Standing Naked On Hailey Street!! :: A Personal Blog Post, Part 2

Or so it feels as I publish this post?!  :)  I wanted to take a time out to share about a new venture my husband and I are starting here in our little town of Sweetwater.  For any of you that know us well, you know we have a story.  It's a wonderful story, thankfully one with a happy ending.  I don't want to spoil you taking the time to visit our website and read the full version by sharing too much, but a few years ago, my husband Matt and I went through a major, life-altering crisis and our marriage and family were on the chopping block!  We discovered a tool that I believe saved me, greatly helped preserve our marriage and family.  When life takes you through the valleys, God is so faithful to use your trials and experiences for your good (Romans 8:28), and many times for the good of others as well.   That is exactly what He's doing with us.   We are excited to announce that we are starting Family Life Skills of Sweetwater, a non-profit (or will be) educational organization that is dedicated to helping individuals heal through the personal and family "junk" we all deal with, especially the wounds we receive in childhood/adolescence.   Very few of us grow up in healthy normal homes, this class is for anyone who wants to grow personally.  Some of the specific topics of study include:

•Developing Trust
•Respecting Self and Others/Self-Esteem
•Awareness and Processing of Feelings
•Anger Management
•Childhood Wounds
•Understanding My Anger
•Forgiveness
•Defining Domestic Violence and Abuse
•Conflict Resolution
•Love and Family Bonding
•Male/Female Differences
•Guilt and Shame
•Communications
•Reactive Lifestyles
•Healthy and Lasting Relationships

The classes are gender specific, and meet for 26-30 weeks for 3 hours a week!  This class changed my life and as I said, gave me the tools I'd need to get through one of the hardest times in my life.  We would love it if you took the time to visit our website at www.familylifeskillssweetwater.com to learn more about the program and read our story.  You can also help us spread the word by becoming a fan of our page on Facebook here, and consider being a part of our first class.  

We are currently in the process of raising approximately $8,000 to obtain Life Skills International official licensing to use the course materials and get up and running, as well as to attend a 6 day training in Colorado.  We would greatly appreciate any and all tax-deductible donations.  If you love In Bloom Photography, please consider joining us as we bring this important and life changing ministry to our community.  No amount is too small!  You may mail donation checks to Family Life Skills- Sweetwater, 1418 Hailey Street, Sweetwater, TX 79556.  We can't thank you enough.  If we obtain all the funding we need by October 12th, then we plan to attend training in November.  If not, then we will continue our efforts and attend training in January.  Our goal is to start the first round of classes in February of 2013... which will be here before we know it!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!  Now go take a tour of our site and tell a friend! 

