My little love

Here are two images from Chloe’s 6 month photo shoot (and by “photo shoot” I mean literally 5 minutes in our guest bathroom in between her crying for much of the entire day – haha) Oh how I love her.

Just another mushy New Year’s blog post…

It’s that time of year isn’t it?  Those of us with blogs feel the pressure to wrap up the year by imparting to the world some profound life lessons learned and inspirational resolutions to top all resolutions…hmm…or maybe it is just me. Maybe this make me nervous because I am just terrible at sharing myself on my blog and maybe it is because I honestly know that I am just not witty or wise enough to leave you with something worth reading. And then there is the whole professionalism bit and not sharing too much of your beliefs that you may step on someone’s toes and offend clients…well despite all that, here goes…

This past year has been um…busy.  We had our first child, moved away from all of our family and most of our friends to a new state, bought our first home, are helping to start a new church and college ministry at USF, have gotten new jobs and lost jobs, are starting two businesses from scratch, celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary and are currently watching and waiting each month as God provides for our bills to be paid.  We are learning how to be parents, we are learning how to be husband and wife (still..and always), we are learning how to be church planters, we are learning how to be business owners and develop our “crafts”, we are learning that we are in control of little to nothing and learning that we would be lost…literally in the miserable dark without God’s grace and promises.

Our hope for next year is for things to settle down (haha – not likely, I know)  But this past year has forced so much transition that we are hoping for some time to process…and grow…and be mentally in one place.  We shall see.

My biggest resolution can be summed up in the lyrics to the Phil Wickham song Mystery:

Here in the quiet speak to me now
My ears are open to
Your gentle sweet whispering
Break down the door, come inside
Shine down Your bright light
I need a lamp for my feet, I need a lamp for my feet

I want to hear the thunder of who You are
To be captured inside the wonder of who You are
I want to live I want to breathe
To search out Your heart and all of Your mysteries

You were the first and You’ll be the end
Time cannot hold You down
Why save a wretch like me?
No eye has seen, no ear has heard
No heart could fully know
All of Your mystery

Your glory burns in the stars
Shine down your light let it burn in my heart
Bring me to glory, bring me to you
Lord it’s your heart that I will hold onto

Your glory burns in the stars
Shine down Your light let me know who You are
Jesus, Your glory burns in the stars
Shine down Your light, let me see You

For some reason, the close of this year has brought with it a painful and wonderful reminder that I really cannot do anything effective, anything valuable, anything that will last and effect change if I am not directly in tune with and connected to God’s heart as it is revealed in the Bible.  If you are not a Christian reading this then I understand that this makes almost no sense…but to put it another way (at the risk of being even more convoluted), not only does God have the perfect answer for how to have a great marriage that will last, to be a good parent, to be a better spouse, a better friend…but if you are connected to God then you can learn about His heart and what is of importance to Him and if you can learn to keep your eyes on THAT and through prayer ask Him to make the passions of His heart the passions of your heart as well, those things become aligned and then and only then do you see lasting change and beautiful growth in those important areas and only then are you able to keep accurate perspective on the things in your life that seem to come in and take over and leave you ragged and overwhelmed.  At the end of the day I just want to have a heart like God’s that shares the same cares and concerns that He has and less of the often futile and selfish pettiness of what seems to consume my heart and mind from day to day.  If I can do that then perhaps all of those other ambitious New Year’s resolutions will follow…

“He must increase, but I must decrease” – John 3:30

More of Him, less of me.

Happy New year friends.

Love,

Shay

Lizzy and Doug – Part 2!!!

Lizzy and Doug were married last weekend in a beautiful intimate ceremony with family and friends at the Southwyn Mansion in Spring Hill, FL.  Only a week earlier they flew back to the states from school in England!  I had a great time meeting their families and I have had a lot of fun with these images…I generally tend to stay away from trendy editing styles but this wedding totally lent itself to some beautiful vintage style film finishes.  Here are a peak (part 2) at how their wedding images are coming along!  Lizzy and Doug,  thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding day.  It was a pleasure to meet you and I wish you both the best life together!

Lizzy and Doug (Part 1)

So, It is now 1:15am and I have a little one who will be waking up for breakfast in 6 hours….SO here is just a little peak at how Lizzy and Doug’s Spring Hill wedding images are coming along (Don’t you love the color palette!?)!  I will post part 2 of their sneak peak tomorrow – Its bedtime for me!!

Item of the week: Fun veils and headpieces!

I photographed a beautiful wedding yesterday where the bride wore a fun floral and netting headpiece designed by her own sister!  This gave me the idea for this weeks “Item of the week!”  More and more bride’s are opting for a non-traditional alternative to the classic veil.  The veil then becomes a great way to showcase your own unique style as well as pulling in other design and color elements from your wedding decor! This is a great way to personalize your look when you have opted for a more traditional styled gown.  Headpieces can be made with anything from florals to feathers and many options can be found on Etsy (and who doesn’t want one more excuse to be on Etsy!)

Here is the head piece worn by Lizzy at yesterday’s wedding in Spring Hill. (More images to come soon!)

And here are are a few other ideas to get you started…

{Above image composite featured on Green Wedding Shoes, photography by California based photographer Meghan Aileen , floral design, bridal bouquet, amazing custom handmade feather headpiece, setting florals by
Alison Franchi, of Le Petit Gardenia. Beautiful hair and makeup design by Mariah Nicole and styled by Emily Basa Besa: basabesa@hotmail.com}

{Above image composite featured on Elizabeth Ann Designs. Images top row L-R: Birdcage veil from Style Me Pretty;  photo by Leigh Miller, headpiece by Sweetsnlo, Kate Triano, headpiece by Unveiled Bridal Designs;
Images bottom row L-R:  Headpiece by Boring Sydney, photo by Jennifer Behr, hat by Emily-London, birdcage veil via Style Me Pretty; Image centre: Portobello}

And finally…check out these gorgeous headpieces from Etsy designer Austie!