Christmas Giveaway | Southeast Missouri Photographer

A little while back, I announced a little Christmas giveaway for a deserving family. I received several nominations that were very heartfelt and sincere. It's nice to know that people are so thoughtful of others and think so much of others during difficult times. So before I announce the winner, I just want give some needed thank-you's.

Thank you to God for blessing me this year with another beautiful, healthy child to add to our growing family. Thank you to Him for my other children, who at times are quite rambunctious, but they are good as gold and they love me unconditionally as I do them.

I give all the glory to Him for allowing me to start this little photography business. And many thanks to all my clients of 2009 who took a chance on me and allowed me to photograph them, their children, and/or their families. I'm beyond grateful and I only hope that my business will continue to grow in 2010.

Now, back to the announcment. I decided to not be a judge in this contest, since I knew most of the people that were being nominated. There were three judges and they had no clue who each of the nominated families were since I removed all mention of names in the emails I received. I wish every nomination could be picked because they were all very deserving, but there's only so much time in every day that I can do this, and with a new baby, my time is even more limited. So quit babbling, Steph, get on with it!

The following is the email I received. It was very endearing and even brought tears to my eyes. And I'm sure you will feel the same...

"Stephanie,

I would like to nominate a family from Kennett. Keith, Michelle, Kevin, Lil' Keith, Kara and Alayna Johnson. We are very close to this family and they have been a blessing to us. I went to school with Keith and he is one of my husband's best friends. Keith got married soon after high school and had twin boys, Kevin and Keith, which are now 16. They will be 17 in January. Two years later they had their daughter Kara.

I am not sure when exactly that they found out there was something wrong with two of his kids but they did find out that Keith and Kara had Morquio Syndrome. Morquio Syndrome is a genetic disease of metabolism in which the body is missing or doesn't have enough of a substance needed to break down long chains of sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans. There is a 1 out of 200,000 births this would happen and to them it happened twice. Keith and his wife divorced and she left him with all three kids.

They have had numerous surgeries over the years, had to be in bed for long periods of time, and even where the body halos. Keith did all he could do for his children. He had to quit work to care for them. They have been held back in school due to missing school due to the surgeries. This disease causes abnormal heart developments, large fingers, knocked knees, dwarfism. They have to use walkers and wheelchairs because they can not walk due to the pain. This of course does not stop them from doing things.

Keith is in the choir at school. The kids at Kennett Public Schools are wonderful to them. They are such of the best kids and truely thankful for their life. Also, it is hard on Kevin as well. He looks over both of them and it is hard for him trying to live a normal life and do things that they can never do.

Keith finally remarried a few years ago to Michelle. She is wonderful with the kids. They had another daughter Alayna a little over a year ago. (I believe the mother was the carrier of the disease so they were not concerned about that.) Alayna adores the older children. I think they love the attention.

What I have seen over the years is that whatever you could do for these children they were appreciative. Whether you gave them something new or old they still kept smiling. It is hard not to love them. What I have read about this disease is that the life expectancy is usually between 20 to 30 years old. I can not imagine knowing that your child or children may have lived half of their life. They do not ever talk about that, they just cherish what they have.

I think they are deserving of being recognized. They truly are a blessing. They do not dwell on what they have been dealt with but praise God for it. This has only made them a stronger family. The go to church religiously and do no question what they have been given but are truly thankful that God has picked them to care for these children."

Is your Kleenex soaked? Uh-huh, thought so. When I read this email, I just knew they would be picked. Being a parent, a mother at that, I can't begin to imagine that any of my children could be anything other than healthy. I know these parents have seen their share of struggles, but from the sounds of the email, they have God in their hearts and live each day fully.

I'm excited to meet this awesome family and give them something special to remind them of their strong family bond for many years to come. Congratulations and I'll be contacting you soon!

Also, thank you to Charitie Jones for the nomination. I can tell how strongly you felt about this family and I'm happy that you are also a winner with a $50 print credit and no session fee on your next booking.

Again, thank you to everyone who nominated a special, deserving family. I hope you all have a very blessed Merry Christmas and remember that Jesus is the Reason for the season! (None of that Happy Holidays baloney!)

And since it is Christmas time, here's a cute lil' dude to make you smile even more...

[Senior] Meredith | Caruthersville Missouri Senior Photographer

Meredith is my first senior to have a multiple session: this fall session and her summer session. (You'll notice she's changed her hair color since the summer!) I have been pleasantly surprised at the relatively mild weather we've had, especially since I'm getting a late start on fall sessions and a few Christmas sessions.

I shot at a few new locations seeing that some of the other locales I use are getting quite a bit of use out of them. I'm amazed at some of the places that strike a creative streak in me, since I've been to these places in the past and nothing hit me. We had fun, as usual because Mere is that fun type and up for anything.

It's hard to believe that this school year is almost half-way over. Thanks for the fun time and for understanding about bringing along a handsome lil dude for the shoot. Best wishes for your future and we'll miss you next year!

[Sneak Peek] Meredith | Hayti Missouri Senior Photographer

Just one.

