Amazingly Humbled

Ever since Katey and I have been married we made an agreement that dinner time would be the one meal of the day that, no matter what, we would have together around the table. Before every meal together we come humbly before God. Lately I have been doing this with Ezra as well. I will hold his hands together and tell him "Fold your hands" and then we will pray together (he still keeps his eyes open). This evening like any other night we sat down at the table and I started to pray. About halfway through Katey starts squeezing my hand (we also hold hands together, trying to get Ezra to hold for longer then a second is a challenge). I think to myself, the words coming out of my mouth must be good, she's agreeing with me. I finish the prayer and look to my right at Ezra and he is sitting in his high-chair with is hands folded. Halfway through the prayer, when Katey started squeezing my hand, he had let go of her hand and folded his hands all on his own. He knew what we were doing and understood. At 10 months to make that connection! Wow, I am amazed and humbled all at the same time.

Freedom & Slumber Review

I had an awesome weekend down in Santa Barbara hanging out with some awesome photographers from around the country. I'm am still processing all the great info that DJ gave us and so look for future posts about this. In the mean time I wanted to give you a quick photo overview of the weekend. All these photos were taking by the awesome photographer, Kenny Kim. Check out his blog for the rest of the highlight pics and if you're in the Chicago area give him a shout. I'll be posting up my images in a couple of days after I catch up on sleep and get over a nasty head cold I got.

Nonstop... From Now On

So here's the story....Yesterday night my flight from Santa Barbara to Seattle had a lay-over in SF. I should have known the night wasn't going to go the way I expected it to go, when it was already delayed an hour at check-in. After sitting and talking with Penny Sylvia at the gate for a good hour, I got paged by the airline. They decided to send me to LA and transfer to an Alaska flight to Seattle. No problem, except that there was only 35 mins. to go from one side of LAX to the other. After running, getting stopped and screened at security, I made it to the gate to find no airplane (I was at the gate 10 min. before departure). It had left without me!! Come to find out United decided that I wasn't going to make that flight so they booked me for a flight this morning, this happened while I was in flight to LA. Alaska saw this change and sent the flight out to Seattle without me... can you believe that. After another 2.5 hours of lines, terminal changes, hotel shuttle, I found myself in a hotel in LA and not home in Seattle. I slept for 3 hours and got back to the airport to catch my new flight to Seattle. What a trip. I couldn't believe the run around I got. At the time I was so frustrated, but the fright this morning gave me some good time to start processing all that I learned this weekend from DJ. I'm home now and making changes towards creating more freedom in my life already. Thanks DJ and everyone, I look forward to the next time we can hang out.

Not Home Only LA

Well my hopes of being home tonight didn't come ture. Instead of being home in Seattle or stuck in SF I am stuck in LA. It's a long story and I only get 3 hours of sleep before I have to be back at the airport (it 11:45). I'll give you the details tomorrow.

Saturday Morning Slumber

I'm sitting in front of my computer right now looking out over all of Santa Barbara. It's amazing. The sun is shinning bright and the ocean is bright blue. I'm down here hanging out with DJ and a bunch of other amazing photographers.Last night DJ had a little party at the house and invited a ton of local photographers to come and meet us. I got the chance to network with some pretty amazing people. After everyone left we took some time to share and get to know each other a little more. It was cold and rain so instead of having a bon-fire, we had a candle fire. Today is a full day of learning, shooting, and learning some more. I'll post more photos later. These photos are compliments of Kenny Kim, another amazing photographer out here from Chicago.

Training Prep

I am super stoked for this upcoming weekend. I have the opportunity to spend the weekend with one of the top wedding photographers right now, David Jay. The Freedom and Slumber workshop is going to be insane. I will be spending the weekend at his house along with 9 other fellow wedding photographers from around the country. This is what I love so much about this industry, the chance to meet so many people that I know whom I wouldn't normally meet.DJ has been doing some amazing things that are transforming the wedding photography industry. He is so open to share his knowledge as well as encourage others to flourish in the industry. Along side sharing his knowledge he is also developing software to help photographers share their photos with their clients and create freedom in their lives. As you probably can tell, I am excited to meet him and learn from him. Stay tuned for posts...

Choices...

I'm a big fan of John Eldredge and his books. Today I read this great quote that took me back and really got me thinking."...We are on a journey of desire. But we are not home yet. The fact is, at this point in our journey, we have only three options:to be alive and thirsty,to be dead in our soul,to be addicted."(Dare to Desire by John Eldredge)Where are you at in your journey of desire? What option are you choosing?

Danny & Bethany: Engagement

The weather in Seattle has been so crazy lately, that it has made it hard for outdoor photoshoots. This past Saturday I was supposed to spend the morning with Danny & Bethany for their engagement session. But like a typical winter day in Seattle it was raining, windy and cold, so we decided try another day. That day happened to be Sunday morning! The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and the Sun was out.I am so excited for you guys to get married. It's awesome to be a part of such an amazing family. Thanks for a fun morning, goofy at times but also fun to see the love that you share together. You are awesome. See ya soon.

Enjoying at a Young Age

I started going through the photos from our trip to Cabo and came across these photos from the very first day.Ez and his two cousins!This is what they were enjoying together :)

Back & Ready to Blog

It's been too long since the last post, but that's because the past 2 weeks I have been in Cabo Mexico with my family. I promised my wife I wouldn't be on my computer much, cause I wanted to send time with them. It worked out because where we were at the internet didn't work. It was a great time to get away and reflect on the past year and this upcoming year, not to mention the Sun! Didn't get much sleep but did get the chance to spend a lot of time with family. I also had the chance to get out and spend some time with GRIP International and play some ball with the kids they are working with (stay tuned for the pics in a future post).The above photo is my wife's family on the beach with the Pacific Ocean behind us. This year the family grow by two more and 2008 there be one more added. It's a blessing to be a part of this family that continues to grow each year.I wish you all blessing in 2008. It's going to be a great year and I am beyond excited for the things to come.