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My heart is in Haiti

On January 12, I had every intention of following my January 11 post on the Memphis Belles with a second post showing more photos, but then it happened. It being a gray cloud that seemed to envelope everything within my life and those close to me in the past three weeks.

It started with the earthquakes in Haiti. In case you didn't know, for the past few years, I've been a part of medical mission campaign from my church (Estes Church of Christ) that does a week of clinics and outreach in Port au Prince with our missionary, Roberta Edwards. Roberta is an american that runs Sonlight Children's Home & Nutrition Center where she's a mother to around 30 kids, and feeds another 100 2 meals a day. Her kids are amazing, and the work she does is so important--most of the kids that visit the nutrition center would literally starve if it wasn't for her.

When I first found out about the earthquakes, and saw the imagery on the news, I was devastated. I felt so helpless. The night before we found out that their house and family (all except one) were okay was gut-wrenching. Haiti was already a nation that is broken, one with massive barriers to overcome and the earthquake just made everything even harder.

The last time I was in Haiti I had a long conversation with Kerlange, one of Roberta's girls, and the thing she kept stressing was how difficult it was to have hope in Haiti. She told me the story of a Haitian man who had worked his way from nothing, creating his own business, and building a house for himself. Because he had achieved success, some other men in PaP were jealous, so they killed him and stole everything he had. In America, we often forget all of the opportunities we have available. Through education, it's possible for a child to overcome whatever means they are born into, but in Haiti, education isn't even a guarantee--the literacy rate for Haiti is roughly 50%. Before the earthquake, people in Haiti live their lives in survival mode, because that's the only way they knew how to live. In a way, I think that will make them more resilient--they'll be able to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake in the same way they were already living: day by day.

I was already planning to return to Haiti in March, and hopefully those plans will remain and we'll be able to travel safely at that time to conduct a medical clinic. Estes has been sending doctors and construction workers weekly to PaP to help treat people and repair the wall (for security) at Roberta's house. They are also becoming a donation point for monetary donations for Haiti. 100% of all money sent will go to our efforts in Haiti. They are currently getting thousands of pounds of food in from the Dominican Republic and handing it out to their community. This effort will continue as long as there is a need. You can find out more information at estes.tn.org. 

Some of you may have heard about a new project my husband Brad has started, Love in Stereo. We're connecting artists and causes, and our very first project is some shirts to benefit Haiti. Brad and I designed them and paid for the production of the shirts, so 100% of the cost is going to Son Light Children's Home. Here's what the shirts look like, and you can purchase them for $12 each at loveinstereo.bigcartel.com.

A few months ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to do a cover shoot of Roberta for the January 2010 issue of Christian Woman. Here's my shot with the final cover. You can read the story here.

Memphis Belles, Part 1

This post is way overdue. I photographed the Memphis Belles way back in October, in the upper rooms of Ernestine & Hazel's. These girls are all absolutely gorgeous, and so much fun to shoot! I have so many favorites from this shoot, I've decided to break it up into multiple posts. 

I only used one portable, battery-powered strobe for the entire shoot, but it worked great:

More to come...

Photos with Flash

Via the Brad Blog

Aimee + Luke: Wedding

Aimee and Luke's wedding was in October at Estes, and it's probably one of the prettiest weddings I've ever photographed there. They used gorgeous fall colors and had tons of artisan pumpkins everywhere. Their wedding day was full of family and friends, and it was awesome to see how close everyone was, despite the huge size of Aimee's family! The ceremony was performed by Aimee's dad, and her three older brothers each walked her down part of the aisle. Aimee and Luke, thanks so much for letting me be a part of your day, and I wish you guys a lifetime of happiness.

 

Aimee's fabulous green shoes:

An outtake from one of the largest family photos I've ever taken at a wedding: