So yesterday I set out on a mission to find some cute things to use for newborn portraits. I was looking for baskets, plates, bowls, etc. I went to several different places, and I was able to find some very cute things. I'm thinking I want to go to some antique stores to find some more stuff. Anyway, I wanted to share a few pictures of some of the things I found.
This first picture is my absolute favorite find. I can just imagine a newborn swaddled up in a blanket, or in a little cocoon fast asleep on this. I can't wait to use it. This was a great steal from Ross (I love that store!).
Next, I found a really cute basket/bowl. I think this one will be really cute with a blanket in it and babies laying on the blanket wearing just their birthday suits or a diaper.
This last one is actually just a placemat, but a thick one. It's like a woven wicker material, and I imagine having babies in little cocoons or something like that laying curled up on this.
So, I'm pretty excited to try these things out. What do you think of them? I also have a friend of a friend making me some baby blankets, baby caps, cocoons, etc. Anyway, I have a newborn session coming up very soon, hopefully the first week or two of April. I'll be sure to post photos of how these worked out once Kelsey's little baby boy gets here!
This is going to be a short blog, but I had to blog and share a picture with you. Probably my favorite tree of spring is the Weeping Cherry trees. They are so gorgeous. There aren't many blooming, but down in Lake Lure there are a few. Today my hubby took be to Lake Lure to go for a walk, and then we walked around Chimney Rock and stopped at this cute little coffee shop since we didn't get to yesterday on my birthday. Anyway, there was a beautiful weeping cherry tree between Lake Lure and Chimney Rock today. It was amazing, and also in someone's backyard. So what did I do? I made my hubby pull over in front of the persons house, and I took a few pictures of the tree from the truck. :) I know, I'm bad, but it was just too enticing not to take pictures of it. So here is a picture of the exquisite weeping cherry tree.
So today is my birthday, and I've had a really fabulous day. When I woke up, I found a love letter my husband had written me. He can be so sweet; he actually made me tear up when I read the letter. Then late this morning my parents showed up and surprised me (they live 4 hours away). We went walking out in the pasture in front of our house to the river with them. My mom took a few pictures of me and Eric. Here are a couple that she took of us. In some of them Eric is being very silly, just like he is. That's one of the reasons I love him so much. :)
Here is my husband and me....he's being pretty ridiculous. I love him. :)
Yeah, he's poking out his belly here. He likes to do that. Silly boy.
So after all this, my parents took us up town. We went to one of my favorite places to eat, Hot Dog World. We don't eat there very often, but I absolutely love their cheeseburgers. They are super greasy and massive, but they are great. Can't eat them very often b/c of how fatty they are, but I do love them every once in awhile. After lunch we went to Wal-Mart and my parents bought me some beautiful orange daisies and yellow tulips. Then we came back home and had a delicious Cappuccino Express Torte Cake and some coffee. All in all, I've had a wonderful birthday. Now my husband and I are cuddled up on the couch watching Faith Like Potatoes (a gift from my parents). Below you will see a pictures of my flowers, cake, and coffee. :)
I thank God for my wonderful birthday. He has blessed me with 24 years of life and a wonderful family.
So, I love running! I've been running on my treadmill b/c the weather hasn't been great, and the other day the weather was beautiful and I was going to go running on my road. My run was cut very short and sent back to the treadmill when I came face to face with a coyote. It was during the middle of the day and it was only 20-30 feet away from me, so I got back inside as fast as I could b/c I was worried it might have rabies or something. Sorry, no pics to share of the potentially rabid coyote.
Today though, I did get to run outside. Instead of my house, I went to Lake Lure, and it was soooo beautiful. The trees have started blooming with flowers and the bees and butterflies were flying around. It was so great to breath that warm air into my lungs. I didn't run at all this winter, but not I'm trying to get back into top running form so I can run in my first race on May 1st. I'm pretty excited about it. It's to raise awareness and help stop childhood obesity. Anyway, just wanted to share about running. I think fitness should be a top priority for people. It makes you feel so incredible, and it's incredible for you! :)
Oh yeah, I didn't have a good picture to go with this post, so here is one from last spring's dragon boat races where we came in 3rd place. :)
So, there are three kids in my life here in Bat Cave that I absolutely adore. They are siblings that go to our church. Their grandmother, Jeanne, is a dear friend to us, and she allows us to spend alot of time with her grandkids. We love our time with them, so it's really a blessing anytime we get to hang out with them or have them stay the night with us. This past Saturday after I finished photographing a birthday party, we met up with Jeanne and the kids for an hour or so at the park. It was warm and the kids were having a great time. Of course I snapped pictures of the kiddos because they are just too cute not too.
Here is a picture I took of Kori, the oldest. He loves skating, and he's actually getting pretty good at it. I did a panning shot of him to show the motion.
