So, they were turning 18 just two days after our shoot (On New Year’s Eve). I asked them, “What is the main thing you would like to see in these pictures.” Their response: “We want to show that we’re not little girls anymore.” They are tiny & enviably petite, but little girls??? Oh no, they are not! So we set about capturing their wonderful young adult beauty. I think we did a good job of accomplishing our goal, don’t you? We tried this and that in the studio, then we went to lunch & a drive to find some graffiti and some urban edginess. It was such a fun day!

And last but not least…. I had to wait several days before posting any of the pictures or the slideshow because I entered two of the pictures into contests on my photography site, DPchallenge. The pictures in contest are supposed to be super anonymous until after the results are tallied. So how’d they do??? Wellllll…. both pictures received a prestigious 4th Place Honorable Mention — not bad competing against some of the best portrait photographers in the world!

And of course… finally, I had to say it with a song, so here’s a slideshow with my song to Megan & Caitlin. I love you guys so much! I’m honored that you are such an important part of my life!

So, I’m not going to talk your ears off. I’ll just share the video and let you bask in the miracle of Nathan. At the time of the shoot, he was 5 lbs, 8 oz, and about 10 days old. I’m so in love!

This was their favorite. I made a 2ft x 3ft poster for them

So there we were, wanting to join hearts with the folks in that neighborhood and maybe, by being friends, if even for a day, shine a light of hope and friendship (God’s light) on their lives. And that brings me to the 2nd thing. There were tons of young girls who I learned over the course of the day were starved for attention. And they were at a tender enough age to still WANT adult friendship and mentoring. God softened my heart towards them in a passionate way. I had my camera (of course), and I was taking lots of pictures, but as soon as I approached a small group of them, they started: “Can you take my picture?” “Take a picture of the 3 of us.” “Can we get on the monkey bars and get a picture?” Before long, there were about 10 of them, hamming it up, creating album covers, being on magazines, being cheerleaders, supermodels, everything I think they dreamed of being. They were actually disappointed when it was time to eat. And the second I was finished in the kitchen, they wanted to go “play” some more. After about several hundred pictures and dead flash batteries, I told them the camera was done for the day.

And here’s when “the divine” washed over me like a flood. The camera was done. No more pictures. Their response? “Well… can we just hang out with you anyway?” “I want to go with you.” “I’ll help you clean up.” OMG… my heart turned to so much mush! And it stayed with me until… well… it is still staying with me. I was so humbled by a door of influence into their lives!

What’s awesome is that a good friend of mine at church, Lori Boling, said she had the same tug on her heart for those people that day. She told me a passion was raising up in her heart to spend time with them. To somehow make a difference in their lives more than just at a Thanksgiving dinner. Soooooooo…. the two of us are plotting. We WILL spend more time with them. And we WILL make a difference. The first thing we’ll do is go back and take them prints of all the pictures — and a big 2 feet by 3 feet poster I had made of their favorite one. The project minister said he would love to hang them in their community center to help them feel a part of something.

And from there? Well… It was God who tugged on our hearts this far, so I don’t guess He’s going to stop tugging now, right? However His heart for those people unfolds, I have a feeling Lori and I are going to have some small part in it. And the thought makes me verrrrrrrrry happy!

Here’s the story in pictures and the song that says it best. . .

Felipe & his 2 favorite ladies: Mom, Marissa & Katelyn

No rocking chair for this grandma

Katelyn, Felipe, Merrilan, Marissa…. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sharing your family with Bill and I. I will treasure the memory forever!

Since I always try to say it best with pictures and music, here you go. A chance for all of us to be inside “their Heaven”

I remember the mornings that we were awakened by your bark at our door. You waited there expectantly for an invitation to come in and sleep at our feet by the fire for a while. Oh what a precious way to start our day! And Oh how I wish those days would never have to end!

My comfort is believing with all my heart that you are running and playing again. FREE — from all the pain that too many years on this fallen earth had given you. And I believe that we who loved you will see you again. And THANKFULLY, it will be in a place so sweet that there will be no more separations, no more tears, and no more good-bye’s. Missing you so much now makes me long for that place!

