If you don’t already know, I’ve recently decided to go full-time with my wedding photography business partner, Micah, at Double Knot Photography! This has been an exciting change for me, a little scary, but mostly freeing! I’ve been able to devote all of my time, energy, and thought into one business instead of splitting it between two! Wow, what a load off my shoulders! Don’t get me wrong, I love all the precious families I have gotten to photograph at Ashley Wilkins Photography, but I do know that going full time with weddings is the season the Lord has taken me to!

If you have not had a chance to stop by Double Knot Photography, please come see what we are up to! We update our blog a few times a week with our latest work and also some personal tid-bits that help you get to know us better! We have been so blessed to move into this new season of our lives and would love for you to share in it with us! Come say hello!

Just so you know, the change has been reflected on my Investment page. If you notice, there might be times where I’m running family portrait specials that I will announce on my blog here and on Double Knot’s blog!

Thanks so much for all of your support in the past few years! I’m excited about all that is to come and praying that God will be glorified through each adventure! Blessings!

- Ashley

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Well hello September! It’s so good to have you here. You always bring along some of my FAVORITE things of the year. Football games. Beautiful trees. Cool winds. Three-quarter-length shirts. And my personal favorite - new fall-ish drinks at Starbucks (coffee lovers unite!). As I was catching up on some of my favorite photographer’s blogs, one of them suggested writing down my goals for the month in order to be able to cross them off the list (because that’s the best part of having a to-do list, right?!). So - here I am - all ready to write my goals and anticipate crossing them off my list.

But, I don’t know what my goals are.

Goal # 1: Formulate Goals.

Okay, so when someone springs it upon you to have a list of goals, you need time to prepare. Time to process. Time to DREAM. Don’t you remember back at Freshman Orientation in college when you have to say your name and something interesting about yourself in hopes that everyone will actually think you’re interesting opposed to a freak (or maybe that was just me?). I needed more time to prepare for an interesting story - or perhaps just time to do something interesting so I would HAVE an interesting story - but nonetheless, more time. Either way, I haven’t had a lot of time to think and pray about my goals, but in honor of the first sunrise of September, I truly do want to come up with some goals that I may or may not be able to accomplish in one month, but by golly, I will have made some goals. I might need to add as the month goes on, but I really do hope that creating a list on paper (or e-paper if you will) will help me to obtain the things that I always think about wanting to do!

So. September Goals. Ahem…

1.) Pray about everything.

2.) Make myself more vulnerable to people. I am who God has made me.

3.) Redo my brand packaging for photography.

4.) Take my camera with me just to take pictures for fun.

5.) Go to a high school football game.

6.) Finish the book I’m reading (Spiritual Revolution - Patricia King)

7.) Shop at some garage sales for antique furniture

8.) Go camping with Eric and some friends

9.) Finish ALL summer  photography sessions and weddings!

Come on, jump on the bandwagon! List some goals in my comment box or put a link to your blog with your goals for the month! What are your goals?

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.

Eric and I have some really awesome friends. Seriously, we feel SO blessed to have made some really great relationships with people in the last several years. Not only do we have amazing friends from our church here in Granbury, but we are so lucky to have a special relationship with some people over at Newspring Church in South Carolina - where we have been able to learn from and be encouraged by in the last few years. Every person that we’ve met from Newspring has been so incredibly humble and gracious in allowing us to come up there and hang out with them, learn from them, and even stay in their homes. The last time we made our way to South Carolina, we stayed with the Worship Leader, Lee McDerment, and his two roommates Joey and Craig (who both play in the Fuse Band - Newspring’s youth band). Apparently we aren’t TOO crazy - because when Joey found out his best friend was getting married in Dallas, he immediately thought of us and asked to stay out our house! Yay!

So this weekend was the wedding and we FINALLY got to see Joey! It was his first time to ride a plane and his first time in Texas and we wanted to make sure we showed him a good Texas time! So…. what do you do in a small town in Texas?

And then….. THIS. SO FUNNY.

This was at Jessie and Brandi, our amazing friends’, house. Jessie and Brandi let me shoot them for a mailer that we used for StoneWater Church a few months back! Don’t you want to see how cute they are? I knew it….

Brandi, you are GORGEOUS!

We are SO thankful for all of our incredible friends. Life just wouldn’t be the same without you!!