A "hope"ful week!

It’s hard to believe this week marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of our adoption journey!  

The Lord has been faithful and steadfast every, single, step.  He has grown our faith with each passing day and blessed us beyond anything we could have ever HOPEd for. 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1

Although our Ruth is not yet home we HOPE in HIM, and HIM alone to bring her to our family- in his perfect timing!

And you, the Cinco Mariposas Family, have been a beautiful encouragement and support to us this entire year.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your loving kindness.  Thank you for your financial support. 

We pray the Lord’s face shines upon you in a new and tangible way today!

To commemorate this HOPEfilled week we are excited to unveil…

For every $10 donation to our adoption fund you will receive your very own “hope.” band!  The bands are available in limited quantities in

Purple, Blue & Red

How do you get your very OWN “hope.” band you ask?  It’s easy! 

You have 2 VERY simple options:

1) Email us at FergusonAdoption@gmail.com and tell us how many  “hope.” bands you want.  Then if you’re local I’ll deliver your band(s) right away!  (You can give me your donation at the time of delivery)

2) For those of you that are not local or simply prefer to donate online, we have a Paypal DONATE button on the right side of the blog!  Simply enter your email address and tell us *which band you’d like.  Then we’ll either mail or deliver you a band within the week! 
(*note:  we only ordered 55 hope bands with approximately 18 in each color. Color preferences will be followed whenever possible.)

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BUT WAIT!  THERE’S MORE!

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Since so many of you donated to receive our “Psalm 91:4” bands-  we have ordered more!

Since this is a special week we are offering  "Psalm 91:4" bands for $10 as well!!

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And finally, we couldn’t have a week this exciting without having a CONTEST!

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Help us SPREAD the word and be entered to win a FREE

“hope.”  band &

“Psalm 91:4”

That’s 2 free bands!

How to enter:

To enter share this blog post or information about our bands on Facebook then leave me a comment here on this post that you’ve done it.  THAT’S IT!!  You can enter once per day and you have until 11PM on Saturday to enter. 

Thanks for helping us spread the word- happy posting!

A Heart Tattoo

 If I could tattoo my heart, I would want it to read:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
 the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation”

(Hab3:17–18).

I'll try not to over dramatize this- and say simply that when I read this verse for the first time 2 weeks ago I felt the Lord was speaking to me in a beautifully encouraging and personal way.  

You see, the last month has been a difficult one for us.  After 6-months of waiting without a single "fig blossom or fruit on the vine" we have had 2 recent "olive produce failures..."  We were made aware of 2 potential baby girls expected to be born in the summer.  One situation was a very sad and complicated, and the other seemed pretty straight forward.  We were hopeful and prayerful.  We were obedient and said we were willing to parent both babies...  Unfortunately, neither situation materialized.

And yet I know, without a single doubt, my God loves me enough to die in my place and in THAT I will rejoice!

Even if the Lord never gives me anything I ever ask him for, ever again, in my salvation I will rejoice!  Even when my heart feels heavy, when I am disappointed, when I am tired of waiting, when I am discouraged or grumpy I will take joy in the perfection that is to come when I see him face to face.  

Amen.

A Citadel Graduate

Meet Caleb, recent graduate of the Civil Engineering program at The Citadel.




I was thrilled when Caleb's mom, a dear friend, asked me if  I would be willing to shoot his senior pictures.  We made plans to meet in downtown Fort Mill on a beautiful Friday morning in May

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Quick side note- my 2-year old,Calvin, was with me for this shoot and he was so excited he could barely stand it!  Before Caleb and Connie arrived I told him Mommy would be photographing "a soldier"- a dream come true for a little boy!  Once he saw Caleb in full uniform he became MUTE- a rare occurrence for that one! 

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I'll have to admit, even I was a little intimidated by this young man in uniform!  Usually I like to be silly during shoots to try to make people smile, try to catch them off guard in natural poses... but I sort of felt that wasn't allowed!  This shoot felt like serious business people! 

