I met Laura through my FACEBOOK contest earlier this year!

Her little girl wasn’t too sure of me at first – but she warmed up!

I LOVE THOSE SHOTS!

Laura – thank you so much for asking me to photograph your family! I hope to see you again soon!

13 months – well now 14 since I’m so behind! Fitzy has been with us for more than a year – it’s unbelievable!

Here are some pictures throughout the month of May!

He is the happiest baby!

He loves getting into the kitchen cupboards!

He loves his momma – and I love him!

That picture on the left is the last one I took before my stupid 40D bit the dust.

HELLO HANDSOME!

I LOVE THOSE SHOTS! His hair looks so red in the sun!

He loves his dada too!

Fitzgerald – you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen! We love you!

Bryttani and Manley were such a GREAT couple to work with!

Her dress was BEAUTIFUL!

I love grainy images. I just do.

Thank you guys SO much for asking me to photograph your day! It was beautiful and wonderful!

My in-laws attend Church of the New Covenant here in Mansfield – where they have a Spanish service on Sunday afternoons. They met Ofelia and Martin through that service!

Ofelia and Martin have been married for several years – but only in a civil ceremony. She has been waiting a long time for her wedding!

I LOVE THOSE SHOTS!

Thank you SO much for asking me to capture your love!

Fitzy’s birthday fell on a Saturday this year – so we had a party!

I am not a huge birthday or party person. I HATE my birthday – since 1997 – it’s been awful – something always happens and it’s not good. Most of the time it’s several somethings happening.

ANYWAY – it was his first birthday and while he won’t remember it – there were lots of people that love him that wanted to remember it! My in-laws hosted for us and we had such a good time!

Before his party I took him outside for a few birthday shots!

Of course he fell asleep RIGHT before his party started!

Samm and I made the GIANT cupcake!

*J* was SO excited about his cupcake!

I think *J* liked hers too!

We let all the other kiddos “help” Fitzy open his gifts! They LOVED it!!

I LOVE THAT FAT LITTLE FINGER!!

*A* had such a good time playing with all the little presents too!

I LOVE THAT BOY!

We put him right in the tub – which he loves!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone that celebrated with us! We love you all and love you so much for loving our little guy!

Aunt L – thank YOU for letting me enjoy the day and taking most of these pictures! I love YOU!

I’ve known Forrest’s mom for a few years and we are friends on FACEBOOK. She contacted me about the vision she had for his senior pictures and I knew right away where we needed to go! We met on Market Street in Corning and captured exactly what they wanted out of their session!

Thanks again for coming to Corning and trusting my vision with your pictures!

Hannah contacted me around Christmas about a gift certificate for her dear friend Miranda – for a bridal session – which are MY FAVORITE sessions to shoot!

AMAZING! Isn’t she gorgeous!

BEAUTIFUL!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE those shots!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE birdcage veils!!!

MY FAVORITE SHOTS OF THE DAY! I love love LOVE those shots! I will totally be getting prints for the next bridal expo!!

Hannah – thank you SO much for gifting Miranda with this session! I had such a great time with you both!

Miranda – I can’t wait to see your wedding photos! I’m so excited that I can FINALLY post these!!

I’ve known Katie for a very long time – I don’t even know how long!

I had a wedding in March – but Katie’s wedding was my official start of wedding season!

Katie’s nieces and nephew – show stoppers for sure!

One of my favorite places in the valley to take pictures!!

LOVE THOSE ONES!

WAIT – THOSE ONES TOO!!

Doing our best to recreate a BRIDESMAIDS pose – I think it worked pretty well!

Josh painted the tattoos on their wedding topper! SO AWESOME!

Katie & Josh – we are SO happy for you! Thanks for being awesome (and our very own tattoo artists)!

*V* is my cousin. In my mind she is still 8 and a flower girl in my wedding. She will be 16 this year and it makes me shudder. She is beautiful and wonderful!

SERIOUSLY!

MY FAVORITES!!!

She brought her prom dress and we spent some time in our backyard shooting!

I LOVE THOSE SHOTS!

MY FAVORITES!!!

Oh – those ones too!

*V* – guard your heart and be yourself! WE LOVE YOU!

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Before they diagnosed me with TMJ disorder – I thought I was dying. I thought for sure I had a brain tumor that was pushing my eye out of the socket. A tumor that was pushing on my brain and making it feel like mice were running up and down my nerves. A tumor that was making my arm and face numb – making me delirious from pain. I was sure of it.

I prayed like I never prayed before. I cried. I yelled. I got down on my knees. I screamed. I begged. I cried. I slept. I prayed.

One night I opened by Bible – begging God to give me a verse – to speak to me. Psalm 46 is what I turned to. Verse 5 is what jumped out to me. God is within HER. SHE will not fall. God will help HER at break of day. How many times in the Bible is the word he used instead of she – LOTS! And this verse said SHE. That God would help HER at break of day. Nights were usually the worst for me. After being up all day and carrying around this pressured ball on my shoulders. I came home from working all day and cried and slept. And did it all again the next day. And the next day. I printed this verse out and put it under my keyboard at work – on the wall – in my calendar – EVERYWHERE! Jared helped me memorize it – going over it with me every night.

I said it over and over and over and over again. Cried it. Prayed it. Screamed it. GOD WILL HELP HER AT BREAK OF DAY. That one sentence was my lifeline. I held onto that hope that tomorrow I would wake up. That I would want to wake up – because I can honestly tell you that I wanted to die. I wished I would die. It hurt so bad – all the time. But I would repeat Psalm 46 and hold onto hope.

I started having symptoms in March of 2006 and didn’t get my retainer until August of 2008 – so two years of constant SEVERE pain. Two years of praying this prayer over and over and over again. After I started wearing my retainer – the pain decreased. It’s still there – almost all the time – but NOTHING compared to what it was. On a scale of 1 to 10 my pain used to be a 15. It’s now about a 3 to 4 all the time. GIANT IMPROVEMENT. It’s something I’m used to at this point. When a storm comes through I’m usually pain free. Otherwise – it’s there.

Knowing that my pain was manageable – we decided to try and get pregnant. I’m sure most of you know about that long road and struggle and blessing in the end. Psalm 46 spoke to me then too. GOD IS WITHIN HER – SHE WILL NOT FALL. I felt helpless. I felt alone. I felt forgotten. But I would repeat Psalm 46 – over and over again. And again. And then again. I felt like I was a mountain falling into the sea. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of babies and pregnancies and blessings – that weren’t ours.

Our sweet miracle is now 14 months old – so we are at the point where people are asking (telling really) – YOU NEED TO HAVE ANOTHER – WHEN ARE YOU GONNA HAVE ANOTHER – YOU NEED TO GET STARTED ON THAT. And (sadly) I’m at the point where I say – well – since we’ve had two miscarriages now – I don’t know. I know for some people they can literally just think about getting pregnant and just like that – it happens that month. I don’t know what that’s like. I do know what it’s like to try and try and try for months on end (eighteen for Fitzy) and crash every month you get your period – fall into a heap and scream and pray and cry. That’s what I know. I know what’s it like to lose – not one but two babies and wonder if it will ever happen again. If we were to get pregnant again – would we stay pregnant? If we miscarry again – that’s it. We’re done. I’ve been pregnant 3 times – only once past 10 weeks. Knowing that the next time I get pregnant might be our last scares me. So I repeat Psalm 46 again – for yet another season in my life.

I write this to encourage you. To tell you that you are not alone. To let you know that God LOVES you.

You might need Psalm 46 in your life right now. Know it. Breathe it.