Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Here are the things I am thankful for this year!

1.  As always, the thing I am most thankful for is my faithful savior Jesus Christ.  Without Him I would be lost.

2.  My family is next on my list.  I am blessed with a loving husband and 4 beautiful children.

3.  I am thankful that God has provided for us…. in this economy, things are tough.  God has provided for our needs.  We have a warm house, clothes, and food to eat.

4.  I am thankful for our heath.  I am again reminded of how blessed we are with our health, as I think of a close friend who is probably spending this Thanksgiving day in the hospital with her husband who suffered an aneurism  a few weeks ago.  I know I could go on and on about friends who are struggling with health, so I am thankful that we are a healthy family.

5.  I am thankful for my in-laws who celebrated 50 years of marriage.  They have been an example on what it is to have a Godly Christian marriage.

6.  I am thankful for my parents, for raising me the way they did.  When I was a teenager, and I thought my parents were “mean”, but now I am that “mean” parent!  I hope I can do as good of a job raising my children as my parents did raising me.

7.  I am thankful for my job.  This year I moved into The Studio, and hired Jayne to work with me.  God has used my photography career to provide for my family.  He has blessed me with an AWESOME employee and friend, Jayne.

8.  I am thankful for my husbands job.  This economy has been rough on his company.  They have laid off a lot of people, and he still has a job.  We are blessed.  It is easy to look at the negative parts and struggles that the industry is going through as a whole, and I am just thankful that he is still working.

9.  I am thankful for my home.  Even in the mess during busy season, I still have a wonderful house that I call home.  (Maybe now that busy season is winding down, I will have time to clean and organize?)

10.  I am thankful for my church, and my church family.  We have been members of Lee Street CRC for 15 years, and it is our family.  We feel so blessed to be involved in many areas in our church, and that we can share the love of Jesus with the community that our church is located.

I hope everyone else with stop and think about how you are blessed this Thanksgiving!

The Waalkes family wanted their family portraits done at Wedgewood Park in Grandville.  It was a perfect fall afternoon for their session!  This session was early in the fall, so the colors were just starting to change!

Katie met me in downtown Grand Rapids for her senior portrait session.  With Katie, I decided to take a walk in a different direction than I usually go, and I was so excited to find some new fun places!  Thanks for letting me experiment Katie!

Jayne had a fun downtown session with this urban family!  I love this image, but I can’t decide if I like it better in color or black and white!  What do you think?

Bethany wanted to go somewhere different than most seniors.  We talked about downton, the beach, the park.  None of these options sounded right to Bethany and her mother, so we found a great field and barn to shoot at!

Makenna’s mom and dad brought her in to The Studio in Grandville  for her newborn Portraits! Makenna’s brothers were so excited to show off their new baby sister…

Natalie came to The Studio earlier this fall to have her senior portraits done… well just like most of October, it was raining on the day she was going to come it!  So, we had her indoor session, and rescheduled the outdoor session for a different morning.  It was a perfect morning at Spring Grove park on the new date!  Thanks Natalie!

I came across this on the internet.  I think it is worth doing!  I am a big advocate of supporting LOCAL businesses.  Everyone knows that Michigan is struggling.  Save OUR local economy.

Addie came in to The Studio for a 6 month session, and she was FULL of smiles for me!   She had such big blue eyes, that she just melted my heart! Here are a few of my favorites!

Colin and Liam were full of life at Spring Grove Park near Grand Rapids for their fall session!  It was a little chilly out, but what a gorgeous day we had!