June 4

Wow, May has flown by! It's been a busy month with five wedding shoots, three in Bend and two in Indiana where the weather crept up to 97 degrees with humidity like only the Midwest knows. Diving headlong into June has been great - filled with days of editing and refueling the introvert in me, haha. LOTS of photos to come!

Lately I've been waking up so excited for each day. I am just amazed at how blessed and fun this season of life is! God provided a great month of work in May and the needed time in June to catch up.

The weather is finally warming up and summer is slowly creeping over the Cascades. There's nothing like Bend in the summer time. Yesterday was spent almost entirely outside playing yard games in the backyard, grilling out and trying to master the slack line in Drake Park. Being surrounded by people who love to be active and do things outside is a blast! Daily I'm reminded at how great of friends I have.

I'm also getting ready for my next trip to Uganda (!!!!) which is happening in September. I'm so excited to see the kids again, how much they've grown and how much Otino Waa will have changed in a year. Over the last couple months I've slowly been diving in deeper with Otino Waa, taking over their social media presence as well as joining the board of directors for the ministry. Although half of my heart always wants to be on the ground and living among the people there, I love being able to stay involved state-side and doing what I can right where I am. The more I learn about Otino Waa and the leadership behind it, the more respect I have for the board, leadership and staff and the wisdom and selfless commitment to the ministry. If you'd like to stay up to date, check out the new blog - http://otinowaa.blogspot.com/

And finally, the thing I'm most excited about: Getting Married!! 34 Days, yep, I am totally keeping a count down :) In the last month I've moved into the place we'll be living - a great little apartment above a garage. It may sound strange, but it's perfect! We're in a great, family-oriented neighborhood and Buzz Lightyear actually lives next door along with his little brother - Superman. There are literally over 20 children under the age of 10 in a 8 house radius. I'm all settled in....now I just need to figure out where to put Andrew's stuff in a month! Yesterday Andrew and I went out to the wedding site to choose the right place for our ceremony. It's tough - trying to pick between tall pines along the river or the open hay field with the Cascade range in the backdrop - what a great problem to have. We are so blessed!

I can hardly wait for all of our friends and family to arrive in Oregon for our wedding! I can't wait to share the beauty of Central Oregon with my Midwest friends. I hope they love it! 

It's really funny photographing weddings while planning my own. I think I have a new appreciation for the excitement and anticipation the couples I work with are experiencing. It's fun getting to know each couple, their interests, personalities and styles. It's such an honor to be trusted with documenting the biggest day of their lives, challenging, but wonderful.

One super fun opportunity that's come up is a photo shoot for Leading Edge Aviation - the flight school Andrew works for. I was asked to get some new images of the school, students and helicopters for a Look Book that LEA is putting together for their new and potential students. It was a fun switch to go from taffeta and roses to R44s and R22s. It's also fun to get a little better picture of Andrew's work life. I can't decide if I feel better knowing more about his job or more worried. I love that he's in the field of work he loves and gets excited about. Even if it makes me a bit nervous somedays about him being a few thousand feet above ground everyday, I respect and totally support what he does and am so thankful for how hard of a worker he is. I love that man!

So in summary, life is so good. It's great to wake up in the morning excited for what the day holds. God is faithful and He is good.