I found these journals in packs of 3 for about 3 bucks at Target (which you all know is a black hole in my universe, continually sucking me in…that’s another post).  Immediately when I saw them I thought they’d be great for the girls in our High School bible study.  So, I prettified them with these ribbons (I found it on old birthday bags – yes, I save those suckers) & added a pen later.  It just felt nice to think of someone besides myself.

These precious envelopes are notes from the girls in my high school bible study for ME!  They gave me an envelope for each day that I’m away in Ethiopia to help pass the time, to remember them, and to remind me of home.  *sniff sniff*  They are so sweet!  When I arrived at bible study this evening they had these notes, a poster saying “We’ll miss you Mandy” and yummy homemade cupcakes!  Girls, you make me cry!  You are so sweet & thoughtful & teach me more than I could ever hope to pass on to you!  Thank you for thinking of me & for your constant prayers!  I love you all!

It’s snowmaggedon!  The snowpocalypse!  And whatever creative “snow” terms you can think of.  We’re averaging on 30″ of snow here in Arnold, Maryland.  And before the biggest snow hit, Josh had 6 boys from his high school bible study come over to spend the night.  We took on these extra six kids knowing we’d probably have them for a day or two.  And when I went shopping on Thursday, I accounted for that too.  Well, last night, after consuming a LOT of energy drinks, the boys had some energy to burn.  So they went out until 1:30am and built a massive snowman, threw snowballs at each other, & began the biggest igloo I’ve ever seen (in Maryland, that is).  We are guessing the snowman tops 7 feet.  It’s hard to measure since there’s so much snow piled up around it now.  But it is above Josh’s head and he’s 6′4″.

So the above photo  – which I snapped VERY quickly in my t-shirt & jeans – features:  Josh, Dan, Chris, Jake, Brian, Teddy, & Steve.  Thanks for coming over guys, and thanks for eating half a bag of wings, one bag of pizza rolls, 2 batches of pancakes, one pack of bacon, 1 dozen eggs, half a gallon of orange juice, & half a gallon of milk.  We loved having you!

Photos:  I’ve been reviewing Mark & Lindsey’s photos.  They got married back in October & I was working on their wedding album before I go to Ethiopia.  I’ll share that a little later.  Now I’m off to put kids to bed & work on perfecting our igloo!  We’re thinking chimney & fire!

Last night I had these girls over to my house for a sleepover.  They are some of the girls in the bible study that I help lead & we were celebrating them finishing their finals!  “Finals” has been a constant prayer request over the last few weeks & we decided to have a sleepover to just relax, be silly, & enjoy not studying.  We rocked out to some LIPS on the XBox (my lip gloss be poppin’), made some indoor s’mores, gabbed & gabbed, and finally fell asleep to a movie.  It was a great night & I enjoyed staying up til about 2 in the morning with them!  I promised them that if the weather was nice today, we’d go out for a mini photo session before they had to head home.  The photos below are just a few of my favorites that we got.  The rest will be on Facebook shortly.  Thanks girls for letting me in on your fun! (any many thanks to Rachel, our youth intern, for helping me out!)

Each one of them is so gorgeous.  And they have equally gorgeous hearts.  I feel like a proud momma!

I don’t know about you, but for me, as a girl in high school, I definitely did NOT feel beautiful.  I struggled with wearing the right clothes, doing my make-up the correct way, staying thin (I still struggle here), and being friends with popular people.  What I’ve come to discover in my almost 29 years is that in the end, none of these things matter – they are like chasing after the wind…it cannot be caught.  Your clothes will go out of style, your physical beauty will fade, & the friends you crave just because they are popular are probably not your true friends at all.

What does last…and I know this sounds cliche…is inner beauty.  And that’s one of the reasons why I LOVE photographing people, & especially seniors.  It gives me the opportunity to find true, lasting beauty in every person I am blessed to capture, and to in turn, show them that beauty from my point of view.  I ADORE when clients…no, friends, tell me they feel their true personality was conveyed in the images I was able to give them.  It makes my day!  I love letting you see you how I see you!

These two senior girls below are nothing short of beautiful both inside & out!  Carly & Lauren are BFF’s (yeah, I did just use lingo that is way cooler than me) & were such a thrill to work with.  We met this past Sunday at Carroll Creek Promenade in Downtown Frederick to take their senior pictures.  It was a gorgeous day with some gorgeous girls & TONS of outfits & shoes!  There’s not much more I can say about these two that you can’t just see through their session.  They rocked!  And if you’re dying to see more, I’m doing something a little different and putting their entire sessions on photo albums on my Facebook Fan page.  So pop on over and see the absolute beauty I saw in them.  Here’s Carly & Lauren….