What I'll Miss but What I'll Gain

It’s Thursday, January 29, 2015. Tomorrow is my last day as a special education teacher…or until God says it’s time to go back to teaching. My heart is torn into a thousand pieces at the moment. Special education has been my life for almost 10 years. I graduated from college and went straight into the classroom, loving on children with disabilities…ranging from very mild learning disabilities to children with severe disabilities.  I have always known special education was where God wanted me when he put it on my heart to major in this field as an undergraduate student. I have worked my way from an undergraduate degree to an Ed.S. in this field. I am fascinated by all the disabilities and have been on a constant hunt to find out how to reach a child that struggles academically or socially or adaptively…the list goes on. When you become a teacher, the students you work with become a part of you, like your own children. You cry with them, laugh with them, pray for them, and walk some hard roads with them.  In the last 10 years I have grown just as much as some of my students have. And the truth is…they have taught me more about life than I could have ever taught them. They have taught me to love unconditionally, that life’s too short to pass judgment, to see the rainbow in the storm, and to wake up each morning grateful for who I am and what I have. If you have never spent time around a child with special needs, I encourage you to do so…it will rock your world. They are amazing people who have a love for life like no one else.

    I am not sure how tomorrow will go. I am sure I will cry and be excited all at the same time…you know that bittersweet feeling. I have cried many tears knowing that I am leaving a great school and amazing students behind. My comfort…knowing that God has called me to stay home, be a full time mom and support my husband with his business. Honestly, a hard part is giving up the pay check; that comfort and security of knowing that every two weeks that money would be in the bank. (I am a worrier. I admit it, but my worry does nothing but allow satan a stronghold in my life and in my family’s life. Worry does not honor God, but only shows him that I do not fully trust Him.) My contribution to my family was my job, but since about August of this school year, God began to work on my heart. He began to show me that my contribution needed to be at home, full time. He has reminded me over and over again this past month that a paycheck is such a short term investment. My children are a life time investment. Will it be easy financially for our family? God never promises easy but He does promise that he will meet our needs! I am learning to walk by faith knowing that my Savior will take care of us and that he will honor our efforts. I know that He will grow our business, if we just trust Him to do so.  Trials are going to come, but what we do with those trials is what’s important. Tony Evans says “Trials are unavoidable but that doesn’t mean they have to be unprofitable.” When we are faced with hard times, what are we going to do…run, live defeated, get mad at God? Instead…let Him use that time as a way to refine you; teaching you to depend on Him! This is truly the biggest step of faith our family has taken. Wes and I have been married close to 10 years…we took a big leap when Wes left his full time job to pursue photography full time, but now God is calling us out again, into deeper waters. We are listening to him and obeying.  Has he called you out into deeper waters but you are holding back? Think of what you could be missing out on. Think of all the things He has waiting for you. It’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it!

Please pray with us that we learn great things from this and that God is completely glorified through this. Do you have a deep water story? Share it with us. We would love to hear how God called you out and how he has transformed or is transforming your life!

Blessings and Love

Meg

Cottage Hill Magazine {Styled Shoot}

I love shooting styled shoots!  For me its the culmination of a vision that a team worked so hard to pull off.  You can try things you wouldn't normally do during, maybe a wedding per se, but a styled shoot you can do anything...it just has to look good!  We recently got to work with Cottage Hill Magazine and LeRae Events + Design and we got to team up with "Team Awesome" again...LeRae Events + Design, Kamee Kwak, Whitlee Mullis and Us.  

For this shoot the main idea was centered around high school sweethearts.  SO, the search was on for real highschool sweethearts that were married.  Within days LeRae had found our couple Peyton and Andy.  Obviously, they had known each other in highschool and dated throughout college and their story was such a heartwarming story of love.  We wanted a setting that would resemble a school but not just any school, a super awesome looking school.  All roads pointed to Huntington College in Montgomery AL so that was were we headed.  After we got the models and location, the Team began working their magic.  Kamee started by making Peyton and Andy look even more amazing by styling (hair and outfits) them to fit what we work looking for.  Peyton wore a Lusan Mandongus gown provided by Ivory & White Bridal Boutique in Birmingham and Andy wore a handsome tux from Jim Massey.  While they were getting ready, both Rae and Leah of LeRae went to work on styling the flowers and setting up the tablescapes.  To add the final touches and make everything come together, Whitlee Mullis styled the paper suites which are super eye catching.  

The final product was stunning and full of inspiration!  To see the shoot in print you can order their Homecoming Issue at the Cottage Hill as well as see the other beautiful work they feature.

Publication: Cottage Hill Magazine

Design, Planning and Florals: LeRae Event + Design

Hair and Styling: KK Styles

Paper Suite: Whitlee Mullis

Makeup: Lush Makeup Art

Gown: Ivory & White Bridal Boutique

Tuxedo: Jim Massey

Location: Huntingdon College

Band: Wetumpka High School Band

Guest Book: Velvet Raptor

Here is the Team in all our sweatiness 

Leaving

We are doing it!  Meg walked into her principal’s office on last Tuesday and let her know that she will be leaving school at the end of January.  That’s insane!  I don't think I've felt the nervous and excited since I left my job over 5 years ago.  We will be a family building a business, one income and relying on God to prosper it.  It’s kind of like sitting at the card table and going all in, except I’ve got the confidence that God is taking care of us.  You might think, that’s a little farfetched Wes, to leave your job and then have Meg leave her’s plus you have a baby on the way!  Look, I’ve been put in situations that I've had no choice but to trust that God would provide and numerous opportunities to exercise faith.  And I can recall, each time where when I said “I trust You” and meant it in my heart and watched big things happen right before me.  There were times I was just astonished.  Even in the decision for Meg to come home, there have been some awesome things happen and I’ll share those in the future.  I’m not going to say that I’m not nervous and a little anxious.  I sat down to pray last night and let Jesus know how I felt and was quickly assured that everything was ok; even this morning during prayer, I felt my soul calm down and be at peace. 

