all images and stories are the property of Catherine Beerda-Basso and are not to be used without given permission...thank you

Wednesday 15 February 2012

LOVE in a Giveaway...



I take pictures
lots and lots of pictures
I would say I am a passionate amateur photographer
I remember the day my mom took my down to the Pharmasave for me to buy my first camera with the babysitting money I had saved up.
It was 
"one of those days".

I love capturing 
moments
images
emotions.
It is a form of therapy and creative expression for me.


Just over a year ago hubby and I decided 
to open an Etsy Shop to sell our prints
we sold one
(thanks Gail)
Lots of admirers
not a lot of buyers
So after about a year
we closed shop.
I felt discouraged.


But as always Life brings you answers
in places you lest expect it.


...and  Trust
needs to be more than a word.


Each of these stones were 
hand picked
washed
and dried with love
Each word written with intent...
They were made for women
women like you and me
Brave Women 


Cherished Women
on the journey to recovery.

A dear friends husband is a builder...
a builder of recovery centres
for men and women 
who are walking out the journey of sobriety.
He just completed a brand new women's shelter

It is a beautiful facility.
But like most non profits 
there is not a lot left over for the extras.
So my girlfriend asked if we could help...
What an honour.


43 of our images will grace the walks of Hanna House
43
Bringing an other wise clinical building
to something with Life
and Beauty on it's walls.
Two prints per bedroom.
Offices and Councellour rooms will hold
the mystery of the Earth
on their walls.


There is something about seeing your prints 
enlarged and mounted.
It is like seeing them for the first time,
and as I stood alone in the room,
seeing these completed for the first time
 tears filled my eyes
and I realized
this was why,
why we had taken these pictures...
these images
these inspirations
were taken for this exact purpose
For the women of Hanna House
that they might find healing in the beauty
of the Earth
that She might touch their hearts
to believe
once again
in Themselves
in Life
in Living Free...

What a moment
What a gift...



And speaking of gifts
we were busy bees yesterday
turning our collected pollen 
into gifts of Love

My girlfriends heart led us to this place


again 
with funds being tight
She decided to start a program in which
she supplies the women coming into treatment
with a gift bag of goodness


these bags include
journals
pens
socks
toiletries
lip balm
those inspiration stones 
(pictured above)
hand made bookmarks
(with amazing inspiration messages)
Jill you are awesome!
hair accessories
an angel card
chocolate
candy


Some of the women come in from the street 
and have next to nothing
Some come from a world where many people around them
probably had no idea
"how bad it had gotten"


Either way
they are all deserving
Deserving of feeling 
Loved
Special
Valued



We poured 
our Love
our Hope
our Prayers 
into these bags



and with anonymous hands
blessed all who would receive these gifts
these humble gifts from us
that they would know
we are all the same
they are us
we are them.

I felt full.




I felt alive.

And with that lingering sense of 
abundant Love
I offer to you
the lovelies who come to visit me here
the women I learn from
am inspired by
an opportunity to win one of those prints
that will be hanging in Hanna House
and maybe when you look at it
you will think of these women
and all women
who are trapped in the cycle of addiction.

I had my work mates pick our their favourites
I picked out two...






Enter by leaving a comment...
let me know your favourite
and I will choose a winner 
or winners
at the end of next week

Love
it is a 
grand
mysterious
fulfilling
thing
and its always the best
when given away

Love and Light

23 comments:

  1. Oh Cat your words have truly taken my breath away this morning! How inspiring, and what a blessing to have your prints on the walls of Hanna House. Such reward!

    And what amazing prints they are too. I can't choose a favourite. It's like comparing apples with oranges, they all speak to me in totally different ways. You truly are a talented woman.

    xo

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  2. This is beautiful Cat. What an honour to be part of the blessing house and gifts of the heart put into hands:) I would LOVE to be part of something like that! Is there anything else they need? I love it when one can help artistically or doing bags ( I have done that before happily) instead of acts of service physically...I find I am very good at one and not so much at the other..I love to bless people with words and packages:) How beautiful. You have inspired me again. Thank you for sharing!

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  3. wow! what an opportunity to share many of your gifts with those who need it the most...perfect timing, perfect setting, perfect sharing, perfect giving, perfect creativity, perfect connection, perfect love....and so not by accident...you inspire so many, Irish, by simply walking your walk and doing everything in love...

