5 years & counting.. Happy Anniversary my love!

Ever since I began blogging about years ago, I've made it a point to blog a little thank you to my wonderful husband (you can find those here, here & here).... this year we are celebrating 5 years of marriage & it's more special than any other because we have our daughter Emma.

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Dear Edwin,

Marrying you has been the best decision I've ever had to make & if I had to do it all over I most certainly would! One of the precious gifts of our relationship is the comfort of knowing I can always be myself with you, and you will accept me for being just that. With you, I never have to laugh when I feel like crying, or be quiet when I need to talk, or stay calm when I feel like getting upset, or sound positive when I need to complain... But by far the greatest comfort is the knowledge that when I need a friend... I never have to be alone. I know that when I need to talk, you will really, really listen. You always find ways to show me I'm important to you. Your support adds so much to my life. You share in my joy as if it were you own. You feel my pain... and you cry with me. When I want to change a paret of myself, you gently encourage me in my growth without demanding, pressuring or criticizing me if I fall short of my ideals. 

Thank you for understanding me, accepting me, and loving me as I am. You've played such a special role in my life, but you will always ho.d an even more special place in my heart. I love you babe!

I love you because you gave me Emma. She's the product of our love, and the one whom we strive to be the best for. And I know I say this often, but I really am blessed that you work very hard to allow me to stay home with her... THANK YOU!

Times like these make beautiful memories... Times like these are why I love you. You mean more to me more than anyone ever will. I look forward to the future as a family.

Here's to the rest of our lives!

Loved you yesterday

Love you still

Always have

Always will

Photos courtesy of Stacee Lianna

I believe God can heal my mom

"They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord." 
Psalms 112:7

This verse replays in my mind constantly throughout my day. It's the only way I'm able to keep it together. Trusting in Him. Knowing that God has promised not to give us more than we can handle.

It is surreal. The moment they tell you those words, "you have cancer." The biopsy result of the lump my mother questioned on her breast read "carcinoma". It is definitely still very hard for me to process & maintain my normal positive attitude. I have not even been able to share this with many friends because its still soo difficult to talk about it. Mostly because I am full of diverse emotions . . . But I know my God is with us & is ever-faithful.

The past two weeks my mother has undergone many test. Wednesday we received some of the results. And one of the most important. We needed to know if the cancer had already spread. Considering the circumstance, I'm happy to say God has heard our prayer & the cancer has not spread spread yet! Praise be to Him.   

If you've been following my blog for a while now, you know exactly how I feel about my mother - she's always been the best example of a Godly woman I could only aspire to be. You can find a post dedicated to her here.

Next step is chemotherapy, radiation and a possible mastectomy. We have a long road ahead of us but I have faith that we will come out on top of this. I normally don't ask for anything on here, but can you all say a little prayer for my mom? May God do His will with her & fully restore her health. And if it's not too much to ask for, let me know that you are praying so that I can show her all the support we are getting with prayer. This will encourage her to keep fighting.

This is my beautiful mom inside & out, her name is Delia. I believe in my heart that God can heal her.

Thank you in advance for your prayers & support.

I will keep you all updated as we begin this journey...

Letter to my daughter: Nine months later

Dear Emma,

Where do I start? You growing soo fast! I can't believe nine months have already gone by & it seems like just yesterday I laid eyes on you as they put you in my arms. Let me tell you, that was the happiest day of my life. Immediately you filled my heart with love & I couldn't stop starring at you!

And here we are, nine months later & I'm still smitten. Your now crawling & cruising from the coffee table to the couch and back again. Others say you will be walking very soon. Although you had your first taste of solids at five months, now your really eating food every couple of hours. So far you've liked everything I have offered - thank you for not being a picky eater like me :) You love chicken soup & sweet potatoes! And water which makes me very happy. Another thing you LOVE to do is wave at pretty much the whole world. Everywhere we go, you wave. You give me wet kisses that I wish I could bottle up. You also get very excited when I say "Papi is home"which let me tell you, makes him forget how tired he his. Your favorite song at the moment is "On top of spaghetti" & "Two little birds". You have your own dialect that you only share with certain people here's a snippet below:

You always wake up with a smile on your face & I love it... today in particular you were standing on your crib making a sound as you pointed towards the tutu that I made you when you were just three months. So I decided to put it on you and snap a couple pictures. To celebrate all the joy you have brought to "Papi" & I these past nine months, I gifted you with your first camera. I have a feeling photography might grow on you ;)

All about silly faces! 

Had to get Troy [aka Em's bodyguard] into a picture too :)

bye, bye!

Baby girl, daddy& I love you very much. Your our BIG blessing from above! We thank God every chance we get for the gift of being your parents.

Love you more than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow - Mum

P.S. 

the ah-mazing camera was  purchased on Etsy :)

Fall Portraits: Time to book is Now

Seriously, this has to be the first time in a looong time that I'm actually looking forward to the fall & winter. Boots & scarfs have never sounded soo good. The temperature here in Southern California has been a little higher than normal the past couple of weeks. Something we Californian's are not use to, you guessed it - hot weather! You know, its been at least 85 degrees, we are sooo spoiled here!

Anyway, as summer is quickly coming to an end & the children are heading back to school its the perfect time to schedule your Fall session! Especially if you are planning to use your pictures for Christmas like I always do. Its a great way to document your growing family & preserve your memories forever.

I love for my clients to display their beautiful images, so a print credit for an 8x10 will be added to those that book before September 21st! Session MUST be paid in full to secure date & must take place before Thanksgiving so you can have them for Christmas cards!

Feel free to share this info if you know someone who may be interested in portraits.

 Looking forward to hearing from you!

New logo revealed!

It's been a long time coming... I've been looking forward to this day for a while now. For the past couple of weeks I've been working with the fabulous Ashley from thorn + sparrow to help me design a logo that represent my style. I just love what she came up with and it's finally time to reveal!!!

At first I didn't realize how challenging it would be to narrow it down, but I think it represents me & my brand perfectly! I can't say enough how ah-mazing Ashley is and grateful for her patience which made this process less stressful. She was very sweet & helped me organize all my thoughts :) Its sooo unique I'm in LOVE!

Without further ado...........

I'd love to hear what you think :) Don't forget to check out thorn + sparrow too!

Happy Wednesday <3's