Now, here is a picture of sweet Jaidyn. He was out there on the ramps too with his skate board, but he would ride down on his stomach. This is a picture of him taking a break for a minute.
Now, here is Kylaia. She is the baby of the group, and she is so funny. She's a brave little girl too. She would go down the slide all by herself. So here's a picture of her when she was climbing the stairs to the slide.
So yeah, I absolutely love these kids. They are precious. I have more pictures that I took that day, and I'll be posting them on my facebook page. If you have a facebook, then you should definitely become a fan of my photography. Just look up Mandy Keel Photography or you can just go to this link here: Mandy Keel Photography. Thank you, and everyone enjoy this amazing weather!!!
So Saturday, I had the privilege of going to this little guy's 1st birthday party. Ryan is the son of a high school friend of Eric and me. We haven't seen the mother, Crystal, since we were in high school, so it was nice to see her and remember old times. Her little boy was absolutely precious. He has the brightest blue eyes. Crystal, you did a great job with the party. The decorations were perfect, the food was awesome, and the birthday cake was so cool. Thanks for letting us come and be a part of this special day. I wanted to give a little preview of his birthday pictures. So here you go Crystal...
I've just had a fabulous day today. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous in the upper 60s and bright and sunny. I was able to go to Edneyville Elementary School w/ my hubby today to have lunch with sweet Kori. He's so funny, and all of his friends were so talkative. I actually was able to see many kids from our church in the lunch room. I got a couple of hugs and lots of smiles. It was so sweet. I'm looking forward to getting to go back and have lunch there again.
I was also able to ride to the top of Shumont today with a friend scouting out some photo-shoot locations for her family portraits. It's so beautiful up there (I even snapped a few photos of her kids), and we found some great places that we're going to go to once the trees grows some leaves and flowers.
I also was able to go for another run today. I haven't posted it up here, but I'm getting my body back in good running condition so I can do the PB&J 5K on May 1st to raise awareness for childhood obesity. I'm also hoping to get in good enough form to do the Grandfather Mountain Marathon this summer. It feels so good to be running again. My lungs and heart and just my whole body need this fresh air and exercise.
Now, to end this day we're cooking out with friends, and then Amy is taking me to Wal-Mart at midnight for my early birthday present to buy New Moon on DVD. So all in all, today has been near perfect! :D
Many of you know that I am incredibly passionate about Sudan. God has given me a heart for this country since I was in college about 5 years ago. This country has been filled with violence, civil war, and genocide for the last two decades. More than 2 million people have died from this violence. Now, praise the Lord, the first democratic elections in 24 years are about to take place in Sudan. March 21-27, 2010 is going to be a week of prayer for Sudan and the elections taking place there, with March 28th being a Global Day of Prayer for the country of Sudan. These elections could spark more violence and lead into another civil war, and that is why we must pray for this country right now. If there are free and fair elections in April, then this could set up a foundation for lasting peace. In 2011 southern Sudan will be voting on a referendum of independence, which would be amazing!
Eric and I now have friends who live in Southern Sudan as missionaries, and we were actually supposed to be with them in Sudan right now. Sadly, the violence has already increased a bit, and they have pulled all the missionaries out of Sudan for the time being until all the elections are done and things have settled back down. Our friends, Steve and Iris Matusik and their children were not happy about having to leave, so please pray for them, for God to give them a peace. And pray for us because we still will be going to Sudan when it is opened back up to missionaries. We just want God's will in this whole situation. Let's pray for peace and for God's love to rain down on the country of Sudan. (The picture is from Samaritan's Purse)
So, Eric and I used to live in New Orleans. It's where we spent our first year of marriage. I absolutely fell in love with this city. It's beautiful at night (as you can see by the photo I took from the Algiers Ferry), and there are amazing people there. We made some of the most awesome friends there, and so many of them are incredible musicians. We were there right after Katrina because we were relief workers with Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief. Eric was the office manager, and I was just his volunteer wife who would help lead music in the mornings for devotions, help clean, serve meals, help gut out some homes, answer questions for volunteers, and just took care of our camper. We had the chance to meet people from all over the world who were coming in to help with the clean up of Katrina.
I also got to see the devastation first hand. There's no way I could describe it to you. There were places that had 30 feet of water down in St. Bernard Parish. I got to meet some of the heroes and many survivors from this storm. I was able to hear heartbreaking stories and try to minister to those who were suffering so much pain and loss. We lived in a FEMA trailer park among the people who had lost there homes. It was tough, but it was one of the most rewarding times of my life. God worked in so many ways down there, and he still is. I know people get tired of hearing about Katrina, but it is still affecting this city. When there is devastation of this magnitude it takes years to fix it, and many areas will never be what they used to be. The lower 9th ward and parts of St. Bernard Parish where we lived still look like the storm just came through. The city of New Orleans still needs our prayers and support. This year our Saints won the Superbowl, and I can't tell you how much that mean. I actually cried when we won because I know what it means to this city. It's a beautiful story, and I'm so privileged to be allowed to be a part of it. I thank God for my time in New Orleans often.
