My Testimony...

When my sister-in-law dropped the big bomb on me and said they were moving to North Carolina I said, “No way, you can’t move to sunny, warm weather without me." So what did I do? I did what every wife would do in this situation. Beg. I begged and begged my husband to move south. I wanted to live where the sun would shine 95% of the time and the summers would be longer than 2 months. His answer, "Move, no way, I love Binghamton , NY and I am going to live and die here." Ugh! For the ones out there that know me, they know I don't give up easily. What did I do? I begged more. For the ones who know my husband they know he doesn't give up easily either. We had a few fights about it (or maybe I should say I did most of the fighting) and guess what? Fighting didn't get me any closer to sunshine and long summers. I put down my gloves and came to the realization that I was going to live and die in Binghamton, NY. My hope for sunshine and long summers had died too.

Before I go on I would like my readers to know that I do love Binghamton, NY, just not the weather. I was born and raised in the same small town just outside of Binghamton as my parents. They both came from large families so I was very blessed to have many Aunts, Uncles and cousins always near by. Life was not boring with all that family, but I really dreamed of one day living some place with plenty of sunshine and long, hot summers.

How much snow?

We just went through one of the worst winters for snowfall accumulation in years. I believe we had a total of 136 inches. Starting from October through May all you could see out the front window of my home was this huge pile of dirty snow that had been plowed into my yard to clear my driveway. It quickly went from a pile of snow, to a huge pile of snow to a mountain of snow. Trust me snow filled with salt and cinders is not a pretty sight to behold.

Little League and snowsuits in June, is that possible?

Now imagine this... it's the middle of June and we are at my son's Little League game. My husband and I are wearing our winter coats, hats and gloves wrapped up in a blanket trying to keep warm and our daughter is running around in her little purple snowsuit. If you are a reader from up north I know you can relate to what I am saying. It turned out to be quite a special day in spite of the cold. Matter of fact I will never forget it. My husband turned to me and said, “When are we moving?" I said, "What!" He said, "This is crazy, it is the middle of June, we are wrapped in blankets still wearing out winter coats and our daughter is running around in her snowsuit.” He didn’t have to say another word the very next day I started packing. I was not taking any chances that he might change his mind. We moved at the end of July (before my brother) with two kids and no jobs. A bit risky, but I had faith.

After six months of apartment living in Charlotte we purchased our first home in a little town just south of Charlotte . By March 1994 we were settled in our new home and adjusting to southern living. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to adjust, but southern living and northern living is two different worlds. Binghamton, NY is about three hours from NYC; our pace may not be as fast as NYC, but it is no where near the laid back pace of the south. Up north Italian and Greek restaurants are plentiful as-well-as pizza parlors and we do have our BBQ and fried chicken, but it is not the same as the south. I was never a BBQ or cold tea lover, but the south has finally converted me.

Why did everybody ask, "What church do you go too?"

Isn't that a personal question?

I had never heard of the Bible belt before moving to Charlotte , so that would give you a good indication that I did not attend church much. There is a church on just about every corner in and around Charlotte so it is very normal for people to ask the question, "What church do you go too?" I thought it to be a bit odd to ask such a personal question to someone you had just met. My reply, “Church, ah, we don’t really go to church other than Christmas Eve, Easter and weddings.” Little did I know it wouldn’t be long before I would be asking, “So, what church do you go too?”

Time to go to church it’s Christmas Eve.

It is Christmas Eve and as usual we decided to make our Christmas Eve church appearance. But with so many churches to choose from where does one go? Just so happened that there was a church directly across the road from our housing development entrance, their sign read, “Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - Come Join Us”. How convenient, not even a quarter of a mile from our home. So with no more hesitation that is where we went and we loved the church the moment we walked in.

What was it about that church?

It was the overwhelming feeling of love and joy that permeated through the church, the pastor, his wife and the congregation. It made you hunger for more and more of what they had. It was so overpowering an entire army could not have kept me from going back; but an occasional ice hockey game did.

Our son played ice hockey and many of his games were on Sunday mornings. When he had a late game or no game our family made it a point to attend that church. The pastor and his wife, Dwight and Linn Saunders were always so glad to see us. They made us feel so welcome and special. The part that always sticks in my mind about them was something Linn had said to me on Christmas Eve. We had younger children and I was so nervous they might act up and disturb the service. Linn smiled at me and said, "Oh, don't worry about that. We love kids. We have 5 of our own." That smile and her words put me right at ease. We also learned they had moved from Buffalo , NY about year before we had moved just to pastor that church. Since we were both from the north we had a lot in common and we bonded with them instantly.

