Posts Tagged: storytelling

Beautiful Lancaster County

On May 3, 2020 by marloandco With 0 Comments - loved by the Father, Marlo & Co, Uncategorized

Recently, I took pictures of where my grandparents and aunt live and in the area surrounding it.  I grew up in this area and it was fun to see this area in a different way.  I am so used to seeing it, I forget how beautiful it is.  They live in Lancaster County, PA.

This is the home that my aunt owns and my grandparents live there with her.  The last two photos are looking out their back yard.

The animals got in this photoshoot also.  They have a beautiful blue parakeet who was not sure of hearing the shutter of my camera go off when I took his picture.  The chickens’ names are Henny, Penny, Kacka and Becca.  The sheltie, Dusty, was not too impressed that I wanted to take his picture.

These flowers are from their yard.  My grandmother owned a greenhouse for years.  Her flower beds are beautiful every year.  The pink cherry blossoms are the trees pictured in the first set of photos.

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This is the one-room school that my mom and all her siblings went to school.  My sisters and I almost went to school there.  The last photo is of the outhouses at for the school.  There is no bathroom inside this one-room school.  I joked with my aunt that these look luxurious compared to the ones that were there when I grew up.

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This is a view of the backside of the home farm where my mom grew up.  My grandfather farmed this land for many years.

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This is the house where my grandparents moved to after they moved off the farm.  This place is only a mile or two from the home farm and about a half a mile from where they currently live.

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Of course, I had to add a horse and buggy picture to the collection.  The people that own this horse and buggy are Mennonite not Amish.

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I added some landscapes just to show the terrain.  It was fascinating to really look at the landscape and see all the hills that we live in.

These random farm animals were striking a pose at the right time for me to capture the beauty of them.

I look forward to doing more of these types of shoots.  Just to really look at the beauty that I live around.  It is so easy to think that other places are more beautiful than the place we live in but I think each place has its own beauty we just have to look for it.

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Miranda

On April 3, 2020 by marloandco With 0 Comments - loved by the Father, Marlo & Co, Uncategorized

Recently, I wanted to try more of a fashion shoot rather than a lifestyle photoshoot.  My friend agreed when I asked if she would model for me.  We actually switched services.  Miranda, my friend, became my editor for my Rocking Chair Stories Session and I would do the photoshoot for her.  Miranda has this big and unique personality.  She tells stories with lots of inflection, accents, and gestures. Honestly, the first time I met her, I was not sure I would be friends with her because I thought she was way over the top.  It is a good thing that we don’t go by the first impression.  Because I learned that at times she may be over the top by my standards but that is what makes her unique.  There are so many other things that make her an amazing person and friend.

Miranda loves the people in her life deeply.  She is on the quest for truth and authenticity especially in her relationship with God.  As big as her personality is, she has this ability to be still and present where she is at.  Miranda has a maturity that most 19 years do not have.  Her style reminds me of the 1980’s and 1990’s with a modern twist to it. Miranda fit right into the vision that I had the photoshoot.  The clothes she wore were all clothing she had in her closet.

We met in Lancaster City, PA on top of the Duke Street parking garage to begin our shoot.  The parking garage had some great options for the photo shoot.   After we were done at the parking garage, we got in my car and drove to the Lancaster County Court House.  (Which when we go there we realized that we could have walked there from the parking garage.)  At the end of the shoot, I found this alley beside the courthouse where we finished the shoot with a few alley shots.  We visited La Dolce Vita Courthouse Bakery on the way out of town to take home some awesome baked goods for later on.

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9. Trying to Hide my Brokenness

On January 2, 2020 by marloandco With 0 Comments - loved by the Father, Uncategorized

Since leaving my career in social work, I have come to realize how unhealthy I was emotionally. While I was in it, especially in the last year, I knew life was hard but I thought I was dealing with it ok.  If you had asked me, “how are you doing?”  I would have probably say “ok” or “good” and I truly believed that.  The funny thing I thought I was carrying it well and that I was fooling the people around me. But in all reality I was not doing well and I was not fooling those that were around me especially those that were the closest to me.  And when you are not doing well emotionally, there are signs that begin to show physically and emotionally.

