Lucky me, I got the pleasure of photographing the Caywood family the day before they moved to Millry, Alabama! We had fun walking around the park they spent a lot of time at as a family during their time in Granbury. Garrett and Betti are going to be working in the youth ministry at a church in Millry and were just beaming with excitement over what the Lord is doing in their lives. I really enjoyed spending the morning with them and just hearing about all the excitement.

It was so fun to capture their sweet family as they transition into the next season of life. Betti and Garrett, I pray huge blessings over you, your new church family, and of course the students you will be working with! Keep me updated on all that God does through you guys!

Top of the morning to you all!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I unfortunately came down with a nasty cold when I was out with the pastor’s wives this weekend. We went to IKEA on Friday morning and I started feeling sluggish. By late afternoon all I could think about what laying down in a dark cool room. Even though I hadn’t seen Eric in a week since he had been in South Carolina visiting friends, I just couldn’t wait to sleep. When I got home, Eric wasn’t home. I figured he was either out on a call (he’s a volunteer firefighter) or had run an errand. Just as I was about to hop in my comfy bed and lay my head down on a soft pillow, I got a call from my dad. He told me he and my mom were with Eric was in the Emergency Room. My dad let me know that Eric had gone to fight a fire and gotten heat exhaustion and was dehydrated. The medics had taken him on in to the hospital because of an elevated heart beat and wanted to give him some fluids, but he was doing just fine.

I have to admit that for a few minutes I felt very selfish. After all, I WAS feeling terrible and shouldn’t Eric know better than to not drink enough water? Didn’t he know his limits when he was fighting fires? It was JUST my luck to have just gotten home from driving through the worst TRAFFIC - in the POURING RAIN - with my nose dripping like the Niagra Falls & my head feeling like it could be somewhere in OUTER SPACE. Oh no… I couldn’t possibly just have ONE night for Eric to feel sorry for me, to take care of me, and to tuck me tightly into my bed before the sun went down. Poor me.

And then I realized that none of that brought glory to God. I had a decision to make. I could either: A.) Be mad at Eric for being at the hospital from his lack of hydrating his own body, which was making me stay out of bed when I’m ACTUALLY sick  - also from knowing that we will have a  HUGE bill from the emergency room - and also from the fact that I’d been looking forward to running into the house to his open arms for the first time in a week… and now he was laying on a rolly-bed hooked up to 3 different machines with a dress on (not romantic)

or

B.) I could choose to bring God glory in an non-ideal situation. I quickly chose B and repented for being so selfish. I thanked God for keeping my husband safe and the fact that the only thing that happened to him was dehydration and that he would be able to come home with me that night when many people around the world lost someone they loved that day. I then prayed for God to provide the finances that we needed to pay for the medical bills. I knew we did not have the money for it, so it would need to be supernatural provision from the Lord. Finally, I chose to be excited to see my husband despite the circumstances and stay positive throughout the evening all for the Glory of God.

After staying at the hospital until 12:30Am, eating Whataburger (sans my Diet Dr. Pepper Eric dropped while getting out of the car) around 1AM,  and finally getting into bed well into the wee hours of the morning, I looked back on the evening able to boast in the Lord. It was SO good to see all that God did because I allowed Him the room to move. During the 5 hours at the hospital, Eric and I had amazing conversation about all he learned on his trip and all that the Lord had been doing in his life last week. He also shared how the Fire Marshall came up to the ER and told him that the county would cover the medical bill (hello supernatural provision) and I felt closer to my husband than I had felt in weeks. What a neat time for God to bless us despite the circumstances.

I pray that I can give God more permission in my life by choosing B. more often!

Even though my illness escalated on Saturday and I ended up having to give over the Worship Leading for Sunday to my husband (who is amazing at planning on a whim and did a superb job in worship), I felt good enough to put together all the goodies I bought from IKEA! Eric and I spent yesterday afternoon pretty-ing up the house a bit. I always enjoy just being with him and it was double awesome to spiff up the house together!