I thought pastors only visited you when you were sick or in the hospital?

February 1995 we received a phone call from Pastor Dwight. He asked if it would be ok if he came to visit us that evening. We had no plans and welcomed his visit. (I thought pastors only made visits when you were sick or in the hospital, apparently not.)

After getting to know our pastor a little more and him getting to know us a little more – he popped the big question? If we were to die at that moment did we know for sure that we would go to heaven? If so, how did we know? Now that was a couple of heavy questions. By the end of that evening my husband and I bowed our heads and gave our lives to Christ. Now without a doubt we knew if we were to die right that minute, we would be meeting our Maker in heaven.

We were new creations.

First advice from Pastor Dwight was to go to the local Christian book store and purchase a Bible. We had never been in a Christian book store. Wow! We did not know the Bible was available in so many versions or that the store would be filled with so many beautiful items. Scripture was everywhere. I was particulary drawn to the beautiful pictures for sale, but not to the price tag attached to the picture. I'm thinking, "How many people can actually purchase one of these pictures for their home? I know I can't." I found myself going to the Christian book store every chance I could just to look at all the pretty pictures.

Thanks to Pastor Dwight and Linn.

I can honestly say if it were not for Pastor Dwight and Linn, their love for Jesus and desire to save soul's and change people's lives by allowing the holy spirit to work in them I might not be married today.

We were struggling in our marriage and needed a miracle. Jesus along with Pastor Dwight and Linn were our miracle. Jesus didn't automatically fix it, but with Him in our lives and in our hearts, we had someone to lean on and trust in.

Without Jesus it is very easy to walk away. I love the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul and I believe the Bible is the true inspired word of God; which means that He will always be the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb. 13:8). He will never change and He doesn't lie. We love because He first loved us. The Bible is full of promises and therefore impossible for me to walk away from my marriage.

Back to those pictures.

I was a frequent visitor to this particular Christian book store and always drawn to the beautiful pictures. I would walk around the store and read each one and wish that I could have one or two for my home; but again the hefty price tag attached to the picture made it impossible for me to purchase. Maybe I shouldn't use the word impossible, but for me I couldn't justify spending that kind of money for one picture. Besides I had two young children, one very active in sports and we all know the costs involved in sports. Purchasing a scripture picture for my wall would just have to wait.

Have you ever just wanted something so bad and you just did not want to wait? You wanted it yesterday? I have been guilty many times for making rash decisions, but this time I did something different. Every time I walked in the Christian book store instead of wishing I could have one of those pictures, or worse yet purchasing one with money I didn't have, I began to pray. Every visit to the Christian book store (and there were many) I would pray and ask God to show me how to take the creativity He had blessed me with, plus His Word, and show me how to make pictures that would be affordable to everyone.

Yes, God blessed me with a creative mind, but that was the problem the creativity stayed mostly in my mind. Although I have the ability to draw a little, paint a little, sew a little and create things, I am not very proficient in any particular area other than making messes. That I am very good at. So how the Lord was going to actually answer my prayer was a complete mystery to me. I just knew that my desire was to make some kind of picture with scripture that would be affordable to everyone.

Point and shoot.

If you were to ask me, "What shutter speed did you use to take that photo or what was your aperture setting, film speed or lighting conditions?" Honestly, I would not be able to give you that answer. Your next question might be, "Why not?" My answer, "It's all because of an 11 year prayer."

My photography skills are probably like the average person. Point and shoot. Take your film to be developed and cross your fingers that you captured a few good shots of that birthday, Christmas or other special occasion.

The world of scrap booking.

I do not know when the world of scrap booking was introduced, but after attending my first scrap booking party some years ago I was hooked. This was a way for me to be creative. So I started taking more and more pictures of my children and events so that I could scrap book all their special moments. My husband kept telling me I needed to look into getting a digital camera, but I had no interest. I was doing fine with my 35mm automatic camera besides I knew we could not afford a good digital camera at the time. I knew my 35mm film camera took nice photos and I did not want to purchase a cheap digital camera and not have the same quality photos as my film camera. If I was going to get a digital camera I wanted to wait until we could afford a nice one. My husband kept insisting and I kept saying no.

We can say no all we want, but if it is the Lord's will it will happen.

