Who says old married folks have no reason for a portrait session? Not Lisa and Oz, that's for sure. They were so relaxed and natural with one another, I hardly had to tell them what to do. Can't you just see the years of love between them?

Thanks for taking the time to let me focus my camera on just you two for a change. I hope others will be inspired by your sense of adventure!

May you rejoice in the wife (or husband!) of your youth.

Proverbs 5:18 NKJV

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you a Special Bulletin. Members of the AHS Choir are preparing to present a madrigal dinner-style Festival of Carols on December 12 and 13. Tickets are $18 and can be reserved before December 5 by calling 849-8206 extension 2406.

Two lovely models generously agreed to show off their amazingly authentic costumes before heading to school this morning:

As you might suspect, choir members are all abuzz about this ambitious project. Hope you can come and join the fun!

Here are two more cuties who came to see me during my Mini-Session Day last weekend. Piper and Reese are cousins who are bound to grow up to be the best of friends... especially once Piper can be trusted not to grab handfuls of hair!

Even though each girl has her own unique look, it's not hard to see that they share many of the same beautiful genes. I was dazzled by both sets of blue eyes!

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did during this session. I look forward to making more portraits together sometime after Reese's new baby arrives. Until then, enjoy your sweet girls, Oden Family!

Savior, like a shepherd lead us,

much we need Thy tender care;

in Thy pleasant pastures feed us,

for our use Thy folds prepare.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,

we will early turn to Thee.

Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,

we will early turn to Thee.

Thrupp/Bradbury

Kaylyn brought her Mommy, Grammy, and Great-Grammy along for a mini-session yesterday at Sunny Hearts. There was only one teeny tiny problem: Kaylyn was not at all interested in sitting down for a ladylike four-generation portrait. She had other things in mind, and I was happy to play along. After all, there were steps and walls to climb and pumpkins to be inspected!

Before long, Kaylyn decided that taking pictures might actually be a fun thing to do, so she let the rest of us catch up with her every now and then.

At long last, the lovely grown-up ladies welcomed her back for another try, and this is the shot we captured:

Oh to be not-quite-four years old again! I had fun getting my tired old mind to think like yours, Kaylyn, so that I could persuade you to look into my camera. Thanks for an adventurous morning spent with such fine company!

"Let the little children come to Me," Jesus said.

"Don't keep them away. God's kingdom belongs

to people like them. Anyone who will not receive

God's kingdom like a little child will never enter it."

Luke 18:16-17 NIrV

I just had to share these school pictures with you. Some kids are simply incapable of taking a "boring" school pic:

We made good use of the playground equipment during our mini-sessions. Can you still climb the monkeybars? Or, if you're like me, could you EVER climb the monkeybars?

Who knew that a park bench could be used in so many different ways?

And finally, six faces that make it clear that, indeed, we are each wonderfully made:

Thanks, ACS kids! You are always a joy to photograph.

I hope that this post can be kept secret from a certain groom-to-be. With any luck, he doesn't even know that this blog exists. The rest of you, however, simply must see this gorgeous bride:





Wouldn't the world be a sadder place if deprived of this beauty?

I have to confess that Jessica is my cousin Sandy's daughter, but that in no way colors my totally objective opinion. Some truths just cannot be disputed.

We had fun trying out all sorts of poses and lighting at my favorite new East Columbia location. The fun could have continued for several more hours -- if only we both hadn't been silly enough to make other plans for the evening.

"So who is the lucky groom?" you're surely asking yourself. Well it's none other than Dallas, the most good-natured and up-for-anything guy I've yet to work with:

I'm thinking that this is going to be one happy household! Only three months until the big day -- hang in there, you two (and mother-of-the-bride Sandy). The best is truly yet to come.

Trust steadily in God,

hope unswervingly,

love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love.

Go after a life of love

as if your life depended on it --

because it does.

1 Corinthians 13:13 - 14:1 MESSAGE