Redneckmama.com

Lizzy7, originally uploaded by cbatesteach.

Want to see the vacation pictures? Have a look here…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbsnaps/sets/72157606333470925/

FOR TODAY Saturday June 28, 2008…
Outside My Window…I see a warm sunny day to spend with my family. I see the possibility of some refreshing rain.
I am thinking…how blessed I am to have a hunky husband who loves me and three gorgeous daughters who are the light of my life.
I am thankful for…the opportunity to be able to stay home and homeschool my children. I’ve been thinking about this for some time and I am so blessed.
From the kitchen…I hear the dishwasher chugging away that my husband started while he let me sleep in this morning. See why I say I am blessed?!
I am wearing…my nightgown and robe still. I need to shower before we go to Emily’s end of the year baseball program.
I am creating…mostly I’m working on wedding photos right now. I’ve got pictures of my brother’s newborn twins and my nephew to proof as well. WOOT!
I am going…no where today! This is the first day in some time that we haven’t had somewhere to go.
I am reading…Unspoken by Angela Hunt.
I am hoping…to be able to finish up the wedding photos before our trip to Alabama in a few weeks.
I am hearing…the girls playing the newly returned from the shop Wii, airplanes taking off over at Reagan, and the dishwasher.
Around the house…is much evidence of our travels of late. Before our trip to Florida we were super busy and the state of my house shows it right now.
One of my favorite things…fresh homemade lemonade and grilled steak…what we’re having for dinner tonight.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
-Tomorrow is our pre-fourth of July picnic at church and luau planning meeting.
-Monday the girls’ have dentist appointments and I have a board meeting for the homeschool group.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing…

The following statements have been issued by me in the recent past:
• I’m never doing another wedding
• This is my last wedding
• This is too much stress, I’m never doing this again

I know that God has a sense of humor. Who else would’ve given my poor, long suffering husband who is never emotional about anything a wife like me???? I’ve been told to never say never because that’s exactly what you’ll end up doing.

I’m in that boat. Less than a week after the last wedding I was asked to do another one next April. The scary part is that a quiet little part of me wants to do it. On the back side of the stress of a wedding, when things are over and you’re just proofing pictures every day, the day didn’t seem so bad. The stress, while in huge amounts, didn’t seem insurmountable. The awkwardness of feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing seems to have faded, if just a bit.

But can I imagine myself as a real live wedding photographer? Seriously? My self-doubt and severe personal criticism comes into play here and I have to fight it off. I have prayed about it since the day I was asked to shoot the next wedding. God, if this is YOUR will for my life, if this is YOUR plan please let me know. Open the door wide and shove me through it. I’m pretty stubborn and hard headed, God. You know this and you have helped me in my 2×4 Christian walk before. The heavenly 2×4 upside my head doesn’t feel all that great but it’s definitely unmistakable.

I’m feeling conflicted. See, as a whole this business cannot be a regular full time job for me. Heck, right now it can’t even be a regular part time job. My full time career right now is being a wife, a mom, and an educator to my children. Those things have to come first. I guess my biggest worry is that (besides the whole “Dear God don’t let me screw this wedding up!) working weddings will take away too much time from my family. It isn’t just the day of the wedding time I’m talking about. It’s proofing time on the images. It’s album design time for the coffee table style books people want.

I need to make a decision. This bride and groom don’t need to be stressed about getting a photographer. They need to know an answer and I have to give them one. Soon.

The Wedding, originally uploaded by cbatesteach.

We all survived. Minimal editing done to these three images so I can prove I was there.

Have mountains of images to edit still. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 600. Plus my second shooter Courtney has a bunch as well.