The friends I made there will always have a piece of my heart, and so will the city in general. I've been missing it pretty bad lately. It's been almost a year since I've been back, and I am so looking forward to having the chance to go back down sometime to see our friends and visit my favorite city.
Well, I did get to see Kori today, but he's been sick with a stomach virus (so have his mom, grandma, and little sister). He was out of school, and when we went by their house he was feeling a little better and went out in the yard and picked me some daffodils. He's so sweet. I had a bottle of water in my car, so I put my 3 flowers in there and took a few pictures of them. I loved them. I also love that there were actually daffodils to pick. Daffodils always remind that spring is starting b/c they are always the first flowers to bloom here. Knowing that spring is so close makes me so happy. This has been the longest winter ever! We've had so much snow. We haven't had a day since Dec. 18th that there wasn't at least a little bit of snow on the ground. I can actually go outside right now and they are still a few patches of snow, but it'll be gone soon. At least I hope. I've actually heard we are supposed to get one more big snow, but I'm praying that they are wrong. Anyway, today was a great day, and I just wanted to share of photo of my flowers from Kori.
So this afternoon was so wonderful. My husband and I went and picked Jaidyn up from his preschool, and we hung out with him for a few hours. We went to McDonald's and got happy meals, and then we went to Wal-Mart to buy a basketball and a football. Jaidyn made me laugh so much. He's only four years old, but sometimes he acts like he's 30. I asked him if he wanted his apples, and he replied, "That would be a yes." I've never heard a 4 year old say that. He's so funny. He's also precious b/c he knows all the words to almost every song that plays on our local Christian radio station. It blesses my heart to hear him sing along to songs like Revelation Song and any Toby Mac song. Anyway, we played basketball and football for a little while at the park, but Jaidyn's favorite part of the afternoon was walking around Lake Lure. During the winter, they lower the water levels at Lake Lure, so there are beachy areas all around the lake. Jaidyn had so much fun looking at the ducks and picking up rocks and throwing them in the lake. It was just so much fun. I took lots of pictures, and Jaidyn even took a few of me and Eric. He loves my camera. :) Here is one picture I took of Eric and Jaidyn down by the lake.
I absolutely adore my husband. I think he is such a beautiful person inside and out. He is my best friend, and my favorite thing to do is just to hang out with him. I just can't tell you how much I love this man that God has blessed me with as my husband. I'm just sitting here looking at my husband, and he's just so gorgeous. I love watching him laugh and hearing him laugh, and right now we are watching Psych (our new favorite tv show), so he's laughing alot. I also love it when he makes me laugh, which he does quite often. He's so funny and so much fun to be around. My life is rarely ever boring with Eric as my husband. He's also so amazing with kids. I know he's going to make a great dad some day. I think we are an absolutely perfect match. God knew exactly what He was doing when He put us together.
This June we will celebrate 4 years of marriage together, and each day has just gotten better. Of course we've had hard times. We spent our first year of marriage living in a 26 foot long FEMA trailer camper in New Orleans, and that definitely wasn't always easy. I wouldn't trade the way we spent our first year of marriage together for anything though. We were so far away from our families that we had to learn to depend on God and each other. We grew so close, and it gave us such a great foundation for our marriage. Since then we've lost loved ones who were very dear to us together, gone through Eric losing his job, me being laid off from my job, and the most devastating thing either one of us have ever experienced-a miscarriage back in October. I still have days where I feel like pain will overwhelm me, but God is so good and so faithful. God has come along side us. He's felt worse pain than either of us have ever felt, and He knows what we are going through. I am so blessed that God gave me a husband like Eric to support me, take care of me, and love me. I couldn't ask for a better husband.
Now I'm going to rant a little bit. Divorce will never be an option for Eric and me. We've talked about this numerous times. We love each other unconditionally, but there are days when we really don't like each other, and I know we will have more like that in our future. We know that God intends marriage to be for life, but our society makes it too easy to get out of marriage. It makes me sad to see how normal divorce has become. Divorce is not God's design.
I look at Hosea and Gomer. Gomer kept leaving Hosea and prostituting herself out to other men. She was so unfaithful to Hosea, yet he still loved her unconditionally. He kept taking her back, and I think if that marriage can last, then almost any marriage can last. It's symbolic of our relationship with Jesus Christ, and we keep cheating on Him, but He keeps taking us back because of how much He loves us. If we could just keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep Him the center of our lives and the center of our marriages, then our marriages could make it through anything. Our marriages should represent our relationship with Jesus, and I want to represent Jesus well. Let's pray for each other and all of our marriages. Our churches and communities and our children really need strong, Godly marriages.
