Summer Visitors

This summer has been such a fun and busy summer.  God has blessed me in so many ways.  One of those ways has been the many summer visitors I've gotten to host in the past 2  months.  I love being a military wife, but one of the hard things about it is leaving all my friends and family behind.  So it has been such a treat to have some of those friends and family choose to take their vacation up in Va Beach. 

At the beginning of the summer, my dear friends Brandon and Ashley came up here for his uncle's retirement ceremony.  It was so fun to get to show them around my new home city.  We went shopping, mostly cause Ashley always knows where the good sales are :) and we went to the aquarium.  I had never been to one, so that was a lot of fun.

Then a few weeks later, my mom and a sweet friend from church, Courtney came up with her daughter, Nora.  It was great to finally show my home to my mom, who's been wanting to come up here since we moved.  And I was thankful for some much needed girl time with her and Courtney. 

Then most recently, this week, my long time friend, Brenna came and brought her beautiful daughter, Lucy to visit.  Brenna is one of my best friends from forever and a day ago and it was so nice to spend a few days catching up on life with her and getting to know her sweet daughter more.  We went for coffee at my favorite coffee shop here in Chesapeake, Cafe Moka, and yesterday, I took her on her first touristy beach trip down to the Va Beach oceanfront.  It was also Lucy's first beach trip ever.  While the water and waves were not too impressive to Lucy, she did love the sand and getting to eat it :)

All 3 visits were so wonderful to have and such a great way to make the time fly as I'm waiting on my husband to come home in a few months.  God definitely blessed me with some sweet friends.

Here's few pictures from all the trips:

This is Lucy, such an adorable baby!! 

This is Brandon and Ashley.  We went down to the peir at the aqaurium and got yelled at, but at least we got a good picture out of it.

This is Courtney and Nora.  It was so great time them here along with my mom!

Lucy in the Sky...

Mother's Day weekend, I was able to photograph this sweet family.  Lucy just celebrated her 6 month birthday.  We went to Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem.  It was so great to get to catch up with friends and get to spend time with their sweet little girl.  Here are a few pictures from that fun afternoon :)

Amendment One

I am NOT a bigot.  I am NOT a hick.  I am NOT uneducated.  I am NOT racist. I am NOT unloving.  I am NOT a hater of any person or group of people.  
I AM a Christian.  I AM a Navy wife.  I AM a nurse.  I DO love all people.  And I am entitled to whatever opinion I choose to have.  My opinion is not based off of outdated mandates, but on a Bible that still remains true to every part of life today.  I am a Christian before I am anything else.  I am also a sinner, just like every other person on this earth.  I do not deny the fact that there is sin in my life, pride, anger, and gossip just to name a few.  Sin is sin and God hates all sin the same.  God looks at my pride and anger the same way He looks at a person's homosexuality, alcoholism, or sex before marriage.  He hates all of it.  That's why He sent His son, to save us from all of the sins that enslave us.  He gave us a way out so we don't have to live in sin our entire lives. 
God has also called us to love each other, just as He loves us.  It is because of His love that I live my life the way I do.  It is because of His love for me that I am able to love anyone, to love my patients at the hospital, my clients at the clinic and every other person I come in contact with.  So yes, people may call me unloving and a bigot because, based on the Bible, I don't believe that homosexuality is ok, but i still love any person who calls themselves gay.  I love my family members who have adopted that lifestyle.  I love any patient that I come in contact with who lives that lifestyle.  And I would love any person who I may come in contact with who lives with that lifestyle. Just like I love the patient who comes in with COPD because they've smoked for 30 years or the young, scared, teenage girl who comes to me telling me they're pregnant.  I love them and give my life to help them. 
My last point before I'm done, I mentioned that I am a Navy wife.  This country is a country that is known for freedom of religion and freedom to express any thought or opinion a person has without being attacked for it.  It's why this country is so great.  My husband fights and gives his life every day so that we can all enjoy those freedoms.  So just like every person against the amendment has that right, I have the right to be for it, my family has the right to be for it, every person who voted for it has the right to be for it.  That is the freedom my husband defends.  And that is why I will not be ashamed at all for what I believe, no matter what name I am being called while doing it.

Ben and Jess

Last week I got to have a super fun photoshoot with some of my best friends! I went to Charlotte after the Easter weekend and got to spend a few days staying with them. Most of the creative ideas were from Jess, so I can't take much credit, but here are a few of my favorites...

Spring Trip to Charleston

Recently I was able to visit Charleston and all the sweet friends I made when I lived there. I was also excited to find that a lot of my friends from Charlotte were also there. I was able to walk around downtown Charleston with some wonderful friends. I got to have lunch at one of my favorite restraunts, the only place I've ever found that serves fried green tomatos :) Church that night was wonderful to go to. God definately knew I needed to be there to hear the message that was spoken. We went to the beach after church, something that I hope to get to do again, it was a good tradition to start :) I was also very blessed to be able to have breakfast with some of my favorite people from Charlotte. But I think one of my favorite things I got to do was have a photoshoot with Josh and Justine Cain. We went to the Mepekin Abbey. It was such a sweet time to get to hang out with them and celebrate the little life that will soon be Piper. Here are just a few pictures that I got to take.