One, Two, Three, Gratitude

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Have you ever felt the feeling of gratitude? I hope so. It's a truly human sentiment. ​It's really an over-generalized term for what I'm about to describe, but it's there nonetheless. 

The family pictured here is the first I ever had the pleasure of photographing. Before I even knew I loved doing it, Kate consistently called me to take photos of her family. She called a first, but then a second and a third time as seasons passed and as the family grew. And with the third time I found myself enjoying the opportunity not only to take pictures, but to tell a story...the story of family.

​So, it's for Kate and her husband Jon that I am grateful today. Thank you for helping me discover the meaning of joy in telling a story with a photo!

p.s.  Did you know gratitude is eucharisteo in Greek? Thus, eucharisteo is a favorite word of mine, but it wasn't until I learned about it in book about how giving thanks can change your life. It's called One Thousand Gifts, by a hero-blogger called Ann Voskamp. Take a minute to peruse her blog. You'll be inspired, without question.

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The Grad Bash

 

168.​

That's the number of people we tallied out with a pencil on a napkin this week in the great wind-down from the great graduation bash.​ 168 people there to celebrate the graduation of my little sister Natalie. (Thanks to all for coming!!)

Natalie is 19. She is 5 feet tall. She is the baby whisperer. She can make you happier than you were before in no-time-flat. She is a joy to everyone who meets her.​ I'm so grateful to be her sister​!

The celebration went off without a hitch, including a flash mob, a fantastic speech from the graduate, about 20 lbs of pulled pork (of which we will be enjoying leftovers for the next year) and oodles of square dancing. A true shin dig.

We did lots of prep leading up to the party, including a little DIY action: we created some gigantic letters out of recycled cardboard to spell "CONGRATS NAT!" ​You can see the finished product on Pinterest here! They turned out splendidly, thanks to a team effort from my sister Anna (the featured model :-).

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A Real Pile

 
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I love that part in the book Where The Wild Things Are, when the little boy Max talks about he and his monster friends sleeping in a "real pile."

I'm reminded of it sometimes after a I have (or, "survive" might be more appropriate) a weekend like the one I just had, when 1:30AM is full of slap-happy jokes, microwaved left-overs, and an inevitable pile of sleeping children on the carpet or couch or window seat or any horizontal surface. 

Don't call child services. Don't be alarmed. This is normal living ​when the goodness of family is bursting through. This weekend we had bunches of family and friends over to celebrate Natalie's graduation and you could catch the joy in the air with a butterfly net. 

Family is one of the things for which I'm most full-up with gratitude, which is why I love taking wedding photos. It's the fresh new family-of-two's very first celebration. Goodness.

These two people in particular are a gem of a new family! It was evident all day that, for them,  marriage means commitment and sacrifice and joy all bound up by a sincere love for one another. I had the privilege of teaming up with my wonderfully talented photog-friend, Nicole Floetker, to catch it on camera. Thank you, Nico!

(More on this weekend's graduation shin dig to come!)​

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Stars

 

Truth: I love the stars. I moved about 30 miles outside the city nine months ago, and the stars away from the urban glow are simply TDF.

This long-exposure was taken of the night sky floating above Lake Ontario and the city of Toronto from the shores of the little town of Niagra-on-the-Lake.

The stars are a beauty! ​We didn't see this handy tutorial on how to photograph the stars until afterwards, but we tried out our street smarts on this one!

Taken with Canon EOS 60D, 18-135mm lens with a 30 second exposure.

Photo cred: Rebekah

​p.s. Do you see that spotty, blinky light? It's a plane!! Cool, huh?

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