Cutie on Campus

Canon 5D Mark ll, 70-200 2.8L, 95 mm focal length, 4.0 aperture, 1/125 shutter, 100 ISO

My favorite part of today was spending the afternoon with Katie on the campus of Wake Forest University where she is a graduate student. I am so proud of her. It was a perfect day to meander around and take photos of my lovely Katie. She is my quality-time girl. She just likes to spend time with the people she loves, and I soaked up every moment. The leaves are just beginning to change color and we had fun playing in the ones that had fallen. I miss her so much, but it was good for this mother’s heart to walk the earth where she is spending so many hours right now. I can envision her there now when I think about her and pray for her, seeing her walk the paths we walked today. How I love my Katie girl. I pray she enjoys her season at Wake Forest.

Here are a few more of our time together today.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ~”For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

Making a Memory

All the Colors

So Much Like Me

Spreading Joy

Free Spirit

Elegant Katie

Campus Magnolia

At Reynold Gardens

Classic Beauty

Love this Face

Thinky

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 1.2 aperture, 1/100 shutter, 800 ISO

I didn’t let her out my sight much this week. This one. Not after the other one left on Sunday. They are flying out of the nest left and right around here. Keeps a mother bird on her toes. She made her list, and we worked our way down it, line by line.

The List

(Oh, and on the things to get from Ty part, Baby  is the name of a book by Patricia Maclachlan,  just in case you were wondering.)

Overwhelmed on the Travel Aisle

Tonight she packed her room, her life, in two suitcases as I watched.  It’s exhausting, all the leaving.

All of This Goes

Getting Sisterly Advice

Ellie Saying Goodbye to the Professor

Watching Her Go

Heart on Her Sleeve

Tomorrow she will board a plane that will take her to another one. Soon she will be across the world, and my heart will dwell across the ocean for awhile.

Can I do this?

The World Waits

I bet I can.

With a heart wide open.

Precious Profiles

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 1.8 aperture, 1/160 shutter, 100 ISO

I am gathering images and memories like precious sea shells this week, filling up my pockets and heart with them. There they glint and clink together happily, and I will bring them out one by one later to soothe the sore places. For this one, the light was perfect. I pulled the girls from their rooms where they were both packing and organizing their lives to take elsewhere. Aware of my fragile state, they both left what they were doing and complied. Ah, the profiles of my daughters. I love how the light clings to them. Wouldn’t you?

Elegant Lines

But wait.

Youngest but biggest brother came in to see what we were doing and immediately pulled them into a wrestling session. Before long, there were nearly grown arms and legs all in a playful tangle on the guest bed. I gleaned that memory too, as it sparkled with giggles and screams of delight. Love these images too.

Sibling Tussle

Sweet Memories

I am hanging in there, keeping my heart open, gathering the memories. If I were to close it to the pain, I would miss all the joy too. The doors to my heart  cannot filter out the pain alone. I have to keep them open for all life has to offer, and trust that God will take care of the things I cannot handle.

Hug someone you love tonight.:)

Psalm 90:14 ~ “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

Beautiful Daughters

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 4.5 aperture, 1/320 shutter, 100 ISO

(These are busy times at the Morgan house. I hope you don’t mind that I posted pics from last week for this blog.)

I am a blessed mother of two daughters.

When I awoke this morning, my french press was cleaned and ready for my use. My Annie did that. Then, as I turned on the kettle to warm the water, I heard Katie singing in worship upstairs. Such a sweet sound that I have heard so many times. Both of them sing often. Annie almost always walks in the door singing. It is how I know she is home. These are just a few of the things I will miss next week as they both venture into new places in their lives. They are both leaving within three days of one another. How will my heart bear it? I do not know. I find myself counting gifts all day long these days.

Here are a few.

1. The way Annie asks me if I am okay in the dressing room next to hers at Forever 21, as we search for clothes for our family photo shoot tomorrow.

2. The soft cheeks of both my girls, and how they let me caress their hair and faces, just because.

3. Seeing Annie buried in a book in different corners of the house.

4. The intermittent phone calls from Katie, as she goes throughout her day. She is my quality time girl, always just wanting to be near and pass the time with us.

5. Folding their laundry. The softness of their clothes and the color palettes they choose. Each unique. Each feminine and exquisite in their own way.

6. Katie at her guitar or on the piano always writing music, always singing.

7. Annie practicing the James Taylor song on mandolin that her daddy taught her.

8. Choosing items at the grocery store that I know they both love. (Kemp’s Moose Tracks frozen yogurt.!)

9. The sound of “girl” shoes on the wooden steps as they scurry to get out of the house to go somewhere.

10. Laughter. Oh, the laughter. A song in itself, lilting and lighting up my world.

Annie, Bright and Shining

Katie, Soft and Compassionate

And that is barely scratching the surface. There is dancing, mani-pedi’s, sharing secrets, talking about boys, taking walks, sitting on the porch, and singing in the car together. The list goes on and on. I will miss them profoundly, but I am so proud of them. Like a mama bird, I will encourage them to fly, while I watch, with feathers puffed and ready to fly to their defense.

