We call her all sorts of things. For example, when she was born, she was literally the most beautiful baby you could ever imagine. Nurses and Doctors came from other floors to see her. Well, maybe it was her hair! She had TONS of hair. It lay perfectly about her little face in big gorgeous curls. And so it was, we called her Hairy Mary. Then came a birthday and she loved care bears. And so it was, we called her Hair Bear. Soon after she began to sing, ALL the time so we called her Merle. And not too far behind that she bagen to climb door frames and hollar that she was stuck up there. Then monkey bars, then people! And so it was, we call her Squirrel! And our little squirrel (Mary) is still as beautiful as the day she was born.
Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Patch with friends to pick out our family pumpkin. I took some snap shots and after looking them over at home I came to this one. It melted my heart. I remembered exactly what was goin on when I snapped this. Mary had her little pumpkin that was all her own. We were all walking towards the line to get back on the hay rides down topay for our pumpkins. She had been attached to me the entire time, even so much so that I had to make her let goof my hand to push the camera button for a few photos. (still melting my heart) And I had asked her to go hold her daddy's hand for one second. She went and I realized he was carrying two pumpkins; ours and a friends; thus he had no extra hand to hold. So Mary laid her sweet little hand upon the pumpkin he was carrying and looking back to see if her momma was coming. I was snapping away and it wasn't until I came home that I saw her expression in this picture. Of course, I had to ask her (even though I knew) what she must have been thinking at that moment. Her reply........ I needed you to be with me. I didn't want to go on the hayride without you with me.
SIGH!!!!!! It made me feel wanted, because we all know that as moms, sometimes we feel unappreciated and less liked if we are the disciplinary. But these moments bring us back to how much we are appreciated and how much we are loved by our little people, our children!
And what a perfect example of what our hearts should look like towards our heavenly Father!! Looking to make sure He's there, because we don't want to go anywhere that He's not with us! Lessons from our little Squirrel. 
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You like to think you would know how to handle a certain situation if it ever happened to you but the truth is, YOU DON'T and it's more likely that how you wish you could respond is far from how you would. But some people have an inner strength, a solid foundation and a love FROM the Lord that gives them grace, courage and perseverence. Grace to walk through the situation, Courage to face it daily and perserverence to want to face tomorrow. My friend Brenda is such a woman. And she has no idea how beautiful she is!
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This young lady blew me away. First, I met her at dark and tried my best to capture her pictures in the dark...... HA, no such luck. I had to re-do her session the next morning after breakfast. But I am so glad it happened that way. The night before we were rushing to beat the light. The next morning we were both more relaxed and had time to chat. Here was this young girl asking me about my life and what I thought......... HELLO world! She was more interested in seeing who I was as a person than telling me about herself. I was blown away, impressed and fell absolutely in love with who she is and at such a young age. Briana, thank-you for being forgiving of a photographer who is still learning. I hope it was as worth it to you as it was to me. I am better for meeting you and being refreshed in that there are still young people who have a heart for God! I hope these images are what you were looking for!
 
Darlene was scheduled for 4:30 BUT............ so was someone else. That someone else got there first and we started shooting. My ADHD kicked in high gear and before I knew it, I was heading to my 5:00 and heard a distant voice letting me know they were my 4:30. Ummmmm, yeah. I felt HORRIBLE! For Darlene, for the 5:00 and for me. My mind went racing and all I could think was this has started off really bad. BUUUTTT. Darlene was sweet. She immediately let it go and decided to have fun! And she did. She brought her cousin and another friend. Nothing better than having your close friends cheer you on and give you that secret permission to feel beautiful, well, because you are but you won't allow yourself to ever feel it. Right women?? These pictures were for her husband, touched that soft spot in my heart because we all know how much I love my Tim! Darlene, thank you for being so understanding, thank you for having fun and thank you for a wonderful time with your friends. I enjoyed my time with you three and I hope the pictures are up to the hubby's standards......... I'm sure they will be, you are a beautiful woman!
 
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone quite like Debora. I don't know much about her and I just met her briefly but there's a reason for that. I met her because she won a drawing for a free session at the women's retreat this past weekend. Her session should have started at 5pm. I had to meet her at 4:50 and let her know I was running late. I had (2) 4:30 sessions scheduled and it was only suppose to be one session. Deborah waited patiently and showed me more grace than I deserved. And I felt awful that we had to rush through her session because dinner was being served but again, I was met with grace. Even as we did her session, she just seemed to go about without a care in the world. All the while, oozing this sweetness that words can not even describe. It's no wonder that her name means "bee". Deborah, I hope that our pathes cross again soon! Without saying a word, you showed me more about grace than anyone could have taught me with words. You are a beautiful woman! And I feel privileged to know you!
 
Danielle was awesome! She wanted to include her sister in her pictures. What a way to make a memory! These two were uber fab because they climbed rocks, walked all over and put up with my shouting across the way for direction on where to stand, where to look and what to do next. One thing I noticed was the undeniable connection between these two sisters. The way they chatted from one spot to another. You could see they were close. They wore smiles the entire time. I was completely nervous because they were my first shoot for the day but their joy put me at ease and well.............. yes world, they made me want to go out and rent-a-sister for the weekend. But I was ok, I had tons of sisters in Christ for the weekend. Ladies, I really enjoyed my time with you. I hope the pictures are something that will be looked at years from now and make you smile.

JULIA

10/11/2010

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She had won and didn't even know it. That's until she arrived and someone told her. Looking back, I am so glad she won. She was an absolute blessing. She has a calming presence and I needed it that day! She is very unaware of what her session did for me; what she did for me. She listened! I am sure I poured out way too many personal details about myself but she listened. Her voice was kind, her eyes were accepting and she reminded me of an unconditional love that only Christ offers. This young woman is going to exceed her own wildest dreams. By wild I don't mean tappin' out the bars. I mean God is going to use her HUGE!!!! Julia, I hope that these images are what you were hoping for. I enjoyed my time with you and Tonya and Laura. You girls were so refreshing, fun and oh yeah, workin' it like nobodies business!! ALL THREE OF YOU!
 
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together perfectly. He's taller than her but she measures up! It was love at first nothing. See, he came to a surprise party her family held. They both had other relationships going. And..... they had NOTHING in common. His family began to attend her father's church and after time they realized they did have one thing in common. They love DRAMA. (the performing kind, not the obnoxious kind ;) But they annoyed each other. As more time passed, both of their outside relationships ended. They both knew what they wanted in a partner.... a solid relationship with Christ! They started hanging out at bookstores and Starbucks on the weekends and then more at church. Annoyances became fewer and eventually where you saw one, you saw the other. Funny, they never officially dated but were constantly at each others side. Dates weren't even really dates. It consisted of him visiting her at work or watching movies at "the parents". Even the propsal was wack! (sorry Cody, just sayin') He popped the question the day after Thanksgiving, 2006. (IN TRAFFIC PEOPLE!!!) They were married in June, 2007 and according to Brittany, she's never regretted one minute! For people who love drama; the building up of a love story, the dates, the proposal; totally not what I expected. BUT it's a good thing love stories don't end at the beginning, atleast not the real ones!! And while their story might seem like it started off lax, I promise, they have kicked it into high gear. These two are magnetic and they totally attract...... one another. You can see his affection towards her when he comes up with poses he knows she will love. And you can  hear their affirmation for one another when they speak. In light of sounding really corny, they complete each other. I really enjoyed my time with them and I hope they enjoy my spin on their love story. Pictures included!

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These next two are examples of how the entire session went, they were so much fun! I love having clients who are comfortable enough to enjoy their session.
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