"The Sky is beautiful, don't you think, Eric?"

Best thing ever: taking pictures of people you love for people you love! In July, we (along with 8 other members of our church) went to Albania on a missions trip to come alongside our sweet friends, the Stires, in their ministry.

Our friend, Eric, was the leader of the trip and because his wife, Sky, had to take a summer school class in order to graduate on time, she was not able to go with us. A week before we left, Sky came over to our apartment and the two of us walked around the property snapping pictures of her. After I had developed and printed them she put them in envelopes along with love letters and each day on the trip I gave Eric the envelope for that day. It makes me teary just to think of it now. Those letters (along of course with these photos) were a constant source of strength for Eric--knowing his sweet wife was behind him and praying for him all the way in America.

Enjoy:

Isn't Sky stunning? She's so beautiful--it was so easy to get great photos of her.

Curt & Lauren

Katie's sweet cousin, Lauren, is getting married to an incredible young man, Curt, this December. They have got to be one of the cutest couples we've ever seen, and so taking good pictures of them was so simple--you really can't go wrong! Their relationship is so sweet, too--it's so encouraging to see them honor and glorify the Lord with the way they relate to one another.

This was our first real photo shoot, and it was so much fun! Taking pictures of people who you're comfortable with and who love you is so easy! We had the camera on the wrong settings, and so our depth of field (how much is in focus) was REALLY small--that explains the blurriness of the photos, but like I said, it's hard to go wrong with such an adorable couple!

I'm pretty sure they didn't know I was taking these . . .

Lauren is such a doll--it's astonishing to me

that the older people in our family get us mixed up!

You can just SEE how much they love each other! <3

This pose was actaully Curt's idea, and what a great idea it was! I love this photo!

Platt Family Reunion

Each June Katie's family attends the Platt Family Reunion in Crockett, TX. (Katie's great-grandmother was a Platt) We look forward to this time each year as a great opportunity to catch up with our family and to have fun! We're so blessed that we get along so well with our extended family and always have such a great time.

We spent most of our camera battery (we forgot our extras) on taking pictures of our cousin & her fiance (next blog!) and so there aren't too many of anyone else:

Michael at the hotel pool.

Katie's cousin, Tim, at dinner.

David.

David's Graduation

In June, Katie's brother, David graduated from high school. We didn't get many shots, but here are some pictures of the family before heading out to the celebratory breakfast!

(from left to right) Dad, Mom, Grandma, David, Grandpa, Katie, and Tim

Katie's Dad's sister and father came to the graduation also, but they weren't able to stay for Sunday breakfast and so we didn't get any pictures of them :(

Brazos Bend State Park

A few months ago we visited the wildlife-infested Brazos Bend State Park with Katie's family. There were many wonderful photo-opps of God's magnificent creation of both nature & humans!

Katie & her brother, David


Katie's cousin Will--he's silly :)

Katie's sweet cousin, Michael.

On the way out we took many pictures of the fantastic landscapes of southeast Texas.
This tree reminded us of Psalm 1.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.