Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

I DID IT!!! For months I have been working behind the scenes creating new branding, new website and new blog for my photography business. Today I'm nervous and giddy to introduce to you the new and improved Laura Lu Photography site and blog!

I am so grateful for all that the Lord is doing in our lives. I look forward to seeing how He uses me and my photography for His glory!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

The other day the girls tried on Christmas dresses and began begging for me to take some pics. We quick set up a backdrop and started shooting away. I am a contributor to We Picture This our assignment was "Eyes" this month. It was great challenge for me to focus in on capturing some specific shots with the eyes. The one with my girl and her lollypop cracks me up, because her eyes are talking to me. They are begging for a lick of that sweetness. (so even though it has pinlights rather than catchlights...i still loved it!) I love that I have practice "models" ready for me at any moment. They make my job easier!

Thank you to everyone that has been ordering their cards. It has been fun to work on them. I look forward to working on more for this adoption fundraiser! Please continue to pray for them as they wait with great expectation.

Without Further Ado!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a stomach full of butterflies, my heart pounding out of my chest, and lots of prayer...I'd like to introduce to you Laura Lu Photography! Through lots of prayer and lots of nudging from my friends...I'm starting a little business. Over the past few weeks/months I have been building a photography website. I've been so scared to "launch" this baby that I can't even tell you.

Please pray for me as I start this new venture in life. I'm so incredibly grateful for the ways the Lord has allowed me to grow in my love of photography. Every day that passes, I continue to learn new things. My heart's desire is for this "little business" by this "little mom" to be something that the Lord uses to bless others. It is straight from Him and I desire for Him to be glorified through it all.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo without further ado...I humbly introduce to you---

(click on the above logo to view my secret project) :)

Little bit of Joy! ~ for your viewing pleasure

I had the privilege of taking our dear friend's pictures last weekend. This is their first family portraits since they brought home their new daughters from Ukraine. It was so much fun! The little girls were just eating up the camera time...well all except one, she kept running away from me and laughing...which made me keep on giggling. :) When the little one with blonde hair looked at herself in the mirror she said "soooo bew-ta-ful!" It melted my heart! The two little girls with brown hair have been home with their forever family for about 8 weeks. They are pure joy!

you're never going to believe this...

I'm part of Clickin' Moms photography forums. Love it! Anyway...we were playing a game where we had to post a pic of ourselves on there. I had my dd take a quick pic of me this morning. I posted it on the boards, and within a couple of minutes here is the first response I got--"I think you look a lot like Sarah Palin...and coming from me, you can be sure that it's a compliment!"

She has no idea that I got Sarah Palin's back on my blog! :) You all know I took that as a compliment!

Praise Jesus for Eternal Life through Him Alone!

My heart has been overflowing with God's Goodness in answering prayer! On Monday morning, I picked up my book Praying the Bible for Your Children by David and Heather Kopp. I've started a new Bible study and haven't read any prayers out of there for awhile. But on this morning, I was lead to open it up to the page where I had last left the bookmark. Here is what I read...

Early Salvation

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come. ~Ecclesiastes 12:1

Loving Heavenly Father, Before dawn I pray for my children. See each one asleep, Lord, zipped snuggly into a flannel cocoon or swirling like a dancer in twisted sheets.

In so many ways they're still asleep in their childhood, yet I pray that at the youngest age possible they would see You and respond to You (Ps. 63:1). I ask specifically this morning that my children will receive slavation early in their lives--before troubles and distractions and ambitions get in the way (Eccles. 12:1-8).

Early, Lord, because my children even at their sweetest and most innocent--yes, even from birth--need a Savior. (Ps. 51:5).

Use the Scriptures planted in their hearts from infancy, as You did with Timothy, to draw them to You (2Tim. 3:15). May Your Holy Spirit break through any spiritual bariers that are keeping themfrom asking to be born into Your kingdom (John 3:5-6).

Yes, early, Lord, because You invited children to know You and love You. And because You have promised that everyone--ieven someone who sleeps inside zippered flannel--can receive the power to become a child of God (John 1:12).

I ask this in Jesus' powerful name. Amen.