When we moved to North Carolina, it wasn't long before my father-in-law moved to be closer to us. He was truly a unique one-of-a-kind man who loved new gadgets. It could be anything cookware, tools, computers etc. if it caught his eye on TV and was of interest to him he would buy it. One day he came to our home all smiles - he had been to one of the electronic stores and purchased a Casio QV-3000EX digital camera. At the time he purchased the digital camera it was one of the nicer ones out on the market and came with a hefty price tag of $1000. Talk about a kid in the candy store. He was always taking pictures and little 30 second movies with the camera. Again my husband was bugging me about purchasing a digital camera and that we could find a nice one that was not so expensive. Again my answer was no.

We all know that our timing is not the Lord's timing and in the case of my father-in-law and much to our surprise he left us to be with Jesus in April 2001 at the age of 58. The word shocking doesn't even begin to describe what we felt when we received the news that he had had a massive heart attack at his work. No one wants to experience the death of a loved one, but I am so ever grateful that he did not suffer.

Being the unique man that he was - he thought he would live forever so the thought of a will never crossed his mind. With five children, no will and 58 years of stuff well, you can just imagine. About two or three years passed before many of my father-in-laws affairs were settled. With no will and many gadgets it was decided that the siblings would put all the items in a hat and then list their names and draw from the hat. I'm sure you can see where this is leading... my husband returned from the lawyers and presented me with the Casio digital camera. It wasn't just any digital camera it was a blessing from the Lord and my father-in-law. What a special gift.

My years of prayer and the desire of my heart were answered.

Who would have thought that a digital camera would become the answer to years of prayer and lead to the desire of my heart. I now had a nice digital camera and a chance to see if this digital would be better than my film camera.

The joy of taking pictures with that digital camera did not happen overnight. I do not have the type of personality that likes to read directions, I just want someone to show me so I can be on my merry little way. Trying to work and understand that camera just plain frustrated me and the direction booklet frustrated me even more. Not willing to give up I pushed and turned all the buttons determined to figure it out. I soon discovered my husband knew what he was talking about. Digital was the key for me, instant gratification. No waiting. (Why had I been so stubborn, what was I thinking?) Ladies why do we not listen to our husbands more?

The first time I downloaded the photos onto my computer and looking at what I took, the Lord started giving me Bible verses for each photo. Then it hit me! My prayer had been answered.

I love flowers.

Flowers became my object of obsession to start with. My neighbor Rhonda had the most incredible flower garden in her back yard (I say had because she moved September 2006). I didn't know her at the time, but decided to ask her if I could practice using my digital camera on her flowers. She was so gracious and told me I could come over any time I wanted to take pictures. I seriously took her up on that offer. Over the past four years I have spent many wonderful hours in Rhonda's back yard and have captured many beautiful flowers, butterflies, spiders, geckos, rabbits and birds; but what I cherish the most was the blessing of a new friend. Rhonda was a pure joy to be around and I will miss her listening ear, kind heart and gentle spirit. Thank you Lord, for blessing me with Rhonda.

About Beauty for Ashes and my photos.

Until 2006 my customers consisted of friends, family, co-workers and the power of word-of-mouth. Now, I am so blessed to say, with much prayer, a lot of patience, God's direction and a very specific prayer answered; I am open for business anytime, anywhere to anyone.

Since the day I was saved my heart has been for evangelism. I am truly grateful for the gift God has given me through photography.  I can't think of a better way for me to evangelize His Word to the world. If I can't physically be on a mission trip I can still evangelize through my photography. God knows my desire would be to evangelize all over the world if it were possible.

Very seldom do I use a program to manipulate my photos; if so it is just for the fun of it. I am the type of photographer that points and shoots. If I get a good shot, great! If I don't there is always next time. To sit and try to figure out all of the menus and colors and layers is time wasted that I could be out taking another photo. So what you see is what I caught with either my Casio QV-3000EX or my Nikon D50 digital camera. I do type scripture on my photos and occasionally try to transform an already blurry photo that I love into something I think others might enjoy as well. That is as fancy as I get.

Most of my photos have been taken around my own neighborhood (just south of Charlotte, NC), in surrounding towns or in the Chapel Hill area, where the rest of my family resides. If I say, "STOP!" While in the car, whoever is driving better pull off the road. We have turned around more than once so I could take a picture.

Every photo is signed, has a luster finish and come either matted with a Bible verse or the print with Bible verse on it. At your request, photos that are not matted can be matted for an additional charge, email request to: info@beautyforashesphoto.com