The reason I fell in love with photography!

Recently, I have been remeniscent of the past ... mostly of the past 6 years as I have watched my marriage and family blossom from that of just Rob and I to a family of 6 (well, 5 1/2 right now ... still have a bun in the oven). We will be celebrating 6 years of marriage this April and I often find it hard to fathom that the Lord has blessed us with SO much in such a short period of time ... and I am not referring to materialistic things, but rather 3 little lives (and 1 still growing) that He has entrusted into our care. We have also lost 3 babies during this time and we feel confident that we will see them someday when our time has come (perhaps these are our girls!) What an awesome moment that will be! Our oldest son will be 5 in April which means we had very little time to actually "enjoy" our marriage as just husband and wife, but that is not a complaint ... I would do it over again in a heartbeat, as would my husband! My 1st pregnancy was very trying, to say the least, and I pretty much spent our 1st yr together in the bathroom over the toilet bowl. Let's just say Rob was a saint (and still is) for putting up with a miserable new bride! As I watched my 1st son grow from a tiny newborn to now a thriving 4 1/2 yr old ... and my 2nd born (our energetic little love/monkey) ... and now my 3rd born (our easy-going sweet little soul) ... I was really drawn to photography! I felt the need to capture those special everyday moments - from learning how to roll over and walk to drinking out of a cup to learning to self-feed to karate and soccer and swimming and learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. Each of these moments were SO important to me and memories I never wanted to forget. And so began my photography journey! We went from a really old little point-and-shoot Nikon that was passed down to us to a better Canon point-and-shoot to a mid range DSLR to now an incredible and much improved Nikon D700 that my husband blessed me with just prior to Christmas. I truly love capturing memories ... not only of my own family, but of others as well. It brings me such joy to give a gift of a treasured memory to a family, especially to a family in need who does not have the luxury of taking pictures or getting professional ones. I was recently interviewed by a very kind lady who asked to do a story about my ministry in the Rural Virginian - who happened to find my blog and pleasantly surprised me with an e-mail. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant at first, but after thinking and praying about it, I believed that it was the Lord's intervention in wanting this ministry to move forward. Upon asking if I was a professional, I qucikly said "NO!" She said, how about a "hobbyist," and I thought that sounded perfect! I love learning about photography and although I have a ways to go to get to where I'd like to be, that is so indicative of life, isn't it?! It's a journey and I like to think that, just like in life, I, too, am a growing Christian who loves the Lord, but I have a ways to go to become the Christian I'd like to be. I fail Him all too often, but I thank God for grace!  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)  Just as I will always be learning and growing in my talent, I'd like to believe that the Lord is growing me in my love for Him, too. Our home here on earth is just temporary ... I don't exactly like to think of life apart from my children and husband, but my eternal home rests with our Father in Heaven (what a reassuring thought!) and my little boys have a love for the Lord that I'm not sure I ever knew until I was an adult! We've been singing my son's favorite song every night at bedtime ..."How Great is our God!" It puts such smiles on their faces (despite my lack of ability to carry a tune - how awesome that my kids and God love my voice anyway) and it allows us to really get in both worship and thankful frame of minds - a frame of mind I need to be in constantly! It also brings an incredible sense of peace to me knowing we are raising God-fearing kids who really love the Lord. I think their favorite day of the week is Sunday because its church day where we praise and worship Jesus with our church family.  I am incredibly thankful for the gift of salvation!



 Here are a few of my own treasured memories from a few years back. My 3 little boys (and husband and bun in the oven) are God's most precious gift to me that I'm not sure I was ever deserving of. I am so grateful!