2008 in Retrospect

So I realize it's now a couple days after the new year, but I just came back from a wonderful family vacation to Breckenridge Colorado! We did some serious boarding and skiing and had a very relaxing time bringing in the new year at 11,000 ft. 

This past year has been one full of change...for those of you who received my Christmas card, you read a little about, and for those who haven't...here's just a little taste:

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

My goodness 2008 has flown by and I feel like so much has changed! Normally I don't write an "update" letter during the holidays,  but I feel like a horrible friend for not keeping more of you updated with all of life's happenings. So here's my attempt at catching you up and I hope you all will forgive me for not keeping better correspondence these past 6 months.

I'm currently sitting in my pajamas at the dining room table with a cup of homemade mocha and my computer, listening to the steady sound of rain pattering outside and the Weepies singing sweetly in the background. Christmas decorations garnish the house and the living room smells slightly of pine and cranberry candles....Christmas is upon us...and probably already passed by the time you get this letter. December has been a month of reflection and uncomfortable nostalgia for last Christmas when I spent the holidays with the Boettinger family in Ulm, Germany. I think it's ridiculous how every time I hear the song "I'll be home for Christmas" I immediately get homesick...because I'm home this year....my family's near. In over-thinking this curious homesick feeling I've come to the conclusion that home is not a place for me...home is in people. Let me explain...

The beginning of 2008 was brought in at the top of a hill in a pasture...in the smallest town in East Germany called Herrnhut. I found myself a Californi-American popsicle standing with a bouncy Texan, and an artsy Chinese guy from Hong Kong listening to all of Herrnhut and the neighboring "Willages" (Germans pronounce "V" as a "W"...haha) explode with fireworks and cheers laced with German phrases we didn't understand but repeated to blend in anyways. From there, I traveled through the south of Germany to Frankfurt where a team of 9 others and I left on a plane to Thailand...stopping in Sri Lanka for a layover. I feel like I was catapulted through January, February, and March because so much happened. In Thailand we went from Bangkok to the north in Chiang Mai, and spent 7 weeks there helping out City Gate Church and traveling through some of the Hills tribes in the jungles, then traveled to Pattaya in the south and worked with prostitutes for two weeks before heading to Ko Samet (probably the most beautiful Island I've ever been to in my whole life) for a week...then back to Germany. Whew! Needless to say...I slept 14 hours a night for a week after that whole adventure. It completely blows my mind thinking back on all the places I went and all the crazy things I experienced in three months...and it's one of those things that point directly at the presence of God in my life...because I know for sure I would have never done any of it without Him taking me. The craziest thing is how my home became people from every continent (except Antarctica...although I wouldn't mind being friends with a penguin :) ). So this year...I'm feeling a bit homesick for international buddies who are in crazy places like Texas, North Carolina, Washington State, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Africa, and Canada. But my year didn't stop there...in fact, it only started the snowball rolling, gathering dreams and plans and excitement on the way.

I got home in the beginning of April and spent some much needed time with family and friends. But all the while, I was praying about what to do next...go back to Whitworth? Work at the pool again? What about photography? And all I heard on God's end was "wait." Naturally that went over well with my overachieving and obsessive compulsively planning self..."wait"....for what exactly? Well, I waited from April till the end of May. And in that period of waiting, a new development in the romance department sprung out of nowhere. Christopher and I actually JUST met for coffee because he wanted to hear about my YWAM experience before he took off in June for his two year long excursion to Venezuela and Honduras....and we ended up talking for 7 hours. (Wonderful God....way to just show up out of nowhere.) We spent all of April and May JUST hanging out... and being freaked out that it felt like God had put us in each other's lives for specific reasons....reasons we didn't understand or care to understand because we both had PLANS. Then we gave in. And we kept giving in because...well...we had both separately made pacts to make room for Jesus in our lives...and the room that we had both made seemed to be the perfect size and shape for each other. What the HECK God?! So we threw our plans out the window, and, as scared as we were, we started taking steps down the same path...together...and it's been crazy as God has opened our eyes periodically to the "reasons" He put us together...a beautiful thing to witness together. It's been 7 months now and we both agree that we have a bone to pick with God when we get to Heaven for stomping on our plans.... But...Christopher has probably been the most awakening thing that's happened to me since coffee...I hope you all get to meet him someday.

