One Month To Live

The video is finished! I loved the way it turned out and every second of the experience. Ok, maybe I didn't love the 2am technical difficulties the night before it was needed to be played... but that builds character I suppose. I did love having the honor of working with such an awesome team.

T.J. did a wonderful job writing and delivering his poetry. He is a photographer also and did great being on the other side of the camera.

Louis Cooper (Louis Cooper Media) was just all around awesome. He provided, set up, and built our awesome set, lights, and sound. Oh and did I mention he sacrificed his Saturday so we could make this? Awesome, I know.

Luke did a great job of organizing and administrating the project. He brought us all together and helped to make the process go smoothly.

And A New Normal is simply wonderful for creating such a cool song and letting us use it:)

The video was made for a sermon series at Pathways Community Church called "One Month to Live". A series about living our life to the fullest and investing in eternity. Weeks one and two were awesome and I can't wait for the rest.

Check out the video!

p.s. It acts weird in fullscreen on my computer.. just a warning:)

One Month To Live from Heather Ozuna on Vimeo.

In The Studio

Yesterday was so awesome!! We're starting a really cool series at church called "One Month To Live" and they wanted a video that would stir and inspire the hearts of the congregation. I was asked to shoot and I excitedly said yes. I've done videos for church before but this one was different. We were going to be shooting in a real studio, with real lighting and sound equipment all around,.. which led to a real mess of nerves in the pit of my belly! But the experience was incredible and it was so good for me to get out of my comfort zone. Something I've been pushed to do a lot lately. Louis Cooper of Cooper Media so graciously and generously allowed us to use his space. He set up our lighting, our sound, and was just all around awesome. Such a cool, patient, and giving guy. I'm in the process of editing the video now. It will be done by then end of the week and I'm just so stinkin excited! Here are a few shots I got during set up and in between takes. Did I mention how amazing this was?

Allie

It happened almost exactly 9 years ago. It was our first day of high school. I was headed to second period and was feeling a little overwhelmed. Probably because so far I didn't have any friends in any of my classes... and maybe that I had no idea how to even get inside the gym. We were given our uniforms, assigned lockers, and we went on our way. My locker happened to be next to yours. I saw you struggle frantically to open your lock and offered to help. After a few laughs, spins, and tugs your lock was open... and the rest is history.

Who would've known I would meet one of my best friends that day?

Who would've known of the laughs we would have in Spanish when your desk flipped over and your head went into the wall?

Who would've known we would go to every dance and football game together for the next 4 years?

Who would've known you would force me to step out of my comfort zone and play tennis?

Who would've known we would be in chemistry together just so we could help each other pass?

Who would've know we would write letters to each other for the next 4 years?

Who would've know we would need each other when boys broke our hearts?

Who would've known you would need me sophomore year when you battled some serious struggles in your life?

Who would've known I would need you senior year to stay by my side and pray as I wandered away?

Who would've known you would need a certain text, on a certain night, to save you?

Who would've known I would need you to encourage me to leave college and follow my dreams?

Who would've known you would need me to hug you when you cried in confusion about meeting you birth mother?

Who would've known you would need the love of my mother, the presence of my family in your life?

Who would've known you would stand by my side on my wedding day?

Who would've known that we would know each other so deeply? So long?

Who would've know we would have the same exact humor?

Who would've known we would need each other so much?

Who would of known?

He knew.

Nine years ago you were a freckled girl, in pumas, with long blonde hair that had a locker next to mine. Nine years later you have played one of the most significant roles in my life and who I am today. I am so thankful for you and for the unique bond we have been blessed with. A bond that can't be described, broken, or replaced. I love you so much Allie. I love everything you are and everything you're yet to be. Your heart makes you one of the most beautiful people I know. I know you struggle to see it half the time, and that's one of the things that makes you beautiful, but you are so uniquely and wonderfully made.

