MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I cannot believe it is only 2 days until Christmas!!
I do not even have all my shopping done yet and my Christmas baking hasn't even started. I'm procrastinating so bad this year! Nothing like waiting until last minute. I'm looking forward to getting off work at noon and heading home to bake and then spending the evening with my Mom and little sister for Christmas shopping. I'm so excited for a long weekend and I hope you and yours have a blessed Christmas!!

(p.s. My Dad took us to Chicago this past weekend....all I can say was it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. with all the lights making Chicago shine).

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(My brothers and my Mom, the stores were all decorated so pretty).

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(My brother and I - I'm kinda realizing that me and my brothers and sisters do resemble each other. I thought for the longest time we didn't).

Bree Struckman {BABY PHOTO SESSION}

Welcome to the world Miss Bree!! There is really no day better to be born on than December 2nd. I am exactly 19 years older than her....yes we share the same birthday!

Bree was my very first baby photo session - and it could not have gone better. Thank you Katie for contacting me to take your family's pictures again, it's my pleasure.
I hope you have a smooth transition from one to two babies and from having just Emma to having Emma AND Bree now.

Congratulations again Struckmans!!

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11 Days Until Christmas....Already?!?!

I haven't even started my shopping yet for my 5 brothers and sisters, my Dad & Mom and friends. This year I procrastinated big time. But nothing like having 11 days to do a TON of shopping....makes it feel more like Christmas to me.

My brothers and sisters and I saw Tangled in 3D with some friends a couple weeks ago....the glasses go a long way at our house. :)

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Austin Tomash {SENIOR SESSION+Iowa City, Iowa}

This session was soo cold! The wind was blowing crazy and it was just flat out cold. Thanks Austin for working with me and for not having your sweatshirt on the whole time!
The pickup was so cool to shoot with - those older cars/trucks are so great for pictures.

Congratulations and God bless you as as you start a new adventure in life!

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Sneek Peeks

I'm working on getting my last session edited but here is a sneak peek of it and a Senior Session I recently did. The full blog posts will be up this week!
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Sisters....sisters... {SNEAK PEEK}

Here is a sneak peek of a recent photo shoot I did. Nothing like having sisters....


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NEW THINGS HAPPENING!!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been super busy. My blog is getting a bit of a makeover and some changes are being made, I'll be back soon!!!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

MY MOM {PERSONAL}

Thank you Mom for being MY Mom.
Thank you Mom for all the meals you make for us.
Thank you Mom for all the Spanish Lessons you give us even when we sometimes don't want to learn it.
Thank you Mom for buying me things when I ask.
Thank you Mom for homeschooling me for 12 years.
Thank you Mom for taking me all over before I was able to drive myself.

I love {you}.
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OH HOW HE LOVES! {PERSONAL}

We all have those days. Where things don't seem to go our way, everything that could go wrong does and sometimes you sit there and think....what is there to look forward to in life? Why am I even here? I know I have to remind myself: "You are here for GOD's GLORY. You are here for HIS PURPOSES".

What can make me eternally thankful and make me treasure Life is when I think that God LOVES me, me - a sinful being....He LOVES me with infinite and unchanging love. The Creator who holds this world in HIS Hands - who can change things in an instant....HE put his LOVE on me and His love NEVER ceases or waivers towards me. It's always constant. Even when He knows EVERTHING about me. Never am I out of His Mind. I am engraven on His Hands. And what matters to me, matters to HIM.

Oh what a glorious awesome God I serve! And I can call Him MINE!
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Do I Trust You? {PERSONAL}

Trust: something (as property) held by one party (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
Trust: certainty based on past experience.

I remember reading an article online about trusting God. It was saying that we have no choice but TO trust Him...because of who He is.
They gave the illustration of a young child on the edge of a pool. Not wanting to jump in. His father is in the water coaching the child and saying, "jump, I will catch you....I won't let you go under". The child is still standing on the edge of the pool...afraid. If the child doesn't jump he makes the father look bad. His own fear is bigger than the trust in his father. The article was comparing that to the trust of our Heavenly Father. We have to trust Him. He is worthy of our trust. If we don't trust Him, we are saying we don't believe His promises. We are saying He isn't worthy to be trusted. But He IS. Jesus is worthy of all my trust. No matter how scary it seems.

