party at the orange grove!

so you know my deal with you.

that i do one family photo shoot a month and then share my honest experience about it.

this isn't my business (yet).

i'm not selling anything.

so the point of sharing has to go with my whole "reed life mentality"

which is NOT "lets all pretend like my life is all sunshine and roses all the time!"

remember what it is?

what is this blog for?

...to illustrate the beauty of my barely managed mess.

yes, my kids are darling,

of course they are!

but just to be honest, my laundry needs to be done and my dishes are piled in the sink.

if you look at my pictures, remember that they are cropped and doctored up and that the beauty is, that I have a mess just like yours and I am trying to look at it all knowing that God's grace fixes me up and puts a wash over me.

my creativity comes from the fact that although i get distracted by things of this world, at times, deep down i am HIS amazing creation trying to get out and express His beauty.

beauty is my mess turned into glory because of Him.

my hero!

that being said, this was such an easy shoot!

is that an ok thing to say?

the beautiful momma was so relaxed and happy! 

she is very creative, herself, but was totally trusting whatever i was wanting to do for the shoot.

her kids love balloons and we just got them A TON of balloons and brought them to the orange grove to play!

she had a little chalkboard and everyone took a turn guessing about the gender of the coming baby.

it was so sweet!

the daddy was so natural with his kids and snuggly with his wife and everyone just seemed so content!

i want to give you some gritty details, but....

i just loved doing this one!

i am learning to try to expose right and am working on finding the style that i like.

i usually over expose and am working hard to get more familiar with the settings on my camera so i can get my exposures just right as the light changes throughout a shoot.

its hard.

but even though with every shoot i can get really critical of my own abilities i can also see improvement!

so i try and go with that.

remembering that my heart is still sliding up to that tune.

its a process, this "tuning my heart to sing thy grace"

and i am choosing to live in the moment and not just want what's next.

what a beautiful family!