A long time ago, I had a personal/family blog but haven’t updated it in a LONG time and finally have come to terms with the fact I probably won’t get back to it anytime soon. I miss it though, so I decided to make this blog more personal. We’ll see how it goes….

I love all the snow we’ve had recently. Winter is my least favorite season for sure, but I think the snow makes everything look so sparkly and pretty. Kate says it looks like glitter. I love that it covers everything up and just leaves behind a fresh, clean slate. And I thought it was pretty appropriate that we had snow on the ground for the new year. When I sat down to think about my goals and resolutions for the new year I didn’t have a hard time coming up with a list of things to improve upon in 2010. In fact, I had a hard time NOT adding more things to the list. Because the simple fact is that there are just so many things I would like to do better.

Be a better mom.

Be a better wife.

Be a better friend.

Exercise more.

Eat less junk food.

Be more organized.

Cook more.

Plan better.

Be on time.

Stop procrastinating.

Give back more.

Live more simply.

Spend more time reading my Bible.

Do more unexpected, kind things for others.

See what I mean? The list is somewhat long. And although it’s true that I’d really like to improve in all of those areas, I wanted to have a more narrow focus. Cause when you are trying to stay on track with four thousand resolutions it gets out of hand pretty fast. And I imagine it would be a bit hard to stay on track or really even determine your progress for that matter.

So what to do? How would I narrow it to just one? Because all of them seem important.

I started praying about it and actually felt a clear answer. One resolution that stood out from the rest. And it’s simple.

Love God more.

That’s it.

More of Him and less of me.

Sounds simple enough, of course, but we all know that through the busyness of daily life its sometimes easier said than done. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that this resolution really is the most important for a couple of reasons.

The main reason is because He tells me so. The following is from Matthew 12…..

• ²⁸One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
• ²⁹“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[e]30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[f] 31}The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[g]There is no commandment greater than these.”

The second reason is that loving God more means I am doing my best to live by the spirit. Which has its own benefits.

• ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galations 5:22

And it hit me that by following through on that one resolution means I will be making progress on all of them.

Be a better mom. PATIENCE.

Be a better wife. LOVE.

Be a better friend. GOODNESS.

Exercise more. SELF-CONTROL

Eat less junk food. SELF-CONTROL

Be more organized. SELF-CONTROL

Cook more. PATIENCE.

Plan better. SELF-CONTROL

Be on time. SELF-CONTROL

Stop procrastinating. SELF-CONTROL

Give back more. KINDNESS.

Live more simply. PEACE. JOY.

Spend more time reading my Bible. FAITHFULNESS

Do more unexpected, kind things for others. GENTLENESS.

See what I mean?

Even though it snowed a tiny bit more today, most of the snow is already gone. I took couple of photos of the last bits hanging around our yard and I couldn’t help but think that as much as the fresh snow represents a clean start, it’s not too long before it gets all messy and then disappears altogether. Kind of like our resolutions.

But I’m resolving to follow through on mine the best I can. We’ll see how it goes…..:)

Whew, I’ve finally wrapped up one of my busiest seasons on record. Which is good because I was literally drowning before the holidays, and left this poor blog so sadly neglected. And as you noticed by the portrait of me on the previous post, it also left me a bit, well, frazzled.

But, one of my resolutions is to post here more. (And hopefully improve my personal appearance just a bit, so I’m not as crazy looking as my daughter drew LOL). And you know that it’s easy to keep resolutions for the first couple of weeks, so hopefully I can post a few times before I burn out again.

Anyway, I thought I’d share my first photo shoot of 2010. I can’t think of a better way to spend New Year’s Day than celebrating a new life. And that’s exactly what I did. This sweet family was awesome and I loved getting to bond with their 2 year old and snuggle with their TINY baby girl. What a treat. I can’t help but think how blessed their new year will be with such a special addition to their family!

Location: Client’s home

To say I’ve been working hard around here is a bit of an understatement. This has been my busiest Fall yet, and I am so thankful for all of my amazing clients and families. I’ve been proofing A LOT and I know there are many of you still waiting on your sessions. I promise you will have them soon. Thanks, as always, for your patience.

Last night, my 5 year old asked me if I would like to see the picture she drew of Daddy. Of course I said yes and she showed me this…..

I was totally impressed and praised her because I could tell she had been working really hard on it. I even suggested that she have him take it to work to hang up in his office.

She exclaimed, ‘that’s a GREAT idea, because I’ll draw a picture of you, mom, on the back. And he can take both of them.’

To which I replied, “Oh, that’s a great idea, honey, I can’t wait to see my drawing.”

A few minutes later, she declared she was finished with her drawing of me.

And then proudly presented me with this……….

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I’m seriously still laughing.

Ok, I don’t think much explanation is needed for how cute I think these 2 little guys are in their costumes.

The cutest alley cat in a style that Miss “M” pulls off fabulously…..

And her little cousin baby M, who not only tolerated being squished in this pumpkin, he rocked the look.

Well, that is, until Miss M tried to kiss him. And I think at that point he was letting us know he had had enough…..

Happy Halloween!

Location: Downtown Tulsa

If you need a fun Fall activity for your kids in their costumes tomorrow, our church(4th and Detroit, downtown Tulsa) is having their annual Fall Festival from 4:00-6:30 tomorrow  and we’d love to have you. Pony rids, inflatables, classic carnival games, and some serious family fun. My kids are wayyyyy excited about it.

When our littlest daughter INSISTED on being a little lamb for Halloween, I instantly thought it would be perfect for our older daughter to be Little Bo Peep. After I showed her that the costume came with a cane that she could use to chase sheep (aka her sister), she was sold on the idea.

I took them out for a few quick shots in a field and they had a blast.

I tried to add a little commentary from the evening…..

Little Bo Peep

And her CRAZY sheep

Hmmm, where I could find that sheep?

I think I’m going to hide…..

Oh no, I got lost…. (she said this is what a sad, lost sheep would do. LOL)

Yeah, Bo Peep to the rescue. I think I’ll ‘Baaaa’ at her……….

I think I’ll feed my sheep some grass………………….

I think I’ll eat the grass the rest of the time, is that ok?

Bo Peep and her grass eating sheep….

A cute Bo Peep……

And her cute, crazy sheep…..

Leave them alone and they’ll come home…..

Location : Little Bo Peep’s pasture (aka some random field in Owasso)

(Shots of my little man coming later. I have to take him to a different location for his costume…..)