Cassie is the 2nd of my senior models this year, so I made her work really hard during her session last weekend.   We had several outfit changes, and even a full ballet get up!  After several hours of walking back & forth in Downtown Annapolis, we got so many wonderful shots.  I can’t even share them all with you here!

Enjoy Cassie, another amazing & talented senior at Broadneck…

Getting a little gangsta….

Catherine, Noelle, & Laura are just a few of the high schoolers that Josh & I work with through our church’s youth group ministry.  And these three girls are some of the ones who like their photograph taken the most!  I love high schoolers – they just tell you what they want.  I got a text from one of them a few weeks ago saying, “Mandy, we want new pictures.  Let’s do them downtown.  When are you available?”  Haha!  Just like my little ones!  I had an open early Saturday morning & they came!  We met in Downtown Annapolis at 8am on a Saturday – that’s dedication!  They simply wanted some photos of them hanging out, and that’s just what we did!

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!