This post is more on the personal side, so if you’re here for pictures.. Check back soon because I’m about to post an awesome wedding!

I’m going to try to not type very much about this so that hopefully you’ll not get bored with my words and watch the video. Words would totally get in the way of this.

About once a month or so I hop over to Cornerstone Church’s website to hear a talk from Francis Chan. The man has been one of my favorite pastors for years. This message I’m posting today speaks to exactly what God’s been doing in mine and David’s hearts of the last 6 months. He’s been moving some major pieces and waking us up to a lot of things… mostly waking us up to how we’ve been going about this thing all wrong… this trying to get closer to Him thing. We’ve tried so many things by our own efforts for years (without much success) and praying for Him to move in our lives and push us, hard if he has to. He’s teaching us how to do it right and moving things around, sometimes painstakingly, to teach us. Oh, how He’s teaching us and pulling us out of where we’ve been stuck for so so long. Freedom is here. My mind has been completely opened over the last year and I’m finally starting to see a WHY to all of this. I’m so thankful and I want to share this VIDEO with you because it totally spoke to what God’s being saying in my life. The first part of it is a little here and there where Francis is talking about His moving in a new ministry path.. but the rest is spot on, awesomeness. This is an entire Sunday message so find some time and watch.. or listen while you work (photographers out there!) because it’s powerful.  ;)

http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/special/media_player.html

In case this link doesn’t take you right to it, the message is called: “Love People, Love God” from 5/23/2010

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a memory saver. I scrap-booked, kept keepsakes in a box such as restaurant coasters from first dates to magazine tear-outs from my favorite Seventeen advice columnists to every last note from friends in High School. Then there was the quote book that I would fill with things said to me to encourage, inspire or just down right aggravate. Then there are the pictures.. the ten thousands of pictures I’ve hoarded throughout my last 26 years. I had albums for my favorites and boxes for the others but could never bare the thought of getting rid of them. High School and College came and went and I have every last detail documented in journals, photo boxes and scrap-books. It’s no wonder I fell head first into this career and love it. However, for the last few years.. since I’ve had a camera glued to my face most of the time I’ve neglected the memory keeping of the most fun days of my life thus far. What a bummer!! David and I were talking this week and remembering some of the funniest, most exciting memories over the last year and some of the stories I had almost forgotten. That’s when I put my foot down. NO MORE! We’ve thought about having a personal blog just for us and friends and family.. but it’s yet to get off the ground.. so until it does I’m making a serious effort to post my memories here! We live a pretty hilarious, adventurous and full life and I don’t want to forget a single minute of it. I’ve found a few companies out there that turn blogs into books for very little $$ and I’ve made it a personal goal to print one from this blog yearly. It will be my new scrap book, momento box and quote book.

It literally only took my 15 minutes to get this blog together, pictures and all.. so no more excuses.. here we go! I’ll just start with the best story of today. About 2 hours ago if you were to somehow use Google Earth to zoom in on my whereabouts you would have found me face down in the mud in my new favorite blue sundress in our back yard (in the rain) trying to get our 3 year old boxer out from under the deck. The dogs FREAK when it thunders, but this is the first time I’ve found one of them stuck under the deck!!

This story began when I open the back door to let the pups in. On a normal day they would both stampede full speed up the stairs and into our living room leaving a trail of slabber and dirt to be cleaned later. Not today.. today only one came running. I went through the 5 second MELT DOWN before I ran down stairs to find one of them trapped under a 9 inch space under their deck (I say their deck because we had a little deck for them built so they would stay off of our deck and keep it clean.. didn’t happen). So.. here I am face down in the mud wondering how the HECK she got there in the first place.

After a good 15 minutes of wiggling and squeezing.. she was freed. Both of us covered in mud!! I’ve never been so thankful for a muddy dog hug and lick to the face!!

Anyone who has met these two know they are crazy… all we know is they are the most loving members of our family. I caught David telling Marley last night after our run in Sequoya Hills “I really do love you”, which he would never admit in public. Marley is the sweet one, the 3 year old dummy who was stuck under a deck only 2 hours ago. And Lucy, the 1 year old, who is a friggin maniac, who thinks she is a lap dog, but also a big ball of love. Here are a couple of shots I snagged earlier when I realized today is DAY 1 of the personal Hensley blog. This is tale-tale of their personalities.

sweet Marley bug.

crazy Lucy loo. I couldn’t get her to let the blanket go long enough for a picture. You can also see remnants on the floor from my little mud experience earlier.

Marley always tries to act like she’s playing and in the action.. but she never actually gets involved.

This is our life and for all who are interested.. there is much more adventure, love and life ahead!!

I met Chris and Laura Beth, also known as LB, last summer. David and I traveled to Bowling Green, KY for their engagement session. It was my very first one and I was beyond excited with how it turned out. I’m thrilled for these two, knowing all the planning and hard work they put into their day…. because it turned out beautifully! We started the day at a little hair salon in Maryville where almost two years ago, I was shooting one of my best friends getting her hair done for her wedding. I guess officially, it was the first wedding I ever shot… although I was just a bridesmaid and no real deal photographer yet.. just big dreams. It was neat being in the same room with a much nicer camera living my dream.

This couple is super sweet and I’m looking forward to hanging out with them again this weekend for LB’s brother’s wedding that I’m also shooting!! Sorry such a short blog post.. I have two very anxious boxers by my side begging for a walk!

To see more of this wedding click on over to the LHP facebook fan page —> CLICK!