Anyhow, I am working to be better at blogging consistently.  It is a challenge, and I shall be diligent in trying to keep up.  However, I am very ADD and if I should see something shiny, I may be inclined to go check it out!  LOL  I am working though to conquer this little flaw of mine.

SO, here’s to a ton more blogs soon to come!!

Changes coming soon or already implemented!:

I now accept Paypal!  Hooray!!  So, it will be SO much easier for all of you, no more worrying about mailing a check or anything like that!  Also, you will be able to pay for your session through paypal as well if you so choose to do so!

New schedule of business:  I will be posting a new schedule and I will have set days that I do sessions and set days that I do not so sessions.  As many of you already know, I am a mom of 3 very busy children whom are also home-schooled.  Yes, I am that crazy, to attempt to run a business, homeschool and be all 19 other occupations that I am required to be as a wife and mommy.  So, the new schedule will hopefully allow me to operate this business sanely and be Mama/Teacher/Wife/19 other occupations as smooth as possible and as nicely as possible!  Nobody likes Mama McNasty!

After many conversations with God about my schedule and my CRAZINESS and my stress level, He and I came to an agreement.  My children need me more than any of you do.  I still love you, but they come first.  So I will be implementing a strict schedule, which if any of you even remotely know me, you know I will struggle with this at first.  I am NOT a scheduled person.  I am also not the fastest either, but I’m working on it!

If you would like to call me: regarding a session slot, about an order, about what’s for dinner, or to just chew the fat with me, please do so on my business line- 770.597.2753   If I do not answer, please text me.  That way I have it “in writing” it’s easier for me to remember things in writing.

All of these changes will be posted here on the site!  Here’s to a REALLY fun year ahead!

I can not wait to meet those of you who I’ve not met yet, capture special pictures for all, offer spectacular deals, enjoy superb fellowship, meet new babies and their families, and most of all provide memories that will last for generations to come!

This is Grandma Beavers with her “Angel Puppy”  LuLu, who is just so SO precious and a wonderful little puppy model!

Check ‘em out!

All cards come with a full size 5×7 image on the back which is perfect for framing.   You can also choose to have straight edges instead of having them die cut as they are shown above.  Cards come in packs of 25 with envelopes and your return address printed on the flap.

If you would like a Christmas session, call to schedule asap.  For those of you who can swing it; think about scheduling a weekday session as the weekends are pretty much booked straight through already.  There is always the possibility of a cancellation, but please don’t count on that.

Now, for some gifting ideas for friends and family:

I offer gift cards for amounts beginning at $75(the cost of the session fee).  Gift cards always make wonderful gifts, especially the gift of precious memories preserved.

Accordion Wallet books are also top notch gift idea, especially for grandparents. (Pictured below)

Christmas Ornaments, why not start a tradition of collecting ornaments with your loved ones photos; and giving them as gifts to family is also perfect.  The ornaments are metal and have your image/s of choice.

Metal Ornaments are made using the same state-of-the-art process as our full-size MetalPrints™. Dyes are infused onto specially coated aluminum, for a durable memento that will bring joy for many holidays to come. Roughly 3″ in diameter, Metal Photo Ornaments are double-sided with a High Gloss Surface. A metal border is visible on the front of the ornament. Available in Round, Oval, Rectangular, Tapered, and Hexagonal shapes.

Check them out here:  Metal Ornaments – http://www.ezphototemplates.com/metalprints/metal_photo_ornaments_only.htm

Fine Art Prints and Gallery Wraps

I have a special line of fine art prints made from my photography of nature and God’s wonderous creations.  They make wonderful groupings in groups of 3, 4, or 6.  You can have them specially made on a regular canvas print ready to frame, a fine art gallery wrap that does not need framing, a stand out print which is along the lines of a gallery wrap but not on canvas and is less expensive but looks equally wonderful, also available are metal prints which are more contemporary than your traditional artwork.

Check them out with the password of : FineArt Prints on the proofing part of my blog. – COMING SOON!  Look for this after the first of November 2011

Also a wonderful gift for a little boy’s room is the “Big Truck” series.  These are hand illustrated and painted and then reproduced onto your choice of paper, canvas, gallery wrap, metal, or a stand out.  These also make wonderful groupings in groups of 3, 4, or 6.

Blunt honesty-

They carry my heart wherever they go.  If they get hurt, I hurt.  If they are happy it makes my heart happy.  They melt me, in more ways than one.  Sometimes it’s the kind when they do something so very sweet for one another that it just makes you melt, or the way they look at you with such trust in thinking that you know every answer to every question; all 1,704 questions a day. Or sometimes I melt in the kind of way that makes it sometimes a bit hard to get myself back into “mama” form.  Like when they make me want to pluck their little ears off because they weren’t using them, or because they are in a phase that is hard to break them of, that makes me want to pull my hair out.  However they make me melt, I treasure it.  I will look back on it one day and laugh at the little things they did, good, not so good, funny, naughty and just plain out annoying.  Oh admit it, I know there are sometimes when you think, that your child has done something annoying.  They all do it!