I thought y’all might want to see some pictures. Am I right?

Here is the front room before (ish):

And now with a little redecorating…

I bought 3 new canvases to put on our walls. This one is a 20X30.

Close up! Pictures taken by the talented Erin Woolsey.

The other 20X30 canvas of our family!

Our living room before (ish):

And now:

A 30X30 Canvas! LOVE IT!

Our bedroom before (ish):

With the help of IKEA:

Love this lamp shade!

And here is the bedside table that Eric put together from IKEA. If you don’t know, IKEA uses pictures ONLY for instructions. Poor Eric had quite a time putting it together, but he did it! It looks awesome!

Here’s the upstairs guest room before we moved into the house:

And now it’s a full fledge guest room (or Micah’s room):

Got that little bench for $5 at a garage sale. So proud.

Don’t even pretend like this isn’t the cutest thing ever.

My office before we moved in:

Now:

Curtains from IKEA!

And the good ol’ college diploma. At least it’s good for decorations!

More pictures that I posted a while back of our house are here if you are bored.

In order to honor a very special dog, I interrupt my normal blogging pattern. This family wasn’t the next in line for blogging, but I wanted to do a special blog. I hope that’s okay with everyone. My new friends, Amber & Garrett, emailed me not too long ago asking if I could do a photoshoot with them and their dogs! Well, of course I said yes. I LOVE little doggies. Or big doggies. Or animals in general (just ask my photography partner, Micah… she laughs at how much compassion I have for animals… and how much I desire to take their pictures… HA!). Anyway, when I found out a little more about their dog, Vido, I was even more compelled to squeeze in a photoshoot for them!

Garrett got Vido when he was 8 years old. All together, he has been in the Wiginton family for FIFTEEN YEARS! Since Garrett and Amber got married, Amber also became the adoptive mom to Vido and they were all very happy together. Recently, they found out that Vido had a tumor in his stomach and he did not have very much longer to live. Thankfully, in order to remember Vido and his happy-go-lucky attitude, we got to have a photoshoot of all of them together.

It is with deep regret that I tell you that Vido had to be put to sleep yesterday. Amber and Garrett, I know you will miss him so much, but I pray that these photographs will bring joy to you! It is with pleasure that I present: Vido!!

Nathan & Lindsey were ahead of the game when it came to planning. They booked us for June 5th at the beginning of last summer, and with lots of of inquiries for June 5th, we were super excited to get to celebrate that popular day with two very special people!

Thank you both for allowing us to document you wedding day. Your love for each other is so evident and it’s such a blessing to be a part of that! Enjoy your pictures!

Nathan had lots of assistants in preparing for the big day! I love this series of pictures…

A quick game of football on your wedding day? I think so.

I loved Lindsey’s hair and flower. She was SO stunning on her wedding day!

This might be the cutest thing ever. Nathan had a snag or something on his jacket and who better to come to the rescue than three ladies?

Favorite picture of the day. Ahhh…

Does anyone else think this is just the most awesome thing ever? I hope that Eric and I (Ashley) still dance like that when we get old! Actually, I wish we danced like that now! Haha!

Bring out the head lamp…

On my way out to the Langdon Ranch, I saw THE biggest snake I’ve ever seen. HUGE. I mean it. Way bigger than the one that was in my kitchen. I mean, this thing took up half the width of the dirt road. It had to be at LEAST 5 feet long. I think that’s part of being out in the country… So once I got past the snake, I was super excited to find some non-snakey locations to photography this sweet little gal. We had fun using different props and trying to get some raw emotions out of her!

The Langdons go to StoneWater Church with us and I was so thrilled when they contacted me to do a photo session of their daughter. Hopefully I got some treasures for their family! By the way, I was feeling a lot of vintage washes and textures for this set of pictures, so let me know what you think!