Little Noah

Today I finally had a time to sit down and write this blog post. I wanted to start bringing some of the stories of the images I have captured along my journey. I have such a blessed life to be able to join side by side with some interesting people God bring along my way. This post will be about a new born session I did for some really close friends. They asked me to do it even though I fought it at first, not being really confident about it and wanting the best for them. They insisted and I am glad they did. They are a wonderful couple in who God really brought together. They got married last May and now are parents to a such a bundle of joy.

His name is Noah Corraliza

He is quite the charmer. Quiet, loving, and completely a gift of God. I can honestly say that after waiting so long for his arrival, he surpasses all my expectations. I have seen God do such an amazing work in his parents lives I can only imagine what is to come in his life. My excitement lead me to ask my friends the obvious question: "So what is it to be a parent?"

The first to answer was my friend Ivan... His answer was something not much of a surprise but the look in his eyes showed me the honest, sober assesment he has done in his life from the birth of his child. "Knowing that I am a father has brought me so much joy. More than I can ever explain"

Ivan holding Noah (Natural light)

After some conversation with Sam, her answer blessed me more than she could probably ever imagine. "To me I can see what God means when He loves me regardless of my life. I know he [Noah] may not be perfect, but I will love him no matter what"

Sam holding Noah (natural light)

I don't think they know it but by being my friends and allowing me such closeness to their lives, they have inspired a true desire in my heart to be a good follower of Christ, a great friend, a loving husband, and an anticipating father. I thank God for this experience.

One more of the bundle of joy before I go...


You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
Psalm 119:13-16

Exit

Sometimes my thoughts will get the best of me. I can go back to many instances in my life where I actually see and hear myself sabotaging myself. I remember I have been the type of person who during a conversation, I would think ahead of the conversation just so I can manipulate the topic in a way where I knew the next statement. Like a game of chess. It was a mess.

As I am writing I can laugh at myself but that's because I exited outside my own self-destructive personality and now can humbly say I have new purpose. That need to be right at all times is gone. I realized that the desire to make a point was really fear. I had been afraid for so long that others will have some authority over me. Its not like that anymore. I find that my authority figure is a loving God who wants to see me joyful. (Psalm 37:1-6)

With that reassurance, what is your heart telling you today?

Amazing interview

Kirk Cameron Interviews Ravi Zacharias via Noolmusic.com

Up, up and away...

For the longest time I was afraid to fly. I hated the feeling of anxiety that would sweep my body to the point that my hands would sweat to drips. It was horrible. My worse fear was to sit in my chair while the plane spiraled itself all the way into the ground. The screaming of the other passengers, the panic that would fill the room, and more importantly all the things I left undone. My fear was more around the fact that I never had the chance to be married or have children. Maybe more like that argument I left behind before take off. To me life always had this feeling of incompleteness. There was always something else to do that I never finished or conversation I never had.

What I feared the most was that I would never tell my feelings to the one I truly loved. It was a miserable way to live. For the majority of my adult life I was living with that fear that I would not accomplish that desire to be content. My problem was not what I wore or the job I had, it was my heart. I filled it with way too many things that obstructed the true needs in my life to come in.

As I type this, I have experienced the most amazing two years of my life. A life filled with the same struggles and some disappointments, but this time there is hope. Hope that was never there before. It comes from my relationship with God through the person of Christ. There is more for me to learn but I want to leave you with this thought. How many times have you felt like you are drowning and not been able to find what you need to stay afloat?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30