52 WEEKS (and the BEST decision you’ll ever make)

Filed under: baby barden,birth,just because,my family,word of God — admin at 2:37 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012

While Fitzy’s birthday isn’t until Saturday – he was born on the last Thursday in April – which is today!!

I cannot believe that this little – well – NOT so little – guy has been here for 52 weeks. 52 Thursdays.

I’ve really been sucking it up with blogging lately. Working from “home” and being a wife and a momma is TOUGH. I am so behind on editing – cleaning (what’s that) – and I just feel stretched too thin. I am so glad that I took time off this year from photography. Normally my schedule is CRAZY packed. I feel like right now it’s just enough – although – like I said – I am crazy behind on editing.

SO much has happened this year – ON TOP of being parents for the first time!

Jared and I started a marriage blog – the marriage fight – and since then I feel like we’ve done NOTHING but argue – giving us LOTS of topics to cover.

This year I have discovered that having Jesus in my life is SO IMPORTANT. More so than any other years – even 2009 – which was EQUALLY horrible. Without Jesus living in me I would have given up a long time ago – on a lot of things.

God heard the cry of my heart. He gave me a BEAUTIFUL baby and a renewed hope. He has given me an amazing husband and the strength to work through our struggles and come out REFINED. God is CRYING out to you today. YOU WERE BORN FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. How POWERFUL is that? God brought YOU into THIS moment and THIS time for a very specific reason. I keep trying to remember that as we go through these past few months and the months to come. Jared and I both feel called to be a ministry – to YOU. The best way for us to share God’s love is to blog. Starting this marriage blog was something we felt God was urging us to do. WE WERE BORN FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.

YOU HAVE A PURPOSE – a DIVINE purpose – and God is using you RIGHT NOW – even if you feel like you are in the middle of absolute CRAP (cus I’m feeling it) – HE IS REFINING YOU. He is bringing you to your purpose. HE LOVES YOU. OH MY WORD HOW HE LOVES YOU. Answer that cry. Don’t wait. He will TRANSFORM your life!

Thank you God for bringing Fitzy into our lives. He is an amazing little boy. He worships You – he raises his little hands (something I’ve been doing at home lately but just can’t do it in public yet) and he closes his little eyes and lets the music flow over him. He reaches out to You. It is the most amazing and heart warming experience I’ve ever had. Our struggle to have him has brought so many closer to You and to hope. You are already doing amazing things through him. I only pray that in the time you are lending him to us that we can help shape and mold him into the man you intend him to be. I can’t even think about him all grown up – the tears just come faster and I can’t see to type – so – thank You for him.

Happy 52 weeks here with us Fitzy! We love you!!

*K* KIDDOS

Filed under: babes,family,just because,kiddos,portraits — admin at 12:16 pm on Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I took photos of these CUTIES before Christmas and couldn’t wait to see them for their birthdays in the spring!

The twins are a few weeks older than Fitzy!

*K* is such a GREAT big sister!

*K* family – thank you SO much for asking me capture your beautiful family! I hope to see you again SOON!

 

BROTHER & SISTER

Filed under: family,just because,kiddos,portraits — admin at 12:51 pm on Monday, April 16, 2012

I love LOVE LOVE this family! I’ve known Nicole for almost TWO years – craziness. She and Dustin have become more than clients to me – truly good friends!

One of the reasons I love Nicole so much shows in this photo session!

Dustin has a little girl that is a bit older than Nicole and Dustin’s son *E* – and Nicole wanted pictures of the two of them together! I think it’s beautiful and awesome for Nicole to set this up and encourage a relationship between the two of them – when so many spouses wouldn’t.

She is GORGEOUS!

I LOVE THOSE SHOTS!

SO SWEET!

At the end of our session – *E* took a little tumble down the stairs – scraping his face. Terrifying his mother and kicking in her supermom speed!

Poor little guy! And to think – this is what I have to look forward to – the fearlessness of boys! Ahhh!

Nicole – thank you again for being you!

*E* – 6 MONTHS

Filed under: babes,family,just because,kiddos,portraits — admin at 12:12 pm on Thursday, April 5, 2012

I don’t know how often I can say it – but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my . babies . babies . babies . clients! I get to see them at pregnancy then cuddle that little newborn bundle and watch them grow throughout their first year! It’s THE BEST!

Little *E* is SUCH a cutie! She is so chubby – I can’t even stand it!

I met the *I* family through this little guy’s mom – *E*’s aunt! We had to get a shot of the cousins!

SERIOUSLY!

OH MY HEART! LOOK AT THOSE ROLLS!

Sara and Josh – thank you SO much for welcoming me into your hearts! I have LOVED watching *E* grow!

MARRIAGE

Filed under: bardenisms,just because,love,marry me,my family,newsworthy — admin at 1:07 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Jared went to my wedding on Saturday with me! He is such a good guy. I was SO sick – on Friday I woke up with a little sore throat and by Saturday morning that little sore throat had turned into a BIG sore throat. I felt like I was swallowing glass ALL DAY. I have never had to bring my own six pack of water and box of tissues and cough drop stash to a wedding. And you know that sudden urge to cough – which is what I did all day – that you CANNOT hold – yea – that happened during the ceremony. Fitzy is equally sick – poor guy – all these weather changes and then trying to make him social and expose his little immune system in turn exposes you to all the other little sickies. He stayed with my parents all day – THANKS MOM & DAD – and got the grandpa and grandma cuddles he so needed!

ANYWAY – as you know – we’ve had some pretty rough months – YEARS – in our married life. Things that we have learned from and grown closer because of – things that have made us so mad at each other and things that have caused us to fall in love more and more.

On the way to and from the wedding we talked about what God has for us. Our ministries. And blogging is a big part of that. We write about almost everything – except our marriage – our struggles – our joys – our fears – our hopes – our expectations – what it’s like to invite God into your marriage. After writing the blogs about the P word from a he said – she said perspective we tossed around the idea of doing more postings like that. I have a list of topics we can touch on – but then we had a better idea – what do YOU want to know!

Cus you know – Jared and I are EXPERT marriage advice givers. Riiiight.

We got SO many responses from the P word blog that we thought – why not give this a shot. YOU pick the topic. Jared will write about it then I will give my version – or vice versa.

We have a few ideas already but really wanted to see what YOU are struggling with – it’s probably some of the same stuff we are. Here’s the thing – marriage isn’t easy. And I’ve had enough conversations to know that Jared isn’t the only guy that does what he does – or doesn’t do. Men and women are SO different but God MADE them to compliment each other – a matching set.

We will be keeping it real. We will be getting ugly sometimes – cus life is ugly sometimes. You might cry. You might stop reading. You might get mad. You might be encouraged to work on your relationship that’s been crumbling. You might be led to ask Jesus into your lives AND your marriage.

So – comment – email – facebook – whatever – but tell us what topics YOU want to read about! And keep an eye out for the NEW website we will be using to host these discussions!

 

 

APRIL SPECIAL

Filed under: blog update,just because,love,marry me,newsworthy,wedding — admin at 12:40 pm on Monday, April 2, 2012

barden photography is THREE this month! I cannot believe that it’s been three years of doing what I absolutely LOVE! Three years of sharing our lives with you and capturing the moments in yours! Thank you SO much for all the prayers – support – love – encouragement – I could NOT have done it without your beautiful faces!

I only have about 10 open spots for weddings in 2013 – when you book your wedding THIS month – you get EITHER a free 20 x 30 canvas OR a free 30 page (12 x 12) wedding album OR 10% off your entire package.

I must have the deposit in my hand by 4.30.2012 and which special you want to take advantage of!

Thank you again for all your love!!