Physically, I did not have the energy that I needed to get everything done that was needed to get done.  I have been told by friends that I had a glaze in my eyes especially at the end of my career in social work.  And that I looked like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders; that I carried myself in a slouched manor.  Weeks after I left my career in social work, I personally noticed that my eyes seemed to be brighter.  And I had so many people compliment on my eyes.  I thought it was amusing because my eye color had not changed.  About a month after I quit, I had a friend who was talking to me and in the middle of this conversation, he stopped and said ” you have really pretty eyes.  Its like they are glossier than normal eyes and I can see joy in your eyes.”

For me emotionally, I would have crying spells and not knowing why.  Or things would not get done that needed to get done or they would take me twice as long as they would.  I did not have the ability to focus on things like I should have.  It took me 5 months after, I started therapy to admit that I was depressed.  Even to this day, it is hard for me to admit that.  I know that is crazy but it is the truth.  I know some of this is because of the stigma depression carries in our society.  And the other part is that I was the person who was helping others through their life trials and emotional illnesses.  I was the one who was the strength and the advocate for others as a social worker.  It was hard to admit that I, the pillar for others, was just as broken as the person I was helping.  I was just broken in a different way.

Reality is, that we all have something that we are struggling with no matter where you are at in life and what your economic status is.  Economic status is not the only definition of poverty.  Poverty is the lack of resources in these areas of your life: financial, language (ability to speak in formal register), emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships/role models and knowledge of middle class hidden rules(this is according to Dr. Ruby Payne).  I look at this list and last year I was impoverished in more than one area of my life.

So no matter how much I tried to hide my poverty and brokenness, it still came out in ways that I could no longer hide.  Maybe if I had to be willing to admit this sooner, I might of not gone through everything I went through.  But reality is that some of these things were going to happen no matter either way because some of them were out of my control and others needed to happen for me to reach the end of my rope.  And once I reached the end of my rope, I was willing to trust God to lead my life.  I was no longer trying to figure things out because I did not have the energy to.  I was just resting in His presence because that was all I could do.

Life is a journey and it is in this journey that we walk through some valleys and mountain tops.  And no matter whether we are in the valley or the mountain top there will be storms that we are going to weather.  It will be hard to weather these storms but you don’t need to do it alone.  God is right there with us as we walk through this journey called life.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

“Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

So if you are not doing well, be willing to admit it and reach out to someone who can help you through it.  Sometimes this is God, a friend or a licensed counselor.  If you need a counselor, look for a counselor in your area or check out Open Path Collective.  Admitting you need help is not a weakness but a strength.

 

 

***This is part of a series of blog posts of me sharing about burnout and things I have been learning through this.  They are numbered in the order that they are written in and to indicate that they are part of this series.***

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Meet Marilyn

On July 13, 2019 by marloandco With 0 Comments - loved by the Father, Uncategorized

I realized that I never did an introduction blog post about me.  So here it is; along with an announcement about some changes that are coming to the blog.

My name is Marilyn.  I am the creator of this blog and Marlo & Co.

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Photo credit: Acorns + Aperture

I am an aunt to a small tribe of nieces and nephews.  They keep me young and love to hang out with me.  I love creating memories with them.

I am a business owner of Marlo & Co.  I love to celebrate stories.  I identify myself as a photographer and storyteller.  I love to hear other people’s stories and love to capture them.  I believe that everyone has a story to tell and that their story matters.  My favorite way I do this is through my Rocking Chair Story Session.  This is a session where I get to sit down and listen to a senior’s story then capture it in a book that is created just for them.

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My love for seniors started at a young age.  My great grandparents lived with my grandparents.  I look back at the memories that we made and love that I got to spend time with them as a child.  Once of my memories is asking my great grandfather to hold a doll for us while we played.  He hated this doll.  We knew this and I think we did this to see the look of annoyance on his face.

If you have been following this blog for anytime, this blog talks about my faith and relationship with God.  This is one of the most important relationships that I have in my life.  I am grateful that the Creator of the universe wants to have a relationship with me through Jesus.  And that I do not have to do life alone.  If you want to know more about this, just ask me!

Talking about relationships, I love relationships! I have been created to be a very relational person and love to spend time with those around me.  If you ever meet me in person and or work with me, most likely we will become friends.  I believe we are all created for relationships and community with each other.

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This is one of my favorite people, Danielle, and myself at a concert in the middle of February.

In May 2019, I retired from the social work field.  I was in it for 10.5 years.  I loved every moment of it.  I left the social work field because of burnout.  I did not realize how real and intense burnout can be until I experienced it.  I am still recovering from it.  I have taken time off to just rest in God and to just be.  I am currently writing a blog series on my experience of burnout.  Here is the link for first post in my burnout series.