I wanted to post one image from Meredith's second senior session. It's fall and the weather has been great. So here's just one...

Introducing John Cooper Greenwell | Hayti Missouri Baby Photographer

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends and you find that you have a lot for which to be thankful. I certainly know that I do, especially with my God, my husband and my children, all for whom I'm most thankful. We've been blessed beyond any measure and only God gets credit for that.

And I'm certainly thankful for the blessings that have been bestowed upon my ever-growing business this year. Thank you to my clients for taking a chance on my journey into photography and I can only pray that you know how much it means to me and my family.

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I wanted to post earlier about the birth of our son, but having a newborn and caring for our other children and trying to recuperate, well, blogging about it took a back seat for a while. So I thought, what a wonderful Thanksgiving treat to my readers to introduce our newest addition...



Now, on with the story...

I was starting to feel uncomfortable. Well, actually, I'd been feeling that way for a while. This pregnancy had been so different from my others, but when the swelling set in the last week before before he was born, I was just praying my doctor would actually schedule an induction. Like the other times.

I don't know if my doctor was going to schedule me for an induction, but when I gained 8 lbs. in 9 days, oh, I knew he had to do something, even if I had to bring it up first.

"Oh, Doc, please tell me that we can schedule to have this baby soon?"

I was two days shy of being 39 weeks, and with my pleads, Doc decided to schedule it for Monday, October 26. Good, I got my way. And now I had 5 days to get my stuff in order. No problem.

Except that I didn't feel prepared until the day night before. I mean, getting bags packed for three kids to stay with our friends, getting my bags packed, making sure the baby's new clothes were washed, laundry done(well, that was my husband's job), batteries for cell phones, camera, & video camera were charged, making sure the monkey was caged and had enough food, er, just kidding. And we also had people in our kitchen working on Sunday to finish getting our walls done and painted, which look awesome, by the way. So needless to say, Sunday really wasn't relaxing as I was so anxious about the happenings of the next day.

I fell asleep around 11 p.m. only to have to wake up at 3 a.m. to get ready and drive an hour to Cape to be at the hospital at 5 a.m. And I was oh so hungry, but couldn't have anything to eat. Only ice chips. And they tasted like Heaven.

We got checked in around 5:15 or so, and everything started rolling from there. Tommy was doing his usual stuff, being the early morning entertainment for the nurses. I got hooked up to the fetal monitor, which proved to be quite a hassle since the baby wouldn't stay in one place. I had blood drawn, I was poked and prodded, and eventually hooked up to the Pitocin drip. Eventually, I started feeling contractions and I was getting anxious. I couldn't wait to meet my lil' man. And I was hungry. Like ravenous. Road kill would've probably sufficed if it were sitting in front of me.

At first, I thought I might tough out the contractions, but as they progressively got stronger, well, I decided that I'm not so tough. I took the darn thing. But the drawback was I think I got a little too much numbing because I felt a little loopy, but I couldn't feel much else. Well, the contractions I felt, but they weren't painful. The nurses probably thought I was crazy because I kept asking if I was supposed to feel like I felt. "I have no legs!", I kept thinking. Really though, this wasn't like my previous pregnancies I can tell you that.

Well, after some prepping and pushing and pushing and more pushing, John Cooper made his way into this world on October 26 at 3:19 p.m. He certainly was a lot larger than I expected, weighing in at 9 lbs. 7 oz. and he was 21 1/2 in. long. And he was puuurty. Just like my other children, he was chubby and pink and had a full head of dark hair. I got to hold him as soon as he came out, which never happened before. But I wanted him clean so I could kiss him without getting, well, yucky. And once that happened, I couldn't get enough of him. His soft skin, moist lips, tiny hands. Oh, I'd have ten more if they stayed babies.




I uploaded images from his birth to my Facebook account so our other children could see him. The kids stayed at a family friend's home and when I called to let them know to look at the images, the happiness was apparent. I couldn't wait for them to meet their little brother. We came home the next evening, thank goodness for that, and when they came in, it was pure elation as we had not seen the kids in almost 48 hours, but even more, the kids were happy to finally see John Cooper in the flesh. Even though he was a big baby, he was still tiny, especially seeing him next to the other kids. These days, the kids can't get enough of him, from holding him, to talking and singing to him, to making faces at him. It's almost too much. Brennan wants me to have a million more babies, he says. Dream on, son, dream on.


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John Cooper is a month old today. Hard to believe how fast the time goes by and this sinking feeling sets in when you know that the newborn and baby stages are short-lived. He's starting to smile more frequently, especially in response to my voice. Makes me want to cry even now. He's been an ideal baby, my "dream baby" as I refer to him. He breastfeeds like a champ and has now grown 3 more inches and has gained over 2 lbs. since his birth. He even sleeps like a dream. I guess God knew I needed a good sleeper after the many restless nights of not-so-great sleepers. Our lil' butterball has us all wrapped around his tiny fingers and we couldn't feel more thankful and blessed as we do right now.

