In His Wakes Ministries

In His Wakes is a unique, exciting and impacting non-profit ministry that uses water sports to share the love of Christ in a most powerful and interactive way. In His Wakes is fueled by three passions ... people, water sports and Jesus Christ. If you share any of these passions, you are sure to be blessed by this ministry! (Copied from the In His Wakes website.)

The mission of In His Wakes is to introduce people to the life changing power of Jesus Christ through the avenue of water sports. A Day to Remember provides an opportunity of a lifetime for predominately at-risk youth by giving them an unforgettable day on the water. This is just one small way In His Wakes reaches out to impact today's youth.

Their motto? Victory comes when you get off the dock! Get off the dock to experience His victory, His hope, and His purpose.

I was invited to attend In His Wakes' annual fundraiser/banquet/auction a couple days ago. They were having a silent auction, a live auction, a banquet, and some inspirational speakers.

The tables were decorated to represent various locations around the world. Each table was unique and lovely.



A lot of thought and work went into these tables. They were beautiful!


As people arrived, they were able to peruse the silent auction items and begin placing bids.

Items were donated by locals businesses, and individuals wanting to do something to help raise money for the IHW Ministries.

Many, many items were donated. Gift baskets, dremel tools, ski equipment, photography packages, Disney World and Sea World tickets, restaurant packages, vacation deals, and much, much more.

In His Wakes was founded by Slalom World Record Holder Kristi Overton Johnson, who holds over 80 professional water ski titles.



Special memories in the making.

Founder Kristi Overton Johnson welcomed everyone and . . .

. . . her husband Tim prayed a blessing over the banquet.

The meal was catered by Blue Water Bay, and it was excellent!

This is a shot of Kristi's dad. (Her mom was in the picture just above - the first lady in the serving line with the dark jacket on.)


After we ate, the Day to Remember Coordinator Nate Miller opened the program by telling us a bit about his duties and the Day to Remember program.

We were blessed to have four participants of the program attend the banquet. They were each given an opportunity to tell us what their time in the program meant to them.

If you visit the website, you will see this young man having the time of his life in the water!

Then we moved on to the live auction. Cookies, pie, birdhouses, squirrel feeders, Disney tickets, an awesome painting, and a Myrtle Beach vacation were auctioned.

It was a great night for everyone there! Great food, great fellowship, a good time of learning, and being able to actually do something to help further the ministry. Thanks for asking me to come along and document the night! I really enjoyed the silent auction where I bought an Italian Cream Cake (delicious doesn't even begin to describe it!), a day with a local photographer, and two annual passes to Sea World!

If you would like more information about In His Wakes Ministries, please visit them at www.inhiswakes.com. If you would like to know how you can support their ministry, please visit their Partners page on the site for more information.

Tornadoes and Storms

It seems that storms are all the rage now. Literally. All up and down the coast, and across the country, I keep hearing that storms and tornadoes are doing damage, causing injuries and deaths. About a week ago, we had a bad storm of our own. Tornadoes touched down within about a mile of our house. Our area was fortunate, we had some damage to homes, mostly caused by downed trees, and a lot of tree damage and fields torn up. No deaths that I heard about. Like I said we were more fortunate than many others across the country.

Mark and I drove out to check on the horses and donkeys. The first thing we saw were some seriously dirty horses!

The front field was covered in standing water and mud . . .

. . . and I think all three horses must have been rolling around in it. Filthy!

This was the next thing we noticed. No. Not the chickens. (They belong to the neighbors, but live in our field with our animals. They are always there.) We noticed the hay ring - the top half had been mangled up, stanchions were twisted, and the whole thing was basically coming apart. We ended up breaking the top half off the rest of the way so the horses wouldn't get hurt on it.

I mentioned chickens. They live with our animals and eat the feed they drop on the ground. But that doesn't mean that Gus has to like them. Notice the way Gus has his ears penned back. He is not happy.

But seriously. What's not to like about this beautiful little guy? Gus just doesn't want to share his food! Hahaha! Maybe with all the rain from the storm our grass will start growing again.

One Great Wedding Shot

So. I am in the middle of editing literally hundreds of photos. Kali and I shot a friend's wedding recently and those are the shots I'm working on right now. I just had to stop and post this one picture that Kali got. When we do a wedding, she focuses on detail work like shoes, rings, dresses, and decorations, while I work with the bride and the wedding party. I love this photo Kali got of Tara and Keith's rings! I love everything about it! The tight focus on the rings and some of the beads, and the fading out/blurring of everything else. The colors and bokeh are perfect - way to go, Kali! Lots more to come soon!