I never want to life a day without being grateful for the gifts that God has given.  It was His plan for my life to be a photographer at this moment. . . maybe not in five years.  Or in ten years.  But right now, in this moment, I have an awesome privilege that I have been given–and I never want to take that for granted.  I can remember back to 2009 when I had the painful decision in front of me to resign from my tenured teaching position for good or to return to work for a year hoping that I would get pregnant right away and be able to take another two years of maternity leave–sort of cheating the system, but able to hold on to that security blanket of a job to fall back on.  I wrestled with it for the two years of maternity leave that I took.  But I was at the end of that window, and I needed to make a decision.  I put it off until nearly the last week I was allowed to.  I knew in my heart of hearts that I didn’t want to continue teaching and that I wanted to stay home and raise my children.  But something about letting go made me feel like I was like a fish out of water.  Gasping for air and worried lifeless because I couldn’t see past the immediate danger that I felt I was in.

But God always has a plan.  Even if it’s what you think is Plan B.  I learned that letting go was the biggest decision that I have ever made in my life.  I let go, and God opened these doors for me that I did not even know existed.

And now, moms and dads bring their families and little babies to me to capture a moment in time for them.  They trust me with this amazing thing of preserving their present.  They invest their hard earned
money in me and hang my art up on their walls.  Almost fifty brides and grooms have trusted James and I to capture the most important day in their lives.  I think I’m still living in a sense that this is not truly reality–in a twilight zone.  How did this even happen?  Certainly it wasn’t by my own doing–that’s certain.  So being thankful daily is really the least I can do.

Enough with the heavy stuff!! 🙂

At any rate. . . here is a little peanut who came to see me at my house last weekend.  I was thrilled that his parents wanted some holiday pictures as well as a couple of family photos.