Three Thanksgiving’s ago we were invited to “the farm”.  A sweet lady named Carol and her husband Larry at our church host Thanksgiving and Easter meals for anyone who doesn’t have family in town.  The numbers range from 50-100 each holiday.

There’s such beauty at the farm.

Children cuddling ever present kittens (and me too)

Music and songs.

Tasty Food.

I had to capture all that beauty and all those relationships and all that laughter and joy.

So I brought my camera.   After Easter I decided those captures needed to be shared.  How could I keep all that joy to myself?  So I made Carol and Larry a little photo book of Resurrection Day 2010.

The captured joy was treasured so much that when Larry and Carol’s 31 children and grandchildren held a week long family reunion they asked me to photograph their families.  It was a whirl wind evening of taking photos of 8 different family groups and a giant group photo.  I can’t begin to express how much personality those families had 🙂

A couple weeks later I was talking to my friend Tamara about how much fun I had taking pictures at the farm.  Over the course of the conversation I asked if I could take photos of the little bundle of joy she was expecting in a couple weeks time.  Delighted, Tamara agreed.

I posted a few of these images on Facebook for Tamara and within mere hours an acquaintance asked how much I charged for my services.   Suddenly, Quiet Graces Photography was born.

So what have I learned?  Well, a good God requires obedience.  He wants me to do what he asks because He knows what’s best for me.  He sent me to North Greenville to major in Outdoor Leadership (a field I didn’t know existed!) in order to grow me into someone more like His Son.  I could have gone to a different school and become a better photographer, but that didn’t have eternal significance.

Yet in obedience, joy is found.  Our wild and good God loves giving wonderful unexpected gifts to His children.  In following Him and learning more about Him, I learn to appreciate these gifts more and to see His hand in everything.

I’m excited to see where this wild path in photography takes me.