Uganda.

hey hey!

so just a quick update for y'all,

i currently have $861.00 towards my missions trip to Uganda in July, which means that i am in need of approximately $839.00 more to buy my plane ticket by the middle/end of March. it can totally happen! God has been SO faithful in providing for me. :)

thank you to the M family and Ms Kathy F. for their donations in the past week! y'all are the best. <3


so.
~156 days until UGANDA

~$1,839.00 still needed

blow away the clouds.

the sun is always there.

sometimes it gets trapped behind the clouds

and you lose sight of it for a while.

the gloom sets in.

it makes you want to give up.

but then the wind comes.

it blows the clouds away.

you feel the warmth of the sun on your face again

and know that everything will be alright.

ps. apparently i have an Instagram web profile now. you should check it out...i mean, only if you wanna keep up with my daily life and see all the things i like to take random photos of. :)

i got an email from Kris (she's also going to Uganda in July), and she met a friend of a friend who runs/works at/is somehow involved with another orphanage outside of Kampala, Uganda. this lady has been wanting to take a professional photographer to her orphanage, but hasn't had the chance. she asked if i would be willing to spend a day at her place while i'm in Uganda and photograph the children and staff (and of course, i said yes!). :)

God is orchestrating everything, and i couldn't be more excited for this trip and the opportunities it is bringing! 


a financial update:
my Christmas money, babysitting jobs, cleaning jobs, a photoshoot, my paycheck from working on the farm, and a week of housesitting comes to $716

178 days until Uganda, $2,284 left to raise.
(i need to raise about $1,000 more by March to buy my $1,700 plane ticket!)

if every one of my facebook friends donated approximately $4.64 (that's FOUR DOLLARS and SIXTY-FOUR CENTS...which is what? the equivalent of a tall cup of specialty coffee from Starbucks? c'mon, do you really NEED the coffee? bless a missionary instead! i would be eternally grateful), i would reach the goal in no time! :)

*donations can be made via paypal (photobyvalerie@gmail.com).

this hope.

"as i sink in despair, my spirit ebbing away,
YOU know how i'm feeling.
know the danger i'm in,
the traps hidden in my path.
look right, look left--
there's not a soul who cares what happens!
i'm up against it, with no exit--
bereft, left alone.
i cry out, God, call out:
'You're my last chance, my only hope for life!' "
psalm 142:3-5 (The Message)

there is this hope.
an assurance.
a faith.
in Jesus Christ.
and the blood He gave.
the willingness.
the sacrifice.
the love poured out.
the redemption.
the saving grace.

it is an anchor.
the rock that holds my shifting soul.
the faith that moves mountains.
the security i need.
it keeps me from sinking, drifting.

hope is the anchor for my soul.

legacy.

i met Ms Debbie last year.
she always had a smile on her face and always gave hugs to everyone.
she was the kind of genuine that i can only hope to be.
she got excited when talking about Jesus and what He had done for her.
she was the first person to tell you that she wasn't perfect, but redeemed.
she carried herself with dignity and lived passionately for the Lord.
the joy of the Lord was her strength.

on Christmas Eve 2012, Ms Debbie met her Savior face-to-face for the first time.
she is worshipping Jesus with the angels in Heaven now.

this past saturday, her family had a memorial service/celebration of her life.
i'm not sure how many people came, but my church (that seats like 300-ish people) was PACKED.
as people shared what she had done for them, i couldn't help but get choked up.
her big heart and welcoming arms will be missed.

while i don't understand WHY, i know it was her time.
God called her home.

i want to live by the same generosity and nonjudgemental attitude.
i want to live with open arms and a transparent heart.
i want to trust God even when it's hard.
i want the Joy of the Lord to be my strength.
just like Ms Debbie.

a is for adventure.

since i returned from my 6 month DTS adventure with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), my heart has wanted to pursue missions and photography. but for a 19-year-old missionary with no money, it's kind of hard. however, i have been learning to be content in all things and rest in God's will. maybe i'm not supposed to live overseas and be a foreign missionary permanently, but short term. but over the past 4 months, i have prayed and prayed for another opportunity to use my photography skills in foreign missions.

in October, God laid Africa on my heart. shortly afterwards, i saw a Facebook post from a friend asking if anyone was interested in getting a team together for a missions trip to Africa (Uganda). heart pounding, i immediately replied YES. she said the school/orphanage needs photos of the children to help get them sponsored/adopted. UMM, YES!

i asked for confirmation from the Lord.
in the following three days, i asked to hear "UGANDA" without any prompting from me. the next day, i got a call from a lady and we started talking about missions. she casually mentioned Uganda and i knew.

Africa is calling me and everything has sort of fallen into place over the past few weeks.

our small team will be spending two weeks (July 29th-ish through August 12th-ish) at Boanerges Deaf Initiative, (BDI is a school/orphanage for deaf children) near Kampala, Uganda. i will use my photography skills to photograph the people and places, bringing back a piece of Uganda for the people in America. i will also improve my ASL skills (which are pretty bad right now...but hey, i have about 7 months to learn), and serve wherever i am needed. i'm also hoping for our team to put together some skits and fun things for the children.

i am so so SO excited for this opportunity to serve in missions with my photography.

GUYS. i'm going to UGANDA. and i need YOUR help! :)

being that i have just returned from the missions field, other than odd jobs (babysitting, working on the farm, etc), i haven't had the opportunity to earn much money. i need about $3,000 for this. and about $2,000 (for my plane ticket) will need to be raised as soon as possible (preferably by March).

