Shower Time

We had our first baby shower this weekend. A huge shout out to my mom and sisters for all of their amazing work. You guys are awesome! Didn't they do a fantastic job? 

Our theme for the nursery is alphabets and animals so they made the shower a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom  theme with letters everywhere. It was so fun. 

We feel so incredibly overwhelmed by the love and support of everyone who came. We can't wait to meet you Kai!

mondays

An added benefit to working Saturdays is having Mondays off. This is what that glorious day off often looks like around here...

A little extra sleep in the morning

Enjoying morning coffee together

Pandora station playing

breakfast together...at the table

watching our new little 3 legged friend and naming her bonnie :)

 Scentsy smells that match the weather

cloudy skies and the warmth of candles

loads and loads of laundry

leaving the front door open

Getting to those pinterest projects...finally 

more pinterest projects...

Pinterest feeds my organization addiction 

Hello, Monday. It's good to see you again. 

new things.

Alex and I are excited to announce a new chapter. Alex has officially launched his new business:

 Alex Joel Photography

The story of how this business came to be is a good one. 

Alex and I moved to the St. Louis area last August. I had a job lined up when we moved and we were sure it wouldn't take Alex long to find something. After several interviews, applications, meetings, and disappointing phone calls we realized this wasn't going to be as easy as we thought. 

We had several friends and family members helping us through this journey and they have all been incredibly supportive and helpful. Such a blessing. 

I'll be completely honest here. We struggled to understand what God's plan was in all of this. Why would he want Alex to be miserable? Why would he make this so difficult? Doesn't he care what we're going through here? Trust me, you can only take so many "sorry we just don't have any positions available right now." 

As many of you know, Alex's dream job would be cinematography. Anything with film really. We realized that finding a job in that area here in STL was not going to happen, but we hoped he could find something that was in some way related to it or would provide connections or experience in that area.  My prayers through this time had been asking God to provide a job for Alex that would also give direction. Not a dead end job, but a job that would advance Alex's career. 

There was a job offer that came up and Alex and I prayed about it...a lot. We both kept getting a feeling that this is not where Alex needed to be, but how could we turn down an offer after several months of no employment? One Monday night in February I gave God an ultimatum (is that ok?). I told him that if he didn't provide a job by Friday Alex would have to accept the job offer. Thursday came around and still nothing (I'm sure I reminded God of our deal at this point). Friday morning I woke up early and full of energy (which is a rare occurrence) and a thought came to me. We could totally start a photography business. Then thoughts just started pouring in:  Alex has read countless books and articles on photography due to his desire to learn about cinematography and he is the most creative person I know. We already have some of the equipment and resources needed with the gear he had acquired for film. Why not?

So I told God that just to make sure this was him talking and not my morning coffee I would present the idea to Alex and see what he said. I was absolutely sure Alex would shoot the idea down in a heartbeat. He would claim he didn't have the resources, funds, and know-how. I was sure this would be the case.

I got home from work late Friday night and told Alex my idea. I told him about the ultimatum that I gave God earlier that week. I told him that I fully believed he could do this and he would have my full support every step of the way.  I wish I could capture the feeling in our house that night. It was as if every single weight had been lifted off of our shoulders. There was a beautiful peace.  For the first time in months I saw Alex's excitement and passion come out.  We immediately started researching and figuring out the logistics of how this would work growing more and more excited. 

It has been almost 2 months since that night I told Alex my God's plan. We have been so blessed since then. Walking in God's will? Totally worth the journey.

Now I will leave you with some of the first shots from Alex Joel Photography. 

cool things.

We were dog sitting for Alex's parents and when we headed outside to walk this guy:

Then we caught sight of this happening next door:

Alex quickly pulled out his camera and got these shots. It was awesome. 

Cool neighbors? Check. 

A&K

remembering weekends.

Last weekend we were given the opportunity to attend Family Life's Weekend to Remember conference in Chicago with Ben, Shanika, Jason, and Jeanale. We had so much fun spending time all together and taking a weekend to focus on our marriage. It was wonderful. 

Alex and I like to think that we won the marriage conference...everything is a competition in our family :)

We also got to spend some time with almost-one-year-old Kole. It was a good weekend.

camping.

I want to go.

Spring?

Words I associate with spring:

sun, green, warmth, barefoot, camping, dogwood, outdoors, happiness

I'm ready.