today you are four years old. i know how excited you are because you have been counting down the days since last month. though i am really happy for you and feel thankful that God has blessed me with another year with you, deep down i am crying. when i look into your big brown eyes, i am reminded what a big, graceful girl you have become. you are no longer that 6-lb baby i brought home from the hospital years ago.

dear abby, if only you know how much your daddy and i adore you. i often find myself staring at your perfect face for no reason at all–only because i want to admire you from the bottom of my heart. you are sensitive to others’ needs, you are intuitive to people’s feelings and you are emotional; you are observant and you are always eagar to help. i never hear you complain when you are asked to do something. you always tell me, ‘okay, mommy!’ as if you are so delighted to do what i ask. you always have that sweet smile on your face and when you ask me for something with that same grin, i melt every time. every time. you will never understand the love your daddy and i have for you. it is indescribeable.

dear abby, you always touch me in a special way every time you reach over with those little hands of yours. you make my heart full when you walk over quietly and just snuggle your little body in against mine. i wish i can embrace you and protect you with all that i am and all that i have–until the end of times–but i know a part of loving you is to slowly let you go and trust that the lord will guide you and walk with you. i will not be right by you forever.

dear abby, as you are starting another brand new year, i promise you i will be there for you. i will hold your hand when you want me to, pick you up when you are upset and laugh with you when you are happy. i will make sure there is no jelly in your peanut butter sandwiches and there is always plenty of mint and chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer. i will also make sure your hair is always combed but will not force you to tie your hair up. i promise we will paint your nails as often as we can, to whatever shades of red you’d like. i promise i will always love you, no matter what.

happy birthday, sweet girl.

and there were ‘soul surfers’. they were those surfers that would dive into those waves, whether the sun was literally shining above them or not and become one with the ocean. they surfed because it was the air they breathed. it was a passion that came from within. it was a part of them. i mean, you couldn’t pay them enough to not surf.

for a while, molly, kellie, sarah and i have been talking about this kind of passion. we shoot simply because it satisfies us in a way nothing else can. we shoot because it brings a form of ‘high’ for us and we enjoy creating something just for us. of course, we didn’t start off this way. we went through self-doubt (which still exists even to this day), and a lot questioning. we looked around us and felt struck-down at times. we even went through so many ‘i quit!’ phases. but still. each time we put down our cameras we would find ourselves picking them back up again. somehow, creating keeps us sane.

and this is the beginning of our talk of soul shooting. it was such a far shot in the beginning! i mean, we were talking about four different souls living in four different states! what were the chances of us getting together in one place?

but alas, it is going to happen!!! i still can’t believe we will all be getting together in just a few weeks. if you want to learn more about soul shooting, come join us!! we sincerely hope we will help you find your voice and that true joy of creating from within.

then i realized, we can live happily ever after. but only with hard work.

for me, the past nine years have been some of the most difficult yet rewarding time of my life. we moved across the country three times; the last time with three young children. as the years passed by, i have gotten to know my ben at a deeper level; he is more than i have ever prayed for in a spouse. yet, we still faced conflicts and dealt with struggles through the years. however, these very trials brought us closer. we are not perfect, but we are perfect for each other.

our dear friends tamara and patrick will be celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary this year as well. ben and i traveled to georgia a few weeks ago to see their precious new baby boy and i had an amazing opportunity photograph them.  a year ago (while i was pregnant with jacob) ben and i had an incredible experience of being photographed to celebrate our anniversary;  for tamara and patrick, this too was a beautiful oppurtunity for them to remember, reminisce and relive some of the most profound memories as husband and wife.

here’s tamara and patrick, i still do:

and they were blessed and surrounded by their loved ones.

it was perfect.

a few weekends ago, ben and i drove 14 hours down to georgia to see our dear friends and their precious new baby boy. on our way down, we stopped to see molly flanagan and her adorable family. and i was lucky enough to document this visit.

here’s the story of how i met molly. i met molly through flickr. when i first began my photography journey, i stumbled upon this photo-sharing site. i had no idea what i was doing. i didn’t know there was a whole community out there where you can meet people and be supportive of one another. or talk about life and become good friends. one day i got a friendly ‘flickrmail’ from this person named pink.goldfish. at that time, i was new to flickr, but i had seen pink.goldfish’s work and it was more than amazing. therefore, receiving a flickrmail from her meant the world to me. i remember i loved the images of her little girl who at the time was still in diapers. in addition, her story-telling ability absolutely amazed me. i was in love with her work.

it turned out pink.goldfish was molly.  i met molly for the first time two summers ago on our way down to georgia. she drove an hour and a half to the town where ben and i were staying and we had lunch together. from that day on, our friendship solidified. not only did we hit it off, we regularly kept in touch. as life went on, i realized we were living paralleled lives; her first born and second child are exactly caleb and abby’s age. then, my third (jacob) was born 2 days after her third baby, oliver. we are both stay-at-home moms and we both love sweet tea. molly became more than just a flickr contact. she became my friend.

which is why when molly asked me if i would be able to stop by her home in south carolina, i didn’t even think twice. i was so excited to see her again…and i was excited to finally meet the rest of her lovely family.

here’s a little bit of that memorable day. molly + family: