Navy Pier

Nicole and I headed up to Chicago with the family as well as with Matt's family who were visiting from Canada.

The gardens in Navy Pier are always a treat to walk through or rest on one of the many benches like Matt and Lauren did. :)

 I have come to the belief that Garrett's popcorn is a pretty good imitation of the manna that the children of Israel ate so many years ago. :)

 We went up in the big Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier for the first time and I was quite impressed with the beautiful view of Chicago and the pier.

 My Nicole makes every adventure amazing and fun! Love her so very much!

 No you aren't supposed to stick your camera out of the car, yes I disobeyed the rules for this shot. ;)

 These two can always make each other laugh so easily. :)

 Mom and Dad LaBate were so kind to drive us all up to Chicago in one van so we didn't have to deal with the traffic.

 I love my second family!

 It was good to meet the Morgans and share some time with them.

 The three amigas :)

 The colorful lights as the sun went down were just too much of a temptation for us seeing as we had our good cameras along. :)

gardening, flowers, and such...

Jack and I had so much fun planning our very first garden; and we are looking forward even more to reaping the benefits!! :)

We chose to stick with the basics:  onions, peppers, spinach, lettuce, romaine, tomatoes, and zucchini.

Because we have a problem with rabbits we decided on a raised bed garden and enclosed it with chicken wire. 

My handy husband also built me this planter box using some pallets... :)

We also wanted some fresh herbs so we decided to start off with cilantro, parsley, and basil.

Can't wait to do some cooking with these!!

Don't let the picture below fool you...our bird feeder is never full.  Seems just as soon as I put bird seed in it, we get a tree full of birds stuffing their faces...need to put them birds on a diet! ;)

Are you planting a garden?  What do you plant?  Any helpful tips to share?  :)

Happy Planting!

Happy Mother's Day

How do I even start to put to words how much this godly woman means to me? How does one thank someone for giving them life, for investing hours of prayers, for exercising great patience, for teaching them countless lessons both in actions and in words?

This year I have watched my mother carry secret burdens that she shared with noone, I have seen her go through cancer and come out on top. I have seen her help pack up her middle daughter and send her off to teach hours away from home. I have seen her give of herself countless times as she helped me plan my wedding. 

Mom-

So much of everything I do-I do because of you. You have always been a wonderful example to look to and on this day and every day I celebrate and thank God for giving me a mother like you. I love you.

6 months

A bike ride, a picnic complete with blanket and cold cuts, a walk on a beautiful spring day, lots of pictures, more bike riding, soft serve ice cream cones.  This was the way that Nicole and I spent the first part of our day on this day, our 6 month anniversary.

It's hard to believe that half a year has passed since our wedding day, but I can honestly say that these have been the happiest days of my life.

We are crazy in love with each other and it's amazing how every day we find out just how perfect we are for each other.  Truly God's way is the best way and we are so grateful that he led us together.

We had so much fun this afternoon, we just couldn't wait to post a few pictures. :)

We shot a roll of film on my brother Luke's Pentax K1000 and we can't wait to see if we got any good shots.....now to find a place that still develops film. :)

 

 

For those of you who have wondered how we get pictures with both of us in the shot I posted a few examples below.  Pretty much we turn normal things into tripods. :)

 We used this tree to get the next two pictures.

 And this handy-dandy arbor to get the last one.

 

Looking forward to as many more months as the Lord will gift us!

 

A visit to Ohio

 A few weeks ago Jack and I were fortunate to have photographed a wedding in Ohio that was only 50 minutes from my sister. 

She was a lovely host and we enjoyed staying in her apartment and eating her amazing food that she served us.  We also were happy that she could accompany us on our shoot!

We were able to eat at one of our favorite restaurants...Mongolian BBQ!

The bride and groom's portrait location was at a beautiful manor.

After their shoot was done we grabbed a few pics too :)

Love this goof! :)

Thanks for letting us stay with you Brooke - we had a wonderful time!!

PS  We love shooting weddings near Toledo, OH ;)

the unfolding of His plan

For the past several years in my devotions I have alternated each year between two books to read along with my Bible reading.  This year I am in Streams in the Desert, which means that the last time I read this would have been in 2011.

Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

So often when we as Christians go through darkness the natural thing is to find the light and help ourselves out instead of waiting through on God.  We seek the light through our friends, or perhaps our own judgement and wisdom instead of letting Him help us.  Premature deliverance may frustrate God's work of grace in our life...

Two years ago I read this statement in my devotional and today I read it too:

You may move the hands of a clock to suit you, but you do not change the time; so you may hurry the unfolding of God's will, but you harm and do not help the work.  You can open a rosebud but you spoil the flower.  Leave ALL to Him.  Hands down.  Thy will, not mine.  Remember that it is better to walk in the dark with God than to walk alone in the light.

Next to that underlined portion I had scrawled -  {Jack}

I have read this same devotional probably a half a dozen times now but when I saw my handwriting; saw HIS name, I couldn't help the tears from falling.  You see two years Jack was barely an acquaintance   As a matter of fact I had never met him in person; and I only knew him through his blog and the light emailing we had done regarding photography.  But two years ago, I knew there was something special about HIM.  I knew that if God allowed it we could be so much more than barely acquaintances.   And oh how I wanted to rush in, to be a little more forward than was in my nature.  To try to "win" him on my own; to make this  work.  However, I knew that I need to trust God to let His plan unfold and to let it be in His timing.

If I can get one point across to single girls it would be just that..  Let God do His work.  Let Him unfold his plan in your life.  Trust Him.

How do I know this works?  Because  I have now been married to that Jack for the happiest 5 months of my life.