Kristen Leigh + her growing son : maternity portraits // guthrie, ok portrait and lifestyle photographer

When I want to tell the story of how and why I became interested in professional photography...it is impossible to do so without mentioning Kristen Leigh. She is the first photographer I ever blog-stalked. I feeeeell hard for her work...her writing....and her "K inside a gray thought bubble" watermark. (Gosh, that thing was sharp.) ;) 

For months she was all I knew when it came to "the blog world." I didn't even have a blog of my own. But the highlight of the internet for me was "the I'm Kristen blog"...no doubt about it. All the time I would think, "Man. That would be so fun to meet her some day. But she lives in Maryland. So that'll...like...never happen."

That was about four years ago. Four long years of following her work, and growing in my own work, and even interning with one of her interns! In the recent months I have gotten the immense privilege of meeting some of my "online-only" photog friends. Breaking the cyberspace barrier of a friendship is an awesome thing. :) And the more friends I met, the more that thought kept cropping up in the back of my mind, "If I could only meet one more photographer...I sure would like to meet Kristen. But when would that ever happen?" 

Well. It happened. She's married to an Oklahoma fella now that happens to fit her better than she certainly would've ever imagined possible. They've been "The Family Morris" since August and now their party of two has become a trio. :) They are eagerly awaiting meeting their son face to face this summer.

The exciting part to me is, seeing her have so much love for the little guy already. Before she can see what he looks like or what his personality type will be. She loves him. And so does Caleb, his oh-so-proud Papa. They love him greatly because they love God greatly...and they know that He has always, before time began, loved their son infinitely more than they ever will.

Before it's certain to his parents whether he'll be quiet and thoughtful

or rowdy and wild....

before they know if he'll be early to bed and early to rise

or a night owl...

before they know what color his eyes and hair will be 

or whether he'll be a chocolate or vanilla kind-a-guy...

before they know if he will be a visual learner

or a hands on fellow... 

someone that sticks to the rules and plays it safe

or someone who is thrilled by constantly going outside his comfort zone

....before any of those things can even be fully imagined....this little dude is loved. So much. By so many.

There are already so many prayers and dreams of happiness and lovely life for him.

All those many things that are clouded and uncertain now...

will be made clear. And no matter what it is...it will be wonderful, and bright, and perfect...and exactly what the Lord always intended for this bitty Morris Man. 

// Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Leave to thy God to order and provide

All now mysterious shall be bright at last. //

~Through Christ's Love ♥

P.S. A "tourist" post of my day in Guthrie will be coming soon so stay tuned! :)

Jessica Shae + her lil' raspberry at 13 weeks : portraits // ft. worth maternity portrait and lifestyle photographer

Y'all've heard me spin the beginning of this tale time and time again...In the days of old, this girl was just one of my photography heroines. Someone I masterfully blog stalked. Then she was my mama-hen for a week when I was one of her first interns. Then {this is where things start getting fun}, we became friends. :) I remember one May 2011 night in particular that always makes me smile to think about....it was one of those late-night conversations that make sleepovers the greatest. She had just asked Rachel and I the typical question..."Any boy news to tell me about?" We giggled and teased like the girls that we are and then assured her there was nothing going on with us in that regard to tell. She just smiled. Rachel and I shot each other a look, smiled slyly, then asked, "What about you?" She smiled again...bigger this time. Unlike us, she had news. Big news. She had suspicions that a boy named Josh liked her. And, whataya know, she was pretty sure she liked him back. ;)

It wasn't long (like...seriously...barely a month) until"surprise surprise", Rachel and I got an email with nothing more than a picture...a picture of Josh and Jessica. Soooomebody was officially togetherrrr. Oh yeah. And boy, were they the cutest. :) It was the funnest thing to know that she was someone's girl. ;)

The months passed happily as we kept in touch with her and stayed overjoyed at how sweetly her lovely relationship with this Joshua fellow was going. :) 

We even visited her last February with a particular mission to meet this Boy of hers. ;) They were juuuust dating...so, ya know...all they wanted were casual, "We like each other" type pictures. Too bad it was freezing and halfway through poor Jessica was saying, "JOOOOSH! I'M DYING!" Therefore a few bear hugs were necessary. ;)

There was no shock when we heard that those crazy lovebirds had gone and got themselves engaged at the end of the summer. Pssssssh. Lovebirds these days...so typical. ;) For really reals though...there was SO MANY HAPPY FEELINGS on their behalf. I was so excited to see how the Lord was orchestrating their love story.

3 months later, I was privileged to be a guest at her gorgeously enchanting, breath-taking {literally...my breath was taken away, the wind chill had to be like 30 below zero that day...the coldest October day in Texas history possibly}, fairytale-esque wedding. Were there tears? Um. Shyeah. Of course. It was beautiful to see them join their lives together, pledging to each other that they would seek to love each other like Christ all the days of their life. :) :) :) 

Fast forward to January of this year...barely 3 months after that sweet day I had seen my dear friend as a bride becoming someone's WIFE...the bestest of best texts lit up my phone screen. It was a clever use of hint dropping...I started screaming when I hit the words "morning sickness." Screaming. Literally. And happy dancing. And happy weeping. What marvelous news. :)

All this sweet nostalgia is tied tightly around my friendship to precious Jessica. The thought of it all floods my mind whenever I think about her. The latest chapter in this story God is writing happened last week when Rachel and I went to visit her IN HER OWN HOME where she lives with, not just the Boy...but the Boy who is HER HUSBAND and also the FATHER of her LIL' RASPBERRY cause she's a MAMA! Yeah...epic. During our visit I got these shots of that tiniest of belly bumps...{she's really for reals pregnant I promise ;)} that makes my heart swell up a million sizes. God is so good. That's.just.that. :)

There are no words to express how much I love you Mrs. Sherrill; my dear married pregnant blessed friend and sister in Christ. Hugssssss. :) P.S. It kinda goes without saying but, I serrrrriously can't wait to meet that lil' raz. ;)

~Through Christ's Love ♥