{nashville}

last month i decided it was time for an adventure so i tagged along with some friends who were running the nashville rock n roll half marathon and headed west for a few days. oh the joys of the open road.  the drive from north carolina to tennessee in the spring is absolutely beautiful.  

the five days away was the perfect getaway in music city.  we took time to explore, stopped by all our favorite little nashville hotspots, explored 12 south, and just enjoyed life.  just look at how beautiful this city by the river is!

 me and my travel buddy haley george (who's photography you need to check out www.haleygeorgephotography.com) stopped by our favorite coffee shop, the frothy monkey, for a little afternoon coffee and workity work.

 and no trip to nashville is complete without a stop at jeni's ... oh my goodness, this stuff is g-double o-d GOOD!  i just had to shove my dairy intolerance aside for the moment to indulge.  worth. it.

 we even spent a little time one afternoon at the ever trendy, barista parlor, where i was able to sit and draw for a spell.  great people watching, fabulous coffee, and sweet time to just create and dream.

 and can we just talk about this lovely wine bar, rumours, in east nashville??  it was a glorious friday night where i just got to sit underneath the spring evening sky and just relax as i had an evening to myself.  this place is located in a beautiful historic home turned restaurant with an amazing back patio.  this is what spring night dreams are made of.

   and then they ran... all 13.1 miles of nashville hills. yeesh.  i posted up at frothey monkey in 12 south all morning after dropping them off and enjoyed watching the runners come through while sipping on my glorious coffee.  i think i picked the right place to be here... running in the bright, early am or a glorious spring morning with coffee... is there even an argument here??!?  once they passed and i headed towards the finish line, i decided it was a good idea to send them selfies as they ran.  for encouragement of course.  yes.  i'm that friend...

our final day was spent attending midtown fellowship in the heart of the city.  what a wonderful service it was.  what a gift to worship with the church regardless of what city i'm in.  truth is the same worldwide.

all in all the timing of this trip was sheer perfection.  after five days in this wonderful city and meeting a handful of really amazing people, my heart was full.  i'm grateful for adventures and hopefully my future will be full with many, many more!

{mission of hope haiti :: july-aug 2012 :: gimpy chickens style}

"how beautiful are the feet of 

those who bring good news"

romans 10:15

last week as we walked through haiti with dirty, dirty feet, my sweet friend micah spoke truth to us.  "when i look down at my dirty feet, i can't help but think of romans 10:15." ... and let me tell you our feet were nasty, but i loved it!  i would trade my clean feet any day for walking life in haiti, dirty feet and all!!

i spent the last week leading a small team to haiti, serving and love on the people there through mission of hope.  an organization that is literally empowering haiti to change haiti.  an organziation, following jesus christ, they exist to bring life transformation to every man, woman, and child in haiti... 

MOH has 5 resolutions in how they plan to accomplish the vision that God has given them.

1. Relational Proclamation: Intentionally modeling Christ’s love through relationships.
2. Evangelistic Saturation: Repeatedly sharing the Gospel message in targeted geographies.
3. Indigenous Mobilization: Strategically developing national leaders to carry the vision to the nation.
4. Holistic Transformation: Continuously pursuing God’s physical, mental, social and spiritual destiny for every man, woman and child.
5. Excellent Implementation: Responsibly utilizing all resources and talents to their fullest potential for God’s glory.

...and i got to experience all of that first hand for the last week and what a blessing it was to be a part of that.  we loved on kiddos in VBS, painted houses in the neighboring villages, cheered on soccer games, worshiped together in english, creole, and sign language (what a sweet glimpse of what heaven will be like!)  we lived in sweet community, camp style, eating meals and playing games with about 215 others for the week.

come saturday, not one of us wanted to leave haiti.  God is doing great things in reaching that nation and no doubt in my mind that He has a pretty stinkin' awesome plan up his sleeve in reaching His people that He loves so much. 

i didn't want to leave.

i didn't want that haitian dirt off my feet.

i wanted to stay and do life in haiti.

maybe one day i'll get the chance...

 until then here are some photos from our amazing week!

sweet friends haley and micah. what a blessing they are to me!

 hanging out in MOH 500 in leveque

  morning coffee+the word

 haiti sunrise

 what's better than loving on babies!!

  what an awesome intern, sweet tiffany, and her fabulous mama karen!

  evening on the MOH campus

 the gimpy chickens spending a day at wahoo bay!  

the 6 of us spent the whole week together. 

 what a gift from above. these girls are amazing on so many levels!!

 oh hello crazy storm.

 the GCs "bonswaaaaaa"ing with our fab intern andrew!

 orevwa haiti...

see you in november!

{aw}

{july photo a day :: instagram challenge}

we've made it half way folks!!

can you believe it?!?  

i don't know about where you are, but it is HOT here in NC.  i think that the weather is trying to welcome in july with a bang!  speaking of welcoming in july... here's july's photo a day challenge!  happy shooting and i know that erin and i have LOVED seeing all of your shots on instagram.  don't forget to tag your photos with #julyphoto366 and make sure you spread the word in social media land.  if you're new here and want to check out our original challenge and why we're doing this, click here.

{happy.shooting}

aw

{angela & matt :: engagement sneak peek}

i have rad friends.

friends who love each other and are getting married!

woop woop!

matt and i went to high school together and angela was a fabulous friend of e's (remember e? yup.  she's rad and getting married TOO!  double woop woop) and we were all so excited when their worlds collided a few years ago and we knew it was something special. it's been so fun to watch their love grow and the adventure they've been on.  i'm so excited for their big day next march and was honored when they asked me to take a few pictures for them.  matt is in the NC air national guard so it was delightful to head out to the base for a few fun shots.  more to come.  enjoy!

 {aw}

{erin & will :: engagement}

meet erin and will.  

erin has been my best friend since i was 5 so i can definitely say we've experienced a lot of life and a lot of ups and downs together.  i had the honor of shooting, not only her actual engagement at my house last december, but also this recent engagement shoot. 

it's been so fun watching erin and will fall in love over the last few years.  i remember the night i called her to see where she was... she lived with me at the time and it was late so i was just being a good best friend ;) ... and she mentioned she was casually getting a glass of wine at one of our favorite wine bars, dolce vita, with this boy from the mountain khakis' road bike team.  erin works for mountain khakis and the few had recently met through work events.  over the next few months it was obvious that their romance was building and it's been so fun to see them grow together and fall in love.  i'm so grateful for them and so excited of the future ahead for them!!  last night while finishing editing these pictures i couldn't help but get emotional (aka cry like a baby at my desk) at the happiness so apparent on both of their faces.  you guys deserve it!! so without further ado... here's the beautiful erin and her fiance will...

 can't wait to celebrate your marriage next may.  it will be here before we know it!

love you both!!

{aw}