I think they are ready to fly.

I also think Johnny is worried I will smother him to death next week when they leave. I will do my best to give him some space. A little, anyway.:)

Psalm 37:25,26 ~ “I was young and now I am old,  yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.”

Sisters

Just Annie

Canon 5D Mark ll, 100 2.8 macro, 6.3 aperture, 1/125 shutter, 100 ISO, Alien B800 in large square soft box to camera right at 1/8 power.

I love her hands. She uses them with great animation when she tells stories about her day or about anything she experienced when she was away from us. This is part of the wonder that is Annie. She loves to bring other people into her most treasured experiences, be it a story about one of the kids at the day camp where she works, or something funny that happened with one of her roommates at school. (Like the new pet tortoise they share). The best part of all of that is her hands. They are a significant part of her expression. Often, I will find her with her hands to her face as she is thinking about something important to her, or when she is just cold. Sweet, beautiful hands.

I wanted to get a portrait of her tonight for a couple of reasons. She will be leaving in a little over a month to go to Oxford University in England for a semester. England. That has still not settled in my heart just right. I know she will do just fine. I will just miss her. She is, by nature, a carrier of sunshine and light where ever she goes. The house is never the same when she is gone. When I was young, I was called Mary Sunshine by my family and others as well. I was also told that I carried light with me into a room. I can only hope she is like me somehow in this way, or rather, that I am like her. She does shine.

I also wanted to practice my portrait lighting. We tried a couple different scenarios, but I think the one large light to one side is my favorite. I love the definition it brings to the face. I also love her hands in the frame. I think hands bring so much vulnerability to a photo, especially hers. When she touches her face with her hands, her heart opens a little more. I love that.

My beautiful Annie Sunshine.  I will miss you so much. Here are a few more of our time together tonight.

Contemplative

Beautiful in Black and White

High Key Smile

Up Close

Favorite Journal

Softness

Fresh from the Beach

Breezy and Beautiful

IPhone Photo.:)

I took this photo of Annie Sunshine on my way to church this morning. She had the window down and I glanced over at her. She was the picture of summertime. Smiling, her hair blowing in the summer breeze, while the light poured in. I couldn’t resist. So today I used my Iphone for my project. I didn’t really have any rules for my project as far as which camera I could use, so I gave myself permission to use it. It is the perfect Sunday summer photo.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father’s day. I am going to head down to spend the rest of the evening with the daddy/husband in our home. With it being Sunday, he worked all day serving at church. Time to catch up and rest.

Blessings and Rest to you.

I Cornithians 1:3 ~ “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Brilliantly Blue

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50 1.2L, 1.6 aperture, 1/1600/ 100 ISO

Sometimes the most beautiful flowers do not grow in a garden. Yet, they shine with the brilliance that the other flowers cannot match. I found this one today, beaming at me from my porch steps. She smiled modestly while I photographed her in her element, both alone and with friends. Her countenance changed with the breezy summer air, sometimes laughing, sometimes pensive, but always beautiful, as all flowers are.

I hope she stays around for awhile.:)

Beaming

Kisses From a Friend

Sweet Countenance

Sparkling

In Her Element

How could this not be my favorite photo this week? This is my freckled-sunshine-Annie girl. Those Hydrangeas were just begging to bring out the blue in her eyes. She begrudgingly posed for this. I was in the middle of another shoot, and she was in the middle of working on one of her two summer jobs. I held the soft petals against her face and said a name of someone she holds dear. We won’t say whom. All I can say is she lost her resolve to make me stop, and gave me a soft and pensive smile. She told me I cheated. Maybe I did. Look what I got? Magic. My summer girl.

If you follow my blog at all, you know I have two lovely daughters. It’s true. I don’t mind saying it. In fact, when I was pregnant with my second one, I was concerned about them comparing themselves to one another. So, I prayed. I asked God to allow my second to be equally as beautiful as her sister, but in her own unique way. Wow, did He answer my prayer. Katie’s features are dark and dramatic and Annie’s features are  fair and classic. Both beautiful. Both unique. Best of all, who they are outshines their physical beauty. Both of them care for people deeply and love their God. This they have in common.

The shoots below were  done on the same day, with the same roll of  hay in my pasture. You can see how different they are in these shoots. I let them choose their costumes (with a little artistic direction from me) and who they are shines through.  Annie will be heading to Liberia December 27th with the Water’s Edge Mission Team. Please pray for them  if you think about them. You can read about their adventures on that blog. Katie will be headed to Valencia, Spain, in January to study abroad. Please pray for her as well. Also, pray for this mother’s heart! I don’t know what I am going to do with myself. I am such a mom.

Johnny hid from my lens on this day, but hopefully I will capture him soon and post something on my boy in the near future!

Blessings~