The Mills Family

We had a beautiful evening for these family pictures! Although a little chilly, it was still beautiful. We had lots of fun between "jumping" pictures, "coo-coo" pictures,  "playground" pictures, and much more!

A day on the farm! Ashlea [Senior]

Ashlea is graduating this year! She asked me to come out to her families farm and take some senior pictures for her. It was such a lovely day! Here are a few the pictures.

p.s. I love barns. Oh, and cows!

Kati [senior]

We had such a beautiful evening last night to take Kati's senior pictures! It was simply gorgeous. Here are a few of Kati's pictures!

One nice evening..

This is my little sister Sarah. She's pretty cute. huh? I make her pose for the camera quite often.

This is my other little sister. Well, not really, but I'll claim her. :) She is very beautiful as well.

Here are a few pictures I randomly snapped a couple of weeks ago. Who else thinks water is REALLY cool? Just think about it.

Ha Ha Tonka State Park

My family went on a trip to Ha Ha Tonka State park at the end of this summer. It was BEAUTIFUL! 

Here is the old water tower.

Here are some of the old castle ruins.

This is the natural spring at the park. 

This is the "Natural Bridge."

I took these three pictures one day last winter. One of those days when there is a gorgeous blanket of snow on the ground and the sun is bright making it sparkle and shine. 

More Pictures. Less talk.

Hey! Its been a while.. I know. 


So, I'm going to turn this into more of just a photo blog. More pictures. Less talk. How does that sound? Here is my first go at it. These pictures are from a photo shoot for a family in my church. These boys are darling. :)

2010

Hey all! (If anyone reads this..)
It's been so long since I've written.. It's crazy!
A lot has been happening.. I'll list a few things..

• I'm graduating this year! May 8th 2010 to be exact.
• The camp dorm burnt down Dec. 10th 2009.
• I received 3rd place in a photography contest in the fall!
• I turned 18 and am now officially an "adult!."
• I gave up pop for this year.
• I'm teaching myself to play guitar and have fallen in love with it!
• I went to the ER for the first time in my life at the End of October.
• I spoke in front of everyone at church about seeing a need for HUGE spiritual growth in the youth. Asking for prayer. (And balled my eyes out...)
• I started monthly youth events at my church.
• I am applying for my first job! (I was actually going to take my application today and meet the boss but I'm currently snowed in..)
• I've turned into a human pin cushion because of having so many blood test to try and figure out why I'm always tired and sore.

Anyway.. That's all I can think of for now.
Hopefully I'll write again soon.
Faith Williams

In Literature last week I had to read Henry David Thoreau's essay "Life Without Principle." I got SO frustrated with it because it was just a bunch of words all jumbled together that just kept going on and on and on and on and on and on... Yes, every once in a while I would get something out of it, but for the most part I thought it was pointless. I even told mom one day "This is so dumb. Its just a guy complaining about people being selfish and not doing anything worthwhile."

DUH! That was EXACTLY his point! And it is so true. But I didn't realize any of that until after I read the analysis.

After about a page and i half of the analysis, the words "want fewer things" popped out at me. Pretty much bit me on the nose..
Thoreau's philosophy is that people should labor not for money but for the love of what they're doing. He argues, "There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living." Most people do just exactly that. Their lives revolve around their jobs. Making money. Yes, work is necessary to buy and pay for the things we all depend on to live. But the word "need" has become GREATLY confused with the word "want." Thoreau's simple solution? "want fewer things."Well that's easy. we are so consumed with the things we think that we absolutely HAVE to get, that we really don't need at all, that our time and thought is completely caught up in it. Wasted. Most of our wants are pointless things that won't last long, not even to mention last for eternity. So why even bother? We are wasting our precious little time we have here on this earth trying to earn money for these things we don't even need.

"If you don't want much, then you don't have to waste your time working to buy it."

Yes, I know that work is necessary. Just not quite so much of it. Like the father who works all day everyday so he can pay for cable TV, new toys, movies, video games, that new car, the coolest house, the best clothes.. Or the teenager that works on Sundays so they can get some extra money for those new shoes or go to that concert or get that latest movie or game.
Tell me, in the end, would spending that time with those kids daddy, or those new toys benefit them more?
Thoreau admits that without working a lot you WILL have less, but he values his time more than his paycheck.

The 2nd thing that stood out to me:
Wasting time with media and games... things that are supposed to be an occasional treat. But instead have become an everyday occurrence.

And that goes right along with the 3rd thing that stuck out to me!
"Read not the Times. Read the Eternities." In other words, don't focus our attention on what seems so important today, at the moment. The stuff that we'll forget about in a few weeks, or days.. or hours! We need to focus our attention on things that will really matter for a very long time. Like say... oh... our LIFETIME?! or how about... try... ETERNITY! Good healthy Relationships, people in need, furthering the kingdom of heaven, taking care of ourselves and our world.

4th point:
Lots of that precious time I'm talking about that we waste, is wasted on other peoples problems, their business. Something that has nothing to do with us! WHY? I don't know... but we all do. We just HAVE to get involved..

Just some things that made me think. And I know that some of these things don't apply to all of us. But most of them do.

And I don't agree with everything Thoreau said. But He's on the right track.

Faith