I remember the sleepless nights.  I remember the weariness.  I remember the excitement when I got five hours of sleep in a row. I remember the worry when my kids had a fever. I remember the joy of feeding them their first solid foods, the excitement of  watching them take their first steps, listening to them sound out words and start to read for the first time. . .the list goes on and on.  I look back over the 19 years of parenting and I realize how it has changed me. I had such ideals and thoughts of what being a mom was going to be like when I became pregnant for the first time. I remember the pains, trials and joys that I’ve encountered being a mom.  The role of parenting is refining.

I didn’t start writing this post with the idea that I was going to write about me and mothering. There has been no greater joy to me than being a mom.  With all that being said, I have a heart for moms who are in the thick of parenting younger children because I remember what it is like. When I see moms who are in the thick of life with young kids, I honestly have such compassion for them.  I also want to share my heart and things that I wish I might have done differently. . .things like relaxing, not majoring in minors, etc.  AND having more than one picture of me being pregnant.

I try not to dwell on regrets. But, I truly regret that I was too self-conscious to have pictures taken when I was pregnant. I felt fat and ugly. How sad!! I have one single picture and I am in ugly sweat pants and a big ugly shirt, but I LOVE it as I know that my Ethan was inside me growing and a few months away from coming into the world.  I wish I had pictures of every single one of my children while they were in the womb.  I think that is why I appreciate maternity pictures so much!

When I was talking to Sharon and asked if she had any maternity pictures taken with her other precious babies and she replied “no”, I knew that it would be so special to get some of her and her precious kids.  Sharon is such an amazing mom! Sharon has been blessed with an amazing story that you should take some time to read.  Her husband, Josh (our pastor) also shared one Sunday that I happen to miss out on. So I uploaded the podcast and made the mistake of listening to it on the airplane. . .I’m sure I was quite a sight sitting there with tears streaming down my face. My boys listen to it  as well because Emily will be living with Josh and Sharon when they move over to Seattle for a awhile. . .I wanted them to understand why their big sister wasn’t going to be home and how we can be praying for the McPherson family.  Precious Ella Mae (who we absolutely adore along with her sweet brother and sister!!) was born with spina bifida and baby #4 (a precious baby boy!) will also join their family with spina bifida in May.  Their story is beautiful and I feel so blessed that Emily will have the honor of being part of their family during this time. I also feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to capture this time in their lives. . .it is so evident that these kiddos adore their momma.

**If you click on their names above, you can read more about their story and how you can pray for them during this time!

When my friend, Nancy, asked me to come take some pictures of Alatheia Riding Center, I had no idea what an amazing gift she gives to the people she works with. Alatheia Riding Center provides equine assisted therapeutic activities to physically, emotionally, and learning disabled people. Nancy’s combined love of horses and children is a natural God given ability. . .it was so apparent when watching her work with both Ella Mae and Ava.  Alatheia Riding Center uses the power of equine-based therapy combined with Nancy’s amazing way with children and horses.   It is a non-profit therapeutic riding center, affiliated with PATH(Professional of Therapeutic Horsemanship), formally NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association), and NFHR (The Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry). I truly loved every minute taking pictures of Nancy working with the girls to show me what she does to help children through the use of horses.  What a blessing it is to have such an amazing program in our local area!  If you are interested in volunteering or finding out more about Alatheia, you can visit their website at http://alatheiaridingcenter.com.

I have been excited about blogging the next few posts since I had this session late last fall.  This is one of my favorite families in the world!  I feel so incredibly blessed to have them in my life.  I feel like God blessed me with more girls in my life as I adore Amelia, Gretta and Sophie.  I’ve never experienced life with “sisters”, so I love seeing their relationships, how different they each are and how they adore each other.  And I think (know) that Savannah and I could spend the rest of our lives together and never run out of things to talk about. I feel blessed to be sharing life with this amazing family!  I love you guys!!!