I don't know if I have ever covered a shoot in so much prayer. I so desperately wanted to capture you in truth. Capture the work of art you are. Help you to see you like He sees you, like we see you. To see how beautiful your laugh is. To see how much love is held in your eyes. Like I said, your heart makes you one of the most beautiful people I know... but, my love, you're gorgeous!!! And the world deserves to know!

I love you so much Allie. So much more than you'll ever know. Thank you for being you for the past 9 years. It's changed my life. Congratulations on graduating college and Happy Birthday to one of the best friends a girl could ever ask for!

xoxo,
Your Heathe Bar

Changing

"Walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet
toward home, a land that I've never seen
I am changing, less and less asleep
made of different stuff than when I began" Brooke Fraser

I have absolutely no idea how to start this post.
I've spent the last 5 minutes typing and deleting because I'm at a loss for words. Mostly because this is the first time I'm putting my recent thoughts into words. Life for me lately has been interesting. Not in an outwardly sense but in an incredibly inward sense. I've gone through seasons like this before but this time I feel a lot more honest with myself about it.

I had a conversation with one of my closest friends recently and while we shared about our lives I began to reflect more on my own. I am in a season of change and boy I can feel it all around me. When I drive I find myself arriving at my destination and realizing I don't even remember the drive because I was so lost in my own thoughts. My eyes are a little darker and my yawns are a little longer because I lay awake at night wrestling, thinking, praying. Every part of me seems to be... stirring, waking up, growing up. I spend so much of life distracted and caught up. I feel like my eyes are opening and I'm seeing everything through a different lens...

My friendships, my business, my marriage, my relationship with God, myself.
I began watching my life from the outside as a fly on the wall.. and honestly it wasn't pretty. I'm learning a lot about myself in this season. Seeing clearly my struggles, my weaknesses, my habits, my attitude, my selfishness, my pride. It would be easy to run away from this. To make excuses. To ignore my thoughts... but I'm being stripped to become strengthened. Torn down and rebuilt. And all I can pray for is more because as much as this time is stretching me, it's also refining me, growing me, and giving me an incredible sense of hope.
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Hope to be a better wife, friend, sister, daughter, grand daughter, niece. Giving all of myself and expecting absolutely nothing in return. Loving unconditionally.

Hope to be a better person. To lose my pride. To crush my jealousy. To change my attitude. To lose all selfishness. To be in control of my flesh.

Hope to make my dreams happen. To stare my fears and insecurities in the eyes and conquer them. To trust that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and lose my worries. To be confident in the gifts I've been given and not to place my value in this world.

Hope to become a
better follower of Christ. To learn to love like He does; wholeheartedly, unconditionally, ceaselessly. To have my heart break for what breaks His. To make His presence stronger than any other in my life.

A verse that has been ringing in my heart has been Job 5:17-18
“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but his hands make whole."

Summers winding down. Bikinis are gone and the sweet smell of pumpkin spice lattes are back.
A new season is on its way for me and I can feel it stronger than ever. It's a season of change, growth, and new adventure. Sometimes it hurts to grow up.. but I'm being made whole and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am changing, less and less asleep. And I hope to continue this process the rest of my life. Never stagnate, never complacent, never content. Always growing, always evolving more into the person I was made to be. More like the person I was made to love. Life is so good. I'm filled with peace, patience, strength, love, joy, and so much hope.

Wilmers Real Estate

Brett and I first met the Wilmers when they led a couples study at our church. We immediately liked them. They're just the kind of people that you can't not like. They're sweet, kind, generous people that have a genuine love for others. They are also business owners. Mike is a San Diego realtor. They run their business like they do everything else wholeheartedly, genuinely, and making a positive impact in every life they touch. I look up to them for this and am constantly blown away by their example. When they approached me about taking business portraits I was more than happy to be given the opportunity.

If anyone is in need of realty services. Please give them a call, you won't regret it.
http://www.mikewilmers.remax.com/aboutus/default.aspx
http://www.mikewilmers.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/EastCountyRealEstate