Area 25 celebrates our own Sandi Mitchell!
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Sandi happens to be a mom of 4 children: three boys (15, 13 and 9) and one little girl (surprise blessing!) who is 3 years old and featured in the winning photo. It wasn't until Sandi's little girl was born that she began to participate in MOPS. She says, "I didn't feel I could make attending MOPS a priority," while parenting her three boys. "I was trying to juggle the kids and volunteering, etc.," says Sandi, "At that time, I had difficulty getting out of the house."
When her daughter was born, she had started attending Cedar Run Community Church and was invited to MOPS again. She says, "I decided to join only because I felt it would be a good way for me to meet other women in the church. However, I truly enjoyed being with other moms, finding encouragement for the stage I was in (as it was a transition to go back to the baby stage again) and I loved hearing the variety of speakers."
Sandi credits her Discussion Group Leader with having a gentle and sweet spirit that drew her back to MOPS each meeting. "I loved her instantly," says Sandi, "She was so warm and welcoming and was willing to be vulnerable, even when it was difficult."
While Sandi admits she joined merely to meet other moms, she found she got much more out of it than she ever anticipated. So much, that the following year she stepped forward into a leadership role of Discussion Group Leader and this year moved into the role of Publicity. She enjoys taking a larger part in what is going on in the ministry as a whole. She enjoys watching the moms in her group grow in their friendships with one another and share and learn from each other. She is also exicted about this year's theme: "This year's theme, A Beautiful mess, is something I feel I identify with and I think each of us should be encouraged to learn to be more honest with one another, find the blessing in seeing that we are NOT alone in our struggles (or "messes") and discover the joy (and "beauty") the Lord has in store for us."
Sandi mentions she has always loved photography and scrapbooking. Her family blessed her with a very nice camera around the time of her 40th birthday as they saw how much she enjoyed this hobby. She challenged herself to start a photo blog (mostlymitchell.blogspot.com) by posting one picture each day for a year as a way to hold herself accountable and stick with it. Through this process she became more familiar with her camera learning to shoot in manual mode and discovering the photos she enjoyed taking most. The winning photo was captured during this journey. She states her daughter doesn't always cooperate when she taking photos of her, but on this particular day she was willing to keep blowing the dandelions so she could try to capture the shot desired. Sandi still considers herself an amateur photographer as she believes she has much to learn, but she enjoying the journey and hopes that maybe one day she may start a business for herself. But for now, she is still trying to gain confidence taking photos in different settings and capturing people in a natural way. She has also began participating in another blog (allliliesconsidered.wordpress.com/) with fellow photographers who post a picture a week in which they try to capture special "stories" from every day lives.
As parents we realize that it is often better to model what you want to teach your kids, but sometimes this is easier said than done. Sandi stated that she often asks her children what they are passionate about and try to encourage them to pursue those things. Yet, she doesn't feel that she's allowed herself to do that until just recently. "God has blessed me in ways I would have never imagined through photography. i strive to be able to capture the world around me through His eyes and pray that I can discover ways for my photography to be a blessing to others, as well. I believe it is never too late to seek out what you are passionate about."
Sandi is still overwhelmed by her award. "I just entered the contest for fun," she says, "I never expected I would win." Her photo will be featured with others at MOMcon 2013 and she will have the opportunity to provide a cover shot for the award winning MomSense magazine, the official magazine for MOPS International and get full credit in the magazine as well as a portfolio showcase on the new MOPS blog on Hello Darling.
Sandi mentions she has always loved photography and scrapbooking. Her family blessed her with a very nice camera around the time of her 40th birthday as they saw how much she enjoyed this hobby. She challenged herself to start a photo blog (mostlymitchell.blogspot.com) by posting one picture each day for a year as a way to hold herself accountable and stick with it. Through this process she became more familiar with her camera learning to shoot in manual mode and discovering the photos she enjoyed taking most. The winning photo was captured during this journey. She states her daughter doesn't always cooperate when she taking photos of her, but on this particular day she was willing to keep blowing the dandelions so she could try to capture the shot desired. Sandi still considers herself an amateur photographer as she believes she has much to learn, but she enjoying the journey and hopes that maybe one day she may start a business for herself. But for now, she is still trying to gain confidence taking photos in different settings and capturing people in a natural way. She has also began participating in another blog (allliliesconsidered.wordpress.com/) with fellow photographers who post a picture a week in which they try to capture special "stories" from every day lives.
As parents we realize that it is often better to model what you want to teach your kids, but sometimes this is easier said than done. Sandi stated that she often asks her children what they are passionate about and try to encourage them to pursue those things. Yet, she doesn't feel that she's allowed herself to do that until just recently. "God has blessed me in ways I would have never imagined through photography. i strive to be able to capture the world around me through His eyes and pray that I can discover ways for my photography to be a blessing to others, as well. I believe it is never too late to seek out what you are passionate about."
Sandi is still overwhelmed by her award. "I just entered the contest for fun," she says, "I never expected I would win." Her photo will be featured with others at MOMcon 2013 and she will have the opportunity to provide a cover shot for the award winning MomSense magazine, the official magazine for MOPS International and get full credit in the magazine as well as a portfolio showcase on the new MOPS blog on Hello Darling.
