Well, round one of boudoir sessions is complete. This weekend was spent photographing some amazingly beautiful ladies. I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun it was to pamper my clients and make them feel beautiful. I cannot believe I have the honor of doing this for a living. I am so very blessed.

Our winter wonderland weekend was a very quiet one at our house. Friday afternoon our little Keegan went to go hang out at his Nana and Poppa's house so that Nathan could do some studying and I could do some work. The storm hit and the snow was coming down Michigan style so, he ended up just spending the night at their house. This meant that our house was very very quiet. It was strange to say the least. We had an entire 24 hours at home with no kid.

We spent the evening snuggling on the sofa and watched a movie. It felt like we were dating again.

The next morning I woke up at my normal time while my hubby slept in. I had the whole house to myself. I had time to just be still. I leasurly drank my coffee and dove into some reading. It was wonderful.

As wonderful as that 24 hours was, it was even more wonderful to welcome home our little boy. The quiet was nice for a day but we much prefer the noise. The noise of laughter, playing, and even throwing temper tantrums.

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend weather it was full of noise or full of silence.

As we wait for the snow to start coming down I thought it would be fun to share with you what "real snow" looks like. I know that we got a pretty hefty dose of it hear in Tulsa this Christmas but it always makes me laugh to see how Oklahoma natives react to "winter weather". I am from Michigan and "real snow" was what came along with winter. I loved it. I have so many wonderful memories of playing outside in the beautiful snow.

This is often what I would see when I looked outside during the months of November-February.

And here are some photos of little me growing up with snow.

Some of my newer blog readers may not know that a few years ago we bought a fixer upper (not the kind of fixer upper that just needs some fresh paint on the walls). Nope, we were all gung ho about doing all of the work ourselves to turn a profit. We thought that we could realistically get it all done in about 6 months with all of the cosmetic final touches to be completed in one year.

"Ha..ha..ha...ha!" That is the sound of our house laughing in my face.

What we didn't realize in the process of this huge untertaking was that life was going to throw us a few surprises. Shortly after moving in, my husband decided to quit his steady job as the worship leader at our church so that he could persue the medical field. He had always dreamed of doing this and we weren't getting any younger so, off to school he went.

Of course this whole process put the majority of our financial burdens upon me. I was ready to support my man and trust the Lord to provide for us as I waited tables at a local steakhouse. While I was making ends meet, working late hours at the restaurant I couldn't shake this yerning I had inside to start doing photography. When I finally scraped enough money together to buy a decent camera, I hit the ground running. With every little photography job that came my way, I put a little money in my pocket to purchase all of the gear that I would need to run a "real" photography business. Needless to say, our house projects got pushed further down on our priority meter.

Then.....The doozie. I got pregnant! When I gave my husband the news he forgot to blink for two days straight. He just stared into space wondering how in the world we were going to do this and wondering what in the world was God thinking!

Well as it turns out, God knew a lot more than we thought he did at the time. I got too fat to keep waiting tables and too exhausted to do both the photography gigs and the restaurant gig. One night after getting rammed in the belly with a glass rack at the restaurant, I came home with swelled eyes full of tears telling my hubby that I just couldn't do this anymore. The next day I quit.  We just knew that our God would provide and take care of us somehow. We prayed for my photography business to do well so that Nathan could continue school and so that we could buy diapers for our soon to arrive baby boy.

God is faithful. My business is so much more than I could have ever dreamed of. I am the mother of a beautiful little boy and the wife of an amazing man who only has one more year left of school.

My house....well, that is another story. It is a constant work in progress. We just haven't had the time, energy or funds to finish it.

My office....well, if any of you peeked in the door without my knowing. I would die. It is an embarassing ugly mess. I am challenging myself over the next few months to work on it little by little. Even if I only put in ten minutes a day, progress will eventually happen. It needs major organization, paint and cleaning.

I found some beautifully organized office photos online to inspire me kick me in the rear.

So, now you know a little more about me and my family. I hope that you have a wonderful Monday!

When we became parents, we had all of these grand ideas about the great things that we were going to teach our son Keegan. As it turns out, the longer that we are parents we realize that our little son has so much to teach us.

For example:

Life is full of unexpected treasures. Explore everything around you and remember to have lots of fun while you are doing it.

Don't apologize for staying in your pajamas until noon.

Worry less about having a perfectly clean house and focus more on giving hugs. (Heck, you could even hug the basket full of laundry that needs to be folded.)

Read lots of good books and spend lots of time with your loved ones. You know....they say that the only difference between who you are today and who you are a year from now is from the books that you read and the people that you surround yourself with.

Remember to laugh often and smile really really big. (Oh, and be especially cute around your Auntie so that she will give you anything that you want.)

Stop worrying about what people think of you. Just be yourself.

Take each day one step at a time. If you find that the shoes you are wearing are hard to fill, just lean on someone who will always be there if you fall.

Along with everyone else, I have been mourning...crying...praying...wondering why this happened. I cannot put into words the emotions and the heartache that I have felt over this past week as I am sure all of you feel the same way. I had been planned on doing a personal post today with photos of my little boy and I just couldn't. I really felt that I needed to share with all of my blog readers what it is that I have really been thinking about. After all, I did promise you that I would do more posts to help you get to know me.

The images of the earthquake and it's destruction are quite certainly etched into our minds forever. As I sit in my warm home with a full belly, I am moved to tears. If I am honest with myself, I have not been grateful. The little bit that I give to organizations that I believe in somehow seems to be way too little and I feel that I have been consuming way too much.  I have everything that I need and so much more. A disaster that has destroyed homes and taken over 200,000 lives, has changed me. I mean....really changed the direction of my heart.

I am a visual person so, it really helps me to process my feelings when I can see things.  Within the multitude of images of destruction, despair, death and grief. I came across these. 

These are people who have suffered more grief and loss and pain than humankind has known. And yet.....here they are crying out to their Maker. I cannot imagine what must be going through their minds. So much pain, so much loss and yet they have hope. This is pure, undeniable faith. I am encouraged by these beautiful people.

The amount of aide and help that these people need and are going to need in the future calls us to respond. There are countless ways to help. I encourage you to do so. Do not wait.

Please click on the link below to hear a beautiful song written for Haiti by our dear friends Michael and Lisa Gungor. When the little music box comes up on their myspace click on the top song entitled "Song for Haiti".