Hey there!

Thanks for stopping by my blog- a place where I share a bit of my photography, a bit of my life, and a lot of me! I am in love with the life that God has provided me. I live with my wonderful husband in central Oklahoma, in the town of Edmond. I am a wife, sister, daughter, and friend. I enjoy my work as a nurse and photographer. I adore sweets, nature, and my pesky (but cute) boxer, Honey. I feel that I am blessed with a passion for photography, and pray that I am able to bless others through it.

Thank you for being here and sharing the experience with me!

Monday, August 29, 2011

We would like to introduce...

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ISAIAH BECK OFOSU!!

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That's right, our little man made it here!
Isaiah was born on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 3:25 pm
He was 8.1 pounds and 21.5 inches and very healthy :c)

We are home adjusting to life with a newborn (as you can see by the time of this post).
I will be sharing more as I can ;c)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Prayers for Mia and Sean

I come to you again in request of prayers.
I feel that God is giving me the opportunity to BOLDLY pray for several of my friends, and I am passing that opportunity on to you.

This sweet little girl is Mia.
She is the daughter of my friends Charlie and Beth. She is a little over one years old and truly a delight to be around. She is friendly to all, has an adorable laugh (as you can see), and loves to give goodbye kisses. Monday they found a mass in her abdomen. Yesterday they told her family it was cancer. Tomorrow this precious girl will go to surgery to have the mass biopsied and a port placed (so they can be ready for chemo once they find out the results). It breaks my heart to see a child have to fight such a terrible battle as cancer, but that is where she is at now. So I go to my Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, as I ask for her healing. And I will not stop asking for her healing as I proclaim the name of Jesus, the One who walked this earth with a ministry of healing.
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*note: the above is not my picture

And because cancer is so evil, I also want to ask you to pray for Sean. Sean was diagnosed last year around this time with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. After a year long battle, including chemo, radiation, and a stem cell transplant, Sean received more bad news after a recent bone marrow biopsy. I have been praying for Sean all year, and as I said above, I will not give up. Sean was baptized after his diagnosis, and I believe that God had plans to further His kingdom with this family. I will continue to pray for healing, because that is what I feel called to do, and I know our God has a plan. The NLT phrases Luke 11:9 as "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.". This is me 'keeping on'
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I mention "BOLDLY" at the beginning because we just finished the Bold series at Lifechruch.tv. The Bold Prayer sermon really had me think about the way I pray, and the way I see things done in the Bible. I plan on carrying out the lessons learned, and impacting the lives of others. I make these statements on the internet in the name of Jesus.

Thank you Lord, for your abundant blessings. Please bring healing to these two families. Amen

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Maternity Pics!

WARNING:
(MY) BELLY PHOTOS AHEAD

Just wanted to put that out there :c)
I am overdue in posting these pics, but this are my maternity sessions with photolife group! One super big blessing with this group was to have a plethora of photographers shoot my maternity session. We set it up on one of our meeting nights as a way for people to play and learn, and for me to get some rockin' shots. There was a bit of craziness going on that led to me having a session by myself, then with Ray, then by myself again with 2 of the photogs who couldn't make it. Here's the results~

We shot at the Willis Ranch, and this pretty compilation was done by the lovely Mrs. Willis!
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The next week, Ray joined the scene (not because of his desire, but because he's good at keeping me happy :c)
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See?
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Then I hit up pool side. I didn't quite pull of my outfit as well as I wanted for this..
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A couple weeks later I met up with 2 of our lifegroup members who live in Yukon and couldn't make the first shoot. I've never been a real big fan of all the body shots, but when done well think they can be gorgeous. Well I have to say these girls know how to shoot this well! I really treasure these shots and seeing my preggo body at pretty much full term. It'll make great memories (Sorry if this is too much, feel free to be done with this post..)
This shot was by Cheryl.. beautiful. When she first sent it to me, I had to ask, "is that me?" :c)
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Chainey's take (I like the blue for my little boy :c)
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Homemade birthday cakes are a tradition in my family, so I was excited when my mom gave me this book of kid cake designs! I even plan on backing Isaiah some cupcakes for the hospital (well, not really for Isaiah, but for the rest of to celebrate Isaiah's for real Birth Day!) Of course, that's if all goes as planned and I can labor at home for a bit..
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My tribute to Ghana..
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Thanks to everyone who provided me these lovely pics :c)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Isaiah's Nursery: Mission Complete!

The nursery is complete!
I'm not sure how this porcess goes for most people, but for Ray and I, we used a good 2/3 of our 9 months to get this room ready (once I decided to give up on my idea of converting our master closet into a nursery.. it would have looked awesome, but been a lot more work and $$). We decided to use our 3rd bedroom, which at the time was our guest room (Art, our roommate, lives in the 2nd bedroom). This room was actually a nursery for the previous owners before we moved in. I thought I was going to paint the walls some crazy colors, but decided that I liked the neutral backdrop and would enhance to room with everything I brought in. I also wanted to keep the major parts of the room gender neural (esp. when we thought we weren't going to find out the sex), but it's nice that I was able to fully customize it to Isaiah. Here it goes..

