Blog Moved!

If you are looking for Kara Jenkins Photography, I have moved my blog to karadelainephotography.wordpress.com! Check it out!

Fall Session Specials!

Fall is now my favorite season! It used to be spring. Spring is a beautiful time of year. New life springing up, the end of the dreary winter season, nice temperatures...but fall has officially won over my heart. I love the cool, crisp air, the shades of red, orange, and yellow, and pumpkins! Pumpkin picking, pumpkin decor, pumpkin desserts, pumpkin drinks-pumpkins are so much fun. I also feel like we get to enjoy the cool temperature longer than in the spring. Spring turns into summer all too quickly. I will say that I also think fall is too short as well, but it seems like there is a bit more time to enjoy cool temperatures before the cold of winter sets in.

One more thing I absolutely love about fall is the beautiful photo ops! This is why I am doing a fall discount-20% off an Anything Session, making a 1-2 hour session only $80! This includes a CD with 40-50 high resolution images. Please book a session soon, before this season passes you by!

I would also like to offer a fall mini-session. This is a 30 minute session that includes a CD of 20-25 images for just $50. This can be anything you want it to be! For example, a costume mini session for Halloween, pumpkin patch mini session, or a Christmas card mini session.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

How many of you have read this classic children's tale? I have felt like Alexander two days in a row! Let me describe to you the events that led me to these emotions...

Wednesday morning
I wake up and look at the clock. It's almost 9am. This is awesome! Of course, both babies wake-up right then as well, so I jump out of bed, get Tessa up first so I can get her breakfast going and then attempt to shove a bowl of oatmeal down my throat so I can feed crying Siah. Good thing I am a fast eater! So far, it's a normal morning...

Figuring out how to get a shower in is not always easy with two kiddos. Tessa has been under the weather the entire week, so she ends up acting like she is ready for a nap within 2 hours of being awake (this means she is throwing fits every few seconds). This is not a guarantee she will take a nap-in fact, I doubted she would. But I lay her down anyways. I put Siah in his bouncy chair and place it in the bathroom. Our nifty apartment washer forces us to hook a hose up to the bathroom sink, which prevents the bathroom door from being able to close. I have learned the hard way that the shower steam sets off the fire alarm...not fun! I did not want the fire alarm to go off and wake up Tessa-so I un-hook the hose, shake out the water, and lay it on a washcloth outside the bathroom door.

Did I forget to mention the washer is soaking a load of cloth diapers? Normally they wouldn't be soaking...but I had to pause the cycle because Tessa was going down for a nap. Our washer and dryer are right in front of her bedroom. And the washer is LOUD. So the washer is full of pee water.

Fast forward to end of my shower. I am so happy that I get out and find no sounds coming from Tessa's room. She is asleep! Woo-hoo! Siah is beginning to cry though, so I hurry and get dressed so I can pick him up before his cries wake-up his sister. As I step out of the bathroom, I feel my foot sink and water rise up around it. I close my eyes, sigh, and think to myself, "Why?? Why can't I have any common sense?? I am so stupid! Of course the water can drain from the washer out of the hose...why didn't I think of that?" I open my eyes and survey the damage...the carpet is soaked through from the bathroom to our bedroom, about 5 feet. And I find that areas that appear to be dry on the surface are not...as soon as I step on them, water seeps from below and drenches 4 pairs of socks.

And it stinks. Like pee.

The primary thing on my mind is the fact that we are hopefully moving out in a month and do not have any significant carpet damage to pay for. Until now. I have no idea what the water is doing to the carpet right now. If it has seeped all the way down, I just know it's not a good situation. I try to dry it all up...I packed up all of our old dirty towels, so I first have to search for them in the boxes that fill our living room. All of our cleaning rags are in Tessa's room, where the rest of the laundry is that I never finished putting away. So I use whatever I can find. I go through five big towels, 10 washcloths, and 5 dish towels. And the carpet is still wet. I get out the cleaner and spray the area down in hope of getting rid of the pee...Total, I spent about 2 hours on my knees soaking up water and scrubbing our carpet, praying every minute that the babies would stay asleep long enough for me to finish.

And Tessa slept longer than she had in a couple of weeks! Praise the Lord! So, it was not a completely terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...but it was a terrible, horrible, no good couple of hours. It made it worse that I felt so stupid. I really do lack common sense. It's a curse.

The rest of the day was fine. And then this morning happened.

I woke up to the baby at 8:30. Then I hear Tessa as well. The routine from the day before ensues. I open the fridge to pour Tessa some milk...and I see that the entire bottom shelf is covered in apple juice. The apple juice I had opened in the middle of the night and drank from twice after that. I knew laying it down on the bottom shelf after opening it was dangerous. So I made sure to tighten it really well each time I got it out. Apparently the last time didn't work so well.