I am trying to constantly remember just how little they are.  Sometimes I forget this; especially if and when I am stressed over my work load.  My fuse unfortunately becomes shortened and I hate that.  When you are with them 24/7 sometimes we tend to need a break from each other.   Me from them and them from me.  I think it’s just a fact of life; and it’s good for them as well as me.

God told me several years ago that He wanted me to home-school.  Years upon years ago, I used to swear I would never home-school, and that I would keep my kids in public school.  As I’ve said before, God has one MASSIVE sense of humor.  I rebelled and went along with public school.  But first here is a little bit of background leading up to homeschooling, bear with me, you will enjoy it.  I know, home-school is not for everyone.  But I wanted to share our story of how we got here as many people have asked this very question.

B and A were both in preschool at a wonderful wonderful church school.  They loved it and we loved it.  As B was to move on to Kindergarten I struggled over what to do.  I felt a pull to make a change with what we were doing and move Avery to another preschool.  I had no good reason other than God told me to, and He led us to a real angel named Elaine.  She had a preschool called Woodland Creek Academy.  This was a preschool that when you walked in, you were home.  It was held in an old 1800′s home on the historical register.  It was beautiful.  I fell in love with it, not only with the home but the people, the teachers, and especially Elaine.  She offered programs for toddler’s through kindergarten.  The thought crossed my mind to put both B and A with Mrs. Elaine.  Again, I didn’t listen and  I went ahead and put B in another church Kindergarten program knowing he wasn’t ready for full day kindergarten at public school, and put A in Woodland Creek in the 3 year old program.  In my way of thinking I just thought B needed to be in a “bigger” setting with more children and a more “school-y” feeling-kind-of-kindergarten to prepare him for “big school”, public school. This is where he played baseball as well, so he did have friends from his ball team in his class.  We still play ball at this church and LOVE it.  It is a wonderful program that I can’t say enough good things about!  Now, it was great where he was, and again God put more families that home-school in my path; but I’m just not so sure it was for B.  I didn’t realize it until after the fact though.

It came time for kindergarten graduation and my heart ached that B would be going to school all day long.  I continued on and ignored all the people in my life that God had put there who were home-school families.  He had been showing me home-school was the way to go, WAY before B was even a thought, before I had even met my husband.  I was introduced to a family at church who needed a sitter for their two children.  They were a home-school family and I would babysit for them quite often.  This was the first of many families God was showing me.   I also have someone who I look at as a sister, I love her as a sister and she is SO much like me.  I grew up with her and her sister and her mom was my second mom.  Cathy, my “sister friend” also would “babysit” for me and her sister, Cindy when we were in elementary school.  Cathy’s mom, “Aunt Martha” as I called her and still do, kept me everyday until my mom would pick me up after work.  I love them and they are family.  Cathy was the next person who was a constant in my life who began to home-school after we were grown.  I thought it was great and every home-school family I interacted with I knew I loved them and there was just something special God was showing me.  Then when B was a baby, we got involved with a stupid decision on our part but obviously one that God intended for us to do, but we didn’t succeed at it, instead we failed miserably.  It was called Herbal Life.  It just wasn’t for us.  However, the lady who we signed up under had two children who were home-schooled.  Here was another peek into what God wanted us to do.  It became something that was constantly put in front of us.  Home-school families right and left.  You would think we would have payed attention.  (must be where my kids get it from).  I could tell you of MANY many other families but it would end up being a novel.  So. . .

. . .don’t forget to:  ”Listen for God’s voice in everything you do and everywhere you go; He’s the one that will keep you on track.”  Proverbs 3:6

Kindergarten graduation came and went.  I enrolled B in public school.  I was VERY hesitant and just didn’t want to for some reason.  But I did.  First grade.  He was in public school.  Avery was still at Woodland creek which was now called Union Grove after God decided to move the school down the road to a wonderful little church.  I was noticing that this school, Union Grove was instilling things in my daughter that were never instilled in my son at preschool or kindergarten, or first grade so far.  Elaine was using a completely different kind of learning style called Charlotte Mason and it is indeed a home-school type of curriculum and learning I had heard of years before when I taught preschool. Avery was learning by leaps and bounds, playing, gardening, cooking, reading the bible, learning sign language, and enjoying every minute of school.  She gained a thirst for learning.  Learning on her own track in her own time with no rush and no pressure.  B on the other hand, was struggling.  I was struggling.  I wanted him to love school.  But, his spirit was slowing being crushed.  He was a different boy, not my happy B.  By the time he got home from school it was getting late, he was tired, and still had homework to do.  He wanted to run and play and I wanted him to run and play, but we had to sit and do homework.  It was then dinner time and it was almost time to go to bed and start all over again.  Blah.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

