Mamma Mia: Pregnancy Weeks 1-18

Our pregnancy pictorial journey weeks 1-18! 

Week 3: baby finds a home

Week 4: I am suspicious…taking a pregnancy test soon! 

Week 5: I take a pregnancy test December 15th and learn I am pregnant on the 7 year anniversary of the day Zade and I became engaged. I tell Zade our news under the trees using an arrow and Psalm 127:4. 

Week 5: baby is the size of an apple seed. We tell our immediate families on Christmas day! 

Week 6: baby is the size of a sweet pea. 

Week 8: baby is the size of a raspberry. I am super sleepy and take lots of naps. 

Week 10: baby bounces! 

Week 11: baby is the size of a lime

Week 17: We tell the world! 

Week 18: baby is the size of a sweet potato. 

More to come! 


Kevin + Brooke Engagement Photos Part 2 {Purdue University}

Kevin and Brooke chose Purdue University for their next round of photos. 

As we walked on campus, I invited them to guide me toward areas of significance in their courtship. These were sweet, simple areas…a ledge where they first prayed as a couple…a grassy hill where they had a long conversation about vegetables….a "secret spot" with a picnic table where Kevin first asked Brooke to be in a relationship. While I photographed at this last spot, Kevin played again for Brooke the song he wrote and sang for his proposal. 

Here is a glimpse into our shoot...

Kevin + Brooke Engagement Session Part 1 (West Lafayette, IN}


Kevin + Brooke: tender, dashing, and adventurous. 

They met through leadership in Purdue's Chi Alpha campus ministry where their affection grew gently and brightly. 

Completely natural in front of the camera, they made my first photography gig a breeze! 






The Feast of the Hunters' Moon

Zade invited me to my first Feast of the Hunters' Moon nine years ago. Others were asked too, of course, so as not appear suspicious. But, he was fooling no one. This was our first date. 

I remember coming upon him sitting on a hay bale, chewing on a foxtail grass. Like any sensible woman I thought "well isn't that adorable." 

The Feast is held annually and recreates the fall gathering of the French and Native Americans at Fort Ouiatenon, a fur-trading outpost in the mid-1700's. 

We went again this past Saturday. 

Homemade root beer in jeweled bottles glisten...muddy boots brave puddles as big as ponds…furs, feathers, and buffalo headdresses crown heads...steaming apple dumplings, juicy hunks of poultry, and wood smoke waft….

A true feast for the senses. 

A Year in Flowers

My birthday was two weeks ago. An annual time of reflection on the comings and goings of another autumn, winter, spring, and summer.  

Some of the afternoon was passed quietly, reading Scripture in one of my favorite spots: our gangly porch swing, seeking to hear what God might speak over my life on this special day. 

 And God never ceases to surprise. 

He led me to Psalm 103:15-17: 

"As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,

and His righteousness to children's children…" 

It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I am still relatively young….perhaps even in the bloom of life. But, God was...is...calling me to remembrance that this life is passing away.

 I am passing away. 

This post includes pictures of flowers taken during my 27th year of life. None of these flowers are still in bloom. They have all faded. So too me. 

The Psalmist writes in Psalm 90:12: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." 

May I not forget that this is a short, breathless life. Then, in joy, I will seek to cultivate upon this soil only that which points to the steadfast love and eternal glory of God. 

Bridal Shower at the Indianapolis Museum of Art



I was reminded that I'd never shared photos from my sister Rebekah's bridal shower in July. 

An intimate affair. 

We picnicked on the lawn of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

We wore white. 
She wore red and our Nana's bridal veil.

The rain showered. 

We danced through the wet grass,
lifted our parasols,
 and showered her with gifts for the home with the one she loves. 


Flower Kingdom

"I am a King,

Or an Emperor rather, 

I wear crown-imperial

And prince's-feather;

Golden-rod is the sceptre

I wield and wag,

And a broad purple flag-

flower

Waves for my flag.

Elder the pithy

With old-man and sage,

These are my councillors

Green in old age;

Lord-and-ladies in silence

Stand round me and wait,

While gay ragged-robin

Makes bows at my gate.

- Poem I am a King by Christina Georgina Rossetti 

My sister Courtney and I, reigning over our glorious kingdom of flowers, this past Labor Day Weekend in Michigan.