I went on about my day. We had our ups and downs of the day. Supper time came and we sat down to eat. Matt and one of our girls were at basketball, so it was just me and four of the kiddos. Our youngest daugther out of the blue said, "Are we going to die?" I answered her a quick answer as the morning prayer started racing through my mind. I knew I was being given the opportunity to explain salvation in Jesus to her. I explained that yes we all will die at some point, but we can live forever with Jesus in heaven if we believe in Him. She wanted to know if we would still live in our house. I told her we would live heaven...and now she is convinced she will get to live in a rainbow house in heaven. As we carried on our conversation with her two sisters chiming in to tell her about Jesus, I asked her if she would like to pray to ask Jesus to come into her life forever. She said, "Sure!" We sat there holding hands, praying together and her sisters praying along with us. It was an amazing moment as her mom. After she said, "Amen." We all cheered and told her how excited we were that we were all going to be together in heaven someday now that she was a Christian. I looked into her face and told her just that morning I had prayed for her salvation. I was able to testify to our whole family how amazing God is in answering our prayers!!!!!

I don't know who all reads my blog. But my prayer is that if you have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation that your heart would be drawn into a personal relationship with Him. If you have any questions or if you have recently begun a relationship with God, please email me-- yackity at gmail dot com.



Praise Jesus with me for the eternal life that has been given to our little girl this week!!!!!

lesson learned

i learned a valuable lesson. i need to increase my shutter speed when capturing a group of kiddos. we celebrated my father in law's birthday on saturday. we wanted to get a pic of grandma and grandpa with all of their grandkids. umm yeah, i didn't do such a hot job of capturing my nephew in action. ugh...what a bummer! not how i had hoped they would turn out...but i sure learned a lesson. :)

Prayer is the most important thing you do...

"Begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do. You can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have opportunity to do so, either alone and with others, while at work, while at rest or while walking down the street. Anywhere!" ~O. Hallesby (taken from When Families Pray-Cheri Fuller)

We are using this book in our devotional time. It is full of wonderful ideas on how to incorporate prayer into our family life. Today we made decisions to pray for our community as we go about our activities here. We will pray for the jail as we pass it, the courthouse and government leaders as we pass it. The schools, the college, our neighbors... As the kids go to soccer or to church, we will pray for the kids they will be with as we drive up to our destinations. We are praying for our presidential election each day. It is neat to see the kids get into the idea of praying for all things as we go about our day. Join us in praying ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE!

HaPpY 40th AnNiVeRsArY--MoM & DaD

Here are my parents...they just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!!! I took them out a couple weeks ago to do a shoot with them. My dad wasn't too keen on the idea at first...but he likes pictures, so we got him to work the lens. (Half of my pics have him making faces at me in them...he's a bit of a goofball--wonder where i get it?!?)

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for all your love and support. Thanks for modeling Christ's love to me as I grew up. A memory of my parents that I will forever have engraved in my mind is every morning when I woke up, my mom would be sitting in the living room in her recliner. She would still be in her jammies, holding a cup of coffee. Her Bible was opened on her lap and her head would be bowed in prayer. My dad was always sitting at the kitchen table with his Bible open and a cup of coffee nearly empty. He would have a yellow legal pad in front of him where he was taking notes from his studying of God's Word. He always used a red pen. I love these memories of my parents and never knew how much it meant until I became an adult.

Thank you for modeling a strong commitment to our Lord for me. And thank you, Mom and Dad, for all of the hours you spent and still spend praying for me.

Hit me with your best shot!

I need your help in naming this recipe or lack there of.

The other night I made up a recipe--a concoction of ingredients that I had on hand. I don't know what to call them nor do I know how much of anything I used in making these. Here's the deal...I don't really use measurements in cooking. I always add stuff and never measure. There-- you have an intimate detail of Laura...the depths of who I am and how I roll. Back to business, I'll tell you what I did and see if you have any creative ideas for naming this.

