The day Miss Shaylyn Moreno became Mrs. Matthew Tomberlin

 Shaylyn & I were both home schooled & have known each other for years, but have just become friends in the last 2 years or so.  We've had long visits at Panera Bread & talked about all kinds of life things... past, present, & future.  When she said last year that she was spending her Christmas Eve touring a fire station... yeah, I knew a story was coming! :)  She said... "Matthew.  He loves Jesus.  He makes me so happy.  He said he knew he was going to marry me after the first time he saw me."  Basically he was the strong leader that she had prayed for, the man who loved God & asked him who he should marry, & the one that God brought to her when she wasn't expecting him.

A note Shaylyn gave to Matthew before the wedding.  He didn't want us there while he read it ;)

Shaylyn's sister, Taylor, her friends Hannah & Hilary, & her youngest sister Courtney made up her bridal party!  This is such a sweet group of girls!  We loved hanging out with them before the wedding.

Matthew.  I mentioned something to him about the wedding being mostly the bride's day, but Matthew quickly let me know that he had looked forward to this day for years.  Long before he knew Shaylyn.  He said he was just as excited to see all the things that he'd thought of & prayed for come together on this day as he & Shaylyn became husband & wife.

Isn't she a beauty?

Help from mom with her shoes :)

Shaylyn's grandmother was overjoyed for her!  She hugged her several times & kept saying how happy she was.

Shaylyn put the necklaces on her bridesmaids that she had bought for them.

When I'm getting ready for the ceremony, I always take a few shots of the crowd to get my lighting set.  People usually see me taking photos & turn their heads away or try to pretend I'm not there.  So I definitely got a laugh out of Shaylyn's uncle waving at my camera & the reactions he got from those around him! :) 

Waiting.  Almost time!

Matthew & Shaylyn Tomberlin

Let the hugs begin!

Shaylyn's dad & Matthew

Shaylyn's mom & Matthew

Matthew & his mom

Their sweet little flower girl, Allie!  Shaylyn's sister babysits Allie & they all love her so much!  Isn't she a cutie?

Matthew's brother, Andrew, his dad, & his friends, John Mark & Drew.

"Matthew & Shaylyn's ultimate desire is to honor God through their marriage.  We are of the belief that an earthly marriage between a man and a woman is symbolic of the heavenly marriage of Christ and His Bride, the redeemed Church."

(This is a little bit of what Matthew & Shaylyn wrote about their purpose on their wedding website.)

For you guys who aren't married yet... let me just say, don't wait until the photographer tells you to help her with her dress.  Please, just help her with it!  It's really sweet, she's going to love it, & your photographer will most likely be thrilled to capture those real moments of you just being a gentleman.  This was totally un-posed, just walking from one place to the next & Matthew reached down to help hold her dress!!

"From this day forward,

You shall not walk alone.

My heart will be your shelter,

And my arms will be your home"

Love their picture guest book!

Candy table... yes!

Seriously, that back drop, those candles, & these two sweet, just-married people.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole night...  It's not the most technically perfect picture, but it's so full of emotion.  Shaylyn holding on to the two men who mean the most to her.  Her daddy & her new husband.  While all of her closest friends & family watch.

Oh, did I mention?  They drove away in a fire truck!  Lights flashing, horn blowing, & all! :)

To begin their happily ever after

-Anna

All in a Picture | Kepley Family

All In A Picture

by Jessica Kepley

     A picture is a symbol, a celebration, an anniversary of the journey up until that point.  A picture is a moment frozen in time, a moment that can never be duplicated, a moment that is gone in a heartbeat.  A variety of things are captured in a picture.  Joy, insecurity, pride, wisdom, disappointment, love, resentment, contentment, affection, compassion, mission, ambition, grief, hope, strength, faith, can all shine through or be hidden by a smile.  A picture captures details about the persons being photographed, but it also captures details about the environment around them.  A picture, beholding the beauty of each soul and world surrounding, brings glory to God, for He is their Creator. 

My home is full of pictures.  My walls display my children's entire lives.  My albums consume many bookshelves.  There are boxes with pictures that will never be displayed, but will always inhabit memories.  There are still many more not yet printed, a task that must be completed one day.  

There have been many times that I have been so down, on the verge of checking out, about to close one chapter and try to begin another, when I have pulled out an album and completely changed my heart and mind.  Pictures remind us of the blessedness our lives are overflowing with, despite any setback or tragedy.  That is why I take so many!  It isn't an obsession with self, it is an obsession with life.  Pictures are therapy.  If art is the imitation of life, then photography must be the representation of life.

    

In representing that reality, a picture also captures who isn't there.  Their void is as obvious to the hearts of those in the picture as the people they are standing next to.  Still, like life, those portraits go on.  There are quite a few I can think of that are missing in our portraits, some by death, others by choice.  I am finally at a point in my life of acceptance.  I have let go of what is behind me and have embraced the present.  Like the rest of my life, this moment is appointed by God Himself.  Who am I to question it?  So, I will strive daily to live with the appreciation of each moment and all that each moment brings.  With every heartbeat, each moment is over.  Cherish them.  Learn from me.  I have spent so much time paralyzed by analyzation and looking back.  Those moments, only half lived, are now fully gone.  I owe it to my children, my husband, my parents, my friends, every acquaintance that crosses my path, and mostly, to God, to fully appreciate and live each moment from here forward.  

The people in my life are answered prayers.  I will not lose these gifts to the heartaches life has afforded.  I was reminded recently that growth only happens after trauma to the seed.  When a seed is watered, it must first break apart and burst open before that life encapsulated within it can grow.  So much happens beneath the soil before we see the beautiful petals sprout forth!  How true this is for every soul too!  The life we see outside of the seed, in all its glory, was produced from a painful growth process within.  Thus, just like the nourishment the soil receives from its gardener, so I am thankful to my Gardener for what He has allowed in my life, for from it, such life has blossomed.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.   2 Peter 3:18 

  I am thankful for my family.  As Shakespeare once said "We few, we happy few."

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.  James 1:2-4

     I hope you've taken the time to read what Jessica has written.  It's a wonderful thing to trust in the Lord & to decide not to dwell on the bad, but on the good.  We can try to ignore the circumstances in life that we don't like.  We can say we'll wait & enjoy things when life starts to happen the way we want it to, but that day may not come... & while you wait, you're missing out on the good things in your life right now.  So live each day to the fullest!  For the glory of God!