Departure for Haven and Some Better Pictures

I have been keeping a secret from you all. 

I am leaving. 

Tomorrow. 

For good. 

 

Well, for a good time at least. 

 

I was one of the miracle girls to get a ticket to the Haven Blogging Conference in Atlanta this weekend. And it WAS a miracle, directly from heaven. I watched on Jan 17, as the last ticket was sold right in front of me to someone else. I actually cried. I was sure I was supposed to go to that conference. 

So I did what every self respecting recently denied blogger would do. I pouted for about 6 weeks, too despairing to even put my name on the waiting list. 

And then people started giving them away in contests. By this point, I was starting to hope, and hope big. I entered every single giveaway I could find. But I never won.  So I put my name on the Haven ticket waiting list and waited.

I even forgot about it for a while. 

Then one Sunday morning, I got an email out of the blue. It was from one of the organizers asking if I was still interested in going....ummm....YES!!!!! So she put my name on a list sent out to all who had bought a ticket and were unable now to attend. I got a message the first day. I responded with lightning speed, sure I was saved. I laughed. I cried. I thought about how great God was to me. And then the woman replied. She had sold the ticket the night before... to someone else.

I cried again. But undeterred, I checked my email relentlessly for the next week. As Friday turned into Saturday, I hadn't gotten even a nibble from anyone else. So I emailed the organizer again. Fortunately, she had a few more names up her sleeve. At 5 pm, the night before the swap closed, I got my ticket to the convention that had been sold out for 6 months. 

I was going to HAVEN!!!

So tomorrow, I get on a plane and either fly to see you, or away from you. I am curious why God wants me there so much. I have this little tingle in my heart that once I come home, things will be altered, ever so slightly. But altered in a way that starts a new course. And I love the scary, exciting feeling of knowing God is taking you some where RIGHT NOW, but having no idea where that destination might be. 

If I get any great insights there,  I'll let you know when I get back.

In the meantime,

 I have found some pretty things for you. Or rather, a pretty lady who creates pretty things. Gorgeous photographs, to be more specific.

You guys remember Holly from my workshop, yes? Well it turns out she is a fantastic photographer. After seeing her camera at the workshop, a very nice DSLR, I was guessing she was pretty good. But she sent me some of her photos she took this week, and I just had to pass them on to you all. So fun to see my experience through someone else's eyes.

Here you go.

 

Don't you think I should hire her to shoot the barn sale this year? Me too. 

So look forward to some really fantastic promo pics in October. 

If you can't wait that long, because you MUST have one of the pics you see above, or because your kid is a senior this year and you need to a photo shoot to record his or her current physical glory for posterity, Holly would be tickled to talk with you. 

Simply contact her at hsmith designs. Her email is hbsmit11@yahoo.com