I diced up pepperoni and fryed it. I added diced ham to it, continued frying it. I then browned some hamburger...adding minced onion, basil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning. I combined them all and added pizza sauce. Into the saucy combo I add Parmesan cheese...lots. Next I added shredded Italian cheese combo. (at this point you could also add mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, etc.--whatever your heart desires)

I stuffed the meaty goodness into sliced Bollilo rolls. I topped each roll with a slice of smoked Provolone cheese. (what, you don't usually have smoked Provolone on hand?) I stuck them in the oven to bask at about 400ish degrees (i don't really remember what temp it was...sorry) After awhile or so (didn't pay too close attention...just went by how they were lookin') I tapped on one of the rolls to test its "done-ness"...yes, it was toasted and flaky. To finish it all off, I turned the broiler on, getting my cheese into a bubbling frenzy...because that's how I like my cheese.

They were fan-tab-u-lous!!!!! Little salty, but I have low blood pressure...so I'm ok with that. ;)

Any ideas on what you would call these babies!?!?!?!?!?!

oh how i love our son!

hudson has the most amazing pouty face. it cracks us up and melts my heart all in the same moment. this isn't even the best of it...but it was what i captured yesterday. if he figures out how to use that lip when getting disciplined...he might just get away with a lot! ;)

bugs and boys

Hudson was mesmerized by this little thing today. He froze for a bit, then went after it full force. He kept crawling and grabbing for it. If I hadn't been there to stop him, that ginormous cricket would have been in his mouth in an instant. Ewww, the thought makes my stomach turn. As I was bug patrolling, I grabbed my camera to document his early infatuation with critters. I have a feeling this is only the beginning! :)

Field Trip

Yesterday we went on a field trip to a bee keeper and his "honey plant". It was very interesting, in spite of the fact that I had the time down as 4:00 and it actually started at 3:30. I checked my email one more time on the way out the door to make sure I had the right directions to get there, when I realized we were now going to be late. (and here I thought I was doing so good on time. Sheesh!) As we took off, I talked with the girls about my mistake with the time. We talked about maybe just skipping the whole thing. The girls put in a vote to go shopping. tempting. very. tempting. I didn't fall for it though. We decided to just go for it, and get in as much of the tour as we could. So we drove the 45 minutes to get to the place. It was a beautifully sunny day and country roads are always relaxing...so I was glad we did it. As we were driving I kept seeing places that would make great photo opps...knowing I had my camera with me. (I never leave home without it now.)

After the tour, the honey tasting, the bee queen watching, the visiting with friends...we hopped in the car to head for home. I knew I wanted to stop somewhere to snap some shots, it just wouldn't have been right if I didn't. I remembered seeing an abandoned building just off the road with a great setting around it. I spotted it again coming from the opposite direction and pulled off the road. The girls hopped out of the car and shifted into photography mode in a nano second. (they are so used to this now) We had fun snapping shots and laughing together. Matt called while we were shooting and was not surprised to hear what we were doing. :) I told him to start boiling some water for supper and we were on our way. We snapped our final shots and got back in the car.

We had only driven maybe 10 more miles when I started grabbing for my bag, telling my oldest to "get my camera out, get my camera out...hurry, hurry!" Just off the road in a field was this huge moose. We, of course, pulled over again! I turned my flashers on because I was just off the road this time. We rolled down the passenger window and I started clicking away. I didn't get out because I didn't want that ginormous thing to charge me...moose can charge you know that, right!?!? I wasn't the only one pulled over...another lady was trying to get pics with her cell phone. (the girls found it funny) I literally climbed across the car onto my daughter's lap so I could get shot of him. He walked a little bit, looked at us, and then decided to lay down right in the middle of the field. We were amazed at how disguised he was laying there in the sun. It was really a cool experience, and we decided that was the best part of our trip...better than the bee keeper. :) Needless to say...I am so happy that we made the trek even though it would have been fun to go shopping! ;)

Another Installment of Cuteness---

Visions in my head...

Yesterday I saw my friend who is oh-so-very pregnant right now. I drove home with visions of belly shots in my head. So as I was heading out to run some errands, I swung into her driveway and said..."can I take some shots of your belly"?!?!? Weird, I know! She was kind enough to let me and this was the results of our 10 min. photo shoot. We went into her backyard and I climbed up on their playset with a pic in mind. While I was up there out of the corner of my eye I caught her shadow in the yard. I knew I had to hop down and capture that. Can't wait to meet your baby girl someday soon, Chastity...and thanks for being a good sport with me and the visions in my head. :)

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!