Now I have two hungry babies and a huge mess. I put a dish towel over it (why not add to the huge load of towels from the day before?), pour Tessa's milk and leave it. Only to find when I come back to it that the juice is now dripping down into the drawer and all over the floor. Ugh! I get Tessa her breakfast and hope that it will keep her occupied while I clean up. I feed the baby sometime in there.

There is a huge bag of potatoes, drenched. A bag of bread, a sweet potato, and a couple of rubber maids. The bag of potatoes is the biggest problem. The bags have those little holes all over both sides. So every single potato is covered in apple juice. I am pretty distracted from Tessa, but am trying work fast so she won't get into the juice that is all over the floor and be covered with stickness. I check on her when I am halfway done, only to find she has decided to not eat her mandarin oranges-it is much more fun to squeeze each of them over the floor and throw them down.

She is covered in stickiness and so is the carpet. Sigh. This is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning. And now I feel stupid again because it's all my fault. My husband is allergic to apples. I know for a fact he didn't touch the juice before leaving for work!

How did the rest of the day turn out? Just fine so far. Not easy, as I am still getting used to being the mother of two, but nothing else huge has happened yet. It's almost 5pm. But I am humbled, two days in a row. And I pouted both mornings that so much time was taken away from my day by things I could have prevented.

What cheers me up? My babies! Or my big girl and my baby boy. Things get tough around here, but I am so abundantly blessed, even in the midst of those Alexander moments! Here is a photo to brighten your day-I know it helps to brighten mine:

Welcome Baby Siah!

Here our a few photos of our precious baby boy! We are headed to the park this afternoon to get some fall photos of us as a family and few more newborn photos of him. My poor family! They never get much of a break from the camera =) I am so thankful to be recovering so quickly from this delivery. It has been 2.5 weeks and I am ready to get out of the house and do some fall sessions! I still have a little pain, but not near as much as I did with Tessa and not enough to keep me confined to our home! We are enjoying our new addition so much. He is a fairly easy baby so far. However, one major thing we learned about babies from our firstborn is to always expect change! It is constant during the first year. But we will love him with all of our hearts no matter how difficult it may get! 

Recent Editing Fun

These photos were actually taken by my husband! I set up the camera for him, gave him instructions about the angle, and he shot away! To be honest, we took about 100 photos in this one pose. It wasn't turning out exactly how I wanted, and I could not figure out what to tell him to do differently! He did an awesome job with the focus, and I'm proud of him for all that he has learned since I have began this journey. I want him to learn the basics so I can be in photos too! I may add the before pictures at some point so you can see what all occurs during the editing process! I decided to make these more vibrant than my previous edits. It's not my regular style. What do you think?

My Maternity Shoot!

I asked a friend from our church, Sojourn, to do maternity portraits for us. She does photography for our church campus and is pretty awesome. She currently specializes in event photography but is wanting to get into weddings and portraits. So we set a date, chose a location, and had everything ready to go! However, I had this constant voice in the back of my mind questioning whether or not we could really spend the money on getting these photos done. Why was it so important to me? We did not get professional photos done when I was pregnant with Tessa. And I loved how I looked pregnant! When you are scrawny and have no shape, you enjoy those months with a baby bump =) With this pregnancy, I wanted to have these moments captured before the baby bump becomes our little guy! So I fought the voice. I told it to be quiet. My husband knew I really wanted them, so he had no problem with spending the money. Then the bank accepted our offer on the condo (we've been waiting for two months)! We knew financially buying the condo would make things tight for awhile (down payment, closing costs, two months rent for breaking our lease, inspections...), but I didn't realize how it would feel writing all those checks! Last week we wrote a check for an appraisal down payment for the bank we will be getting our loan from-did NOT know about that expense. Then we wrote a check to our real estate agency for $700-money we will eventually get back if we close on the condo (if we change our minds, they keep the money unless it is because of a problem with the condo). Even though we will get it back, it will be at least a month from now (or more) and well, I guess I am going on and on...needless to say, when Crockett got a surprise while getting his oil changed ($100 break problem), I decided we had to cancel the shoot. It was just too much in one week with more checks to write the next week! I cancelled...two days before the shoot...and decided we would still get up early Saturday morning, get out my tripod, and take some photos. And though there a lot of poses/angles I wish we could have gotten that weren't really possible with using a tripod and taking them myself, we did get some beautiful images that we will always treasure. Here are a few I've edited so far-Enjoy!

  

Fix-It Friday!

