I've been reading this devotional every day. Well, trying to read it every day. And I've been able to keep up with it for the most part since I started January 1st. The past week I've been crazy busy and I let my schedule dictate my time, rather than taking a few moments before I started my day to sit and meditate with God. This book has been really convicting to me, especially lately.
I've gotten behind the past couple days and now I'm thinking that that has been God's Plan all along. This is how He has been teaching me... He let's me struggle and ask "why", then He lays it all out in this devo that I should've read back on that day, but instead am reading today. Maybe it's because I wouldn't have listened in that moment if I had read it when I should. Maybe it's because I needed to struggle through it before I would really understand by reading it. Maybe it's His way of teaching me that I need to slow down in my life and learn more about leaning on Him to plan my path.
Here's a little of what I caught up on this morning before work:

"Thankfulness is a safeguard against sin. Gratitude enables you to see Me shining on all your circumstances."

"Waiting on Me means directing your attention to Me in hopeful anticipation of what I will do. It entails trusting Me with every fiber of your being, instead of trying to figure things out yourself."

"Be still in My presence, even though countless tasks clamor for your attention. Nothing is as important as spending time with Me."

"Accept the limitations of living one day at a time. When something comes to your attention, ask Me whether or not it is part of today's agenda. If it isn't, release it into My care and go on about today's duties. When you follow this practice, there will be a beautiful simplicity about your life: a time for everything and everything in its time."

 

And my favorite right now:

"When you are weary and everything seems to be going wrong, you can still utter these four words: I trust you Jesus."

RESEARCH

So I've been doing a lot of research on a new camera and I love love LOVE all the freebees that some websites and blogs are having. It's giving me a new perspective on the items out there because I see the freebee and then immediately have to go do some research on that particular item before I decide if it's worth it or not to "try for it".

I never win anything anyway. Well, not completely true. I did win season tickets to the Chargers when I was like 10 yrs old. But funny thing about that is - I never went to even 1 game. My parents and brothers went. Everyone just assumed that I didn't want to go because I really wasn't that into football at the time.

Let me just clarify here... I wasn't into watching hours and hours of football on tv at the time. Actually, I'm still not, although my husband has gotten me involved a little more over the years. Is it wrong that I watch sports on tv while sitting on the couch next to him with a project or book in my lap? I'm still 'watching', right? :)
So back to the freebees. I've looked at camera bags. I've looked at cameras. I've looked at software. I've even looked at other hints and tips from those websites. And I've been taken to new websites from referrals from those blogs/websites as well.

I've come across all kinds of information - good, bad, and even yes some of the ugly. Mostly though it's been really good for me as I've been able to get a wide variety of reviews on certain products and I've been able to solidify in my mind what items I need, what would be 'fun' to have, and what products are a waste of my hard-earned money.

The latest freebee came from doing my own research on some cameras I was looking at. I googled my items and one of the listings took me to the Snapsort Blog. Now, I usually don't pay attention much to the blogs themselves... there are so many blogs and so many reviews that there just isn't time to look through one's entire website when all I'm really interested in is the certain product being reviewed on that single page/post. But Snapsort is different. For some reason, it caught my eye and I began streaming through the pages of the blog and seeing what else they had to say.

Probably the first thing I noticed was their logo. It was clean, simple, modern, yet had a sense of mystic about it. I wondered where the color choices came from. Why the order of the colors? Why the certain larger diameters? I didn't have too much time to ponder all that right then because I was curious about some of the posts they had. So I read on...

 

I'll say, the blog page is simple. Other than the little pieces within the logo, there is no color, no excitement, and no interesting parts (aside from the posts themselves) on the blog, in the background, or in the side columns. Part of me says, "where's the visual intrigue - it's just so bland, so boring, so white!". But the other part of me says, " oh how clever and simple. they are keeping the focus on the post content and not cluttering the page with unneeded filler." It appears that the design comes from the posts themselves and everything else is just in its place.

The header at the top contains the logo. It's where you look if you ever forget where you're at (ie, who's post you're on). Then there is the menu bar. Clean, organized, you know where each takes you without having to do a text click. :) Then comes the fun stuff... the post content. They seem to post something new every couple of days, sometimes once a week, which is perfect for me and my busy schedule. It's so hard to keep up with some bloggers who blog several times a day. By the time I can get back to their site I have 20 posts to look through and I miss a lot of good information. So I like that they keep us informed about products and interesting pieces of information, but not overload us with silly stuff.

One thing I do wish they had was a search button. Or a better way to search for specific reviews or certain key words. I didn't notice one, but maybe I was just enthralled with the pieces of clear, to the point information that I found on their site. And I suppose they have the 'categories' list on the right side that will get you to where you want for now.

Well, I'm heading back to Snapsort to do some more research. You should check them out! Oh, and they have a newer post about a great photographer back in the day! I've seen the news videos and articles about her already, but kept reading through their post about her, just because she's so awesome. Well, that and I wanted to see what they had to say too. Gotta love people's opinions! Check it out here:

Vivian Maier: an amazing unknown street photographer

Oh, and they have a couple great freebees right now. :)