My Hope

On occasion we get to sing this song in church, and it has become my absolute favorite. It is absolutely amazing to hear the entire congregation singing this song at the top of their lungs! And you really can't help but sing it loudly with your hands raised. It really seems to express what is the heart of the Christian faith. I am pasting the lyrics below:

"In Christ alone my hope is found;He is my light, my strength, my song;This cornerstone, this solid ground,Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.What heights of love, what depths of peace,When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!This gift of love and righteousness,Scorned by the ones He came to save.Till on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfied;For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,Light of the world by darkness slain;Then bursting forth in glorious day,Up from the grave He rose again!And as He stands in victory,Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—This is the pow'r of Christ in me;From life's first cry to final breath,Jesus commands my destiny.No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,Can ever pluck me from His hand;Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand."

I think the last verse is my favorite. It gives me more hope than I can say that "Jesus commands my destiny" and that nothing "can ever pluck me from His hand." I never have to be afraid! In fact, I have learned two things in life: 1. Everything happens for a reason and 2. God is good. And there is so much peace in that. My heart is overflowing with love and gratitude to my Jesus for what He has done for me. I hope that you have this same hope today.

Jessica and Scott Are Getting Married!

This weekend I had the opportunity to shoot some engagement pictures for my "baby" sister Jessica and her fiance Scott. It seems like just yesterday Jessica was 4 years old and driving me CRAZY! And now she is a beautiful young woman who is getting married! Scott seems like a great guy, and we are all excited to have him in the family. I can't wait for your wedding in a few weeks!!

Ok, I don't know why blogger is giving me a hard time, but for some reason it won't let me make the pictures bigger, even though I am following exactly the same steps as usual. Anyways, you can click on a picture to view it larger.

This is Chris...

Hey everyone... Chris here. I have noticed that Mom has been slacking when it comes to posting about what is going on with me, so I figured I better keep up with it myself!
To put it simply, I am a busy guy. There is always something to get into, and I am good at finding the things that Mom and Dad really want to keep me out of. I am slowly picking up new words, though I still like to talk in my own language most of the time. And I have also decided that I no longer like being left in the nursury, so I scream whenever Mom leaves. (I think she's getting a little tired of that!) Anyways, here are a few recent pictures of me playing outside:

I can run fast!
This is what I do whenever I hear an airplane. Mom always says that it is Grandpa saying hello to me!

Dad's 2nd 21st birthday was last week, so Mom invited another couple and their little guy, Jason, over for dinner. I was pretty intrigued by our little visitor; I climbed right up next to him on the couch and gave him a hug! However, I sure had Mom fooled. Just as soon as she started thinking what a good big brother I am going to be, I decided that it was much more fun to start pelting poor, unsuspecting Jason with couch pillows! Mom was too busy shielding him from the blows to snap any pictures of that.

And, for those of you who asked, here is a picture of Mom's growing belly. The one on the left is her at 9 weeks, and the one on the right is when she was 14 weeks pregnant with me - even though she'd always heard that you grow faster with the second one, she didn't believe it until she compared these pictures and realizes she was about the same size! But this time around has been a little harder than with me. She is a lot more tired - this morning I had to wake her up when she fell asleep on the couch! And she is eating kind of funny - we've gone through the drive-through at chick-fil-a for quite a few chicken biscuits; she says it is one of the few things that she can eat. I think she's counting the days until she hits the second trimester and hopefully starts feeling more normal.


We hope you are all doing well!

Congratulations David and Erin!

Here is the last - and the biggest - of the three shoots from last weekend! David and Erin were married Saturday night at the Tampa Club, which is on the 41st floor of the Bank of America building downtown - gorgeous! The entire wedding and reception was so elegant. And, of course, it helps that the bride and groom are such a beautiful couple!
Darla Stafford did all of the hair and make-up for the girls, and she did such a beautiful job! Also, I loved the flowers, which were done by the Nature Shoppe in Tampa.

Waiting for his bride...

Thanks so much for allowing me to be a part of your wedding! I pray God's blessings on your new life together.

A Fun Family Session!

Here's some pictures from the second of the three shoots I did last weekend :) This one was a family session for my old college friends Lee and Sam, as well as Sam's niece and nephews. It was so much fun to see the two of them! We only get to see each other about once a year - the last time was back in January of '07. They have a little guy, Carter, who is about Chris's age, as well as a new baby, Cooper.
Trying to get all 7 of the kids - 4 of which were either 1 or 2 years old - to all sit still and look at the camera AT THE SAME TIME was just about next to impossible! But it was fun to try :) The kids were all so cute, though, and I loved chasing them around the playground in an attempt to get a few good shots.

This little guy was really "hamming" it up for the camera! So cute!

Cooper slept through the whole shoot.
Lee, Carter, Sam, and Cooper



It was great to see you guys! We definitely need to get together more often. Next time I'll have to bring Chris; he'd love playing with Carter.

Matt and Jessie are Engaged!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot an engagement session for my cousin, Matt, and his fiance Jessie. I was so excited to do this shoot! I haven't seen much of Matt over the past several years; most of my memories of him are from our family reunions that we had growing up at Seminole football games. Matt, another cousin Jimmy, and I would stay up until all hours running around whatever hotel we stayed at, avoiding our little sisters, and playing poker. (We were like 10 at the time!) But it was fun to finally get to know Jessie, too. They were so cute together! Both have a funny sense of humor; it was fun watching them be silly. I can't wait to do their wedding in December!

I was impressed - they were good at "dipping!"

I was trying to get a particular shot, but when I told Matt to look at the camera he did this funny thing with his eyebrows... so I told him not to make a face with his eyebrows... apparently he does that often, as my comment set them off.