I decided to edit the I Heart Faces Fix-It Friday photo (that's a mouthful!) this past week. Participating in Fix-It Fridays is a great way to learn new editing skills from other photographers and discover what style you love as a photographer. I am still limited because I do not have Photoshop (on the bottom of our priority list as we are currently purchasing a condo), but I do what I can! Here is my edit: 

Bolt Maternity Shoot

Kerri and I met through a mutual friend, and I was so excited at the opportunity to take her maternity photos! We all got to know each other during shooting, and let me tell you, this couple will impress you with their cycling skills! I can go about .5 miles before I wear out...they can go 20 with no problem. Kerri told me the most she's done was "just 40"! I can't even comprehend that...and Chris does that much on a regular basis! They are so excited to meet their baby girl soon and so thankful for the miracle of a healthy pregnancy! It was a blessing to provide them with the gift of these photos to remember this sweet time. 

Zaine Photo Session

Meet Zaine! He is a sweet, fun little boy, transitioning from babyhood to toddlerhood and always on the go! He is the same age as our baby girl (who is also leaving babyhood behind...so sad!), and I had a wonderful time chasing him around to get some precious memories his family can cherish. Enjoy some of my favorites from his shoot!

On the Topic of Rejection and Critique

How do you respond to rejection and/or critique?

My heart races. My body temperature rises. And I feel like curling up in a ball and crying for hours. Yes, for hours. 

Why is critique so difficult for me? First and foremost because I am a sinner. I care too much about the opinions of others. I want to be high and exalted in their eyes. When I discover how they really see me, it is crushing. And I forget God's truth. I begin to define myself by the flaws that have been thrust into my lap by those doing the critiquing. My feelings grow and swell and suddenly I believe myself to be worthless, unable to offer anything to anyone. 

This is especially true in the area of ministry. Why? I felt called into the ministry in high school. I went to school and received a degree in ministry. I was prepared and daily encouraged by my professors that I had what it takes, that I had something to offer. I made an A in every class I ever took! All of this added up to rejection after rejection as I applied for job after job. I wasn't what anyone was looking for. I wasn't good enough. My weaknesses were too great. How humbling it is to feel like people are telling you that you are not even qualified to share the Gospel! I should have been a doctor...

I keep thinking after each new obstacle that rejection and critique will get easier, that I will grow into a woman who always responds with grace and truth. But today I find myself ready to mope around about another rejection received, even though if I had received an invitation, I would have rejected it...strange how our emotions work! 

I have also had conversations with my husband on the topic of lying about what I believe my weaknesses to be in an interview. Apparently those interviewing for ministry position do not believe that in our weaknesses, Christ is strong =) So I should change my weakness into something that isn't really a weakness...something that is acceptable-like being too devoted to my work! 

Don't worry...I haven't yet lied...

The feeling of not being wanted or needed is always difficult. Will it always cause me to question who I am? My value? I hope not. God has me in a role now that is very important. I am a wife and a mommy. I have a little girl who follows me around every second of the day. And although that doesn't always affirm who I am like it should, it does help me remember why I am here and that this is my ministry. I have the opportunity to share the Gospel with my baby girl each and every day. If I fail at that, it wouldn't matter if I received hundreds of job offers from ministries around the world. My family is my primary ministry, everything else is secondary. God has a plan for me. One day He might allow me to serve Him in the ways I feel called. Or He may not. But I have to live each day glorifying Him where He has placed me and trusting in who His Word defines me to be.

Here is a recent photo of my ministry with her big girl pigtails!

Ordinary Miracles

What are ordinary miracles? They are the day-to-day events that we often overlook because they are so commonplace. This includes pregnancy, love, laughter, sunrise, rain, snow, the transformation of the seasons, holding your baby for the first time, the smile of a child, breathing! How easily we forget the greatness of these life experiences in our daily race of living! These are ordinary because we all experience them, many of us in great abundance. But in the ordinary is the extraordinary, and there we discover the miracle. Many of us do not take notice of our ordinary miracles until they are taken from us. Some of us may never notice them at all.

Have you ever watched Charlotte's Web? The one with Dakota Fanning? I stole this concept from the beautiful song by Sarah McLachlan, Ordinary Miracle, which is played in this movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rweU-FFE6Ww&feature=related). Funny what you can learn from a children's story! This is such a beautiful song (and I love her voice)! There is beauty all around us and so many opportunities to enjoy it throughout our days. We just have to pay attention!

So this is my hope in my pursuit of professional photography-to capture the ordinary miracles of life and place them in the form of a photograph into the hands of my clients. I hope you begin to be renewed in your perception of the happenings of your everyday! What ordinary miracles are you overlooking in the busyness of life?

More Family Photos

Family Photos!

We ventured out to do some family photos this past weekend! These are the first photos I have done of our baby girl walking really well. She was having so much fun trying to get away from us! These are two of my great loves of this life. I am so thankful to spend each day with them and pray I can treasure each moment we have together.