69 years!

   My family has known Brad and Amy for 6 years. They go to our church and I recently shot their son's senior portraits. Amy has had all of my girls in Bible Buddies or Bible Drillers. We've also gone camping with them. I am sure I can find the picture of Brad swinging on a limb that promptly gave way lol! This family means a great deal to us (and Amy is just funNY).

   Brad's mom and dad have been married for nearly 70 years. Mr. Buck and Ms. Ivo have such a lovely family! I didn't get to meet all of them, but I had a wonderful time. In my head, I still feel 18. So imagine my shock when I pulled 2 grays hairs out of my head before going to shoot this family. It got me thinking though ( so it wasn't for nothing ). I wondered if Buck and Ivo still felt like they were 18 in their heads? I wondered what it would be like to literally grow old in front of my husband. I wondered if I would still feel like I was 18 when I had grown grandchildren. I mostly wondered though, what it was like to be married for that many years. Was there still a romantic spark? Did they still see each other as they did when they first met? Call it curious, nosey, whatever. But I wanted to KNOW. Fast forward to the session, and just Mr. Buck and Ms. Ivo.

   I asked Ivo to scoot next to Buck, lean her head on his shoulder and to hold his hand. It may have been a little strange at first (there were a ton of people there). But she was so sweet and did it. Then she said something that gave me chills. She said "I feel like we're courting." That was exactly what I wanted her to feel like. When she said that Buck cuddled her a little closer :) What a sweet and precious couple. They have a large family and I was honored to be chosen to photograph them. Here is a little preview.

*And for the family that lives out of town, here is YOUR preview*

Oh the weekend is finally here!

   Today has been tedious. My nights have been broken up. By this I mean, my animals are driving me sleep deprived! Tedious today ~ try making beds while shuffling the same pets over and over from point a to point b. "The cat" has been sleeping in places where he shouldn't, which freaked me out when I plunged my hand into my shelf in my closet and grabbed him instead of my shirt. Freaked me out, that is an understatement. That's the weird kind of hair raising experience. This was after I ran him off the bed so I could make it. "The dogs", which one was the bigger pain in the neck today? Would it be Edgar who lays on the back of the couch (he KNOWS he isn't allowed, he is breaking that part of the cushion down, but I sincerely think he is smarter than I give him credit for, which in my opinion means that yes, infact he IS plotting against me)? Or how about Goose? Goose, GooGah, Googie, Gus, Gussy, Guzzy, whatever you want to call him, he is like velcro. He goes where I go, even when its not very comfortable for him or me. He is a lap dog. No matter how big he gets. He likes me to carry him like a baby (he is nearly 50 pounds), either cradling him or him on my hip. Weird. I know. Or is it Puccini? He just randomly barks (a LOT) at noises that don't exist. Which in turn gets the other dogs carried away. Then there is Pippa. Well Pippy has just been alright, but that is because she is "grounded" to a designated space because she destroyed my precious comfortable shoe liner. Why? Simply because she could (and I wasn't literally looking at her ~ that will teach me).

  I know, I know. Sounds like a rant, right? Well sort of, but they earn their keep. It is a little thing I call compromise. They let me take their photos, well some of them, notice who is missing in the photos below. And in return, I don't hold their aggravating habits against them. In real life, I love them lol. They are family. And there is that "unconditional love" thing Angus has going for him. Meaning, he loves me more than anything in the world...so I just go ahead and let him :) In all actuality, it makes up for his utter craziness. That dog is a loon. Just saying. BUT even those that aren't big fans of his (read that as they are jealous that he won't let them pet him), will admit that they have never seen a dog be so devoted to a person. It is a redeeming quality in their eyes.

   So today, it was storming out. What is there to take pictures of when it is like this? Anything that moves on four legs! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Jim and I celebrate our anniversary on Saturday. Won't be much computer time. And then in a short couple of weeks we are off to Indiana!

   

The Bowling Family

   We have had computer problems, and weird weather here. Thankfully I got the computer problems resolved, and the weather decided to cooperate for us to finally get this session done for the Bowling family. We had fun, and the weather was perfect. Totally worth the wait. I really wish that I had the kind of tall green grass that was at this location. Wonderful! PERFECT for pictures.
    I had the honor of photographing Cale's baptism pictures. He is a ham! Thanks guys, I am glad we were finally able to get these done for you :)

In the Storms of life...

  On April 27 of this year, Alabama and several other southern states got hammered by one tornado after another. Being from Indiana, when I heard the weather channel mention "super cell" I went cold. For one, I don't like storms, and there are usually only 3 things I ever really have nightmares about 1) snakes 2) vampires and 3) tornadoes. I hate them. So eye to the sky, I watched and waited. We do not have television. I went to our neighbors house at their insistence to come and look at what this storm was doing in Tuscaloosa (2 hours south of here) and then Birmingham (1 hour south of here). What everyone in the country was witnessing was stomach turning. We sat there determining when to go to the city's shelter, which happens to be our church. Our weatherman then said the next large city in this storms path was Gadsden. It would reach us before Gadsden.
   We do not have a basement. So we went to the church. The hail was so bad that I thought we would have a broken windshield. We got into the church just in time. We prayed, we waited, we listened. It was over. Many were ready to leave, but our police insisted that we stay as another was on its way. After that final tornado went through our area we went home. I am so thankful that we had a home to go back to. The next day we got to see first hand the destruction of these storms. It was like nothing I have ever seen. There are places that are bald! No grass was left even. A house that we considered buying when we moved here, gone. Neighborhoods gone. Death, missing people and search and rescue dogs. Search and rescue dogs are absolutely priceless, however it is sad to see them because you know they are called in to find a missing loved one.
   Ohatchee is the hardest hit area close to us, and by close some of the destruction is as close as 1-3 miles. Glencoe, and Alexandria are also hard hit and also close. We all have gone through something, some sort of terrifying life storm that may not be as violent as a tornado, but something just as life changing. What I have seen in the people that we have talked to is a peace, a strength and a faith that is amazing. God IS good. No matter the storm. These people are walking it. A sense of community, strangers helping strangers. It is a blessing just to see it. I am amazed at it. When you go through a storm ~ it is how you handle it that is a witness to someone.

   I pray for all of these people affected by these tornadoes. I pray for all of the people who are being Jesus' hands and feet. Out of every bad thing something glorious comes. We are already seeing it. Here are some photos taken from my van window, we weren't allowed to stop.