The year 2016 is a pretty big deal to us. A huge deal, actually. 2016 marks our studio’s FIFTEENTH year of business. Fifteen years!! Y’all, if you had told my 22 year old self that things actually were going to work out with this scary new business endeavor, I may have called you a liar. I certainly would have laughed. Actually, I might have had a great big ugly cry for a little bit, and things would have been really awkward and uncomfortable between us. And yet, here we are fifteen years later. These years have flown by faster than I ever thought possible. Except for the ones that were excruciatingly, painfully slow. The ones where I would call Collin before purchasing a gallon of milk just to make sure we had enough money in the account for that. When Mak was a toddler we never introduced him to juice. We just gave him water and people thought it was because we wanted to limit his intake of sugary drinks and have the healthiest baby on the planet. HA! Y’all, it was because we couldn’t afford to buy the kid juice! Owning a business is not for the faint of heart and times have certainly not always been all bright and rosy. But honestly, there’s not one part of these fifteen years that I would change. The times that God has carried us and the lessons He has taught us directly through this business are things I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Even a stable income. 😉 But those are another post for another day. This post is about CELEBRATING!!! We are so excited about this anniversary! This studio and everything it represents is a gift from our Lord, Jesus Christ! We have done nothing to deserve it. We’ve done plenty to not deserve it. But He loves us, and He alone has given it all to us. Both the good and the hardships, and I’m so thankful for them both. We’ve said it a hundred times, but by far the biggest blessing that has come from this business is the people we have met. We have made some of our closest friends because they came to us to have a portrait created of their child. I have laughed harder than I’ve ever laughed with some of these people and at some of these kids! We’ve cried with families who are facing huge, unexpected losses or terrifying diagnoses. I’ve learned how to be a better wife and momma through some little tidbit that was shared or a simple observance of how a situation was handled by another mom. I have held so many babies and kissed the tops of so many sweet heads that my arms seriously feel like something’s missing if I go too many days between baby sessions. And that’s just my experience. I couldn’t begin to name the blessings that Collin, Makgill, and Clara Beth have known because of the people we have met in this little photography business!
As a thank you to YOU for these last fifteen years we want to have some fun! We have some exciting events planned, some giveaways both big and small, and hopefully a few trips down memory lane that will make us all smile. Truly, Florence is an incredible place to call home, and it’s the people who live here and in the surrounding areas that make it that way. Let’s make 2016 GREAT, y’all!
