I am counting my blessings tonight.  Before I go to bed, I’ll go to Jake and Cody’s room and give them each one more kiss.  Tomorrow morning when it’s chaos trying to get them up, dressed, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, jackets on, and into the car after reminding them of each task 3 or more times, I’ll love every minute of it and be thankful that I have these two amazing children in my life.

Tonight, as I was checking my favorite blogs, I came across this Austrailan photographer’s blog.  You must read about Super Princess Ava.  Please know that you’ll need a quiet, solitary place and some kleenex to get through this.  Every parent should read this.  It is heartbreaking, but so necessary to help us not get caught up in the everyday minor offenses of our children.  I can tell you that after reading about Ava and her family, I will never be the same.

Please be sure to also visit Ava’s Rule Postcard, her Memorial Site (be sure to read all of "Her Legacy"), and her mother Sheye’s Blog. 

Sharing a quote from Sheye’s blog:

"What has become clear to me though is that you can plan and hope all you want, you can imagine and presume and expect life to go a certain way but really, there is no watertight guarantee. All the days are "normal". The happy ones, the sick ones, the bored ones, the tragic ones. I am no expert, I have less clarity than the average person but what I have found, because of One Normal Day, is this:
Live each day, every single day, with the understanding that one does not necessarily lead into the other. Hug your family. Tight. Put aside What Does Not Matter. Tomorrow could be a completely new kind of normal."

Cody is usually attached to Jake’s hip, but on days when Jake’s at school and there’s no preschool, Riley becomes Cody’s new pal.  As much as Riley usually loves attention, I can’t say that he loves Cody’s attention.  Being ridden and used as a step stool is not really his cup of tea.

This is Cody sharing a secret with Riley. 

A few weeks ago I posted a sign-up for the Kelly Holder Photography Newsletter.  After doing some thinking, I realized that I pretty much keep everyone updated with promotions, new products, contests, and Sneak Peeks through the blog.  I guess I don’t have much need for a newsletter. 

If you are a regular blog reader, but sometimes forget to check, OR would just like to stay current with what’s going on at Kelly Holder Photography, please sign up for the email subscription on the left hand side of the blog.  Everytime the blog is updated with a new post, you will receive an email with the actual blog post embedded.  That means you don’t even have to come visit the blog at all!  However, I’d love it if you’d leave me an occasional comment or two…that always makes my day! 

Have a great week!

K

In about 4 weeks I’ll be heading to Bald Head Island, North Carolina, for the week long Love Affair Workshop.  I am beyond excited about this!  One of the things that drew me to this workshop and made it so unique was that it was advertised as a workshop for women photographers who need to find balance between their careers and family/personal life.  This was a big lure for me as balance is something I’m always trying to find and be content with.  One of the presenters, Davina Fear, seems to be an expert at having balance as she maintains an enormously successful business, children, and marriage.  She also believes in the power of journaling.

As part of the workshop, the attendees have been given homework to buy a journal (if they don’t already have one) and then try to journal about the assigned topics prior to attending the workshop.  This makes me a bit nervous because I don’t have a very good track record with journaling.  I did head out to buy a journal (which are hard to find, by the way) and picked one up from Target.

We were supposed to find one that screamed "this is me!", however there just aren’t many places that sell journals anymore, so I settled on this one because #1) I adore dark red and #2) it is spiral bound which makes the pages lay down better while you’re writing.

After arriving home with my $7 journal, I remembered that I went through a "journaling phase" in college.  After doing some digging in my closet, this is what I found…

Let me explain.  Many years ago, probably in 1996, Oprah had a show on the Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude.

The selling point is that "when we offer thanks to God or to another human being, gratitude gifts us with renewal, reflection, and reconnection.  In this beautiful book you will record–and discover–that which you value most.  From the simplicity of a morning breeze to the profundity of a lover’s kiss and transcendent moments of awe, you will become aware of all you already have–and all you were meant to be…"

As wonderful as this book is and as excited as I was to receive it and put it to use, I wrote in it exactly two times.  Strike #1.

The other three journals all arrived in my life at the same time.  In college, I had a beautiful friend named Heather Stewart…Stew, as we called her.  In early 1995 she traveled to Spain to study abroad as an exchange student.  After only a few weeks there, she was killed in an accident.  This was one of the most life changing events for me.  I had wonderful friends, who were all grieving themselves, who rallied around me and helped me through that time.  One friend, Kelly, gave me a journal to help me understand my thoughts and feelings.

  Another friend, Erin, gave me a journal to keep as a "quote book".  Stew had this amazing journal she called the Quote Book and it was filled with the most eye-opening, spiritual, meaniful quotes, along with some funny ones we’d come up with ourselves.  Erin started the book for me with some of her favorite quotes.

And I had one more from that tough year that I must have bought for myself, but all of them remain about one tenth of the way full.  Strike #2, #3, and #4.

Finally, the last two I have are these:

One of these was given to me by my husband.

And then I bought him the other one.  We decided to use these to write our thoughts down during the months we were separated (because of military assignments).  Again, these have about 8-10 pages filled in each of them.  Doesn’t email make more sense?  Strike #5.

So now I have two journal assignments waiting on me.  What I’d really like to do is open a Word document and start writing…is that cheating?  I am going to attempt to write in my new journal, because I have one more reason to besides the Love Affair assignments. For Christmas, my friend Kelly gave me Eat, Pray, Love.

I am enjoying this book SO MUCH and am feeling like I want to journal my thoughts about this book.  I don’t know…maybe I should just start with a computer journal.  I guess that’s kind of what my blog is now.  Pray for me to get some journaling motivation, will you?   

I’m going to share one of my favorite quotes from one of my journals:

Bits and Pieces

Bits and pieces, bits and pieces…

People.  People important to you, people unimportant to you cross your life, touch it with love and carelessness and move on.  There are people who leave you, and you breathe a sigh of relief and wonder why you ever came into contact with them.  There are people who leave you, and you breathe a sign of remorse and wonder why they had to go away and leave such a gaping hole.  Children leave parents; friends leave friends.  Aquaintances move on.  People change homes.  People grow apart.  Enemies hate and move on.  Friends love and move on.  You think on the many who have moved into your hazy memory.  You look on the present and wonder. 

I believe in God’s master plan in lives.  He moves people in and out of each other’s lives, and each leaves his mark on the other.  You find you are made up of bits and pieces of all who ever touch your life, and you would be less if they had not touched you. 

Pray God that you accept the bits and pieces of humility and wonder, and never question and never regret.

Author unknown

Have a wonderful weekend,

K