a minute, because alot of people don’t realize that he completely designed all the graphics for the background on stage. Nothing was taken off a google search, or pictures off the web; he shot and designed it all AND is covering all the event footage again this year. Isn’t he amazing! While he is doing that, I have been having fun finding random people to interview for our blog. This year we are doing Faces @ Resolved, to get fun snapshots of who is at the conference. It’s soooo cool how people are here from all over!

Today we had some challenging-inspiring-convicting-encouraging-thought-provoking-encouraging sermons from Al Mohler, Steve Lawson and C.J. Mahaney. It was my first time hearing Dr. Mohler preach, and boy was it a treat. Not that I’m biased because he’s from Kentucky or anything. But what can I say? All of the speakers at this conference are amazing and God has given them incredible gifts of preaching. My pastor, John MacArthur will be joining us tomorrow, and I can’t wait to hear what else God has in store for us.

I have to say that I am just blown away every year by this conference at the passionate focus of bringing glory to God by having a true, biblical understanding of who He is. More to come! (Oh, and check out the interviews and pictures of Resolved on Lukas’ site!)

Last week I had sooo much fun doing some Senior Photos for one of “my girls”, Natalie. She is adorable, bright and cheery. Before we took the photos though, I asked her if she would like for me to help her with her hair. Well, what most people don’t know is that I LOVE doing people’s hair, especially giving them a new ‘do. Due to a packed schedule, I don’t have much time for the hobby anymore so I jumped at the chance. I like changing up my color about every four months, so I have been in many salons. I feel badly sometimes for the person doing my hair because I ask so many questions about the processes of cutting and dyeing. Though I am by no means an expert, I have tried to learn as much as possible over the past seven years.

I will have Natalie’s session up this week, but here is a little before and after that I couldn’t help posting!

This past Saturday was Crossroad’s yearly Volleyball Tournament! For those of you who don’t know, Crossroads is the college/ young adult group at my church. Each year they hold a Volleyball Tournament down at UCLA, and all proceeds from tickets and food go towards Short-Term Missions Trips.

I have fun each year helping my friend Edmond with Registration. But I couldn’t help snapping a few pictures just for fun!

Team Spirit!

Hot Dogs for $1! Can’t get better than that!

The action shots:

My lil sister and bestest buddy! They were “Team Braveheart”.

I asked Tom to “look fierce”. This is the result.

Probably the most wanted… free Resolved tickets!!!

Miss Hannah. Adorable as usual.

Those of you who know Mark will appreciate this one.

It’s funny how some people are born in one town, meet their best friend in kindergarten, and thirty years later they still live in the same town and are raising their kids together. In my case, I lived in 2 different countries and 4 different states by the time I turned 21. But I do have a few friends that I have kept in touch with since high school, and even fewer that I have kept in touch with since childhood. One of those few is my friend Sarah.

Sarah and I met in Georgia when we were 6 or 7. We were both small for our age, had brown hair and freckles, and loved it when people called us twins. It was a fast and fun friendship. More than 15 years later, Sarah came out for my wedding reception, and somehow things didn’t seem too different. I love those types of friendships where you can go 4 or 5 years without seeing each other and yet things are still comfortable, easy, and fun when you get a chance to catch up.

I only lived in Georgia for three years, and when it came time to move Sarah and I were both devastated. We vowed to keep in touch, and became dedicated pen-pals. The funny thing was that Sarah had this Hello Kitty stationary and we decided to pre-address the envelopes to each other, so that all her letters to me were in my hand-writing and vice-versa. The idea that people in our family would think that we were writing letters to ourselves was absolutely hilarious, and we made a big deal out of it as kids that age do.

So this time around, in light of our Hello-Kitty memories, Sarah and I vowed yet again that we would become pen-pals. However, with our busy schedules, we thought of a way to make our goal attainable and fun - we would send one postcard a month to each other with only random and crazy information on it. This way we will be motivated to out-do each other and keep it going!

Thank you Sarah for coming all the way out for my reception, and for being such a kind friend. I heart you!

As you approach the house, you hear what sounds like Bon Jovi blaring through the open door. But then you see four people playing guitars, drums, and singing, and realize that it is Bon Jovi blaring. That’s what you get with Rockband!

Last night, Lukas and I had our small groups from church over and we all “played games”. When I was in high school, this would have meant scrabble or monopoly. But nowadays it’s these virtual games. We had a ton of fun eating In n Out, hanging out, listening to Jackie rock out on the piano, and everyone else rock out on Rockband.

You guys are so much fun!

I just ran across this picture and thought I’d share. Some people think camping trips are for, I don’t know… bonfires, and hiking, and s’moring. But when your man is a photographer, camping (or whatever else for that matter!) becomes something entirely different. Something that involves shooting, but no deer to bring back to the camp.

After spelling out your name strategically with a flashlight (turning off and back on at each letter) you had to run back and make a pose. Love how mine came out this clear! Try it sometime.

Camping + Camera + Slow shutter speed + Flashlight = Fun!!!