That period of "waiting" also brought about the decision to work as a barista (since it's on my "things to do before I die" list) at It's a Grind Coffeehouse in Irvine. It was a bit of a tough decision since they don't pay incredible amounts of money, but it's been a good one. I've been working there since the middle of June and my work schedule has allowed me time to develop my BUSINESS!!! That's right...I am the proud owner of my own Wedding and Portrait photography business. I'm still currently building it and taking care of the business aspects like taxes and licenses and such, but I'm on my way. Working at It's a Grind has also allowed me time to take two classes at the local junior college, and time to build my website. So although paychecks are kind of anti-climactic... it's allowed me very valuable time to develop other parts of life.

And finally...the biggest development of 2008....starting my photography business. For those of you who knew me pre-YWAM, I was a biology major at Whitworth University and I was on my way to studying medicine and possibly becoming the world's greatest surgeon...just kidding. But seriously...I had been planning on going to medical school since the first year I was in college, I had my EMT certification, I was going to work in the health center at Whitworth as a nurse's aid and I was preparing to take Organic Chemistry and Genetics and Physics. Even though science still fascinates me, I've found something in photography that makes me feel alive and used. Even more than I've loved science, I've loved weddings longer and more passionately. My best friends and Christopher can back me up when I say I'm obsessed with weddings and love... "Barnes and Noble" means Wedding magazines! So...in the waiting period of April and May, God continued to speak to my heart about weddings and how they should be connected to photography. I was terrified and fought it because I always thought being a wedding photographer was out of the question. I didn't want to step out into a field I knew nothing about because...well...there are a million wedding photographers in Orange County alone...and I knew absolutely nothing about it...except that I loved it. And, sure enough...God held fast to His habit of giving me a little kick in the pants and I stepped off the boat into the storm with only the faith that He'd provide almost $8000 in equipment and programs, and clients, and that He'd give me the talent and experience I needed. Sure enough, the beginning of July I connected with a wedding planner who was in need of a photographer for two weddings later in the summer and she hired me. In the same summer, my dad decided to buy the new Nikon D300 and some lenses for himself and for me to use in addition to my own camera. So I found myself at my first wedding with two great cameras, more than enough lenses, memory cards, an external hard drive, and a web domain name with my name on it. (www.katenoelle.com) It was fascinating to see the gigs multiply exponentially as the months went on and totally humbling because I knew it was God. It couldn't have been anything or  anyone else's doing...and with Him giving me everything I needed, I was defying the impossible. At the end of August, I found myself with a brand spankin' new computer in a photoshop class. And in the middle of September, I found myself with two new powerhouse editing programs....the best of the best.....Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 2 (although CS4 came out a month later). Also, I acquired membership to a website designing and hosting program and I've been designing my site slowly since then. All I can say looking back is Holy Guacamole God is GOOD! I prayed and prayed " God, if this is you pushing me to start my wedding photography business, you're going to have to provide all I need to do it to the best of my ability. So I'm trusting you to come through." And He has and continues to! Here's a a quick look at his multiplication:

From May to December 08, He's provided one stealth shoot (proposal), three portrait sessions, one event shoot, five engagement shoots, and four wedding shoots. And He's begun to provide for next year as well with an engagement session and four weddings already in the books. I even get to fly to North Carolina for one of them! God is GOOD!

So, this is the brief version of life recently....HA! Again, I apologize for not keeping up correspondence the past couple months, but I hope this letter finds you all just as busy and just as excited about God moving through you. Even though I just gave you a lot of information about all the exciting things that have been happening, the good has been outweighed sometimes with HARD things. My first wedding was a nightmare that almost caused me to give it up and hide forever. There has been more heartache and more difficulties than I would care to think about but it's just made everything else much sweeter. Like salt is bitter and...salty...on it's own...so are some things we go through. But salt added to good food....makes it that much better in the end. 

So friends and family, keep trekking through the salty times (especially with so many of us dealing with economic issues) and find those people in your life that can help you find the good parts of life and share them with you. Those friends are the ones you just might find yourself homesick for during the holidays...but it's a good kind of homesick...it will end one day when we'll all be together in our new house with the BEST of friends there to share it with us...THANK YOU JESUS!

Peace for now,

Kate

And now that I'm embarking on a new leg of my journey in 2009, I wanted to share a little taste of my year last year...the places I went, the people I saw, the new friends I made, and the shoots I enjoyed best. Thank you for being a part of my life this past year, blog readers, and I hope to continue another amazing year in blog world with you by my side! 

So without further Adieu...