Well, the busiest week of my year is over. Actually, the physically busiest week of my year is over. Because let’s face it, we can all be swamped sitting in front of a computer. As I am about to be for the next couple of months.

It was definitely trying at times, but I tried my absolute bestest to stay positive and make sure not to overdo anything. I’ve never been one to push myself physically for the sake of work anyway, but being prego, I wanted to be extra careful. Mentally as well as physically. And not only that, the busiest week of my year also coincided with youth camp – which meant that Aaron wasn’t even in the same state. No backrubs. No helping me carry heavy equipment. Nope, I was all alone. Which usually triggers a bit of anxiety for me anyway, but I did my best to stay level-headed. Forcing myself to rest was a challenge (especially as my editing workload continued to pile up), but I knew I had to balance my schedule out.

Saturday: shot a wedding until 11:00 pm.

Sunday: rested.

Monday: First Sight shoot.

Tuesday: edited pictures.

Wednesday: rested.

Thursday: shot a wedding until 10:30 pm.

Friday: flew to Houston.

Saturday: shot a wedding at 7:00 am. Flew back to DFW.

Sunday: rested.

The most challenging part of the week? Flying to Houston alone. For one, I had to carry all my equipment. Now, if you know me, I am no girly-girl. I have no fake nails that I’m afraid to break. I’ll carry whatever I need to. But I obviously have to be careful about carrying heavy stuff nowadays, so packing all my camera equipment was a challenge. We never risk packing it in our check-in luggage in case it gets lost or is late, so it went all in a backpack. There were moments where I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. Plus, a few people’s comments had frustrated me earlier – PLUS my flight was delayed by an hour. And what was also difficult was that the exact moment my flight was supposed to leave for Houston, Aaron’s flight landed at DFW. His first night back from youth camp, and I was flying out of town. Sucky.

Regardless, I had so much fun at the weddings. Everyone was so ridiculously nice and made sure I got plenty of time to sit and eat. I felt so taken care of and appreciated, and it definitely made a crazy week much more bearable. And I am super excited about some of the beautiful people I got to photograph. Including the gorgeous bride below. But apparently, my awesome second shooter (Lindsey Joy) thought my baby bump was too cute to pass up.

Happy Tuesday!

A few days ago, I read something on Facebook that terrified me. Somebody had posted a link to a web article onto someone else’s page. To avoid repeating the cycle and instilling fear into anybody else, I won’t share any of the details. But without even clicking on the link, there was enough information right there for me to know what it was about: a baby reaching full term, but not making it.

So immediately, all these thoughts came flooding into my mind. 99% of the women I know who have had children have also had miscarriages. I know there’s nothing to prevent that (other than don’t do anything stupid), but the fear quickly set in. And just as quickly, the Lord commanded me to dismiss those thoughts. And I was reminded of what Dr. Caroline Leaf said at Pink Impact: we are not physically born to know fear; it is learned. Fear is an alien emotion to our brains until it is introduced. Fear is unnatural.

This morning, we found out that a sweet friend of mine lost her baby. She was a few weeks behind me, and we were so excited to have growing bellies together. Our friends had a pool going: I was going to have a girl, and she was going to have a boy. And just like that, her little baby has gone to heaven. And we are all devastated. But just as quickly, everyone gathered around me in protection and told me not to be fearful. And I was reminded that her sweet baby will never know fear. He will never know pain or suffering. He will only know heaven.

I cannot imagine what my friend must be going through today. But I pray that God would sweep in quickly with His peace and encouragement. Psalm 118 was prayed over me today, and I pray it over her as well.