I kinda feel like I've been friends with Carolyn and Owen for awhile even though I just met them. I realized while I was shooting their engagement pictures that I was having fun with them because I could hardly hold the camera still without laughing at something they were doing. Carolyn is a UGA graduate and Owen went to Wake Forest (then Princeton for seminary... a theological prowess!!). We took pictures near the Fox Theatre and in Buckhead, but I realized that the pictures I love the most aren't necessarily the shots you can see the city in. I love the pictures where you can see big smiles, laughter, intimacy, and nuzzles. Yes, I just used the word, "nuzzles." But those are the shots that give me a window into a relationship and make me feel like a 3rd wheel on a date. I love that I get to hang out with people and capture the relationship they cherish so much that they are committing to it for a lifetime. I am a such a sentimental, gushy person, so this work fits me perfectly (as opposed to being a dentist which I had considered for a day). Carolyn is really fun- my favorite picture is when they were walking down Peachtree Street and she turned around to give me a crazy model face... She totally worked it and it turned out awesome! And Carolyn has great hair- so much so that I think I might need to ask her to donate it for Locks of Love and give it to me! Owen was great to work with, doing his own model faces from time to time and making sure he got Carolyn to laugh. I was excited to hear that Owen helped pastor a church in Northern Ireland near Belfast since husband and I spent a few weeks there helping churches with children's ministry a few years ago. He had some good stories about it and it made me want to go back. All this to say, I'm big fans of Carolyn and Owen and so glad that (a) they're getting married and (b) they asked me to photograph it! Here's a wee peek into their engagement session...
Okay, I need to say how much I like the picture below... I love that you can tell Carolyn's really laughing (note body language- she's even got the knee pat laugh going on!) and that even just the slightest shot of her face shows a huge laugh. Love it. That's a good laugh.
Owen making a funny face, Carolyn watching and smiling...
and here it is... America's Next Top Model!!!
here's my little andy. he is precious to me
notice the necklace in the above picture and the below painting. same one- it is generations old...
I like writing Christmas letters of some sort, but this year I didn't pull off writing/mailing a letter with our card. I hardly pulled off making/sending a card! So I thought instead of sending a letter I would post a virtual Christmas letter here on my blog to give an update on our family. On Christmas Eve we sat at our little kitchen table and toasted our glasses to, as Jared put it, "a year of chaos under God's grace." Chaos under the gracious rule of God in our lives. Christmas Eve had been a somewhat difficult day with Ethan having trouble controlling his anger at his grandparent's house and then totally falling apart when we had to leave Mimi and Grampie's to come home to Athens. The new "normal" in our lives has become lots of noise, toys everywhere, and a weekly "oh, my... the house has completely fallen apart". But slowly we are learning that this isn't all bad. There was a time when I thought a messy home was to be avoided at all costs, but now the mess is sign of life. When we brought Andy home from the hospital in October, our mess seem to grow exponentially. Now we have more clothes to wash, more people to feed, and more voices to be heard. But we also have more smiles than we did a year ago. Andy cried as we sat down to eat dinner on Christmas Eve while Ethan struggled to sit (not stand or walk around) during the meal, so we cheered to a life of chaos under the grace of God. The chaos part is clear when you have little ones, but it's easy to miss the grace part. The grace of God is that we can laugh when things get really crazy (not always, but a lot of the times). God's grace is evident when Ethan says, "mommy, you're the best mommy in the whole world..." (I know that's grace!!!) One particularly crazy day Jared and I were both at the end our short rope and the door bell rang. I wiped my eyes to make sure I didn't look like I was losing it, and opened the door to find 2 friends from church. They dropped by with a Trader Joe's turkey and 2 bottles of wine. They said they just wanted to tell us they were grateful for us. That was God reaching through our door into our chaos and giving us a hug (and a glass of wine:). So as much as we can say that 2011 has been a busy, messy, and sometimes breaking year, it has also been a year full of examples of God showing up in our ordinary lives to gives us strength and joy for the journey. That's the inside reason I picked these pictures for our Christmas card. I picked a picture of our 2 boys sleeping and looking so peaceful because of how it juxtaposes the craziness... and at the end of most days, Jared and I peek in on our sleeping babies and are reminded that they are gift. True blessings even on the smelliest and most chaotic days.
and here is Jared pushing Ethan on the swings in Hilton Head. He is a really good dad.
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