A Recap of 2010 and New Look on 2011!

What a stressful year it has been already. I'm rather ashamed to say that my first blog post of 2011 is not until January 8, 2011. It's been tough for me, trying to take pictures and enjoy photography as much as I used to. From a photography class both freshman and sophomore year that turned photography into an assignment, to the stress that junior year of IB has brought on, let's just say I haven't been as fervent about photography as I used to.

It occurred to me that my "fun" life is relatively over for the nest 6-10 years of my life. I realized that I now have to grow up and "evolve" from a boy, to a man of God. SATs, ACTs, Informal Assessments for IB, etc. etc. etc... It's time for me to be responsible. As I realized that I'm at that point where I have to start sacrificing fun for the things necessary, I find myself in this bitter place, yet a place where I am slowly learning to lean on Christ for the strength and responsibility necessary. God has been faithful throughout the past 16 years of my life and I know that as I grow older, He will continue to do so; I just hope I can do the same.

Many times already have I been asked, "What are your New Year's resolutions?"

I cannot honestly answer that question because truth be told, I didn't exactly come into the new year with new expectations and a chance to "start over." As I look at it now though, here are, I do not want to say "resolutions," but things I'm hoping to work at throughout 2011.

1. Love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I know this year is going to be tough and I know at times I will get mad with God, but the important thing that God is calling me to do, is to become a man of God and NOT complain, and to trust in His plan for me. I need to learn how to listen and be obedient to what God has already said and planned out for me.
2. Become a man to my parents, my family, and my friends. At the age of 16, I'm slowly becoming more and more responsible. It is important that I learn to treat my family and friends with the love and respect that a man of God does.
3. Set my priorities straight. From school work, church, to basketball, it is important for me to learn how to set my priorities and when to say "no" to fun in order to fulfill my calling as a student.
4. Love photography again. Apparently, I have a talent, but so many times, I find myself taking pictures because I have to or because someone has asked me to. It's time for me to find the fun in it again, and to take pictures FOR FUN!
5. Love my friends. I find myself, so many times, trying to be the cool one or the funny one yet I fail to build deep relationships with my friends. I feel like I have very superficial, surface-leveled relationships. One of my goals this year is to make TRUE friends and show them that I'm not this obnoxious, loud, guy who wants to be liked by everyone, but the guy who is willing to be tortured and ridiculed, yet has a deep, long-lasting relationship with some people who he can REALLY call friends.

So more or less, those are my "New Year's Resolutions." I am almost positive that I am forgetting many of them, but for now, those are the five that I can think of.

I'm extremely sad to say that this is my first post since November of 2010, so below, expect many photos, and maybe even some videos. Enjoy!

From December 19-25, my uncle, cousin, and my grandparents came to spend the holidays. As my cousin was in town, me, my uncle, my cousin, and my sisters went to Downtown Disney to take pictures along with pictures back at home. For those of you who have been following me for quite some time, you know my cousin is my little model. Enjoy the following!

I have yet to perfect silhouettes.... haha

Every Christmas, our church always has a Christmas service. After the worship/sermon portion, we had a time of presentations where three of our congregations, Kingdom Keepers, Harvest, and Vision Church, all prepare some sort of presentation, along with other groups such as our church hip-hop team, jazz band, etc. Enjoy the pictures!

Following Christmas, from December 27-30, our youth ministry had our 2010 Harvest Youth Winter Retreat. We were blessed to have such an amazing speaker Pastor Sam Kim and guest praise team leader Kyle Lake. Retreats are always such an amazing time of blessings and a time for intimacy with God. Praise God for His abundant blessings. Following the pictures is a short slideshow to re-cap all four days.

Every year, our church has a service from 10.30PM Dec. 31-1.00AM Jan. 1. One of the first things we do is watch an end-of-the-year video produced by our church's Inservio team. This year, I was in charge of creating the end-of-the-year video from Harvest, which would be combined with the end-of-the-year video from our Vision Church Congregation. All I can say is, wow, how amazing is iPhoto and iMovie. While I still wish I could do multiple things with Final Cut Pro, iPhoto and iMovie has made it REALLY easy to make and publish amazing videos. The ORIGINAL, original was actually 37 minutes long, but due to time restraints, I had to cut it down to under 10 minutes. Enjoy!

The only problem that I have with iPhoto is that it tends to cut off pictures. 

THAT would explain why many heads were cut off in many of the photos.

As I look back at 2010, it had its high moments, but it also had its low moments. Honestly speaking, I can admit that 2010 was not a good year for me. I look back and I don't remember any significantly bad moments, but I look back and I don't find any moments that make me extremely happy either. I don't say that to explain how bad of a year 2010 was, but I say that because now, I can look at 2011 and expect/want to make it a good year. I can come into 2011 with the determination to make the most out of 2011 both physically and spiritually. I hope to be able to update more often this year than I did last year.

I'm really excited to take on 2011 and I'm positive that God will continue to be faithful within my life and the life of others through 2011 and the years to come! Happy New Years!