We celebrated our last Christmas at our home on 8 Albatross Point in Bayville with my (Julia) parents, brother, and soon to be sister-in-law Debbie. We had a great Christmas Eve service at Bayside Chapel that my parents were able to attend. We enjoyed the special time we were able to spend together.
Tom and I had been praying for quite some time about buying our own home here in Jersey. This decision was heavily, heavily prayed about and discussed. Finally, we felt God opening the doors for us and we found our new home on Clifton Avenue. We moved in March and have settled in quite nicely. We love our new home and have already made some wonderful memories. We have a lot of landscaping work to do but over time we will turn it into our own oasis.
February brought the birth of our close friends newest baby girl, Violet. Christian and Alysia have been living in Ithaca, New York for several years and have spent the last three Thanksgivings with us, and I have spent the last three years visiting them in Ithaca each fall for a few days. Sadly, that season has come to an end. We rejoiced with them as Christian received his PhD from Cornell University and couldn't be more proud of his accomplishments! We know what it is like to have husband/father going to school while helping hold down the fort! As I type they are now settling into their new home in Utah. We will miss them so much, it hurts to think about it. However, I'm reminded that the Bible teaches us to everything there is a season. While you have these opportunities in your life, enjoy them and create memories. That's exactly what we did! Thankfully we can still text and write letters :) Yes, Alysia and I use snail mail because we love getting letters in the mail and are old fashioned that way :)
So, now we have arrived at November 2015 and I am embarking on a new season of my life. My photography skills are getting better and my hobby of 15 plus years is turning into more. I recently did a photo shoot with our children at Allaire State Park and I realized that God has given me a gift of capturing the beauty of His creations through the lens. I still have much to learn, but thankfully I have the help of a dear friend from church, who not only has mentored me with photography, but with life. We both have a 12 year old daughter and are women of faith. She makes me laugh and gives me such good advice. I'm thankful to have her and her family in our lives.
I plan to take the next year to pray about where God wants me to be with photography; hobby or something more? I also plan to educate myself more on the lens, shooting in manual more, and understanding light and shadows.
I am also staying busy with our Worship Team at church as well as choir, and attending the women events. I love being part of the women's events at Bayside. It's wonderful to see so many women come together and worship our Savior, and grow with His word.
Halloween
The rest of the photos are from my photo shoot
The kids are busy with soccer and growing so fast, it is unreal. They are healthy, and energetic so soccer is a great sport for them. Kailey has decided to not continue with soccer after the spring, so we will figure out what direction she would like to go in over the summer.
The bus will be coming down the road soon so I better scoot. Please enjoy some of the photos from my photo shoot!
Julia
