Tuesday, January 31, 2012

God Works Tomorrow--and Now!

As long as I've know Jason, he's wanted to be a full-time photographer. He's one of the few photographers I know who loves to shoot weddings, and is actually very, very good at it. He's had his own business for about 2 years now, but it's always been on the side. We've known for a while that God would one day make it a full-time occupation, but it was always a dream for the future. It's so easy to believe that God can do something in the future, since it's still a mystery. But God doing something in the present, now that's hard to believe.

Anyway, God has been closing doors on us. Doors of job opportunities that we thought for sure would be wide open have been shut rather decidedly. On the other hand, opportunities seem to be opening up for the business, slowly but surely. After prayer and counsel, we've decided that it's time to do this photography business full time. We knew God would work through this business, and we believe that it's actually happening now.

However, that doesn't mean that we automatically have 50 weddings planned for this year and never have to worry about money again. The business is still developing, and it's taking a lot of time, effort, money, and, most of all, faith. We need to actually trust that God knows what He's doing (which He does). We need to believe that He will provide for us, even when it doesn't make sense. We need to have faith that God is in control, even when it doesn't look like it. It's a huge step of faith, but we know that it's the right thing to do.

So, Jason Comerford Photography is officially in business! We now have a Twitter that you can follow, https://twitter.com/#!/jason_comerford. You can also visit his website, www.jasoncomerford.com. Please pray that GOd will continue to bless this business, use it to glorify Him, and continue to grow our faith during this time.

I'll continue to update this blog with some of my adventures being a housewife and starting a business. Keep reading!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Year in Review

I know, it's been a while. But rather than apologize for the months of not writing and talk about how nobody probably reads this anyway, I'm going to give a brief (hopefully) overview of 2011 and then jump into my current life.

January
Most of you know from the last updates, but I had the privilege of being a nanny for two of my favorite little girls at the YWAM Kona missions base. The best January I ever had.

February
My boyfriend Jason surprised me with a visit in Hawaii. We were at a rough place, but he chose to show his love for me by dropping everything and meeting me there.
Also, The Melting Pot for Valentine's Day. Just sayin'.
I started my last semester of university.

March
Not much happened. I mostly agonized over writing poetry that would let me pass my capstone class.

April
Jason and I went to Leavenworth for the day. Lots of great German food and a wonderful tea shop were the highlights of this Bavarian town.

May
Jason asked me to marry him! It's a long story, but it involved a day trip to Sequim, buying an E for our Scrabble game, one of the longest sand spit in the world, and a lot of speechlessness.
I graduated from PLU! I was actually kind of sad to be done. I miss school, and I keep trying to find excuses to visit professors. Yeah, I'm a bit odd. Our commencement ceremony was actually really good, included wonderful speakers. Jason's parents flew up for my graduation.

June
I moved into the Zion Women's Ministry House to sublet for someone for the summer. I loved living with 8 other girls, some of whom were my best friends. It was the perfect place to relax for the summer.
Wedding planning started.
I started working as an independent contractor for The Scribe Source. This is a business that does writing and editing for small businesses and nonprofits. Since then I've been able to write, transcribe, and edit for a variety of projects, and I LOVE it. I was so blessed to be given work within my major so quickly.

July
My first bridal shower was a lovely tea party at the end of July at the Zion House. Dianna was gracious and let me make my own Shakespeare game. :D Jason's mom came up and helped with wedding and bridal shower planning.

August
I turned 22 and had a Lord of the Rings marathon to celebrate. We did take breaks, don't worry.
I had my second bridal shower, a fun get-together with some of the women who watched my grow up at my old church.

September
Now this is a story that most of you know and is way too long to post on here. To put it simply, I passed out at a friend's wedding and had to have emergency heart surgery. The groom's parents "just so happened" to be doctors, and I "just so happened" to be near one of the best hospitals for heart surgery in the nation. Many, many people prayed for me, from 5 continents, I believe. Jason's parents flew up to be with us, and I had friends who came to the hospital almost daily.
Friends came up to throw me a "bachelorette" party at the hospital (they joined me in wearing hospital gowns, made me a tiara, and watched Enchanted with me), much to the amusement of the nurses. The nurses offered us a stripper, but they say he'd probably be 80 and have a catheter; we declined.

October
I finally got to go home and stay home! After much drama, a doctor finally figured out that I had whooping cough, which was making it a lot harder for me to recover. It eventually went away, and my heart surgeon released me.
Jason's mom stayed with us for most of the month to help with me.
My heart surgeon, a very experienced doctor, told me that he had only operated on two other patients as sick as I was--neither of them made it.
Once I was given the clean bill of health, Jason and I decided to, well, get married. That way we could live together, and Jason could more easily handle the hospital bills. In less than a week we planned a tiny ceremony, and on October 22, 2011, we were married.

November
We couldn't just have a tiny ceremony and not celebrate with all our friends! In about 3 weeks we put together another wedding, this time as a sort of replacement for the original. So, on November 11, 2011, we were married again!
We also had our first married Thanksgiving at the Petersons' house. By the end of the day I was rather thankful I didn't need to make the whole meal.

December
Jason and I celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple. It was quiet, but we were able to have a tree and a lasagna dinner.

Okay, that's it for now. If you have any questions you can always email or FB message me, or just stalk my FB. Current updates will come soon!