Kisses From God

In Hawaii, I received numerous "Kisses From God"... (no, this surfer dude did NOT come up to me and give me a kiss)!!!  But the story of capturing this classic shot of a surfer silhouetted in the sunset on "Sunset Beach" on the North Shore of Oahu is, what I am learning, is like a "kiss from God" :)

I have a deep and personal faith in God and I have learned to recognize when He is sending me little reminders of His love for me... sometimes it's obvious blessings, but many times it's subtle and unexpected... like this day in Hawaii.  I was already in my glory on an excursion with our Crop and Cruise group and had made it clear to our driver that taking in the sunset on "Sunset Beach" on the North Shore where all the big waves and surfers hang out was a priority!!

I couldn't get off the bus fast enough and although the beach was FULL of people getting ready to enjoy the sunset, I picked a small vacant spot and began shooting the "Wolf Pack" of kids having fun...

I was shooting in the opposite direction when I turned back and this surfer was emerging out of the water walking straight towards me with the sun directly behind him... I couldn't have planned it better had I tried!!!  I got my shot and new it was a classic and... a kiss from God... He knew that was on my bucket list of shots to get in Hawaii!!

Another kiss from God came from a very pleasant surprise and gift from the hotel we were staying at... originally my family was on the 8th floor with a view... of the building right next to us under construction!!!  Corlann our travel agent did some behind the scenes negotiating and next thing I knew we were moved up to the 21st floor in a suite attached to our beautiful crop room!!!  The view was classic Waikiki from 2 balconies that were ours to enjoy!!!

Another kiss from God was simply the stunning crop room that was ours throughout the entire first week where we were able to enjoy the ocean view and gentle breeze while we crafted (I finally got to take Christy's Art Journal Class... just imagine 5 hours of creative play with this view!!!)  And having my "dream team" of Christy Riopel and Jill Hildebrand along for this final (at least for now) hot tropical scrapbooking event was also a kiss from God... LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!!

And one day while crafting, this appeared...

Like I said, sometimes the kiss from God is obvious... like this rainbow... and this...

We were on our last Crop and Cruise group excursion on the island of Kauai and again I had requested sunset at the beach.  I had prayed earlier that day for a beautiful sunset because I wanted to help everyone capture some great sunset photos and the cloudy day made me doubt we were going to get it :(  But I'm an eternal optimist and knew no matter what, we were going to have an amazing day!!  And we did!!  The entire excursion was the BEST... our driver took us to lesser known places to view Waimea canyon (the "Grand Canyon" of Hawaii)...

And then he landed us at this private beach for sunset where they have old plantation homes and stunning property with hammocks, banyan trees and of course the ocean!!

At first it was cloudy (which was great for some portraits!!) but then the sun broke through below the clouds and we got our sunset!! And we played and photographed and played and after the sun went below the ocean, I thought we were done, but then suddenly someone told me to turn around and the sky was beyond what I had ever in my life seen let alone photograph!!!  It was like the sky was on FIRE!!!  It was ridiculously stunning!!!  And so we played and photographed and played some more... and this photo says it all...

Are you beginning to understand my "kiss from God" concept?  I believe we get them daily if we just pause to look and take notice... sometimes they are obvious like this sunset, sometimes they are even silly like the classic surfer dude shot and sometimes they are just a gentle whisper from God reminding us of who He is and how much He truly loves and cares.

There is still so much to share from our Crop and Cruise Scrapbooking and Photography LAND and CRUISE in Hawaii... but the above has been on my heart since it all happened and I couldn't wait to share!!  Watch soon for more... our scrapbook projects, more photo ops, excursions, my very special "Glam Girls" and a fun fashion photo shoot I had the privilege of doing including getting out from behind the camera INTO the photos as well!!!