It was heartbreaking.  He would cry not wanting to go to school.  He would say he was sick on test days.  He was exhausted after the first half of the school year.  He was getting sick all the time.  God was tugging so hard at me still.  I began researching day and night and reading everything I could about home-school.  I always said I wouldn’t do it.  But, here I was making plans to home-school after rebelling and not listening to God for many years.  I pulled him out after sticking out the whole first grade year.  I was sure I was doing the right thing and God has now shown me that I am.  This has been the best decision we have ever made even though I refused to listen for so many years.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

I am constantly reminded that I am doing the right thing and I am constantly rewarded not only by the joys of my children enjoying learning things and playing as they do so.  I am not only rewarded in seeing them succeed but in the reassuring love of God that I am doing what he wanted all along.  I have had SO much fun watching him learn last year and learning along with him too!  This year A is home with us doing first grade.  M is still at Union Grove, which will always hold a special place in my heart and so will the people there.  I will forever be involved with Union Grove even when my kids are too old to go there.  Elaine is an angel here on earth impacting the lives of many families and children in her care.

After that long winded story that I had no idea where it was going here is my Heart in three different places:

I am not doing this to be a pain or to be difficult.  Here is what has been happening.  I will bend over backwards to schedule photo sessions, shoot them, spend many many hours preparing the gallery and loading the images.  I will then have times when too many people are waiting months upon months and sometimes it creeps up to a year later when the orders will come in.  The reason this is a problem is because my family counts on the income from these sessions, so after I set aside time for the session, edit the images, and create the gallery, I end up waiting without compensation for my work and in the mean time, my family and children are the one’s who feel this big delay in income.  Even though this is my passion and my God calling as well as my mission to provide services free of charge for those who are sick, struggling or who can not and would not ever be able to afford pictures, it is also a blessing that God has provided my family the opportunity for me to be able to work from home.   Allowing me to be with my children everyday, the ability to homeschool and to not miss a moment of these most precious children is the most wonderful blessing.  However, this passion helps to feed my family and clothe my children.  So, much to my dismay, I must put into effect a deadline.

The new deadline will be:  From the date you receive your password for your gallery, you will have 6 weeks to place your order.  Every day after that six week deadline you will be charged $7 a day until I receive the order.  Your gallery will remain in my database and at anytime you will be able to order more pictures if you would like.

I am still the happy, laid back, fun loving photographer you have always know and that will stay!  My butt is getting sore though from having been bit too many times.

My title of this post, A Step Back in Time, yes it was.  These children are the grandchildren of my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Farmer.  Funny thing is, to this day I still feel the need to call her Mrs. Farmer.  I really didn’t call her anything though the other day.  I was feeling all moobly about calling her Ann.  It just doesn’t taste quite right.  She still seems like my teacher even though that was oh twenty something years ago.  That sounds funny.  I still think of myself as a kid.

These kids are also the children of a childhood friend whom I kind of grew up with.  I can’t say we got together for so called play-dates, but we had a mutual friend named Leigh Ann who I am still proud to call my friend even though I never see her and I haven’t talked to her in many years.  Katie was very very dear friends with L.  I always admired this group of girls whom I really didn’t hang out with except for Leigh Ann, as she was my neighbor growing up.  These girls were always at Leigh Ann’s birthday parties and such.  But all of these girls, Leigh Ann, Katie, Twila, and another girl named Amy, could all sing like nobody’s business.  I SO wanted to be able to sing like they did.  I LOVED hearing them sing, and to this day I still wish I could sing, but I am content with the gifts and talent that God blessed me with on the other end of the art spectrum from the musical end.  The quiet, reserved, behind the lens photography end.  That is the end I was blessed with, which is my passion and my God called mission all at the same time.

I hope that I captured Gabe, Grayson, Sophie, and Grady! (I think I got all their names right!?)

It is still a little bit funny to me that Mrs. Farmer is Katie’s mother-in-law.  It’s just a small world.  This is a beautiful family!  They definitely have something extra special as such a beautiful family inside and out.

I could not decide on which pictures to post and I may still post more!  They are all so cute!!

There maybe more coming!

Totally captures them.  I hope they love them as much as I do.  We sure had fun taking them!

Now, don’t let this little bundle of cuteness and sugar fool you. . .

Because before you know it, this is what you get!  MISCHIEVOUS!!  But still cute!

That’s the meaning of family!

Now back to the subject here!  I can’t believe these are Joshua’s senior pictures!  What happened!?  I remember when he was born!

He really really wants to be a fireman(not sure if that is proper name or if it’s fire chief or something like that).  He has an amazing heart for Christ and is one super outstanding young man.  He would make a wonderful WONDERFUL fireman or paramedic.  It takes a big heart and heart like Christ to yearn to help others and comfort them in times of their greatest need.  Saving lives and possibly bringing them to know Christ in their most devastating, troubled and scary moments of life.  We had a great time doing these pictures!  SO much fun at the fire station.  I’m like a little kid at a fire station, so excited and wanting to explore, listen to the scanner, and just being there.  If I had to choose someone I want my little boy to grow up to be like, it would be Joshua.

Take a look at them, I can feel the fun just looking at them!