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  4. It's so good to get involved in helping practically isn't it! Beautiful things Cat! God turns everything for good! Would love to enter your competition - my favourite is the top photo - reminds me of how stunning Canada is! love, Sx

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  5. there are so many wonderful people in this world of ours and you are definitely at the top of the list.. wow, such amazing beauty in what you've done. xo

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  6. oh..your blog isn't showing on my bloglist on my dashboard a lot of the times now. is mine showing in yours? it's so weird when that happens.. it drives me crazy!!!

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  7. You know I always love your photos, Cat! What a blessing to have them hanging in a special place of ministry.
    I'd like to enter the giveaway!
    I love the first one with the tree stump! :)

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  8. This post gave me goosebumps. God knows. He plans and everything is completed in His time. Enter me please! I love that top one xx

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  9. SO powerful, Cat! I imagine your prints will get more contemplation than you can ever dream. And for me, being among nature is the most calming of places. I choked up at how loved those women will feel with all the generous, thoughtful touches of all your sweet hands.

    And then you're giving a print away??!! I had the HARDEST time deciding between them. I went back and forth but one kept drawing me to it--the ocean with the sun peeking through the clouds and the man in the wheelchair going along the beach. That's my choice.
    Catherine Denton

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  10. O MY GOODNESS!!! Cat I am so elated and so excited for you!! What a wonderful and beautiful gift to those women and that home!!
    I smile HUGE for you.. I know that this is so your heart!
    Beautiful.. smiling from ear to ear for you.. for those women!
    Such a gift!
    Amy

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  11. How wonderful Cat!!! Amazed at how this has worked out - what a blessing your images will be!!

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  12. Cat what a beautiful beautiful post !!
    My heart is smiling for you
    I was reading your post thinking "I wish I'd known about the Etsy shop" . . .
    I love the print of the boots walking away . . .

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  13. I love that you are getting us involved, getting us sunk in as women into the Hanna House. I have a prayer that those women will come to see each other as community, in a culture that has taken relationship and turned it into competition. Blessings.
    I hope I win the print of the boots walking ... it speaks of beauty surrounding, of moving forward, of the journey. Love it!

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  14. awesome cat!
    we never know how these things are going to work themselves out, but god has a plan. a pathway, lit up ahead of ourselves. beautiful!
    if i were to win, it would be deer. he just looks so friendly;)
    best, my friend!

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  15. What a gift you are giving. I love the bags you are giving but even more so the intention behind them. You are a light worker for sure. So happy your work will be seen by others.

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  16. I love LOVE love every word, every image, every sentiment in this post. I can't help but think about how our hands carry the energy of our hearts out into the world ... look at how much love you spread throughout your community. The poet/philosopher John O'Donohue believed our time is suffering from a poverty of Beauty - that people living in inner cities and slums are doubly impoverished as there is a lack of anything to inspire or uplift the spirit, the soul.

    And such stunning photographs! You will be feeding many hungry souls through all your work, your love.
    xo Lis

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  17. Cat,
    I can tell that everything you touch blooms, fades from shadow into light and is filled with joy. What a beautiful post. Bless the work of your hands and heart.

    I love all your images but if I had to choose just one, it would be that deer staring at you from the green. Just purely wild and beautiful.

    All love!
    x

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  18. oh this is so neat! thanks for directing me over here. :) i love that you've been able to get involved with such wonderful outreaches. it's such a rewarding thing. i too love all the pictures, but my favorite is the second to last. i'm always drawn to water, and i love the shades of blues and yellows. :)

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  19. It is always beautiful whe we end up right where we were supposed to be and recognize the place!
    All the photos were lovely but the deer is looking at me. I just know it.
    Thanks for sharing your talent.

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  20. I'm all teary now. That is really really beautiful.

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  21. wow so cool that they will be hanging there! how awesome is THAT!
    and I like the deer :)

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  22. i somehow missed this post!! how enchanting, dear friend...these lovely gifts of love that you have offered to the women of hannah house! so tender and inspirational! i especially love the 2nd to last print, twilight on the shore.

    you are so beautiful.

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  23. I tried to leave a comment yesterday via my iPhone and it wouldn't post, so I am trying once again and hopefully this one works as I wouldn't want to pass up this giveaway and sharing how proud I am of you!!
    I had a bad Etsy selling year this past one too and I am sad to no longer have you as a fellow seller but wow what an amazing path you are walking. You have an incredible opportunity to impact lives with grace, hope, love and the Way. Your photography is close to my heart and stirs up my emotions with homesickliness. I love it all!! I can't decide which is my favorite. I love both the stump in the water and the one of your boots walking away!!
    Prayers for you and much love,
    ~dee

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Your voice is welcome here, your connection appreciated. Love and Light