When he was three days old, he had his first impromptu photo shoot with me. He had another one at 11 days old and I have to say, it's a lot harder to shoot your own baby when you just had him and your haven't fully recuperated from giving birth. He's beauty, even if I am his momma. Enjoy!

[Family] The Henfling's | Dyersburg Tennessee Children's Photographer

Liz talked with me about getting some images of her new precious addition, Knox Walker(dontcha love the name?). She has two other boys, Jackson and Riley, and it was quite evident at our shoot that they are in luuuurve with their new baby brother. How sweet is was to get them all together for pictures! Like I mentioned in my previous post, there's something so special about the bond between mother and son. And in this case, the bonds between mother and sons.

Liz's boys are sweet and handsome and polite. I know they will grow to be the same way and make some girls very happy wives someday. (I think Liz just had a heart attack to think of her boys growing up!) They are also very sweet on their Nan, Liz's mother, whom she brought along for ride. Oh Nan, er, Mrs. Gardner, how you ever put up with all of the kids at your house, I'll never know, but you were always so patient even when we were holy terrors, up all night watching Def Comedy Jam and scary movies and laughing and prank calling every one. Except me. I always feel asleep early. Darn narcolepsy.

Liz, I'm so glad that you wanted me to photograph your sweet boys. I think you look fabulous as you always have and you have a beautiful family of which you should be very proud. And I'm glad we got to have a few laughs. Oh, how I miss your everyday witty humor.

And thanks for the awesome bibs and wipey case. Much love Hooch.

[Babies] Brody | Portageville Missouri Baby Photographer

I told my best friend, Tara, when she found out she was having a boy, that there's nothing like the bond between mother and son. Sure, I'm very tight with my girls and Tara is with her daughter also, but there's a special something with mommas and their sons.

So, one day a few months after Brody was born, Tara came over with him. We sat there talking about him, and she said, "I know what you mean about you and Brennan; I feel it with Brody." I smiled. And my heart did the same.

Brody turned a year old last weekend and I find it hard to believe that it's already been a year. We decided to shoot a fun session in the leaves in my neighbor's yard, since all but a few of our trees were lost in the ice storm earlier this year. Brody's big sis Reed was a super-duper helper by carrying and entertaining him. And thanks to Tara's mom for keeping my baby boy while we had fun in the leaves.

Happy 1st Birthday, Brody! Much love to you!

[Sneak Peek] Henfling | Dyersburg Tennessee Child Photography

Momma and her boys. Her sweet, handsome boys.

This is my other BFF. (Can't believe I'm using that acronym seeing that I'm no longer in high school. Or college. Or my twenties.)

Liz just had her 3rd boy in September, but I have a quiet longing for her to have another baby, keeping my fingers crossed for a girl. I don't figure she'll grant me that wish, since I won't have to raise her. Ah, hope floats.

Anyways, I just wanted to post a sneak peek of my beautiful friend and adorable boys. Stay tuned for my images!

[Sneak Peek] Babies:Brody

This is one of my best friend's little man. She wanted me to get some one year shots. I know she's dying to see some images of her boy, so I thought I'd grant her this one...well, two...

[Engaged] Ashley + Joel | Hayti Missouri Photographer

Frank and Ava. World War II. Casablanca. Tracy and Hepburn. Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. Pin curls. Dior. It's a Wonderful Life. Humprhey Bogart. Chanel no 5. Fred and Ginger.

Ashley had it in her mind. A 1940's-inspired engagement shoot. She enthusiastically conveyed it to me on the phone the night before. We talked about "The Notebook" with its 1940's setting and the passion of Noah and Allie. That decade was full of passion. And then my heart began racing.

See, I had never shot an engagement session, much less a themed session. A 1940's theme, at that. I told her that my hope was that I could do it justice, but inside, oh, I was a nervous wreck. I knew this meant a lot to her, and what if I didn't quite get the idea? I mean, I totally loved the idea on paper, but it's only natural to question one's ability when one has no experience in it.

And Ashley was just as gracious as Mother Teresa. She more than once insisted that she wasn't picky at all. But what she didn't know, is that I totally am; I am my own worst critic and I certainly wanted to give her and Joel an exquisite engagement session. Because, you know, Ashley went through a lot of trouble to get all the props and outfits we were going to use. And, let me mention, we were getting to use a beautiful vintage 1932 Auburn V12, courtesy of Mr. & Mrs. Glen O. Petersen.

So, I took pen to paper and started writing down my ideas. I wanted to see the ideas in my head on paper without the distraction of being on the actual shoot. What was the outcome came across far more beautifully than I ever expected. It helps when the subjects are beautiful and fun and didn't laugh at me when I would get all giggly over an awesome shot. Like a kid in a candy store, I tell ya.

Thank you, Ashley and Joel. I'm honored that you chose me to shoot your engagement pictures. I had so much fun with you both and I appreciate the time you took to prepare for this shoot. I'm feeling my age seeing that I clearly remember you two as little tykes. Thank you to the Petersen's for loaning your beautiful car and for your hospitality.

Best wishes for your future together!