I feel that the first step in business is to give rightful place to the One who entrusted it to you.  I used the word entrust on purpose.  God being the creator of all owns all.  He has set us to be managers of what comes in our life; an example of this is the Parable of the Talents that Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:14-30.  We are set over certain things to watch after and care for, for the intent purpose to make God’s name great.  We do this by our work ethic (strive for excellence because He is), how we handle finances (obviously from the parable), how we interact with people (if you’re a Christian, you’re a representative of Him), and how we handle praise from others (do we accept if for ourselves or point it back to Jesus).  There are so many more things that go into being a great manager but giving God the rightful place (CEO) in your business is the first step.  Let Him lead you. 

I’d love to hear some faith builder stories where you exercised your faith in the face of doubt and God showed up.

And, here is a little bit of Nick Wallenda tightrope walking the grand canyon.  Who needs man made nets?

What Our Top 5 2014 Wedding Moments Look Like

From every wedding we get to be witnesses to some of the most memorable and emotional moments in life.  We've seen the astonished look on a groom's face as he first views his bride and the father's tearful eye as he dances with his daughter.  There have been times when we were nearly brought to tears because you feel the emotion.  We wanted to relive the top 5 moments (in no particular order) that we experienced.  See if you feel the same.

1. Was from Ashley and Tre's wedding.  This was one of the most touching moments.  Ashley had given her gift to Tre which were a pair of cufflinks that were engraved with Tre's bestfriend's initials who had passed away.

2.  Our second is from Ali and Jared's wedding. 

3. Excitement flows in both ways, through tears and joy.  We saw both of these in Lindsay and Seth's wedding; it's so warming.  We watched as Seth saw Lindsay make her way down the aisle with tears in his eyes and his excitement after the ceremony.

4.  From Stacin and Cole's wedding was the parent's dance.  Mother son dances are just as touching since I was in that same place as Cole.  For moms, they realize that their son is not that little boy that clung to their leg.  

Watching Stacin's brother both give her away and do the first dance honors was one of those tear moments.

5. The last moment was one that warmed my heart.  This moment was one from Shannon and Tyler's wedding.  It was a simple but impactful moment that spoke of their family.  Shannon's mom and maid of honor were helping her get her dress on (which had a special meaning as well), and throughout the moment there were times of reflection, love and with this family, laughter.  These are the moments that weddings are about.

Our New Beautiful Home {Wes Roberts Photography}

On this path of being a photographer, I've tried my hand at many things.  To say that I'm just a photographer would be a mistake and running a small business forces you into many rolls that you are not made to do, nor good at.  I've had to try my hand at learning code (only to be confused at this insane language), web design (only to learn I know nothing about what goes into making things pretty), logo design (can I say that I compiled all the logos I've had in the past and realized how hideous they were), accounting, editing, and everything else that can get you into a mess.  

Here's some previous logo work I personally did; I told you they were hot messes.  Swoopies and curlies and just plain bad font.  I'll hang out in the corner with my head down.

I put this out there because, I've always wanted a site that I could be proud of.  I'd change something here and there and finish only to find myself unsatisfied with the look and feel.  I would have invested a weeks worth of time to be sick of what I had crafted.  Before I go any further with this, let me introduce you to Whitlee.  This woman is one of the sweetest, loving and caring people I've known.  I'd call her a magical design person, with the eye of one who can entrance the world with her design talents (yes that good).  I've worked with Whit on lots of styled shoots and had the chance to see what she was capable of and loved it.  So, why not entrust her to rebrand the look of Wes Roberts Photography; hey, she could say one magical code word and do far better than I could.  

One thing I've learned over the years of running a business, is get out of the way.  In the E Myth, Michael Gerber notes that in order for your business to succeed the way it should you need to, get yourself out of the way.  If accounting is the issue, don't take it on yourself, entrust it to a professional accountant.  If design is the issue, don't take it on yourself (it will look hideous, unless you're a designer), entrust it to a professional web designer.  I preach this all the time, if photographer matters, don't try and do it yourself, entrust it to a professional photographer who knows what they are doing.  So, I got out of the way and let Whit do her thing.

We started with the logo, which as you've seen above needed MUCH work!  Then we worked on the site to bring a cohesiveness to the whole look and match what my photography work portrayed and my personality.  I look at the site and can say, yep, I am satisfied with it.  I love my new site.  I love the way it shows off my clients and their moments.  I love the way it feels.  As we take our next step into 2015, what better way to start it than with a stunning new web home.

So now my doting message to my amazing designer...

Whit, you are amazing and I love you to death.  Thank you for your time and talents as well as your friendship!  Your willingness to harness your OCD tendencies which drives you to make sure everything is perfect.  Your adeptness to your craft will lead you to your dreams and I can't wait to see it transpire.   On a fun note, I am honored to get to shoot your wedding in a couple of days.  I can't wait!  

To see more of Whit's work and get in the head of knowledgeable web designer, check out her site at www.whitleemullis.com