I wish I would have taken a pic of the guest room, but I wasn't really thinking. Here's the first picture, once we figured out the planned arrangement (View from door).
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Here's the room 10 weeks ago, along with the plans
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Here's the completed room! As you can see, I followed through on most of the arrows :c)
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Here's the room originally- from the closet viewpoint.
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10 weeks ago..
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Completed!
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And here's the viewpoint from the window.
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The crib was our first purchase. We debated on several different ones (everywhere from a $100 Ikea crib to an expensive $500 crib), but decided on this one form JC Penny's (purchased for $250) and we love it! We both love the dark wood and large slats.
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I decided not to do crib bumpers because the really aren't safe once baby starts moving, so I wanted to spice up the crib with a few throw pillows that I'll remove when I put Isaiah down. The large pillow was purchased form Ross, and the small pillow made by my friend Michelle who recovered my chair. It was a surprise and I love it! The cute animal was a gift from my aunt. I have 2 sets of crib sheets that are both white with different colored dots. I also made the crib skirt (seen above) with some no-sew directions. The fabric looked different once I brought it home, but it's not seen very much so I've just left it.
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The mobile was handmade (with love) by me and cost me an entire glue stick and some time (details of making this can be found in this post). It's certainly one of my favorite features in the room.
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The frames by the closet were actually in the closet that I was trying to clean out. So I decided to enhance them with some wire (as seen on pintrest) and voila.. more free art!
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This is (a very grainy) picture of the rocking chair as purchased from a garage sale. 2 for $20.
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This is the finished product after my friend Michelle refinished it! I looked and looked for the right fabric and, with the help of my mom, decided on this one. 2 yards for $40 was higher than I wanted to pay, but I think that it turned out fabulous. My friend re-cushioned, recovered, and restored this beautifully. If you are interested in any of your own furniture being recovered.. let me know and I can get you her info!
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The reading light by the chair was actually in purchased for the original guestroom (where Art is now) and was not being used at the time. But it fits perfectly in Isaiah's room! The night stand is an upside down basket I got 80% off at Hobby Lobby for about $6.. I felt like I stole it from them-
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On this wall is actually the inspiration for the room. The picture of the little boy and girl below our wedding picture is a picture of my dad and aunt when they were young. When my aunt posted this on facebook back in January, I decided it would be the perfect thing to put in Isaiah's nursery. That's what started this "antiquey throw together" look (Im' not quite sure how to describe it..). The sign was given to me at a shower (by Nicky, visit her etsy site here) after I had hung all the frames, and I think it fit perfectly on the wall without me having to rearrange!
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This is the bookshelf Ray made from scratch. I found one on Target like this, but didn't' want to pay the money for the cheap wood-like shelf. So we drew up plans, bought a drill, and got to work! Ray and I haven't had much experience with building, so I am very proud of him for how this turned out. As for the color, I wanted to incorporate some of the green into the room and I really wanted to keep the wood look and not paint, so I custom matched the stain to the green in the fabric chair. It may not be everyone's taste, but I really like the way it turned out!
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I'm excited about his collection of books!
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I found this wine rack at Pier One on sale for $10 and re-purposed it for blankets!
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This is the frame I used to tell Ray I was pregnant, the horse was my Grandma's from a long time ago, and the fish bowl will house fish after I get things settled with a baby (you can see trial one with the fish here)
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The last purchase for the room was the art piece above the chair. I wanted just one piece to go there, since there is a lot going on around it with the collage of frames and mobile. I found this 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby and although it's probably not common in a nursery, I thought it was a cute saying with the right look for the room.
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The plants I bought the same day as the fish have been doing great! I had these Ikea pots in the garage from plants that had died after our Africa trip, so I was happy to use them again!
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The dresser was another refurbished item. I knew I wanted a dresser that could also be a changing table, so I scoured the city for one that was the right height, width, and structure. I found this for $70 at a GoodWill shop, and although I was looking to spend more around $40, decided it had all the right features (and I was tired of driving- are getting a sense for how cheap I really am?). And I'm actually thrilled with it! It was a solid wood color (forgot to take an actual before pic), so I primed, painted, roughed the edges and purchased new hardware.
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This is as "before" as it gets.
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I found these drawer pulls at (nowhere else but..) Hobby Lobby! And of course purchased them half off.
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I also lined the inside with wrapping paper to add a little punch to the drawers (yes, I think Isaiah as more shoes than I do!). I can tell you that this was my first time working with Mod Podge, and I still don't think I get it...
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This collection was either gathered from the house, or gifted to me.
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The mirror was actually saved from the garbage when I was helping a friend move out. I really only kept it because I had plans to use it in a shoot (seen here), but it ended up working great in the guest room, and even better in Isaiah's room!
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These letters were on a corkboard from my Tulsa shower, and even though I didn't have space to hang the whole board- these letters are just what I was looking for in this space. And the colors are perfect!
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This cute pup sits beside the dresser, was part of the decor of my first baby shower, and I hope will be Isaiah's best friend in the upcoming years.. I love this guy!
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Oh, and not to neglect this pup.. whom I still love very much. Honey is showing off the rug that was purchased for $60 from Ross (it's certainly her favorite part of the room). Ray wasn't sure if the room needed a rug, but I think it really helps pull everything together!
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This poor dog doesn't even know what she's in for!

But there you have it- pretty much all the decisions that went into creating a nursery for Isaiah. I really feel like it is very personalized and cozy. I hear some people say that they don't even use the nursery much, but I really hope to. I've had a lot of fun with all the design and DIY involved, now I can't wait to get my little man in there!

Have a happy Friday

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