sunny.day.and.zoe

 

zoe, our 4 lb morkie. we love her! 🙂

a parenting tid bit and a rooster, just for fun…..

My hubby has been teaching a parenting class at church the last few weeks. He is teaching from the book Parenting is Heart Work. One of the best parenting books we had ever read.  Driving home last night,  I was thinking about some of the questions that were being asked and some of the stories parents have shared.  I think it is safe to say, we all want to be good, godly parents and want to raise kids that love the Lord.  One thing I really want to highlight is….

I think when we are talking about the heart, we can never under estimate the power of prayer.

Its when we don’t have any answers in ourselves and we are at the end of our self or our knowledge or our skills, or what was suppose to work with our kids,  that we  humbly bow before the creator of the world and ask Him for guidance. (Not sure why we wait so long sometimes trying to figure everything out alone.. Can I get an amen? 🙂  or is it just me who waits?… Accidental confession)

We can actually approach the throne and ask God for the ability to see the unseen, to hear what is not being said. Goodness gracious, He is the creator of our children, He knows every intimate detail about them, He knows every stinkin hair on their head.  I guess if He knows all that,  He knows what they are saying in their heart. Every day of their life was written before one came to be.  He loves them even more than we do.  It is Him we must ask for the wisdom to know when to discipline and when to extend grace.  It is Him we must go in our room and shut the door and ask, what to do in situations when it is less than easy, less than obvious. (most of the time, right?)   Lets be honest, we can learn a lot about heart work and that is good, we should be learning and growing. But at the end of the day, God is the only one who can change a heart. He is the only one capable of cultivating the ground of our heart and our childrens’ hearts and making them ready to receive instruction. And isn’t it  Him, that as our children grow and mature, that we ultimately want our children to go to, when they wrestle with heart issues.  It is so important to make sure we are walking in an intimate relationship with the Lord ourselves so we can hear instruction in our own life.  That has the greatest ability (what we are learning about becoming more like Christ) to spill over onto our children.  I have had to learn that the hard way, I wont share any examples. 🙂

Isn’t it refreshing to know……

We don’t need all the answers, we need to know Who has the answers. We don’t need to be perfect, we need to know who is perfecting our faith. Its God every time.  

LOVE THIS:

Psalm 51 The Message
 1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.

4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.

16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

more resources i would recommend – the Bible and The Power of a Praying Parent   by Stormie Omartian

 

the rooster. 🙂

 

 

sweet.little.ava.kate…….

my sister just had her fourth, precious, little baby. she looks fabulous! just a few days later, she had baby ava…..

 

i am happy to say that we are heading back to see baby ava and her family next week, so i am sure there will be more photos to come. 🙂

m

 

audrey.1.year……

oh the fun of turning one!

audrey is as sweet today as she was 1 year ago. here are a few photos from our session i wanted to share.

and a few of her with her amazing parents!

cherish every moment in life, each day is precious and reason enough to celebrate Gods goodness to us. May God bless you and keep you.

dunn.family.photos…..

so i met the sweetest family that was visiting here over thanksgiving.  they reside in sunny florida and just had the cutest, red haired little baby boy, although you would never know that when seeing missy, she looks fantastic for being a new mom!!!

there is sometimes  a little uncertainity to booking a family that i meet at the time of the photo session but i can tell you that was not the case with missy,  jeremy and jadon.  i just love the way families interact, the love of young families and their first baby. it is a precious gift and a precious season. merry christmas dunn family, enjoy your first Christmas as mom and dad and give that sweet little guy a big hug for me! here are just a few photos from our session to share.

i love black and white, but i had to put in one picture of his sweet little red head, its so precious!  sweet dreams baby!

9.months.audrey…..

well what to say. this little girl knows how to smile! its not just one of those little ones either, it is a full out, down to her toes, into her soul kind of smile. and when you are with her you just cant help but smile too!! 🙂   time flies and it is once again time for audreys update! she is adorable!

grandparents.and.grandkids….

what a sweet relationship between a grandparent and grandchild.  i was honored to photograph nicoles mom and dad with her 2 adorable kiddos! here are a few from our morning!

 

 

 

micah.and.keenan……

boys are awesome! so full of energy and life! and these 2 come from an amazing family as well! i had so much fun chasing these 2 adorable little guys around.  i love the way they interact with each other! jarrod and laura you have a beautiful family!

red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world!

the.dishon.family…….

the Dishon family is amazing, i am just saying! we had a blast last saturday hanging out in franklin. there isnt anything more i could want than a beautiful day and a super cute family with a lot of personality. 🙂 it was the first time i had really had a chance to talk to jackson and he had me captivated right from the beginning. as a mom to 3 girls, i dont often have the chance to hang out with these little men. he was the cutest thing and i loved every minute of it. thanks for a super fun morning Dishon family! here is just a sneak peak from our morning! and a special thank you to my helper and hubby!

at.the.farm………..

Last week was so beautiful and extra special because I got to hang out with Haley and Jordan at the farm.  These two little pumpkins are full of life and energy, expression and joy! It is always fun to spend time with them (and their mom and dad) 🙂   Girls, you are beautiful inside and out! Your mom and dad are awesome and obviously doing lots of things right!  This is such a special age of new experiences wrapped up in child like innocence.  Thank you for spending the afternoon with us!!!!