Home: (n) any place of residence or refuge.

Home. Because there's really no place like it on Earth. Because it's where our family is, and where we feel most comfortable as we surround ourselves with the sweetness of the everyday. Because it's where we long to return when the day has grown long.

Home. What better place to have a photo session than in the very place we feel closest to ourselves?

Here are just a few of the many beautiful photos your family created, Theresa. I'm so glad we could fit in this photo shoot while Leah was on break from college. It was nice meeting all of you! Enjoy a little glimpse into your at-home session:











This one's for the boys...

"There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again."
-Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, (1838-1912) - American poet, author, and editor

Update

So a few days ago, I announced the Muddy Brook Potters Studio Sale that was starting today. Being of the curious sort, I stopped down at the studio today, and saw lots of nice people, brisk sales, and my parents all at the same time. (I've always enjoyed multi-tasking.) Lots of pottery pieces are already gone, but the sale continues tomorrow morning again, starting at 9:00 and going until 4 pm. The big announcement is that at mid-day tomorrow, a brand new collection of pottery will be available from this week's big wood kiln firing. So be sure to stop down and say hello while getting your Christmas shopping done. Maybe I'll even see you there. (Grab a little Christmas cookie while you're at it, too!)







Also, please refer to the post below in regards to the Cans for Comments drive that fellow photographer, Erica May is holding! Do me a huge favor and inundate her blog with comments, please! She is donating one can of food for each comment left. You'll make my day if you help her out!! THANKS!

Can I ask a little favor?

I have a question for all my blog readers. Can you help a friend out?

Some of you who have read this blog from the beginning know of Erica May, photographer extraordinaire, who has helped me in countless ways as I wade my way through the sea of photography. She just started a 'Cans for Comments' drive to help those who have so much less than we do. For every comment left on her blog, she will donate one can of food to 'Harvesters', Kansas City's only foodbank. So can you help me out to help her out by leaving a comment on her blog? I know it would make her smile. She's done a lot to help me get here, so it'd be great to give back to her in this small way. So even if you've never commented here, do me a favor and comment there. And tell her I said hello, okay? (Last year she had 86 comments. Let's blow that out of the water.) Just put in your name (or initials if you prefer) in the correct box, and your email address. Your email will not be shared. Then type in your comment, and hit 'post.' And you're done. THANK YOU!

And because a post on a photography blog always needs a picture, here's a little look at what's coming soon:

Thankfulness and the number 200.

Just a small sample of the many reasons I have to thank God every day. Without them, I wouldn't even be me.

And I just realized that this is the 200th post on this blog. What better way to mark a milestone than a post filled with the 4 people (of many in my life) who love me and support me?







And I'm especially thankful for this man who is my #1 supporter, the most patient and loving husband, and such a wonderful father to our 3 kids. I have been blessed beyond what I ever could have hoped for or deserved.


(And for those who comment on our childrens' eyes, look above. Now you know where they get them from.)


Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. May it be filled with joy and gratefulness.

"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Reminisce: to recall past experiences, events.

This is a little look at a session that happened around late summer/early fall. It's kind of a treat to go back and look at these images, when the air was warm, and the grass was so green that it almost made the eyes strain to look at it. I love summer. So let's reminisce back to when the days were hazy, bare feet were abundant, and the fruit was just ready to ripen:











This one just might be a favorite:




Thanks again, John, Janelle, Mia and Bradley! It was fun going back to this warm summer's evening in my mind... :)

*To learn about or purchase 'Prints for a Purpose', click here. Thank you for the interest and support thus far!*
This months' charity is 'Autism Speaks.'
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Announcing...

So I'm rather pleased to bring some new photos to my blog readers, which involve a very talented artist. (Hi, Dad! ;) Not that I have any sort of bias, but here's a beautiful website you really need to check out: www.muddybrookpotters.com.

For details and directions to the Muddy Brook Potters studio sale, you can email them here: muddybrookpotters@gmail.com



With the holiday season upon us, now is definitely the time to start thinking about purchasing gifts for those you love, co-workers, teachers, and friends. Now, I'd say to get to the studio sale on Friday early, because pieces move quickly, but... if I did, my favorites might be gone by the time I get there. So, that's all I'm gonna' say.

Here's just a little sample of what's in store:


















And a few from around the studio:

"With the most primitive means the artist creates something which the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create."

-Kasimir Malevich

Enigma. Personified.

This is our boy. He's quiet and placid. Loving and forgiving. Sensitive and caring. Often happy and energetic.

He's also sometimes loud and frustrating, sometimes impatient and whiny.

At times, I will admit he's an enigma to me. On days like today, when I have yet another discussion with him about the tone of his voice, and the choice of words he's using, I shake my head in bafflement. --I'm sure right now my Mom is smiling as she reads this, maybe thinking I'm getting a wee taste of what I gave her. And I am. Oh, am I ever. --Sometimes Connor's an enigma, but sometimes I totally get him. I understand the thundercloud in his chest he feels some days, and I understand the joy he finds in unexpected places. I understand his frustrations and his many dreams. I see his personality and I'll admit I kind of cringe, hoping he won't be like I was as a child. (Hoping against hope that he's more like Paul and less like me...)

But then he'll do something that makes me feel like the sun just touched my shoulders on a warm day. And I look into his eyes and see who he really is, and who he wants to be. His heavy-lidded lashes open and look honestly at me, waiting for response. And it doesn't just feel like the warm sun came out; it feels like my heart is growing and growing, ready to fill my whole being with love for the little stinker.


He's the little boy who loves to get up really early before school starts. He'll sneak out of bed before 6:00 am, and ask, "Joel, do you want me to turn on the light for you so you can read?" Like he's doing Joel a favor or something. (Joel always says, "NO. Don't. I'm sleeping. Go to sleep.") And Connor says, "I CAN'T! Seriously, I can't!" Unsuccessful with his brother, Connor then pads over to his sleeping twin sister's room... "But, Mom, I DIDN'T wake Nora up! I just went in and poked her toes a little bit. I didn't call her name, though!" And in that moment, I want to just laugh, the joy bubbling up even though I'm so aggravated that he once again tried to wake his siblings. Even though every night we tell him to just come downstairs quietly without waking them. I love it and can't stand it all at the same time. An enigma.

In the morning, he'll quietly lay on the rug and draw pictures, or build Lego towers, filling long moments of solitude. He's the child who is so happy to just find paper and pencil and draw for hours, creating tiny detailed sketches of soldiers, cowboys, Indians, arrows, animals, flags, ships, and pirates.



He's the boy who takes such good care of his twin sister, making sure she's happy with him, joining her when she wants to play pretend, even if her idea of a good time is different from his. Today I found him in the backyard, laying in the fall grass, enjoying the 60 degree November day, paper and pencil at the ready. He silently scooted over as Nora walked up to him, making room for her to watch as he drew. She didn't speak, and neither did he. But they just know each other enough to not use words sometimes. I love watching them, and wish I could be more like them.




He's the boy who wants so badly to be like his big brother, doing things to impress Joel even if they aren't always things that I condone. He wants to fit in, to be liked. But he also doesn't want to fit in, and he doesn't care if someone likes him or not. An enigma. He's the middle child by less than one minute, but he takes that one minute and carries it a mile. He does nothing halfway. And I want to hug him for it.




This is our boy. And I love him. Yes, he does baffle me. But I'll take these moments, and bottle them up, and hold them close while I pray for so many more just like them.




*To learn about or purchase 'Prints for a Purpose', click here. Thank you for the interest and support thus far!*
This months' charity is 'Autism Speaks.'
~