(The photo is of Eric and Jaidyn, a little boy that we adore)
So tonight my husband took me on a date as an early birthday present to me. I am so happy that he did. We really had a great time hanging out. I took me a little while, but I convinced him to take me to see "Remember Me" with Robert Pattinson. Yes I have a crush on Robert, and no I'm not a teenage fan girl. :D Anyway, I was really enjoying the film. I actually liked Robert better in this movie than I do in the Twilight films. He just had a great personality in this movie. Anyway, I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but I really didn't like the way the movie ended. It definitely really upset and shocked me. I''ll admit that I cried. It was still a good movie, but I really wish that I could change the ending. Anyway, there's my little rant/review of "Remember Me." I still love me some Robert Pattinson though, although I love my husband much more. If you read this honey, you know I think you are the most gorgeous man that ever lived and that I love you more than anything. Thank you for taking me on a date! :)
So tonight was a big night for my husband and me. We've been in foster care training since the end of January, and tonight we finished our last training class. We've both felt God calling us to foster and/or adopt children since before we got married. If I'm being honest, I only wanted to adopt children. Foster care has always seemed so scary to me. I mean the kids aren't guaranteed to stay with you. Sometimes they are with you for one night and sometimes a year, and they can still be taken away from you. Talk about emotional trauma!
But, God has really softened our hearts, especially mine, to foster care. We were able to find an amazing Christian foster care organization that I can't say enough good things about. It's the Bair Foundation, and you can go to their website at www.bair.org. They have been such a huge blessing to us, and I know they are going to be an amazing support system for us once we are licensed foster parents.
Anyway, back to God's calling. I believe as Christians we all have a calling to take care of orphans and widows. I mean James 1:27 (NLT) says, "Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." It doesn't say we should or that we can, it says "we MUST." I know God doesn't call every person to foster care, but that is the way God is using us to fulfill James 1:27.
I honestly never would have considered being a foster parent until after I'd read the book, Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Then I read this amazing issue of a Christian magazine our church gets. It was all about foster care, and the stories I read absolutely blessed my heart, and God began transforming my heart.
Usually when you think of foster care, you think really negative things. The kids are messed up, you'll get attached to them then they'll be taken away, the kids may be violent, they have major behavioral disorders, etc. Yes many of the kids in foster care do have issues, but usually not of any fault of their own. They are a product of their environment. They need stability, love, nurturing, and encouragement. They need to know that there are people who will love them unconditionally, but more importantly they need to know that there is a God who will love them and never let them down even when every person they've ever trusted has let them down.
It makes me think of how I was, how we all were, before Christ came into our lives. We were messed up. We had major issues, but in spite of all that God sent His son to die for us so that we could become His inheritance. God adopted us as His sons and daughters. That's what foster care/adoption is about. It's a beautiful picture of what God has done for us, His children.
I'm not trying to romanticize foster care because I know it is going to probably be harder than I can imagine. But I also know that my God faithful, and He is not going to give me anything that I cannot handle with His help. We are excited and terrified about this new journey God is sending us on, but I think that's a good thing. I know if we just let God use us, then He is going to bless us beyond our wildest imaginations. Please pray for us as we embark on this amazing journey.
(The photo is one I took of my nephew. I thought it fit this post.)
Yeah, so you're going to learn about me that I love The Twilight Saga books and now movies, although the movies aren't as good as the books. Well, today they released a 90-second trailer from the newest movie, Eclipse. Eclipse was my favorite book in the series, so I'm super excited about the movie. For you Twilight fans, I am Team Edward in the books and the movies. I think he's pretty great, but definitely not as great as my husband. :D I love you honey!
Anyway, here's the link to the Eclipse trailer. Enjoy! :)
I've never been a blogger, but I'd really like to get into now with my photography. I'll be posting more in the future, hopefully several times a week. Maybe I'll keep you interested. :D Here's a photo from the farm I grew up on in North Carolina. I was going to meet my parents for breakfast, and this is the sunrise I saw as I drove by our farm. I pulled in the driveway and took this picture.
Anyway, my husband and I went to visit our hometown a few weeks ago. We were going to the church I grew up in to do a concert to raise support for a mission trip we are taking. We are actually planning this mission trip to Southern Sudan. We've both, especially me, have had hearts for Sudan for several years. God opened up doors for us to meet a missionary from Sudan last summer, and we've been talking with this man ever since. We are so excited, and I can't wait to see what God is going to do. I know it's going to be difficult and challenging, but I also know we will come away from it completely changed and closer to God. We recommend the book, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, to anyone. It has made us even more passionate about doing God's work. To just be crazy in love with Jesus and let that crazy love spread out to other people. You should definitely pick this book up and read it at least two times to get everything.
Okay well, that's all I've got for my first blog post. Thanks for listening!
