personal :: a snow day

November 18, 2014 in personal

i took one look out the window this morning and declared it a snow day. which meant we would not even try to go anywhere today, we would stay in our jammies as long as we wanted (or, if not jammies, then our snuggliest clothes), and we would do special things like make hot chocolate and eat a pot roast for dinner.

one thing i love about this house we now call home is the light in the winter months. it's brighter in here during the months when all the many trees that crowd our home on every side have lost their leaves, letting the dim bluish light of winter come unhindered through every window.

and yesterday i got a new lens in the mail. the lens i have been dreaming of owning for such a long time, but which i haven't allowed myself to "splurge" on. really, though, it's a business expense, and this 35 mm f/1.4 lens will serve me SO well at births and in dimmer, in-home family photojournalism sessions.

so between the beautifully-lit snow day spirit, and the acquisition of this new lens, i felt inspired to photograph my personal life for the first time in a long time. it's been a busy season of shooting for others, and that's left me little energy for telling the stories unfolding under my own roof. so today -- when it felt like joyful inspiration instead of duty -- i acted without delay and set about to shooting a sort of Day In The Life. however -- it should be noted -- i didn't start until after breakfast, because the idea didn't come to me immediately. :)

this snow day also contains guest appearances from our interns and boiler room community, whom came over from across the alley to help shovel this morning, and then again this afternoon for popcorn and tea.

though you won't see ME in any of these images, you should know that i am the one behind the scenes who prepares meals, who snuggles and plays with my little ones, who tidies up the messes as they unfold, who watches through windows as this kids play in the yard, who changes diapers and clothing, and whose heart swells a million times a day with incredible love for this family i've been given.

come join us for our snow day!

details i love and want to remember: hazel cutting up random things (in this case, the packing materials from my lens shipment), gus eating crayons, gus' cheesy grin that he's suddenly started flashing at the camera from time to time, hazel's deep delight in getting outside in all weather (and her new pink shovel that she used three times today to do "digging"), gus's obsession with stranding between the twin sinks upstairs and turning on the faucets of both simultaneously, hazel learning to draw shapes, how all the men in our community are bearded, the frequency of crockpot meals and fried eggs in this house, the laundry baskets that show up in the background of almost every scene, late-day meltdowns from the littles, and the inventive "office" set-up tim has created for himself in the living room.

all is a gift.

personal :: a church story

October 06, 2014 in story, personal

if you've read the "about" section of my website you know that i'm married to a pastor, who is the overseer of a small prayer community in a neglected neighborhood in our city. together we've lived here 4 years (though i lived here before marrying him, too). it's home. our work here looks many days like simply living here and showing up and trying to show our neighbors -- whose families are mostly all so broken and painful -- what the Family of God is like, and to be sure they know that they're invited into it. no matter how they look or what they've done or who they are, the Father calls them Home to himself. that's the good news of the gospel of Jesus.

and in the last few years we started to see that some of the neighbors we've been walking with so long at our weekly community meals (and in other interactions throughout the week) are calling their gatherings with us "church," and are hungry to know more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. so we started something a little more like a church meeting, which means it includes some pre-planned worship, a time to hear a teaching or participate in a round-table discussion of a part of the Bible, and some time to pray for one another. we'd been doing it in our three-stall garage, which we converted into a permanent prayer room and meeting place several years ago. but this year, we felt nudged to move it to the same polish hall we rent for our weekly community meals (called Love Feasts), and to a Wednesday night (instead of Sunday), so that more folks might find it accessible and welcoming.

this past week we held our first church gathering in the hall, on a wednesday night, immediately before Love Feast. i was happy to see that several friends who haven't joined in the church gathering in the prayer garage chose to take a seat in the circle up in the hall before love feast, where they worshipped, and listened, and even wept.

i invite you to come along with me to the first gathering of the stockbridge boiler room church family... on a wednesday night.. in a polish hall... followed by a shared meal around the table.

note: because we meet in a polish hall and this gathering happened on the eve of Pulaski Days, there were many beer banners being hung on the walls as we met. :)

mini-session :: my babies

September 10, 2014 in personal, portrait

i'm a storyteller and photojournalist. and i will always prefer the unposed, imperfect, gritty reality in photographs over the smiley, directed, or styled shoots.

but sometimes there's a field of wild flowers and lovely light and it just calls your name. and sometimes you really want just a few shots where your kids are looking at the camera, and maybe they are dressed with a little more care and attention than usual, even if you didn't get the grimy hello kitty tattoos washed off your daughter's arms ahead of time and your son has untamed hair.

yup, there's a time and a place for smile sessions and mini-sessions. :) get in touch if you need one of them, too.

personal :: up north (part II)

September 04, 2014 in personal

as promised, here is the second chunk of photos from our amazing week Up North.

in this chunk we visit sutton's bay (again), northport, the grand traverse lighthouse, empire, and glen arbor, as well as our "own" little house and campsite. you'll also get to meet our friends ryan and alicia and their girls, lilia and elayna.

personal :: up north (part I)

September 02, 2014 in personal

hello, friends.

i've been quiet in this space. see, we had a bit of a sabbatical, as we do every august. the sabbatical was mostly from our ministry work, but i also managed to take about a 2 week break from photography.

for one week, we unplugged entirely. here in michigan we have what everyone calls Up North. it refers to any place north of where you live in the lower pennisula. the further Up North you go, the more wild and fresh and free it becomes. we went pretty far, to the Leelanau Penninsula, where we rented a little house to use as our home base. from the little house were were a mere 10-20 minutes away from several quaint and quirky villages like leland, suttons bay, northport, and lake leelanau (the village). we were close to Lake Michigan (oh blessed fresh water ocean) as well as the long and clear Lake Leelanau, and of course we waded and swam in both.

we adventured every day between gus' naps, frolicked in fields, prepared and enjoyed simple foods (including giant plate-sized pancakes almost every morning), took naps, stopped into local shops, had ice cream daily, and visited many beaches on the lakes.

our final two days we spent with friends in empire and glen arbor, just a bit south of where we'd stayed in the little house. we tried out tent camping with them, which was a first for us but a well-travelled road for them. don't know if we could have done it without them and their gear.

i don't know if one can ever be ready to leave Up North and return home again. i certainly wasn't quite ready.

here is a selection of images from our trip, in roughly chronological order. these photos feature Fishtown in Leland, Sutton's Bay, and Lake Leelanau (the lake). this is half of what i'll share on this blog. the other half will be coming up in a couple of days!