I am essentially starting all over in life right now.  It is a weird but exciting feeling to be doing this in my mid thirties.  I get to recreate what I want my life to look like.  This is something that not everyone gets the privilege to do so.  Or rather are too scared to do so because of the unknown.  Living in the unknown has its moments but I would not want to be in any other spot than this right now at this moment because God is teaching me valuable lessons that I will carry with me and share with others.

Fun facts about me:

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I love red shoes and red lipstick.

Traveling and exploring new places is one of my favorite things to do. 

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Certified by state of Pennsylvania for floriculture and horticulture. 

My first language/dialect was PA Dutch not English. 

I have a hidden talent of sarcasm and silliness (only comes out when I am comfortable with you). 

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I bought my sister and her family a van for Christmas last year!

I am the oldest of 4 girls.

I am an introvert.

So…. here is my announcement!  I am going to be making some changes to this blog.  I will still write about my relationship with God and what I am learning along the way.  But I am going to add more content.  This content will show more of me as a whole rather than just one side of me.  It will include blog posts from my work as a photographer/storyteller and some fun personal things.  I will include more photos with the blog posts than I do now.  I am excited to share these topics with you!

I want you to do one thing so I can meet you!  Share a fun fact about yourself in the comments so I can get to know you!

 

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Enough

On March 23, 2019 by marloandco With 0 Comments - loved by the Father, Uncategorized

Ever had God shows you a glimpse of where you are going next? And when He does this for us most of the time our response is to not step into it or even take steps towards it.  Because it is the unknown and most of the time we fear the unknown.  Fear has been my response.  And He has had to give me definite signs time and time again that there is the direction He wants me to go in the last two years.

One of the signs was in 2017, I applied for graduate school and did not get accepted in it.  Granted by the time that I got my answer I was hoping that I would not get accepted because I knew I needed to invest into an idea I had for my business.  Because I knew that if I did not see where it went that I was going to regret it.  In the the last year, I have had multiple opportunities where others invested in my business and me.  Each time it confirmed the direction that He had for me.

But through this all I still struggled with myself and the direction that God has called me to.  I struggled with myself because I love my career in social work and the community I work in.  And I love visual storytelling and photography especially with elderly.  There was this tension between the two because I felt that if I leave social work I am leaving a career that I have built and love for over 10 years.  And I was letting myself and others around me down by leaving social work.  But I knew that if I did not see where my business might go that I was going to regret that and I could not live with that. (I don’t live life with too many regrets.)  Last summer I realized that I could merge the two in my business.  I could do coaching and mentoring with other business owners especially with visual storytelling and photography.

Fear and feelings of inadequacy has been my next struggle when it comes to pursuing my business as a full time gig.  I have stability with my career in social work.  And leaving that stability scares me!  For those that don’t know, I am single.  That means that I am the only bread winner in my household.  I do not have a significant other to fall back on financially if the business would not work out.  So I need to make sure that I when make the transition from social work career to entrepreneurship that I must an revenue that can support me and my business.  When I think of the revenue that is needed for this, fear and inadequacy kicks in overdrive.  This will then paralyzes me to the point that I don’t do anything.  It is then that I realize that I am relying on my own independence (man, independence is a STRONG streak in me! Anyone else have this issue?) and that I am not relaying on Him.  I know that these are struggles that everyone goes through and can identify with.

The last 4 months has been a season that has challenged almost everything in every area of my life.  But the growth that I have had in this season has been tremendous and I am have the deepest relationship with God than I ever have had.  And it would be easy for me to not work on my business in this season because of everything that is going on.  But this season has also confirmed the direction that full time entrepreneurship is something I want and something He has for me in the future.

The other day I was journaling and God told me this “You may feel inadequate or that you are not good enough or that you do not know enough or imposter syndrome is kicking in but I knew all this and I still gave you this dream.  I still gave you a new purpose.  I am enough to conquer all fears, inadequacies and imposter syndrome.  Rely on me because I am enough.  They are all there when you started anything new in life especially in social work. But you relied on me, pushed through those things and did it scared.  Because I am enough it makes you enough to be able to do what I have called you to do next.”

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

These verses show that God’s promised are true and that He wants His best for me.  And that I should not fear when He calls me to new places because He is walking the journey with me, He goes before me and that when I am walking in His purpose for me things will work out according to His will.

When you are called to new things, is your response okay lets go God or is it a response of fear?

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