Free to be ME!

I love how God allows me to "mess" up over and over again before he finally gets bored with watching me make the same mistakes and steps in to show me the way. I have heard our preacher talk on how people will associate their faith with their good deeds but I never thought I was one of those people that fell into this category. Each morning I wake up get ready for work, drink my coffee and I am just so full of life and energy and I think today is THE day it is going to be great but then 830 rolls around and I loose all my pep and excitement and even begin to grumble about silly things at work. 330 can't come quick enough and I am dying to punch out and just head home but I feel like I have failed for the day. I wasn't that happy girl that I told myself I would be today and I said that curse word when I shouldn't have. These acts are what I have been measuring myself with and worse it is how I thought God was measuring me. Each evening I have literally beat myself up over the areas where I feel like I have failed during the day and make promises that tomorrow I am going to be a better person. With expectations like this it is only natural to fail. I am just thankful God doesn't measure his love for me based on good deeds and it is ok to just be ME. I love this song and it just makes me happy that God loves me for who I am. Yes I am a perfectionist and wish I weren't but God sees past this and no matter if I grumble or become negative he loves me for me.

Introducing Baby Mayla

We have anticipated that arrival of baby Mayla for 9 months!! She finally blessed us with her arrival on January 30! Ashley is already transitioning into the motherhood role and she is a natural! Congratulations to you guys!

Bedtime Prayers

I will admit that as a little girl I slept in my moms bed way longer than I probably should have. Even the nights when I would attempt to be a big girl, I would start out in my bed but always ended up with mom by morning. I loved how at night once we hopped in bed she would snuggle me tight and instead of saying our nightime prayers we would sing them. Noah is finially at the point where he doesn't scream when we put him down for the night so I have been so blessed to begin this same tradition with my little guy. So for the past few weeks each night when I lay him down I sing his bedtime prayers to him and top it off with a kiss. Tonight Josh laid him down while I was cleaning up the kitchen and at first I thought he was just talking to Noah but I walked over to the steps and my heart melted as I heard Josh singing Noah his bedtime prayers. These are the little moments that make me stop and just thank God for his blessings.

Love Dare Day 7- Love Believes the Best

Today's Dare:
For today's dare, get two sheets of peper. On the first one, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. There is a different purpose and plan for each. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for hving this characteristic.

Love Dare- Day 6- Love is not Irritable

There is plenty of snow and from what I have heard there will be plenty more coming. We have lost power, cable and internet off and on since Saturday. This puts us a little behind on the Love Dare Challenge but we will just pick up where we left off today on day 6.
Todays Dare:
Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list of areas where you need to add Margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.
This is a perfect dare for me, I have never been able to tell others no which always leaves me stetching myself a little too thin. I need to challenge myself to place my priorities 1.) God 2.) Family 3.) work. I often let work move its way up to that number one slot.

Justin + Amber + Baby = Family

I had the pleasure of meeting Amber and Justin to document this new chapter in their lives. The past 2 maternity shoots I have done, both couples are waiting the their babies are born to find out the sex. I have no idea how you guys do it, I can't even keep a surpise for longer than 2 days. This couple is beautiful on the inside and out and I know they are going to be such a happy family, Congratulations to you both and thank you for allowing me to capture this moment of life.

Gratitude

I love snow storms when I can enjoy them from the comforts of my own home and not be on call at the hospital, which is exactly what this weekend it for me! Today was a slow day at the hospital but one encounter has been on my mind all day. When my grandpa was sick it meant so much for me to pray with him before he would go to surgery. This is not a practice I witness often these days with families but today was different. Before we took our patient for her procedure her dad wanted to have prayer, so we told them to have at it while we bowed our heads. As this father prayed for his daughter and just gave praise to God for their many blessings he then begin to pray for her nurses. As I stood there with my head bowed I was humbled that this man that doesn't know me is praying for me and for God to just give me the wisdom to help take care and protect his daughter. There really are no words to describe the power of prayer. Often people will state "oh we are praying for you" and I'm not sure how to word this politely but you just just know they are only saying what sounds nice. I am going to think about family and friends tonight and pick out one person to pray for each day for 30 days. I encourage you to give this a try. I can't describe how awesome it felt today to have that father praying for me, someone he doesn't know. So take it one step farther, tell that person at the end that you have been praying for them or write it down each day (that you prayed for them and what you prayed for) and then give them the paper. Remember the power of prayer!
For those of you doing the love dare with me. I really did not want to do today's dare. The idea of Josh telling me 3 things I do that irritate him made me feel vulnerable and a little insecure. So while we were laying on the couch watching Noah play and just talking I asked him to give me 3 things I do that make hime uncomfortable or irritated. His response was unexpected, he looked at me and calmly said "nothing" so then I started to name my bad habits. "Well how about how I leave my photography stuff everywhere around the house?" then Josh began to justify my actions for me. He responded, "honey your just busy and working so hard, what would that say about me if I didn't support you, I love you." He is definitely my better half and I had to laugh tonight when my Aunt Amanda said you guys are just good for each other kinda like peanut butter and jelly.