A Bit of Change for In Bloom :: A Personal Blog Post, Part 1

I usually try to keep this blog and my Facebook page for In Bloom on the professional side, I'm going to cross over to the personal for just a bit to share some exciting news about changes coming in the ... well, in the present!  There have been some rumors floating around that I'm quitting photography (as I giggle), but let me assure you that is not the case!  Quitting photography completely might feel like cutting off a limb of my creative self, so clearly that would not be good for me.  However, I have been lovingly thumped on the head by my Heavenly Father that I need to make some changes in our family's daily life and that is what this blog post is about!! 
I'm going to keep this as brief as possible (I giggle again, knowing I'm long-winded) because part 2 of this post may take up a bit more time to share.  So, here it goes.  As some of you may know, my kids are almost 7, almost 5, and almost 2.  For the past 7 years I've put about 75% of me into this business only to watch it grow and "bloom" into well, something I never really imagined it would be.   It's grown to an easy 20 + jobs a month, definitely a full time job!  It's a business that has successfully hopped states and created a slew of wonderful clients,  many of which have become like family to me (yea, you know who you are!)!  As my babies get bigger though, I'm realizing that only leaves 25% of my time and energy... or, my quality, focused, present time and energy with my family.   This is not ok.  My 7 year old Trystan will in three (very short) years be 10.... TEN PEOPLE?!!!  WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THE TIME GO?  That realization has caused me to really look at the way our day to day is working, what our family time looks like, and how I'm doing with sowing Godly character and integrity into my children.  What I came up with... well, it wasn't good.   God first reminded me that our original plan was for Mommy to stay home and not work.  Well, apparently  I felt the need to change the plan!?  So naturally, I started to seriously consider and evaluate how things are within our four walls.  The most sobering thing I observed was that last year, Trystan was in Kindergarten 5 days a week and Elyse was in preschool 3 days a week and by the time they got home, they were spent.. exhausted, done!!!  The possibility for me to spend any influential time with them was basically nill.  On my end, evenings are spent doing the usual routine: answering emails, cleaning up, making dinner, baths, bed, then back to work at my computer till sometimes 1 or 2am, only to start the routine again the very next morning!  The weekends consist of shooting on Saturday and sometimes Sunday while my kiddos hang out with Daddy (not a bad thing, but noticed I'm not involved in any of the fun).  If I'm not shooting on the weekends, I'm trying to take advantage of my husband being with the kids to catch up on editing and other business related tasks.  After all this evaluation and consideration of the past/present, these were my conclusions:  Too much of my focus goes to work, and not enough focus goes to my babies.  They get my left-overs... and going to public school, I get their left-overs.  Not a good combination!
The solution?  After much prayer, I've decided to cut back on photography and home school my kids!!   God has clearly called me to do it, so not doing it would be disobedience at this point!  He's also shown me this is an excellent way to shift my focus from photography to my children and ensure that I am spending one on one, quality time with them daily so that I may be the one responsible to teach, train, disciple, and influence these babies God has entrusted us with.  I'm so excited and feel completely freed up by this decision.  That ALONE just helps me to know that this is the right decision for us!  If you had told me 6 months ago that I'd be homeschooling my kids I probably would have laughed at you, but  God has changed my heart (removing hands from wheel!)!  It's been a process to figure all this out and own the decision for myself. So what does this mean for In Bloom, well... it means I'm cutting back.... a lot!  I've only scheduled 2-3 shoots per week from now until the end of 2012 and currently, my schedule is 95% booked up!  It means that I'm actually going to keep "office hours" now and won't be answering calls or text messages during school time in the morning/early afternoon and after 6pm at night in an effort to "clock out" and be mentally present with my family.  It means that if you are a regular client, a new perspective client reading this, or if you are ever so kind as to refer me to a friend, you might consider booking early!!  Like I said, with this lighter booking plan, my fall schedule is close to capacity already!!  My spring calendar is typically MUCH busier that the fall... so I'm just suggesting to book early!  If you are pregnant and plan to book me for a newborn session... consider booking by the end of your first trimester!  I'm telling ya, saying no is hard to do, but I will... and I'm already getting some good practice at it!!  

I am very much looking forward to all that is ahead!  Home school is not for everyone, I know.  I also know it's not going to be sunshine and roses every day.  I'm blessed to have a sister who's home schooled successfully for eight years now with all three of her kids.  She has, and will continue to be a huge help to me as I figure out what I'm doing and how I'm going to do it!   It seems as though home schooling is not always a popular option.  As I share my plans with others, I inevitably get the "OH wow, you're crazy!!?" or "I could neeeever do that," followed up with all the reasons why keeping my kids in public school is better and all the ways home schooling will damage my kids.  Ok, maybe I'm being a little dramatic here... but really that's the implication.  When someone projects their own issues like that, I just cling to the the fact that I've been called by God to do this thing and that if He's called me to do it, He will also equip me to do it.  I cling to the fact that my kid's are "quality time" kids and that this decision is going to fill their little love tanks like it's no one's business!  Most importantly, I know that by this one single choice, I can rejoice because I know that one day soon when they go out into the world on their own.... I won't look back with regret.  I'll know that I gave them all that I had with all that I could.
But wait, I'm not done!!!  This cutting back also has another purpose and ironically, homeschooling fits right into it!!! My husband and I are starting a non-profit organization/ministry in our county and I'm going to need to be devoting some time and energy into this exciting new venture as well!  Come back in a day or two to read my next post about this new endeavor!  We need your help to spread the word!!!  That's all for now!