Luckily Caleb has a wonderful disposition and he smiled for the camera- even without my normal antics.  So anyways, here are my favorites from the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connie wasn't really planning to be photographed- but I couldn't help it!  The pride she was beaming needed to be captured.

 

 

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Congratulations Caleb!  We are praying the Lord continues to guide your steps as you begin your next adventure. And thank you guys for your support of our fundraising efforts!

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To close, I want to say a most heartfelt thank you to the men and women that have given their lives serving in our great country's armed forces.

And for the families of the fallen
I pray from Psalm 46, that they would believe
  
God is [your] refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
[That you] will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Ruthie Band Sighting

It is always a sweet encouragement to us to see you all wearing your bands. To us the bands are a visible reminder of your partnership in prayer with us.

When we have a “Ruthie band sighting” we are also reminded of God’s faithful provision for us- providing us both the essential funds as well as the community we desperately need as we wait!  So thank you for wearing them and sending us your pictures!

The picture below was taken during a recent Serving MealsMinistry event that our church participates in.  The photo is not only a sweet reminder of God’s provision for us but also for those in need of some of the most basic necessities. 

This photo reminded me in many ways of a couple verses in Matthew 6:

 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

May we all find comfort in believing that all our needs are known.

Mrs. Danielle Russo- Bridal Portraits!

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine
Song of Solomon

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It was my absolute JOY to spend last week and weekend celebrating one of my dearest friends as she married the man God made just for her. You might remember my friend Danielle and her now HUSBAND Darren from their engagement session back in October. I was inspired that day by their obvious love for the Lord and one another... but to watch them on their wedding day was something almost magical. The weather was gorgeous, the flowers were amazing, the food (especially the cake!) was delicious- but above all the worship was sweet. My sister described the day best by saying it felt as though we were in a wonderful movie- where everything goes just right and the witnesses are almost as excited as the bride and groom! Where else has anyone ever seen a wedding where the groom walks to meet the bride half-way down the isle and the crowd bursts into spontaneous applause?

Before their big day I had the distinct privilege of photographing Danielle for her bridal portraits. And Oh! how I have wanted to share these photos with the world for WEEKS! My sister and I along with a small entourage shot these photos at gorgeous historic home in McConnells, SC. As is often the case the Lord shone his face upon this beautiful bride to be giving us a PERFECT evening to shoot with the yummiest of light and the most beautiful of locations. When I narrowed down my photos to edit I still had 99 that I loved! My favorite of my favorites is below- enjoy!

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. (Isaiah 60)

This was Danielle's official bridal portrait

LOVE!

I'm pretty sure this is one of my all time favorites. Just a few minutes before sunset.

She looks like a princess!

Danielle's bridal party all wore these beautiful crochet TOMS-
so we decided to show them off in this fun shot.

I couldn't decide which I liked most!  So lovely!

The direction I gave was "show me sass!"- success!

I love you, Mrs. Russo!


Danielle and Darren, what a JOY it was to watch you two make your covenant before the Lord. I pray that God continues to shine his face upon you both and you grow more deeply in love with him and each other with each passing year. Thank you for allowing us to share in your day!

And a HUGE thank you to the Russo's for the continued support of our adoption! This is now their 2nd shoot, they purchased a shoot as gift for a friend AND they have sent me a TON of referrals!

THANK YOU! You guys are Ruthie Fundraising SUPERSTARS!

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If you know anyone interested in working with me- please pass along my information!  Thank you all!

Homeschool Picture Day

I had the pleasure of photographing a local homeschool co-ops PICTURE DAY.  Despite a cloudy sky and some last minute location changes we had a great time and came up with some really beautiful "school pictures."  Below are some of my favorites from the day- enjoy!

 

 

I think my absolute favorites from the day were the Kindergartners!  So sweet! 

 

 

In addition to the school portraits we did a few sibling/group shots as well. 

 

 

I desire to wait well

My love found this little nugget of encouragement and shared it with me.
Now I share it with you.

Enjoy.



The ABC's of Waiting from Geoff Schultz on Vimeo.