growth

my avocado tree has made progress.


. . .  so have i

i got baptized. again.

I got baptized yesterday! It was really great, and I learned a lot from it. I also got a lot of strange responses for my decision. A lot of people thought it was weird that it took me so long of walking with Jesus to get dunked. I can see why someone might think that, so let me do some explaining.

My brother and I got baptized when I was nine and he was five. We stood on the stage in front of the church our mom brought us to, and we were told to answer yes to the following questions: do you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Do you want to follow Him? The congregation was asked if they would help out, if they would assist my parents in teaching us how to be a Christian. A booming "we will" was their response. The pastor proceeded to sprinkle our heads with water, there was some giggling involved, and then we got to sit back down with our parents (with our complimentary hand towel, of course). In many churches, baptism is a choice made by parents for a child. Instead of choosing to raise their child to love and follow Jesus, for some reason baptism is implemented as an attempted means of salvation. I feel that this is a dangerous approach. If you choose to look at baptism with this viewpoint, it is too easy to then leave the rest of your child's "spiritual upbringing" to chance, assuming that they will happen to dedicate their life to following Christ. There wasn't much about the following years that taught me to walk with Jesus. Sure, I learned a couple things about the Bible, and I made a few friends. But I did not head off to college with any sort of idea of what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. I had no idea how to maintain a relationship with Him.

The example we see in the Bible of baptism is a public proclamation of a believer's faith in Christ (Matthew 29:19-20; Acts 2:37-38, 41-42; Acts 9:18, Acts 16:14-15). I am positive that at the time of my first baptism that I was not saved, I had not accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Baptism is also seen to be an act of obedience to Christ (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:37-38). It is very clear that baptism is a response of obedience after placing one's faith in the saving power of Christ's work on the cross.

How this applies to me here and now, after a couple years of sitting under good Bible teaching and by the grace of God having had a lot of people help me learn what it means to follow Christ:

I honestly had never even thought to get baptized. The past couple years, a number of my friends have chosen to, and I have been so blessed to able to witness that! But for some reason, I never considered it for myself. I never put much thought into the theology behind the baptism that I had experienced as a kid, and did not take the time to consider this commandment in my own walk with Jesus. A couple months ago, the thought came up in my mind while I was at a baptism that maybe when I was baptized the first time it didn't quite count. But I chose to just not think about it. It seemed silly, I've been walking with Christ for a couple years now, isn't it a little late for that? This past week, as I knew that baptisms were coming up again, the thought came up again. The Lord really laid it on my heart that this was something that I needed to do. That it was time to be obedient in this area. I was reading in Colossians and I knew in my heart that Christ was calling me to get baptized.

... having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Colossians 2:12

I realized that I couldn't quite relate to that. I realized that in order to know Christ fully and to continue to understand His purpose for redeeming me, that I needed to obey Him. I am starting to understand that I don't know much about obedience to Christ, nor am I very good at it. I desire to truly allow Him to reign in my heart, and that means total submission on my end. Obeying Christ is about Him and Him alone. Its not about the opinions or convictions of others, its not about appearance, its not about selfish gain or checklists. Obeying Christ involves recognizing the sacrifice that He made for us on the cross. Obeying Christ sees that GOD SENT His only begotten Son. Obeying Christ finds true joy and satisfaction in the high calling that is being a follower of Jesus, and finding freedom in total abandon of my own will.

I want my life to be marked by obedience to Jesus, whether that means I let Wesley and Ian dunk me in a pool, or I choose to open my mouth and tell someone about the love of Christ and His ability to save, or I allow God to take my thoughts, emotions, will as His own, and for His power to be what makes anything in my life glorifying to Him.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2:6-7

It was so awesome to witness others proclaim their faith in Christ as well! There were five other people that got baptized on Sunday, and I have been able to watch their walks with Christ each develop differently. Some I knew better than others, but it was amazing to be a part of such a wonderful day of celebration. It was really humbling to see their obedience to Christ as they are so fresh in their walks with Him. I am so grateful to be able to share that day with them and cannot wait to see what the Lord has planned for each one of them!!

good news

my original avocado tree is not dead!

also- i am going to attempt to grow a plumb tree.

one more thing: i have the internet once again!!

avocado

my sophomore year of college, much to my roommate's dismay, i decided to try a good old fashioned science experiment. i had recently discovered my love for avocados, and was inspired to grow my very own avocado tree (photo A). a month and a half ago or so (approximately three years later), i tried to transfer the avocado "tree" into soil, and well, it died. i am trying to revive it, but incase i fail, i am starting a new avocado tree (photo B). i also plan on doing a little more research as to when is best to transfer the plant to soil and under what conditions. my new plant's name is t.j., after tatum janel of course. i know, i know, your life ambition of having such an exquisite plant named after you has been attained. you can thank me later when my avocado tree produces an avocado.

richard henry wegner

i was in washington this past weekend to photograph my cousin's wedding. while i was there, my brother and i got to have breakfast with our grandpa. it was entertaining, as always. here are some photos of the event.

he decided that it was too loud in the restaurant, so he took his hearing aids out, but then couldn't hear us (or the waitress), so he put them back in. in case you were wondering, he stores them in his shirt pocket while they're not assisting his hearing.

he's 85, and also asked that i take a picture for his obituary. the wegner's tend to have an interestingly raw view of reality. i see now where i get it. it was a little windy on the deck, so i'm not sure how pleased he'll be with his hair blowing in the portrait, but i think it captures him alright.

on another note, my step dad ended up on the cover of this hiking magazine. they gave him three free copies, how nice of them.

