"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and the movements and changes in the world around him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, 'This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.' The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds."
-Louis L'Amour

when i was 18 years old i was full of reckless abandon. no one could tell me anything because i knew it all, and my way was best. looking back now i was extremely ignorant in the ways of life and the world. i attended college in tenn. for one year where i discovered everything i loved and loathed about myself. after returning home to ga i fell in love with & married the man that is truly my best friend, worst enemy, ally in all things good & bad, father to my children, provider to my family, sounding board, critic, life coach & lover.

when i was about six months pregnant with my daughter i suddenly realized i was about to be responsible for another human being. it became clear to me that it was now my God appointed task to raise this child in way of the Lord. He had chosen me out of all the women in the world to have this particular little girl. and there i was much calmer than i had been two years before, but still hanging onto that old selfish ignorance that plagued my teenage years bearing my soul before God and begging for the strength it would take to get through the rest of my life as a mother.

my daughter arrived and suddenly everything i thought i knew about life, love, selflessness & family changed. i had a new respect, understanding, and also misunderstanding of not only my mother but all mothers. all my being could not contain the love & attachment i felt for this 7lb 2oz baby. i was suddenly complete, and i wasn't even aware that i had been lacking.

when my daughter was only three months old i started my own photography business, which i believe to be a majority of the reason i feel so fulfilled with my life as a stay at home mom.

i will be 23 on saturday. yes, that is a very young age in comparison to the average expected life span, but in my short twenty three years i feel that i have accomplished much.

there are many things that i've done that i would rather forget, but would never change. every moment & choice (good or bad) has lead me to the most prefect moment i'm living in now. all the dirty sins of my past have been covered in the blood of jesus and washed away, and still God has used all those things that He tried to protect me from to weave the beautiful life i have now. i'm amazed every day at where i'm at. if someone had come to me when i was 18 and said by the time you are 23 years old you will be the mother of two children, owner of a successful photography company & working on your fourth year of marriage i would have laughed at them; but now that i'm here in that place i am so grateful to God & my family (who may have lost hope for a while) for never giving up on me, and i would like to believe as i grow another year older saturday and we celebrate my life that they are all very proud of the woman, wife & mother i've become.