Shiloh, our almost 4 year old dog, gets lots of attention from the women in the household (and not nearly as much from the sole male). Today Livia trained him to “high five” for kibbles—and then she left him a little note of love on the kitchen floor.

I felt industrious and capable early this morning as I chopped red onion and red cabbage then stirred their wilting pieces in a mixture of butter and oil. My Moms in Prayer group was hosting a soup lunch for the staff at school and I wanted to contribute. Chop chop chop, stir stir stir. And the smells wafted upstairs where my husband was just waking up.

As it turns out, cooked cabbage in the morning is a little much for the non-awake crowd. To add insult to injury, cooking odors seem to travel straight from our stove to the upstairs bedrooms. Lysol to the rescue in my favorite web developer‘s office!

Fortunately, the soup itself tasted delicious. Whew.

And yet, the cabbage smell remains.

The pic almost renders me speechless. Almost. But not quite.

World, meet Austin “The Stache” Mackrill. During this morning’s congregational meeting at Redeemer Austin was called up front to… Um, what did he say? I honestly can’t recall as his mustache was that captivating.

The thumbs up nailed it as today’s DPP. Thank you, Austin. December 2 is a little brighter due to the curled ends of your facial hair.

A huge thank you goes out to the designer of this year’s badge and banners—Dylan Moss!

Not only is Dylan a fabulous graphic designer, but he’s also an all-around good guy. I know he likes bikes and coffee and an equally wonderful woman named Emily. That makes him more than alright in my book.

If you need a graphic designer, give Dylan a holler. Thanks again for all your hard work, Dylan. We appreciate you and we absolutely love this year’s badge.

What a gift for Day 1 of the December Photo Project—a beautiful foggy morning. I jumped out of bed and raced for my camera, the dew from the grass getting my shoes damp and the dog getting excited thinking this was an opportunity for play. It’s Day 1, and I’m ready to go!

Hey everyone! Finally it is the last day of November and tomorrow we can all snap pictures and post for the December Photo Project. This has been the busiest November in history—and December looks to be packed as well—but the beauty of the DPP is that it preserves memories for us. I can go back through my archives and remember the parties and celebrations of years past. I can remember what it felt like to pull out my camera in a grocery store (telling my soul to be brave!) and I remember feeling so loved while I ate Renae’s homemade peppermint ice cream.

You know what I think is the BIGGEST challenge of the DPP? Taking and posting an image every single day for 25 days in a row. I even find myself holding back from shooting these last few days of November because I keep thinking, I might need that shot for the DPP! So as we all get ready to go, harness some of your excitement and energy and project it on to the next 25 days. I laughed with my mom the other night about how there will be evenings where I wander around the house at 11:27pm in order to find *something* worth shooting. And then I work quickly to get it posted before a new day starts again.

If posting for 25 days straight isn’t enough of a challenge for you, you can take on a challenge-within-the-challenge. Last year I shot only portraits of people. It was super fun and it was also really really challenging! If you need help coming up with creative shots, you can also try shooting in theme. Each day of the week could have a theme and you could attempt to shoot something like “red” on Mondays, “nature” on Tuesdays, “faith” on Wednesdays, etc. Kudos to Clare for this idea—I think it’s a really good one!

Thanks for joining the 2012 December Photo Project, friends! I can’t wait to get rolling!

Guess what’s right around the corner? December!

It’s time to sign up for the December Photo Project!

Once again, we’re hosting the DPP, a photography project that lasts for the first 25 days of December. Read all about it, sign up to join, then get your cameras out and have a little fun.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This year’s December Photo Project has been particularly fun for me. I leave the DPP with a final image of a photographer who is happy, tired, satisfied and deeply joyful as she celebrates this Christmas season.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

The story I have to tell is greater than three images and a few words in a blog post. But for now, these small markers will suffice for representing the larger story. At 1:00am Saturday I received a phone call where Brian Bradley’s voice said something like, “Let’s go, Tredway.” After that, my camera captured snapshots while one Maralee Bradley did the work of a lifetime. Seen above, she’s walking the hallways, smiling before all smiles vanished, and breathing deeply through a contraction.

This post lacks an ending. That beautiful reward a mama literally labors towards happened in a surgical room and, alas, only one person was allowed in. I was kind of hoping Brian would pass out at the last minute so I could dress in scrubs, but no such luck. ;)

The Facebook announcement reads, “For unto us a son is given! Joel Richard Bradley was delivered via C-Section on 12/24/11 at 5:11 pm after 14 hrs of hard labor. He is 9 lbs and 21 1/2 in long.”

I praise God for so much today! And when I finally hold that darling baby in my arms, you can bet I’ll photograph him.