When life is going smoothly, sure it's easy to trust God. But when things start getting rough it's then that really counts. Because anyone can trust in the easisest circumstances. I've come to realize that how we react to hard circumstances says a lot about us. Says a lot about me. Do I willingly submit to the circumstances or the orchestration God is doing in my life in ALL things? Or do I complain and try to find another way? I'm finding that in submission there is Freedom. I'm learning that insisting on my own way isn't freeing, it's miserable.
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My little sister getting ready to climb a artificial rock on a camping trip last fall. They put you in a harnass with ropes attached so in case you fall off the ropes will catch you while the person on the ground holds onto those ropes. At first it's hard to think that those ropes will hold you, but in order to climb you don't have a choice. Photobucket

So you climb. Trusting that the ropes are going to catch you. It's hard work and it seems like every muscle in your body is on fire. But you keep climbing until you get to the top.

I think trusting God at times stretches us in so many ways spiritually it seems like we are being stretched past our limit. But oh no we aren't. So we continue on and cling to the fact that God knows what He is doing. We climb until we reach to the top. Trusting in God every step of the way.


"It is a glorious thing to know that your Father God makes no mistakes in directing or permitting that which crosses the path of your life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is our glory to trust Him, no matter what." -Joni Eareckson Tada


"While the Lord calls me to be wise and discerning, he reminds me often that his discernment cannot dwell in a cynical distrustful heart. With Him, there is no hidden agenda and no ulterior motive. His gifts are free for the taking but I cannot take these gifts if my hands are already full of my own weapons of self- protection. Therefore, He asks me to lay down the shields that I have forged for protection and to pick up the shield of faith in their place. He asks me to take Him at His Word". -Katherine Walden


His promises never fail. He is worthy of my trust. He will keep me.


Something To Remember...{PERSONAL}

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My friend sent me the below quotes this morning....it was a good reminder for me to see and be grateful for how much God blesses me with. Thanks Joss. And yes, that little guy is quite the man. Mr. Jack.


"Life is a Gift"

Today
before you say one unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.
Before
you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's cyring out to God for a companion.
Today
before you complain about life - Think of all you have, who says we are to have as much as we do?
Before
whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when
you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wish they had your job.
And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think : you're alive and still around.

Always foster an attitude of gratification...it will change your life.

Bill+Kirsten+Adalyn {Family Session, Kent Park}

Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair
Walk beside the pony daddy its my first ride
I know the cake looks funny daddy but I sure tried
With all that I've done wrong I must have done something right
To deserve her hug every morning and butterfly kisses at night
-Butterfly Kisses, Bob Carlisle

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She's Adalyn. She's two. And she is Bill & Kirsten's little girl.
Her faces are priceless and she has the cutest toothy smile. She loves her dogs and reading books. Green is prounced "Geeeen"! She calls my sister Anna...."Nana". And she's pretty adorable.

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This is my absolute favorite picture. I love the Novaks.

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Thanks for the fun afternoon, taking me back to the park so I could get the keys out of my trunk when the car was LOCKED......and Kirsten you make the BEST. DINNERS. EVER.

Another Day

I was reading the book: "Keep a Quiet Heart" and ran across this quote spoken by God to E. Elliot:

"My precious daughter, I care about every detail of your life".

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It's been too long...{This I Know}

Wait, the last time I wrote here was in July?! Time flies! July feels like forever ago and yet it feels like it was yesterday. Church softball and all those fun late summer nights are over but now it's time for leaves, cool weather and hoodies. I love fall.

I know I've pretty much abanded this blog but no more! I've decided I don't want to post just about my photo shoots but about life and my awesome God. So if your still here, thanks for sticking around....I'll be updating much more often. :)


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My brothers and I at one of their softball games. About that Hawkeye shirt....I just want to say it was part of a "Beat Cancer" cause. I haven't reformed.


Summer Nights...

We spend lots and lots of hours at the softball fields every summer.
Yesterday was no exception.
And I don't mind spending so much time there because it is with people whom I love a whole lot.
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p.s. Yes, that's sweat. I'm not jealous.

Happy Friday {FACES}

I love seeing all the different kinds of faces God made.
And it's Friday.
And the weekends almost here.
Annnd it's sunny.
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I have the cutest baby brother everrrr.

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I adore my buds-since-birth friend. And her craaazy faces.

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My sister snapped this....and I must say one of the best pictures {EVER} of Addy.
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Weddings make you blissful.

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I am loving the bokeh and the wisps of hair flying around Katie Lynn.
{HAPPY FRIDAY}!

Family Session {Struckmans}

{SNEAK PEEK}....full session to be blogged SOON!
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