SO. do you feel called to support me?
do you:
need a babysitter? i love kids and i need to raise money for a missions trip. BAM.
need family photos? i do that too. :)
need your house cleaned? i was trained at and worked at a Bed & Breakfast for 3 years. i can clean. :)
need a room/house/fence/whatever painted? i'm pretty handy with a paintbrush.
need your flower garden weeded and your yard mowed in the summer? i'm not afraid of a little dirt. :)

whatever you need done, i am willing to do it in exchange for a donation towards my trip. however, if you are overcome with a spirit of generosity and just want to donate, i have a Paypal account (send gifts to photobyvalerie@gmail.com) and will accept donations of ANY amount! if every single one of my facebook friends donated $6.00, i would have just under the $3,000 that i need.

well, are you guys as excited as i am? maybe not, but i would love it if you could keep me and my fundraising in your prayers. i feel (very strongly) that i am supposed to go on this trip, and your prayers and support are what will make it possible!

PS. a few fundraisers are in the works, so stay tuned! i don't think you'll want to miss out on them. :D

the adventure continues...

206-ish days until Uganda (dates have not been finalized.)
$3,000 to raise.

God will provide. :)

*insert title about how amazing 2012 was here*

hello there!

so.
2012.
it's over.
ever have a moment when you stop and think for a second...and can't really believe all the things you saw and did last year? i have.

2012 was an amazing year for me.
so many of my dreams came true and so many things that i never would have dreamed about happened.

i look back on my life from January-December 2012, and i see God's faithfulness.
i saw Him give me a vision, then provide everything i needed in order to fulfill that vision.

here's a little overview of my year. (if this is boring to you, skip to the abbreviated version at the bottom.) :)

January-March 2012:
i babysat, took photos, worked on the farm, did fundraisers, and watched God provide OVER the $6,000 i needed for outreach...BEFORE i left for Hawaii in April. and i knew without a doubt that i was supposed to go on this DTS thing.

April-June 2012:
i discovered i was crazy...and that crazy was okay. :) i heard God's voice clearly for the first time. i learned what intercession and worship meant. i ate frozen yogurt for the first time. i got sunburnt (like fire-engine-red-all-over-plus-massive-blisters-on-my-back-sunburnt). i hitch-hiked (and survived!). and God put Greece on my heart. i KNEW i was supposed to be on Team Greece.

July-mid-September 2012:
i thought i was going to melt from the heat/humidity in Greece. i fell in love with the gypsy kids. i went to Thessaloniki, Athens, Northern Greece (Alexandroupoli), Ancient Corinth, Aegina island, and Ancient Philippi. i met the Petkof family (missionaries to Greece that i've been praying for over the past 5 years). i ate so much good food. and i left my heart in Greece.

mid-September-December 2012:
i went back to Hawaii for a week of debrief, and wished i could just go back to Greece. i traveled "home" to Maryland, but started wondering if i really belonged there. the week i got home, i started volunteering as staff in the Jr High class at church. i celebrated my 19th birthday at home, but wished that i was traveling again. i began to feel a calling to Africa. my photography "business" started picking up again. i spent most of my time on airline websites, pricing tickets to Greece, Paris, London, Colorado, Tennessee, California, and Africa.

it's been a good year.

i saw transformation in my life and in the lives of my friends. 

i truly am not the same person that i was last December. 

i came alive.

since September, i've struggled with being content in where God has me, but i know that in the season of recovering from/processing DTS, God has been preparing me for the next season which He hasn't revealed yet. i've had highs and lows, but throughout it all, God has given me exactly what i needed when i needed it. He truly is faithful and loving. and i have a feeling that there's something big around the corner. :)

aaaand here's the abbreviated recap of my 2012:
i worked hard and dreamed.
i had 13 flights in a six month time period (which is a big deal for a girl who hasn't really traveled much).
i went to 12 different airports.
i lived in Hawaii for three months.
i lived in Greece for (almost) three months.
i almost melted from the heat.
i call myself a world traveler now.
i made lifelong friends.
i took some pretty cool photos.
the Bible came alive when i saw Philippi, Corinth, Athens, and Thessaloniki.
i learned some Greek.
i ate awesome food.
and i saw God's hand of protection.


2012, it's been real.

2013, you have big shoes to fill.

PS. stay tuned to see what's coming up for me in 2013! :)

Aegina Island

my last day in Greece (September 10th) was spent on Αίγινα Island (in English, it's Aegina...pronounced ah/GEE/na -the G sounds like the G in Goat).

it was beautiful. 

i had my doubts before i went, but it was WELL worth the 19€ (19 euro is about 23 US dollars) round-trip ticket from Athens. :)

if you're ever in Greece, GO TO AN ISLAND. seriously. 

it doesn't even have to be Santorini (you know, the white houses with blue roofs on the hill...what everyone thinks of when they think of Greece), just go to an island! it's such a different atmosphere than the cities (Thessaloniki, Athens).

(aaaaand all the Greeks will tell you to go too, so make sure you do it!)

it took a little over an hour to get to the island (by boat).
it was a lovely ride...i slept most of the hour. :)

i was freaking in love with Aegina.

Aegina had so many bright colors.

i love bright colors, especially blue. and blue was everywhere!