Talented Friends and Family Pictures

I have been blessed with talented friends.

I've got friends who can create art and jewelry, dance ballet, organize parties, write, cook, bake, design, decorate, and run triathalons and half-marathons.

Friends who taught me, through my tears of frustration, how to nurse my firstborn. 

Literally. 

(That took our friendship to a whole new level!)

Friends who are such amazing encouragers that they encouraged my booty 

right up off of the couch where it had been parked in PJ pants

for three days in a heap of used Kleenex.

And I've got three friends to whom the camera is a natural extension of their bodies. 

Three!

One of those friends, Jennifer Wampler, came over last week with her beautiful family and graciously took pictures of us.

Jennifer is a homeschooling mommy who is starting up

her photography business on the side. 

She arrived dressed in the cutest outfit. 

Within 15 minutes, she was laying on her stomach in my backyard snapping pictures of my family. 

The beads of her necklace were intertwined with leaves and grass. 

Her boots were caked with mud.

And because she was willing to get so dirty,

Jennifer really captured the heart of my family.

I got choked up when I saw these...

What?  I could have sworn he was just born last week! 

Laughing at the nearby neighborhood kids.

Kissing these cheeks is like diving into a bowl of freshly risen bread dough.

There is nothing sweeter.

Be still my heart.

Daddy helping Matthew walk across a log.

Matthew with his dirty little fingers after tossing rocks in the pond.

Thank you, Jennifer.

And thank You, God, for blessing me and surrounding me with such amazing women.

You know how much I need (and love!) every one of these ladies.