High schoolers always intimidated me… even when I WAS in high school.  So you can imagine my extreme hesitation when I felt that God was starting to call me to serve with our student ministry at church several years ago!  I’d worked with children plenty of times and it felt safe there.  But teenagers??  They’re almost adults!  And their hormones make them crazy! (I can say that because I was one of those crazy/moody teenagers!)  What I didn’t expect was that being obedient to what God was leading me to do would challenge me, grow me, and be one of the biggest blessings in my life.

Anna came into my life when she was in 9th grade as one of those high school girls that I would start spending time with.  The most intimidating thing about that group was that they like to talk… a lot!  But to have watched them grow and mature and become young women in college has been SO beautiful!  You can imagine how hard it is for me (still) to believe that she’s a freshman in college.  COLLEGE!  Anna is a gem and she’s so beautiful inside and out.  Her heart for the Lord grows daily it seems and hearing her talk about what He’s doing in her life and how He’s using her makes my heart swell with joy.

She texted me after the new year saying she had gotten a new lens for Christmas and that she’d already been playing with it.  I’d told her a while back that if she ever got a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 that she might fall in love and never look back.  And I think if you asked her, she would say I was right :-)  We decided to hang out before she went back to school and since I was itching to get behind my lens again, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for our cameras to meet!

Isn’t she adorable??

She even braved the cold and took her jacket off.  She’s a rock star.

This is one of my favorite spots in downtown.

She said she couldn’t do a model face.  I told her she was crazy and that she just needed a little practice.

Um, Anna?  That’s a killer model face.  End of story!

Oh my heavens… this one is my absolute favorite!

And this is my second favorite little spot in downtown :-)

So beautiful!  You’re not allowed to tell me anymore that you can’t do a model face.  Deal? :-)