Posted on by Krista Guenin · 2 Comments

Abby-Jill

Today, I found out that a dear friend of mine passed away. Abby-Jill was an AMAZING woman with a faith and a heart to help others that you rarely see. She was always full of energy, enjoying life to the fullest and giving God the glory along the way.

I met Abby-Jill when I went to Park Community Church in Chicago. She was the Missions Director for the church, and lead the very first missions trip I ever took back in 2002. These photos are of Abby in her 2nd home – the Baja of Mexcio and the Foundation For His Ministry.




Then in early 2004, I got to travel half-way around the world with Abby on a missions trip to India with the Gospel Association of India.


Here’s Abby-Jill with a friend she made in India who told us his name was George Bush :)


It was later that year that Abby took a full-time position with the Foundation For His Ministry, and moved away from Chicago. Her friends & family threw her the BIGGEST going away party. In true Abby fashion, it was a BLAST complete with dancing and singing. This is how I like to think of Abby-Jill… dancing up a storm with a huge smile on her face.



It was shortly after she moved to California to work with FFHM that she found out that she had lung cancer that had metastisized all over her body. They told her that she may only have months to live, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. For the past 3 years, it has been an honor to follow her on this path and to see her hope, her faith and her sheer determination to hold on as long as she had the strength to share her love with others.

This photo is from a wedding I shot in 2006. It was the last time I saw Abby-Jill and I wish terribly that I’d taken the time to shoot more photos of her, and to talk to her more.

Abby-Jill and I weren’t close friends, but she was dear to me and I am grieved at the loss of her. But, I’m not sad for her so much as those she left behind. I know that those who loved her will miss her terribly. But, I am thankful that she had peace in her death, knowing that she would see her Father in heaven. I imagine her up there, basking in the glory of God, dancing, with a huge smile on her face.

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 17 Comments

My 30 Favs

In my mentoring sessions with Davina Fear, which were awesome by the way, we decided that it’s time for me to remake my website. Such a pity, since I never was able to get this one finished – but I think it’s time! My work and my goals have changed a lot over time, and I think that’s why I wasn’t able to get down to really making it happen. To help me with this whole process, Davina gave me an overwhelming homework assignment: choose my 30 favorite images of ALL TIME and choose one word to describe each image!! EEEK! I’m a bit indecisive when it comes to picking favorites (I don’t have a favorite movie, favorite song, or anything like that). But, I did it! So, I thought I’d share them with you!! And this time, I’m going to let them speak for themselves.


(the photo above was taken as an Associate for Real Life Weddings)



(the photo above was taken as an Associate for Grazier Photography)

























What I think is really cool is that of these photos 2 were taken in 2003, 1 in 2004, 3 in 2005, 3 in 2006, and 15 were taken in 2007! I mean, I knew that I’d grown a lot as a photographer in the last year, but that was really cool to see!

So, I won’t share my words with you – but I’d love to hear what YOUR favorites are, and what words come to your mind when you look at these photographs! Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

And be on the lookout – a new website is in the works…. yay!!!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 4 Comments

Mimi & Papa’s Last Visit

Back when my nephew Tristan was sick, my Mom & Dad decided to come out to Boston for a few days to help my sister. By the time they got there, Tristan was feeling much better. They ended up spending most of their time here disinfecting every inch of the house. It was a fun surprise visit for the kids though – and for me too!

This is my Dad with baby Caeden. Caeden’s at that SUPER CUTE phase where he likes to make funny faces and watch everyone laugh. Here are 2 of his favorites…


My poor Mom was here less than 2 days before the plague hit her as well. We thought about calling the Center for Disease Control because this crazy bug infected everyone who came in the house (even just last week it got someone new who visited!) – but it was probably just the flu :)

[insert photo of my mom looking sick and miserable – but, um, she won’t like that so you’ll just have to pretend]

My sister wanted to start making some fun new memories for the kids while my parents were in town, to make up for the sad memories from the hospital. So, first we had a fun bath time blowing bubbles!

That’s me blowing bubbles for the babies! (photo courtesy of my wonderful sister, Kyla)


Do you think they liked it???




While Kyla & I were blowing bubbles at bath time, our Dad was making an enormous fort in the kids’ bedroom. Here they are, waiting for the big surprise…


The fort was huge, with mattresses on the floor for Tristan, Reilly & my Dad (well, he wasn’t about to sleep in the same room with his sick wife!) Dad even set up a little TV & DVD player. They laid on their mattresses, watched Stuart Little 3, and ate Lucky Charms until it was time to go to sleep. It was pretty cute!


Even with Mom getting sick, it was still a fun visit! Poor Dad got sick the day after they returned to Indianapolis. But, everyone’s better now – 2 straight weeks of fever & puke-free kids!!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 7 Comments

The Lord Provides!

For the last couple years, I’ve been pretty frustrated with my SLOW computer. My sweet little iMac G4 was top of the line when I bought it back in 2002, but now, it can’t even handle the software I use the most.


