Children are a blessing...

Well, regardless of your take on that last post, if you're a believer then you know these words are true:


³ Children are a heritage from the LORD, 
   offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
   are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
   whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
   when they contend with their opponents in court.

Psalm 127:3-5, NIV

At the end of the day when I doubt myself, I can always remember that no matter where I am, there is a blessing in this.  And there was no denying it yesterday...

Mia, June 2011
captured by Laura Hinely

We drove over to Orlando, braving wind & storm & lightning to try to snap a few shots with Laura Hinely before she takes her 5 week hiatus to do grad school in LA.  I have to say if I could live vicariously through someone sometime, it might be Laura.  She works for a magazine (I just imagine she's on the set of Devil Wears Prada everyday), has a cute little 1-bedroom apartment, snaps amazing photos, and goes to California every summer for a month.  Doesn't that sound kinda fun??

The weather wasn't really on our side, but Laura is a connoisseur of good lighting and managed to find a few slivers of light in between the lightning bolts to capture our little girl as she is at 2 years old.  Which, for last night, was a bit hyper, talky, and energetic.  Her hands & face were covered in dirt by the end and her hair was ultra-wispy.  

I know as her friend Laura always want to be at the top of her craft and felt the challenges of weather slightly disabled her ability to capture tons of good photos, but I know she's already captured some gems (she showed me). And the fact that she got some good ones of me & Greg in front of an orange wall -- well, you should know how I feel about that.  (Orange & green are my favorite colors, even if I wear blue & grey all the time.)

She has about 54,923,128 things to do before she heads to LA, so I don't expect to see the rest of her work for a while, but I'm satisfied with the sneak peak!  I'm not trying to put pressure on you Laura--you do yo' thang!!

And okay, if you're having questions still after the last post, let me point you to these posts:

Motherhood as a Mission Field

Parenthood: Worth every second (if you don’t need art supplies)

Just gives you some perspective after a [tough, hard, excruciating, etc] day.  You're not alone.  And I want you in this journey with me. We talk about the hard times because we need to, not because we're trying to scare you.  Trust me, it's worth it.

/Peace.