my world. a amazing photographer in cali Tara Whitney has challenged others to take a family picture once a month then write something about it. something about each person and what is going on right then with your family.then at the end of the year to put it all in a book together! such a fab idea!!  soooo usually i just go yeah what a great idea and then never do it but im reallllly going to try and do this one! i do have one family pic taken in Jan, just not on this computer but i will post it here as well. SO for now here is my babes. When I took this image life was great. we had several days of playing in the beautiful snow, everyone home, no where to run off to, no sports practice, no work, just no obligations. one thing great about living where we do…get snow and everything shuts down. its kinda great! we have awesome neighbors that we get out and play with just enjoy time with each other.things we seem to take for granted! phoenix has his red bull hat on that he adores and wears all of the time, i dont love it. its very bright and i refuse to let him wear it turned the right way because i think he looks like a thug he is a freshman and doing conditioning every day for the high school soccer team. i am nervous about the season starting because he is really the only goalie and will be playing ALOT, as his mommy i feel like this is a lot of pressure for him! steve says its good for him, makes him tough! he has no girl friend right now so that is a nice lil break, im enjoying him not wanting to run off every minute of the day! he eats non stop. molly is finishing up basketball. they have one more game then tournys. she is soo good at ball. she becomes this lil beast out on the court, fierce and serious. a red head! in this picture and all of the pictures from the snow her hair is sooo vibrant red! i love it. its so beautiful and it makes me think about our heritage. her great great grandmother gave her that red hair. i love that. kinda jealous she takes art every week and paints beautiful images for everyone. she is growing and changing daily. she is obsessed with sonic slushies right now. the sad part of this picture is that the day after we took these her precious lil kitty was killed in a awful accident. she got her in october for her birthday and in those short months EllieMae was a huge part of our family! We all have cried and been sad for the loss. i was so worried about molly and how she would handle this. sad and angry, yes. but so strong and brave. all i could tell her was to “go to God” and being the strong Christian that she is i do believe He is helping her  (all of us) get through it. so even though i dont wnat to see this time in a picture, im afraid that is what i see. but i know this too shall pass and its a part of our lives. Joel Osteen did a sermon and said…its not happening to me but FOR me. God is preparing me for bigger and better, preparing us for His work. amen!  Now even though steve and i arent in this pic i will say a lil about us..for the challenge and all. steve, well he is working hard on the buisness end of my photography. the part i really dont enjoy! he is being the amazing engineer on the fire dept, he of course is taking care of me! that is what he does best, i love him more each and every day. he is growing a mohawk and going to get more tattooes soon! love him. together we are going to predators hockey games and hoping for a spot in the playoffs!  now the hard part..me. well im in a place of needing great healing. after an amazing fall season of being overworked and so busy i dont even know how i got through. praising Him daily for the abundant work and blessings found in each and every client! it was over and Christmas was here. time to slow down a bit and just enjoy my family. another surgery and now weeks later finally ready to go back to work. i have to admit im lazy now. with the surgery and recovery, then all of this hum drum winter weather im just lazy. if i could stay home every day and wear my comfy sweat pants with the bottoms cut out and one of my many fav hoodies…i would. but i know its time to poke my head out and get back to work! get back to life outside of our lil bubble after burying steves sweet grandma this week im missing my grandparents that are in KY. gotta get there asap to visit and hug and soak in their smell and sweetness. so that is me. feeling hopeful for a healthier year and ready for some sunshine!

i hope each of you will take on this challenge. take a moment each month to photograph your family, nothing fancy just a quick snapshot. grab everyone before dinner ask the neighbor to snap a pic, document 2010 as your family really is every day!

If your a photographer you know how hard it is to get pictures of your own family. (and I guess even if you arent one too) Much less get ones you truly love. I always look at my clients images and dream of having them of my own. My kids are pretty well photographed but as a family, not so much and Steve and I together, forget it! Well for a week now I knew I wanted to TRY to get some before my upcoming surgery, it was really important to me. Knowing this my sweet husband told our kids to behave and cooperate and pretend your having fun, do it for mom. SOOO im calling these “pity mom surgery pics” but HEy you have to take what you can get. We actually did have a pretty good time out together and the kids (and steve) and even Vegas (our wonder dog) were the best they have ever been for family pictures. I wasnt convinced we got anything amazing but I am so beyond thrilled with these. Just us. Just fun. Just jeans and a field. God has blessed me so.

This will be my last post for a while. Surgery is Thursday. I will be off of work for several weeks. Please email me with any questions or to book your Fall session. This is the time to start thinking about Christmas cards and gift portraits. Book early!

LOve you all. Thank you for all of your prayers, I will keep you updated as much as I can!

My prayer this morning was that the youth group and adults would see people the way that the Lord sees them, that they could love only the way He can. That all of us could help others and help ourselves at the same time, the way He wants us to. I know this isnt my typical post. Im afraid these portraits are not of cute adorable lil babes but rather a small group of homeless people in Nashville. This is a ministry I have wanted to start for quite a while and after our first trip today I hope and pray we will be able to continue to do this more and more often! Meet Miss Betty who has the biggest blue eyes and smile. SHe is quite hysterical and keeps all of these men together! Then you have Anthony, a big guy of stature but the shyest of the group, he was a little unsure of having me photographing him, but who can say no to my sweet lil face..right? After that you have Robert, a very intelligent man, he had lots to talk about and was open with us and the kids about his hurt hand. He had gotten sick and tried to end his own life, he is better now and asked for some warm slip on shoes as he has trouble putting shoes on. Last you have Kayce, defiantly the most outgoing and happy to give us a tour of their homes. Homes that consist of tents made out of tarps and plastic, inside you will find a wide array of items. One might look at their home and feel sorry for them, or wonder how they survive in those conditions. I know I have. but if you take a little bit of time and talk to them, they are proud of what they have, they were very secretive about where they are located. They do not want any of the “rift raft” bothering them. They love their home on the river, no complaints of how cold it is, as we all stood around freezing. We delivered several boxes of food, tarps, blankets, clothes and misc items to them, Just a little something to try and make their days a lil brighter and better. Walking away from them was one of the hardest things I ever done. I wanted to know more,help more and pray more. As we got in our nice heated cars its hard not to rethink some things, rethink life and the people in it. Those are Gods people just as I am. We just have different stories and different paths. I know our paths will cross again as we have already started planning our next trip to see them, we have a new list of items that they need. So please pray for them, for all of the homeless people.

Did I say Big NEws? Well its coming. Since I have been off for what seems FOREVER I have had alot going on. I have some amazingly exciting news coming up. I hope to finalize it today but until then here is a HINT! Can you guess? THis is a super duper HINT so surely you get it? RIght?