tuesday

i went on a photo shoot with blake and jesiah. we wandered downtown springfield (i know, great location!) it was fun. i let blake borrow my digital camera while i used my tlr. i'm hopefully going to get the film processed soon. poor blake though doesn't know much about cameras and my camera was set on manual. so his first 30 photos were a little over exposed. i took this first one in his apartment. he took the second photo of jesiah and i after i reset the camera for him.

when cory starts school in the fall i'm going to have him check out a negative scanner at the uo art library for me so i can scan a bunch of negatives, both 35mm and 120mm. then hopefully i can do something with some of the images i have stored away in binders!

textile

i currently am working on textile based projects. i love fabric. i love making things. i'm looking forward to the challenging aspect of textiles. generally textile based art dips into the abstract realm of things... can be kinda weird. but thats ok. i feel like the challenging part is not getting too 'crafty', which is easy to do. i'm not really aiming to be crafty... but i suppose its ok if i have to fall into that category.

1. cloth napkins. not really art, but fun to make. a slow process (lots of folding and creasing)... i will post photos when they're done.

2. embroidery on canvas. done by hand. i found some bright blue canvas (a small piece of it can be seen in the second photo of this post) for a dollar at st. vincent's. i'm embroidering isaiah 40:25-36 in grey thread. it makes my fingers hurt. canvas was probably not the wisest choice on my part. but the color is just so great, it needed a purpose and i'm hoping the final outcome will make it worth it. i'm going to stretch it onto stretcher bars that are 36''x36''. of course, more photos to come later.

this is my work space. i'm moving into a new room next week and i'm excited to be able to spread out a bit. my tiny 10'x10' room is a little confining.

i decided to not forget

that i am a photographer. i am an artist. and i do not employ that part of my created self nearly enough. not that in order to make art i can only take photos, but i think i need to take more time to create.

so, here's my meager start. a reminder to myself.

until further notice

i think tatum is my soul mate.

or something like that. however that applies in best friend world. she's just really great, and i am unbelievably blessed to have her as my friend.

this is a quote from mrs. kara towne about tatum and me: "your lives are gifts that one day you will fully know was a saving grace to each of you."

this is SO TRUE, i am fully confident that tatum is a picture of GOD'S GRACE manifested in my life. we didn't pick each other, we were handed to one another, and then drug through life and growth and whatever else. friendship is something that i don't quite understand, but i have learned that it is hard to come by in its purest form, and once you've found it then well, you better not loose track of it. because you'll be left wondering why other relationships are missing that depth of love and trust.

end table!

i bought this table at saint vincent's this weekend for $32

i am attempting to make my apartment look like we like to be in it. this weekend i'm going to tacoma, and will bring a coffee table back to eugene that my grandpa made.

i sanded down most surfaces of the table, then sprayed a clear, matte spray paint on it. i wasn't sure how it would turn out compare to painting a nicer varnish, but it worked well! its nice and smooth! and definitely warms up the living room.

bring projects

i've been wanting to check out this place called Bring Recycling, its in Glenwood, which is a strange little town, I would actually call it an in-between. Basically, Bring is full of all sorts of fun, dirty, old pieces of people's houses. For example: doors, windows, hardware, moulding, sinks (lots of sinks). Sometimes you can find really great pieces to use as art/decoration/etc. on my trip out, i found a couple of fun things. a window, which has one pane of frosted glass. and some pulls for my dresser drawers! i have been looking for drawer pulls all year! but they're expensive and i never found any that were quite right. these were only $0.50 each and were so simple! (all the ones that i've found have been too decorative). of course, these finds created a couple projects for the rest of my day...

i'm not sure what i will end up doing with the window. i would like to paint the wood to make it look really clean. i'm not looking for the "shabby" look. my first inclination is to paint it yellow. but i have beat yellow into the ground, and i need to branch out. we will just see. i might go to the UO art store, because they have a wonderful spray paint color selection. i'm also thinking of using white vinyl on the glass. not sure what i will cut out though. lettering or imagery? it will probably be lettering, but that takes so long that i'll have to be really dedicated to the project to make that decision. after sanding all the wood, the window cleaned up pretty well! has good potential as a luminaire, but that would require some more construction. potential is always hopeful though.

matrimony... however holy

so... i have recently been presented the opportunity to design wedding invites for a number of gals that i know. the images above aren't quite complete. they are basically "appropriated" images. i created them in illustrator, and gave them my own twist of course. i deserve no credit in all reality. its kindof fun... but not my favorite thing.

reasons i DO like designing wedding invites, save the dates, etc:

1. creative outlet

2. people are getting married! i'm usually a fan of that.

3. i get to use illustrator & photoshop for hours on end and get mindlessly sucked into the computer (only downfall: my eyes start to sting. but i turned the brightness down on my computer)

4. there must be more reasons... hm.

reasons i DO NOT like designing wedding invites, save the dates, etc:

1. people are very picky (understandably so, i would be to)

2. people are also very vague (1 & 2 are a very bad combo) they don't communicate their pickiness until after you made what you thought they wanted. then they just send you pictures to copy instead of letting you be creative

3. i usually spend much more time than intended on any given project

4. don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining, just processing. trying to understand "people"

lamp

made with white corrugated plastic and hot glue

galatians 2:20

tatùm janel elder this post is for you. you've inspired me to blog once again, we'll see how long it lasts. this is what i made carson for valentine's day! its a little late but i think thats fine. it is vinyl stickers on plywood, i cut them out by hand (bleh, my fingers hurt), and then finished it with "gel medium". it will take a while to dry, i'm hoping it will be dry by tonight. its nice cause it filled in some of the knots of the wood. it will help to keep the letters on.

well, thats all i've got to say about that. i hope someone enjoyed this post!