Until then…. please know, sweet girl, that for everyone who has loved you (and there are so many!) we will see you and feel you everywhere — forever — at McGregor Mountain Lodge! The grounds where you romped are forever hallowed with your amazing spirit. And tho the loss is immeasurable, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Love & kisses to our big sweet and loving brown friend forever!

Our friend, Dixie (a/k/a DeeCeeM) like so many others, loving our big brown friend!

She's emotional as she listens to a touching song her dad wrote for her

So, as you would expect, the man she fell in love with and knew was “the one” was the kind of man every mom hopes their baby girl will find. Getting to know Jonathan through this process has been such a heartwarming thing. Heartwarming because he seems like a guy who is well… his own man… a man’s man. Yet, the way he looks at her with such love and protectiveness! It lets you know that fairy tales still happen. And the fairy tale couldn’t have happened to a more deserving amazing couple!

So okay… without further ado, here is a short musical video celebrating royalty… the royalty of the fairy tale come true. I’ll be posting a Facebook album with lots of pictures from the day. But here is my best attempt to tell Jonathan and Lauren’s love story. The song was their “First Dance” song.

I so love my job

A little fun with a slow shutter speed

Isn't it pretty there?

And a great time was had by all... including ME!

That’s why it was such an honor for me to be asked by my friends at www.unvelope.com a high end, online greeting card company, if they could use my photos for a breast cancer awareness project. The photography would depict the different relationships affected by this insidious killer. I was humbled. They sent me this slideshow to show me how the photography would be displayed on the cards. I think they did such a beautiful job! Thank you, to my wonderful friends and family, who allowed me to use their photos for this project.

That part was sweet. But as the note at the end says: until everyone doesn’t know someone they’ve lost directly or indirectly to breast cancer, then I’m afraid there’s still far too much bitter in the world, isn’t there. But thankfully… it’s a cause many people are behind — and I’m hopeful that in the end, all the bitter will be replaced by sweet!

So it was our first day there. Our hearts were drawn to head right up the highest paved road in America (Trail Ridge Road) to the top of “our” Park. We wanted to soak in the panorama of those peaks from above. It was cool and autumn-like, and we were so THANKFUL to be there. We stopped along the road and climbed over rocks taking pictures of the fat resident marmots getting ready for winter. And of course, I can never go up there without trying to get the perfect photo of Rock Cut with Long’s Peak peering thru. (By any chance, did you remember that Bill and I were on the 14,259-foot summit of that mega mountain on our last trip???? Tee hee… sorry… someday, I’ll stop shamelessly bragging, but I guess not yet).

So there we were, staring at Rock Cut… and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a scene I’ve often “special-requested” from God, but usually, I end up having to talk Bill into climbing up to “the spot” to add the human element and give the scale I so love to be included in my photos. But not this time. It was a tiny spot of love… beautifully positioned in my scene to make it absolutely perfect! My heart was fluttering as I snapped like crazy. As I was clicking away, I was thinking, “Hmmmm…. if that were me up there in such a romantic scene, I would want the pictures.” I was thinking the pictures might be very cool looking. So when I was done, I climbed up those rocks and met Joshua and Alison. They were blissfully happy and unaware that they had been posing for me. I showed them the pictures in my view finder and sure enough, they said they would love to have them, so we traded emails and I made one of my first orders of business when I got home processing the pictures for them.

If that were the only story, it would have been a huge enough blessing for me — but in the course of corresponding back and forth while sending the pictures to Josh, I learned the rest of the story: He and Alison met and were building a relationship that began from a Christian internet group. He lives in New Hampshire. She lives there in Colorado. It was their first face-to-face meeting. Woo Hoooo! Yay God! No doubt, it was going quite well, right? And I am hopeful for “the fairy tale” for these two

I knew… just KNEW those mountains were magical!

Many blessings to you, Josh and Alison!