Ruth's Nursery- additions!

Hello! 

Just a quick post today to show you some additions to our baby girl's nursery.  The first is a beautiful original painting by my amazingly talented sister.  All I asked for was a canvas with Ruth's verse which is Psalm 91:4... and here is the beautiful piece she came up with:

 Beautiful, isn't it?

The second piece was inspired by a beautiful (and expensive!) butterfly mobile I saw at Pottery Barn Kids recently.  I absolutely fell in love with it when I was there and resolved to try to make it myself.  A styrofoam ring, some spray paint, ribbon, a butterfly punch, some paper, clear craft string and some glass beads later... 

tah-dah!  I love the pics on the bottom that are "Ruth's view".

That's all for today! 

As a friend advised- I am going now to do some streches to prepare for our marathon of photoshoots this Saturday! 

 Thanks to all who signed up- it looks like it's going to be an awesome day of photographs and fundraising.

A Reminder for Today.

Today is a difficult day. 
Today I don't like waiting. 
Today the encouragement I felt at the retreat is waning.
Today I don't want to answer the question "heard any news from your agency?"- because the answer is "no".

Today I'm not sure what to do with myself... because nothing I can "do" will bring Ruth home sooner or make me feel any better...

So, feeling a little sorry for myself, I decided to pull out my journal that I used at the Created for Care retreat.  On the page I opened it too in big bold letters I saw where I had written:

I Am The Mommy That Jesus Loves

I wrote this during a really powerful and empowering session by  Beth Templeton.  Beth is a mommy of 7 children, three that she gave birth to and 4 that joined their family through adoption.  (Beth writes a blog which you can view here if you're interested). 

Back to my story.  Beth's session was entitled "Parenting Forward into our Children's Identity."  She made the case at the beginning of her talk that we are unable to help our children discover and develop their identities if we are not secure in our own identities as mothers. 

She encouraged us to look at the book of John and to note that the author (John) refers to himself as the "the disciple whom Jesus loves."  His declared identity before the world was primarily a man loved by Jesus.  He defined himself, reminded himself and referred to himself as a man loved dearly by Christ.  Beth went on to say that John was seemingly more aware of Jesus's love for him than he was of his own love for Jesus.

Beth reminded us that our identity is not in what we do-  for example "I am a woman who loves Jesus."  Although it is good to think of ourselves as women that love Christ, it is easy for that to slip into a "works" mentality that says "I am what I do" or  "I am what I feel."  And on a bad day (like today where I'm not feeling very loved) that's not a "truth" I want to cling to!

When our identity is in Christ's love for US we are empowered, unshakable and free- no matter the way that we feel nor what we do or don't do.   

So then, I will remind myself on a difficult day, that I am the Mommy that Jesus Loves!  And since he loves me the truth found in Romans 8:32 is written for me:

 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Today God will give me everything I need to wait patiently, with eager anticipation for the phone call we have been dreaming about.

With love and encouragement,

The Mommy that Jesus Loves

Spring Portraits- 5 Spots Remain!

Good morning everyone!

Just a quick note to let you all know that we have
5 remaining spots for our

Spring
Portraits

at Glencairn Garden,  in Rock Hill.

If you're interested please email Kylie at kylienchann@gmail.com

TODAY before we run out of spots!  For more info check out our flyer below.  Please pray with the Carrolls and us for beautiful weather, smiling families, great time management and ample opportunities to talk about and show the love of Christ.

Gore Family

Hello!  I had the pleasure of starting off my weekend photographing some sweet friends- the Gore family.  Niles and I have known these 2 since before they were married and we've been blessed to watch as the Lord has grown them into a beautiful family. 

 Side note- we had approximately 30 minutes in the shoot before it began raining.  Lucky for me their are such beautiful and photogenic people that was all I needed! 

 Now onto my favorites from the day!

Meet, the Gore family!

Love the way sweet Selah is looking at Daddy in this one

I don't believe this little girl could be more lovely.  A sweet delight!

Adorable!

I can't imagine where this little girls gets her beauty...

Insane I tell you!  Too adorable for words.

This little girl LOVES her Daddy.

Such a sweet expression!

Hilarious! 
Also, I did NOTHING in editing to her eyes!  They are just that amazing.

A beautiful love story

Who can look at this and not smile too?

There's just nothing on this earth like a sister!  LOVE!

And to close, one more family shot that I loved!

I vote that you guys have at least 5 more kiddos- I get a vote, right?

Thank you again, Gore family, for your support and love.  May our sweet Lord continue to bless your beautiful family!  Love you guys!

One final thought:

My assistant rocks.

Speedy Spring Portraits!

Good morning!
Thank you all for your input here and on Facebook regarding the bracelets.  After thorough review we determined that everyones #1 priority was that the bracelets be smaller and fit on one line.  And since "He is faithful" only fits on 2 lines, we decided to go with:

 Psalm 91:4

We are really excited and eager to get them in you hands- so stay tuned!

On another note, we have also decided to partner with our dear friends the Carrolls for a fun and easy fundraiser- NEXT SATURDAY!

We are praying for good weather and LOTS of appointments! 

Thank you so much for helping us get the word out!

Much love and gratitude,

Maria

Help us choose a fundraiser!

Good morning friends!
This will be a quick opinion post and I'd REALLY love your input:

We are about to order an adoption fundraiser: a bracelet!  And we are between two choices as to what to write on the bracelets.  We want to know which has the greater appeal. 

Here is what the bracelets will look like:

And here are our two choices:

1 line of text that says "Psalm 91:4" (will look similar to the "Redeemed" one above)
or
2 lines of text that read "He is faithful" (will look similar to the "Love with Abandon" one above)

I love BOTH options as both say the same thing in different ways about our Father.  We have chosen that Psalm as "Ruth's Promise" from the Lord and it speaks to his faithful protection of her...

Please comment here and let me know which you like best.  Thank you!!

A Powerful Retreat- Part 1

It was a blessing to my heart to travel to Atlanta with 3 amazing women to a conference for  adoptive mommies last weekend.  There is just something amazing about being in a room with so many women that #1 love Jesus and #2 feel the Lord calling them to adopt children (or support family members that are adopting).  I can't tell you what that does for my heart.  Since many of my sweet friends and family were unable to go I hope to take the next several days to post about what the Lord taught me in the sessions I was able to attend.

To kick off the series I'd like to share with you the POWERFUL video  that opened our retreat.  It is a celebration of what God has already begun...  look closely and you'll see the Fergusons! 

He is FAITHFUL!