{image from Impossible Project}

Proceeds from the purchase of these limited edition works of art goes towards creating better lives for the street children in Ghana. I love it. Yet another cool opportunity to support those in deep need. More info about the project here.

The adorable crochet flower pins make great stocking stuffers or teacher gifts or a little somethin’ somethin’ to embellish your winter wardrobe. The travel mugs and magnets are great for teachers too! The fingerless gloves are back in stock for keeping your fingers free but hands cozy. The jewelry is wonderful for that personal touch, and the blank greeting cards {photography or art} are a great gift for anyone on your list! Gift cards are also available for anyone who wants to let their recipient pick whatever they want.

Remember that 20% of all of my profits from now until December 25th will go towards raising funds for one of these Gifts of Compassion! My goal is to raise enough to funds to provide at least one small business launch for moms in a developing country. I want your gifts to keep on giving. You can click here  to read more about my heart behind this. I also have ideas in my “links” tab at the left.

I’m passionate about families, I’m passionate about my business because it was born out of a need to help provide for my own family’s basic needs, and I’m passionate about the hope that I have through the provision of God’s goodness and constant provision in my  life. How do I translate that into giving back? I have a few ideas that have crossed my path recently, maybe you want to join me?

1) Compassion International recently mailed me this awesome little “Gifts of Compassion“ catalog that really struck my heart strings. There are many many ways to help and many many needs, but what really called out to me were these specific gifts that could provide income producing opportunities to these families at risk. The gift of hope and tools for self sufficiency.

2) Fair Trade gift ideas … giving the gift of support to another man or woman being paid in fair wages a chance to better their situation in developing countries. There are many out there, but 7 Hopes United caught my eye. There are others that I’ve listed in the “links” tab at the left of my blog.

3) Gifts purchased through my own shop. While I’m working hard to bring in much needed income to make ends meet for my own family I wish I could give 100% of my profits away. What I can do is offer 20% of my profits from now through Christmas Day to go toward one or several of the income producing gifts listed in the Gifts of Compassion catalog mentioned in #1.  I’m hoping to provide a small business launch for moms or maybe even a chicken, goat, or pig! Can you partner with me? By purchasing gifts through  my shop, you will help meet the basic needs of my family as well as help a family in a developing country become self sustaining as well! An update to the shop is coming next week – watch for some fun gift giving and stocking stuffer ideas!!

Here’s a teaser … full update should be ready by Monday!

As I come across new ideas, I will continue to put resources for ways of supporting families in need in my “Links” tab at the left. I think it might just be a permanent part of my blog as, having been there, it’s something near and dear to my heart.

We had insider privileges to go inside and to the top of Soldier Field to get some arial shots of the event! Awesome. That’s Lake Michigan at the skyline.

This building is so beautiful … architecturally its an awesome mix of the old architecture and the new sleek modern insides.

During the time that I was shooting the 6000 runners and walkers, I found myself getting choked up on several occasions. I saw the names and pictures of people on their shirts whom they were running in support of. Patients were doing the walk portion with courage and dignity along with their loved ones. Many wore bibs (running tags) that said survior/patient indicating that they were in the middle of the fight of their lives. Purple shirts were worn by those who had raised money for a cure, and grey shirts said “survivor.”  Wow. It was humbling. It was humbling to be witnessing the passion and courage of these individuals. The words “Brain Tumor” has become personal to them. It didn’t happen to someone else, it happened to them. It’s personal.

This was taken in front of the Field Museum.

The fog was so cool to shoot in. Beautiful, freezing cold, early morning, fog.

This next particular leg of the route was just brutal. The wind whipped, the water from the lake sprayed, there was even someone’s poor sailboat that had gotten free of it’s tether and was banging up against the cement path … someone’s going get some very bad news about that today.

That’s the Museum of Science and Industry in the background …

It was a great morning for a great cause and a great experience. I loved it. I loved making friends. I loved taking pictures of passionate people who love and support their loved ones in the heart of Chicago. What could be better? {Besides maybe a gentle breeze and warmish temps. }

I also have a dream that is a little more realistic and attainable. I’d love to form a local networking group of photographers. I continue to bump into people coming out of the woodwork who are interested in photography. I love that. It’s one of my favorite things about being an artist – finding like-minded people! But I also get the feeling, from the many photography blogs I read, that there can be a spirit of ‘doing it alone’ among photographers. There are several reasons for that which I won’t go into – but I want to diffuse that notion. I think there is a lot we can learn from each other and I believe we miss out on a rich resource if we stay isolated and protective of our insane learning curves. Yes, photography is a lot of work and requires a lot of research and ongoing self-teaching.  But as far as photography is concerned, I think we can learn a lot from each other too.We can inspire each other, we can share what we’re learning with each other, we can share the passion with others who will understand exactly what this mad case of shutter addiction does for us! I see us enjoying the social connection and the creative inspiration of a photo walk – and then enjoying the many different artistic interpretations of the same photo walk as our group posts their findings on Facebook walls and blogs or Flickr. That is artistic license at it’s best! I see this group including all kinds of photographers, amateurs as well as professionals! All that’s required is a passion for photography, a desire to learn, and a willingness to share what you’re learning. We can do things together that we can’t do alone.

Soooo, with all that said, are there any local photographers out there interested in starting a photography networking group? We could start with an informal photo-walk and coffee. What-do-ya-think? There are a couple of friends interested on Facebook already. Will you join them? I just want it to be light hearted and fun.  I can’t wait to hear from you!

My mom sent this to me in an email which said, “The old John  Wanamaker store in Philadelphia  has a world renown organ - it is now at  Macy’s. See what happens to the  crowd when the organ starts playing this beautiful tribute to the Lord Jesus. Tis beginning to be the season for random actions of  kindness… I hope you enjoy… xoxox”