I can hardly believe that 5 months ago today I was in the hospital delivering Life. It both feels like forever ago and yesterday all in one.

It is fitting that this morning’s reading in the Book of Common Prayer was Psalm 46. Two verses from this psalm carried me through much of the difficult times when Life was so sick.

Verse 5 was my prayer when Doctors told us that they didn’t think she was going to make it (for all of you just joining the story of Life, I will fill you in with pictures and some commentary in the coming weeks)…

It reads:

“God is in the midst of her. He will help her at the break of day.”

I will never read that verse again without thinking of Life.

And during the delivery, I kept reciting in my head Psalm 46:1. “God is our strong refuge, he is truly our helper in times of trouble.”

How fitting that today, as we celebrate Life’s 5th month with us, that we would re-read and remember what a gift she is to us. Happy 5 months sweet one.

And THANK YOU to our Redeemer. Healer. Our Strong Refuge.

As of yesterday, I started carrying around my D700 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens wrapped in one of Life’s little blankets and stuffed in her diaper bag to document daily happenings. Why I hadn’t thought of this any sooner is a mystery to me. So, I decided to make this blog post about my 3 favorite things about my 50mm lens.

- Firstly, it is small. There is nothing small about my D700 with it’s battery grip on it. So, it is nice to have a small lens.

- Next, it is an f/1.4. Gotta love that. (Nikon, make more f/1.4 lenses… PLEASE. How about a 24mm f/1.4 like Canon? That would be great. Or how about you go crazy and make an f/1.2? That would be even greater.)

- And finally, it makes me be creative. The limitations of this simple fixed lens challenges me to be creative. It’s not a macro lens, it’s not a wide-angle, but it is a great lens with great capabilities for the creative eye.

So, for all you photographers out there. Pick up your favorite lens and make beautiful art with it.

And for all of you who are wondering what the heck I am talking about, you are in good company cause my husband doesn’t really know what I’m talking about here!

My brother and sister-in-law (Heath & Amy) welcomed their precious daughter, Campbell Mae, into the world today at 5:54am. Campbell weighs 8lbs 4 oz and is 20 3/4in long. She’s beautiful & her and Life will make great playmates really soon! Welcome to the family sweet girl. We love you!

::Gourmet lunch for Amy::

:::Daddy’s girl:::

:::Life with her good friend, Aunt Amy:::

:::teething like a mad-woman:::

:::Campbell’s going home outfit:::

:::Life’s new chub!:::

Deanna and Matt just welcomed their precious little girl into the world on October 20th. In the midst of the craziness that Life brought us, I photographed Deanna @ 35 weeks along… and then sweet Ashten at 5 weeks.

this leads to…

this sweet thing!

“this is mommy’s baby!!!!” (the song that Deanna sings that gets stuck in my head then it ends up in my dreams!)

Last year I had a sweet opportunity to photograph Mary Kay & Markus’ wedding day and this year I had the EVEN SWEETER privilege of photographing their first son! I love this family dearly… and love that they invited me again into their lives to photograph their precious son. What a joy that the Jabek family has gone from 2 to 3. Here’s to many more Jabek’s in the future.

All my best to you 3. Merry Christmas with much love.

Man Paws:

my camera might be slightly terrifying to young children?

Man paws: