When I moved to Nashville, I had no plans. No idea with what to do with my days.

Except to cry and beg God to let me go home to Atlanta.

[That went well.]

But now I sit here, a writer. A nanny. An employee. A friend. And it’s crazy.

Jeremy, Annie, Kyle :: H-P team

Most recent new title: Help Portrait Events Coordinator.

I know, I went all fancy on you. [Oh, and by the way, I made up that title. I mean, it really is my title, but I just created it and made everyone else deal. with. it.]

Anyways, here’s where things get surreal.

Wednesday, after we left the Fields Museum, I got a voicemail. From Chris at Relevant Magazine. Wanting to interview me about Help-Portrait.

[I died. In a good way.]

So please go with me to that moment.

I’m walking down the streets of Chicago. [I've never been there before 2009.]

In a serious snowstorm. [I grew up in Georgia. This is foreign to me.]

Walking with 2 of my dearest friends. [That I have met within the last 2 years.]

Doing an interview for Help Portrait. [That Jeremy just invented in his mind and I get to play along.]

With Relevant. [A magazine I HIGHLY esteem.]

And at one point, as my black jacket turned white with flakes, and I huffed and puffed down the streets of Chicago telling Chris about this amazing project, I just had to stop.

Because while I would have never planned for my life to look like this, God has again overshot my expectations.

By about 100,000 snowflakes.

And HE WILL DO THE SAME FOR YOU. Just ask. That’s all I did- I asked for God to run my life and I asked Him to show me His love. And what He did for me, He will do for you.

I’m sure of it.

HERE is the article for Relevant.

And OMG HERE is an article I wrote for the ONE Campaign.

Can you believe that dorky macaroni-lovin’ AnnieBlogs got published on the ONE Campaign blog?!?

[I know. I died again. In a good way.]

Confession: I love having my picture taken.

As ridiculous as this statistic is, I’m going to give it to you anyways: I am currently tagged in 512 pictures on facebook. FIVE HUNDRED AND TWELVE. That’s a lot of “say cheese.”

Including this picture- I’m the second from the left in the blue dress. With eight of my beautiful friends.

Seriously. How cute are these girls?

There’s a lot more to this story, over at my bloggy vacation home….. check it out!

(in)courage.me

This is gonna be easy for you today.

Just two places to click.

Cause see, I don’t believe in making you work hard on Fridays. So.

First of all, check out HELP-PORTRAIT’s new website. It is really amazing. I mean, wowsa kind of amazing. If you are looking for a good way to give back this holiday season, even if you aren’t a photographer, I bet Help-Portrait is happening in your town.

Remember when we did a practice Help-Portrait event here in Nashville? My friend Barry made a cool video [severe understatement] from that day that I think you are going to love [minus the part at the end where I need to stop crying and brush my hair].

[Hey you crazy subscribers- there's a video here. Click over if you can't see it in your reader.]

I know, right? So amazing. You know, someday soon, I’m going to write an entire blog post about the fact that giving within your gifting is deeply beautiful. Until then, just think on that.

Secondly [and I think you are going to like this] I have free music for you.

And by “I”, I mean “my friend Matt.”

Because Matt has just launched a KILLA new website as well and part of the excitement is that he is giving away a live album. FULL. LENGTH. ALBUM.

I know. It’s crazy talk. But it’s true. A full live album for zero American dollars. I personally think he’s lost his mind, but who am I to judge? I go to parties for dogs.

Either way, for a limited time, you can have it for free. [If you're reading this in 2012, I bet it's not free anymore. Just guessing.] So if it’s 2009, go get that album.

To recap: Help-Portrait = you give. Matt Wertz = you take.

Fancy, huh?

Also, gotta give a shout out to my bud Jason and his web design company Otterball- they did both sites and I’m tellin’ y’all, they. are. good.

Amen. You’re welcome. Have a great weekend.

(disclaimer: this post is about MY experience at Help-Portrait. In November, I’ll be posting at (in)courage a more zoomed out view of the project. But this is kinda like us sitting at my kitchen table talking about my experience, not a news piece. Just wanted to point out that self-centered elephant in the room.)

So my friend Jeremy [I nanny for his kids, thus also making him my nanny babies daddy] came up with this idea called Help Portrait.

[PLEASE watch the video so that you can understand the project. The rest of my post won't make a lot of sense without seeing the vision.]

And when I heard it about Help Portrait, I raised my hand and said, “ooh ooh! I wanna help! I wanna!!” Apparently I whined and begged just enough that Jeremy had to give in and let me help him. I saw deep value in what Jeremy wanted to do- give the overlooked an opportunity to be the focus.

But I’m not a photographer. I’m an organizer. A details girl. A “let me take care of that thing so you can do THAT more awesome thing” kind of gal. And so that’s my job at Help Portrait. Me likey. I love taking care of the details for people who need to put their effort elsewhere.

The official Help Portrait event is on Dec. 12 all around the world. You can see my friend Kyle’s post – he’s a detail dude as well- and he has posted a ton of stats about Help Portrait so far. It’s insane. And beautiful. Insa-utiful. [Coined it.] Here in Nashville, we had a practice Help Portrait on Friday at the Nashville Rescue Mission. About 15 photographers came and photographed a few dozen people. And it was AH-MAZING.

Again, my detail girl role came in really handy because I got to just watch. I watched photographers tear up as they overheard one woman say, “I’ve never felt special before.” I watched a guy retake the same picture over and over again, trying to find the exact. right. pose. I watched as women floated from backdrop to backdrop, taking individuals and group shots, completely carefree.

For that hour, or 2 hours, the men and women of NRM felt valued. Seen. Noticed. Loved. Beautiful.

During that short amount of time, the only thing that mattered was how big to smile or which foot to put forward or how many friends can fit in one shot. Not how to pay the bills. Or how to get out of some terrible situation. Or how to find the next meal.

It was a day that I won’t soon forget. And I get to do it again on December 12.

I learned that taking someone’s portrait doesn’t rescue them from poverty.

But it does rescue them.

__________

More on Help-Portrait….

• Read Allister’s blog
• Read Kyle’s blog
  
• Watch the Fox news piece
  
• Sign up at Help-Portrait.com
• Follow Help_Portrait on Twitter