Wrapping up 2014

If someone were to ask me to put all of our 2014 into a giant box and label it... I'd label it... Our Adventure. What an adventure we had! Our "Year of Less" turned out to be a year of SO much more than we could have ever imagined for ourselves last January. Pregnancy, a full year of amazing clients, weddings and births, traveling internationally, dabbling in homeschool, Tommy finishing his master's degree... The year was PACKED... and we survived and thrived. (By taking a lot of deep breaths and being in-the-moment, I think. :))

I am looking forward to dissecting 2014 even more in the coming days... what did and didn't work for myself, my family, and my business? I am looking ahead to 2015 with hopes and dreams of continuing my journey towards more simplicity, intentionality, and contentment. I have been brainstorming and thinking of possible word ideas for 2015 and I am pretty sure I've got THE one narrowed down. But I want to finish my Goal Setting process first before I make that commitment. :) 

This year I'll be following along again with Lara Casey's Goal Setting Process over on her blog (and using my PowerSheets again!). I plan to start in the next few days and hopefully finish up before Cook Baby #2 makes his or her arrival in a few weeks! JOIN ME! And if you decide to share publicly, will you leave a link to your blog post in the comments?? I'd LOVE to follow along!

Speaking of THE BABY. I've been working on a blog post all about this pregnancy, our birth plans, and my deep thoughts about bringing another baby into our family. It'll go live tomorrow... I hope you will come back and read it. :)

In the meantime... Happy New Year, sweet friends! Thank you for following along with us in 2014 and for sticking around through my blog silence and attempts to just-keep-swimming through the crazy. I appreciate you all more than you know!

Merry Christmas 2014

From our family to yours: 

Thank you for the many ways you blessed our family this year. We're so excited for all that 2015 holds for us, including creating more memories with our family, friends and clients! We are also looking forward to seeing what God has planned for those whose paths we will have the pleasure of crossing!!

We hope all who are reading this are surrounded by loved ones and will feel the true love of Christ in their hearts today. May we all remember the true reason for this season. 

"He came not to a throne, but to a manger.
He lived not as a king, but as a servant.
He chose not an earthly kingdom, but a cross.
He gave not just a little, but everything."

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Below are a few of our favorite pictures from our Christmas Card session with Megan Vaughan this year. There's also a peek of our Christmas card at the very bottom. :) 

Merry Christmas and happy new year, friends!

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And lastly, a peek into our Christmas card this year. Thanks again to Megan for the awesome pictures to compliment this season of our lives! :)

2014 Giving Tuesday

I'd be remiss to have a big Cyber Monday sale yesterday and NOT follow it up with a recognition of the Third Annual Giving Tuesday! I just wanted to take a minute today to highlight two of my favorite local non-profits. Hopefully neither of these will be a surprise to you, as they are both such a big part of my heart that I've mentioned them numerous times around here. 

The Motherhood Collective

This group saved me... they offered me a safe place to go during one of the most vulnerable seasons of my life. They embraced me and my loud mouth and quirky ways, despite my new-mama-lack-of-knowledge. They taught me that every mother is different, that we are all simply doing the best we can, and that we need to be easy on ourselves (AND one-another). They gave me permission to make mistakes and to explore different options for myself and my family as we journeyed through our new chapter of parenting. 

The work The Motherhood Collective is doing is great... recognizing (and respecting) the time-sensitive season of early motherhood and providing a kind, gentle, supportive AND educational environment for mamas all over our area... it is truly invaluable. 

If you are currently an expecting mama and/or in the early stages of motherhood, or if that season of life is a passion of yours, PLEASE get connected with this group! 

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Allow The Children

Confession... I was never interested in overseas missionary work. Like, ever. Until I married into a family passionate about it. I was invited on my first ever international mission trip in 2009 and the experience absolutely changed my life... it changed my heart and overall perspective on life.

Allow The Children is a local non-profit organization that cultivates partnerships with other Bible-believing non-profit organizations around the world to help provide financial and biblical resources to those in need. They do this through many avenues, including running a child sponsorship program, running free medical clinics in faraway villages, offering Pastor training Programs, the list seems endless, really. 

Allow The Children has been used by God to alter the course of the lives of many, many people around the world... including my own. The work God is doing through this organization is so good and so needed. I hope you'll take a minute to learn more about them and consider sponsoring a child or supporting another project they currently have going on.

2014 Cyber Monday Sale

What happened?! I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and all of a sudden it was Cyber Monday! Ahh! Honestly... that's how it should be, no? :) I hope you all had fun shopping the Black Friday and Small Business Saturday deals (from home in your PJs, even)!

I'm excited to announce a ONE-DAY-ONLY Sale for my 2015 sessions!

As you may know, I have put my business into "Quiet Time." This means I am booking a VERY limited number of sessions, weddings and births in 2015. Today's sale is probably the only sale I will have in the next year, so I hope you will take advantage of it!! 

The Birth Session Sale

Reserve your 2015 Birth Session today and receive a Complimentary Maternity Session (and 15 hand-edited, high-resolution digital images) along with it! 

A $300 value for FREE!

Sale ends tonight (December 1st) at 11:59pm.

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Newborn Hospital (Fresh48) Session Sale

Buy one session, receive DOUBLE the hand-edited, high-resolution digital files from your session as a digital download! 

A $300 value for FREE!

Sale ends tonight (December 1st) at 11:59pm.

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Eeek! So exciting! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!