Last Spring, I’d been seriously praying for 6 months for a lap top that could handle my work load, and make me a little more mobile. One night at Genesis, my pastor/brother-in-law was talking about meeting each other’s needs and taking care of one another. He opened the floor up to anyone who wanted to share a need. I spoke up and said “I need a laptop!” From behind me I heard a guy ask, “Mac or PC?” I, of course, replied “MAC!” After service that same guy came up to me and told me that he had a Mac laptop that he rarely used and that I could have it if I wanted it. Um, YEAH! So, all season long last year, I worked on my wonderful new(ish) laptop and things went great. Except, the laptop was also quite slow for editing in Photoshop…


So, I have continued to pray for a NEW computer &/or the money to buy one so that this season I can be more productive and waste less time waiting on my machine. Well, wouldn’t you know it? The LORD has provided!! Here’s what happened…

I was hanging out at my sister’s house one night. My brother-in-law came home and my sister was freaking out saying “give it to her, give it to her!!” I was wondering what the heck was going on, but didn’t ask. Eventually, he came over and handed me a gift card to the Apple Store saying “someone gave me this to give to you.” I opened it, and there was no amount written inside, so I just said “thanks, that’s cool!” My sister freaked out again and made him write the amount down for me (apparently I wasn’t freaking out enough :). So, he comes back over and hands me the card and I open it to find that the gift certificate was worth $4500.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shut up!! I, of course, start crying and freaking out along with my sister and we’re all screaming and freaking out. I have no idea who gave me this gift – but I believe that in the end it was God providing for me in a powerful way.


But wait! It gets BETTER! I went out to dinner that night with some friends and was sharing the amazing news with them. One of my tech-junkie friends was grilling me on the specs of the computer I was going to get. I had been trying to decide between a really suped-up iMac, or a basic Mac Pro with room to grow. His big concern was the size of the monitor I was going to get. I had calculated that I could afford a 23″ monitor with the gift card. He thought I was insane if I didn’t get the 30″. I informed him that those cost $900 MORE than the other and that it would push me over the limit on my gift card. He nonchallantly says “well, then why don’t I pay for the difference so you can get the 30″ – you really should get the 30″ it will just be so much better.” Shut UP! And before any of you get the wrong idea, this is just a FRIEND – there’s no interest on either side. This is just a friend who could afford to spend $900 to help another friend become more productive in her business. But, it’s pretty freakin crazy!

He went with me to the Apple Store the next day and we picked out my new Mac Pro with a 30″ monitor, and bought it online. It arrived just a couple weeks ago and it is AWESOME! It’s so incredibly fast and the screen is just HUGE! I LOVE IT!!!




I am so thankful to whoever it is who gave me this incredible gift, and to my friend who made it even more incredible, and to God for making it all happen and for giving me some encouragement in this dreary season!!!

May God bless each of you in ways you would never imagine!!

Posted on by Krista Guenin

L-O-V-E

Ahhh, Valentine’s Day! A day to think about LOVE. The ones you love, the ones who love you. My Valentines are my niece and 2 nephews. We are in love :)

But what IS love, really? Is it an emotion? A state of being?

We hear it at every wedding we go to (or every wedding we shoot)… 1 Corinthians 13, the LOVE chapter. But, what if we stop on this day of love to really think about what it means?

———————————————————–

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be?

And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody.

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.

Love is patient
and kind.

Love is not jealous
or boastful
or proud
or rude.

Love does not demand its own way.

Love is not irritable,
and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.

It is never glad about injustice
but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

Love never gives up,
never loses faith,
is always hopeful,
and endures through every circumstance.

Love will last forever,
but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear.

There are three things that will endure-
faith,
hope,
and love–

and the greatest of these is love.

———————————————————————

Just think about that as you spend the rest of this day telling people you love them – and then spend the rest of your life REALLY LOVING THEM!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Tristan is HOME!

Yesterday my little nephew, Tristan looked like this…


But this morning he woke up feeling so much better that the doctors let him come HOME!! And now he looks like this!!! Do you see that? It’s a smile!!


It was so great to see him come home! His brother & sister were SO happy to see him – and my sister and I were practically in tears. It was great! He’s still getting better, he’s not back to normal quite yet – but he’s HOME. Thank you God!!! And thanks to all of you who prayed for him.

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

Update on Tristan

Here’s the latest update on my nephew, Tristan…

There was no improvement today in his condition. I think when I said in the last post that the Potassium made a “HUGE” difference, I overstated. It did seem to make a difference – I mean, the fact that he smiled and laughed for the first time in days was very encouraging. But, he woke up this morning pretty much the same as the day before. It didn’t help that he had to have another blood draw today, and they had to try twice to get it. It was a rather traumatic experience for everyone, and it left him pretty cranky and grumpy. This afternoon, around the same time as yesterday, he woke up and perked up a bit – laughed and smiled at his mommy’s drawings, walked and ate a little bit. The doctors & nurses say that the antibiotics may just take another day or so to kick in, and they plan to keep him at the hospital until they do and until he’s walking, eating, and acting relatively normal. So, we expect that he’ll be there until at least Wednesday.

Please continue to pray that he’d keep getting better, and that he wouldn’t be too miserable that he can’t come home yet. Pray for Kyla & Michael that they wouldn’t be too sad about that too. And pray for Reilly & Caeden who are definitely missing their big brother. And praise God that Tristan’s Mimi (my Mom) will be coming into town on Wednesday to help!

I probably won’t post an update tomorrow, unless there’s news. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support – Kyla & Michael (and I) are so grateful!

Posted on by Krista Guenin

Update on Tristan

Thank you to all who have been praying for Tristan and helping out our family today! It’s been a long couple of days, but things are starting to get better. Tristan had a CT scan today which showed nothing unusual, except a sinus infection (he also has 2 ear infections). Just to be safe, they also did a spinal tap which thankfully came back negative. They’ve now got him on antibiotics. Right before I came by the hospital tonight, they gave him a Potassium drip, which made a HUGE difference. He perked up a little bit, smiled for the first time in days, cracked a joke, and even laughed. It was such a blessing to see him getting a little better! So, we’re praying that he’ll wake up in the morning feeling better, and that maybe the doctor will let him go home tomorrow. Please pray that that would be the case.

Thank you again for your prayers, phone calls, messages, and love! You are all wonderful!