When we were in St. Thomas for Erin and Wes’ wedding, James and I took an evening to hike down to the pocket beach near the Villa we were staying at, and we snapped a few photos along the way that I’ve compiled into a short little blogpost.
 We had no idea when we got married three years ago that this is what our life together would look like. Not the slightest idea. James was going to be a high school art teacher and I was going to graduate with a journalism degree and then figure something out because I had no desire to write for a newspaper anymore. And then absolutely nothing happened like we had planned and we were given something exponentially better than we had originally hoped for ourselves. Praise the Lord for giving us what we didn’t even know we wanted.
And now I can’t imagine our lives any other way.
I can’t put into words how blessed I feel to be in this profession and to have my husband working alongside me as JZP continues to grow.
There’s no one else in the world I’d rather be on this adventure with than James.
Last month James and I got on a plane to Spain.
Upon our arrival in Valencia we met up with one of my best friends who I hadn’t seen in a year since she’d moved to England.
Then we rode to my favorite place in my favorite town in all of Spain — Alfa y Omega in Denia.
There we joined a small group from the church I had grown up in (Tolar Baptist) who had already been serving at a kids camp there the previous week. Eight of the eleven people in the team are related to me in some form or fashion, so it was a pretty tightly knit group of folks.
That following week we ran a camp for the local children to come learn English, play sports, make crafts, sing songs and learn about Jesus. Funny story, almost none of the photos in this post are of the kids because the whole time I was with them I was teaching words and motions to songs . . . in a gym . . . slightly sweating . . . and pictures just never happened. The following photos are mostly taken in the evenings after the kids went home and we went out exploring the Spanish countryside and soaking up the hospitality of Pastor Jorge and his wife, Encarnita. They are some of my absolute most favorite people in the world.
This is my Meaggie! We lived together in college and she was the maid of honor in mine and James’ wedding. I was ridiculously giddy to see her and experience Denia with her!
Jorge is the pastor at Iglesia Bautista, the church Tolar Baptist partners with in putting on the kids camp at Alfa y Omega. His love for Jesus and his then inevitable love for every single person around him is evident to each person he comes in contact with. He loves his church and his town well. Fun fact, he was also awarded the key to the city of Fort Worth as well, so basically he leaves a really good impression every place he ever goes. Ever. I adore him and his wife, Encarnita.
This is my giggly Aunt Diana and Uncle Dwain.
These lovebirds are my parents. I love taking photos of my parents all sweet-like together.
Ah! My favorite boys (minus Jasper, Jacob and Jack — see my instagram feed for relationship explanations) — my dad, husband and little (weirdo) brother Jayce.
You guys, this is Cameron. He was the Spanish-English interpreter for the Bible stories at the camp! He started out as a camper himself two summers before and it’s been such a joy to see him grow from the boy who pretended not to be able to speak English ALL WEEK (even though he’s perfectly fluent) so that he didn’t have to help out (haha, but really) into the kid who gave up a week of his summer just TO help us share Bible stories with younger campers. I’m so proud of this guy.
One of the things I was most excited for this summer was to introduce James to Pastor Jorge and Denia. I had been twice before but this was James’ first time to go!
This is the Denia tradition of trying to get the bulls to run into the Mediterranean. I had seen it before but never where a bull actually jumped into the ocean — so fun!
Don’t worry, the bull didn’t actually “get” anyone except for the poor fellow below but thankfully he did not appear to be injured — he jumped into the sea himself and swam off because one personal interaction with the bull was enough for him.
The last night we were there was the big parade in downtown so we did it up big with paella, festivities and churros.
So that was Spain.
Well, everything except for all the dozens of sweet Spanish children and parts where I look like I’ve been jumping, dancing and singing in two languages in a gym for three hours at a time. But you get the picture.
I’m so thankful for each and every time I get the opportunity to serve the Lord alongside my dear friend in Denia. So, so thankful.
Greetings from Dénia, Spain!
I just ate the most delicious peach I’ve ever held, can feel the breeze from the Mediterranean making its way through my window and have spent the past couple of days brushing up on my Spanish while teaching at a kid’s Bible/English camp with some of the most beautiful souls.
Life is good.
My Spanish, not so much.
I may have initially fooled myself into thinking I’d blog during the course of this trip, but it turns out I’m not. I just can’t bring myself to miss a second of this Spanish sunshine but know the blog will be updated again next week — and eventually with a post of more photos from this trip to one of my most favorite places in the world amongst some of my most favorite people in the world.
Y’all, June was a big month for the Zamoras. This month we celebrated three years of marriage. I turned 24. We shot a wedding in the Virgin Islands. Also James had a solo show at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas.
Like I said, it was a big month.
I’m terrible at not always documenting my own life with my “big girl” camera but I AM a faithful instagramer, so I thought I’d share the month’s highlights with you with some of my Iphone photos.
We started the month off with our third anniversary and decided this year we wanted to celebrate it Denton style. We went to brunch at one of our favorite breakfasts spots, Seven Mile Cafe, and then headed to the square where we walked around a sculpture exhibit and bought an extraordinary amount of candy.
Hey, we were celebrating.
Later that afternoon we went to see a movie and ended the day at a great Denton restaurant that I have been wanting to try forever called Hannah’s off the Square. It did NOT disappoint.
And neither did our third year of marriage. I’m so incredibly lucky to have James by my side for the rest of my life. Some days all I can think about is how thankful I am to Jesus for granting me the very best, most hilarious, loving man as a husband.
A couple of weeks later we were off to shoot a wedding in St. Thomas and despite how sleepy James looks in the photo below taken at the airport we were very, VERY excited for this opportunity to work with such a great couple in such a breathtaking place.
One of the things I was looking forward to the most about this trip was the helicopter ride to the island where the ceremony would take place — I had never been in a helicopter before and it was just SO MUCH FUN!
 The entire day all I could do was think to myself, “I can’t believe this is really happening.”
I honestly still can’t.
We are so thankful to Erin and Wes for giving us such a great opportunity. I’m so excited to get their images all edited and blogged in the coming weeks, but for now you can view their preview here.
The following day James and I got to explore a bit around the island just for fun. I did actually bring my DSLR camera on some of those adventures and will perhaps blog those later when I blog their wedding images — we shall see.
Back at home we reunited with our sweet pup Jack. Just in case you were wondering, yes, he is still super-adorable.
This photo was taken just this past Thursday at James’ opening reception for his solo painting show at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas. Y’all, he’s so ridiculously talented. I’m just so proud of him.
If you’d like to see his work in person, it will be up through the end of July so be sure to swing by and take it all in if you get the chance.
And that right there was our June in a nutshell. James and I will be packing up this week to head out for a mission trip to Denia, Spain with a group from the church I grew up in, Tolar Baptist Church. I’ve been twice before and blogged last summer’s trip, but this will be James’ first time to come meet our dear friends at Alfa y Omega so I’m super-pumped about it!
Feel free to follow along with all of my instagram feed at @jillian_zamora_photo.
Happy last day of June, everyone!
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