Treu Image Photography

Dear Ethan,

You’re four years old now!  How is that possible?  I’m not sure exactly.  I think I’ve always just thought of you as the baby, as little.  But here you are, all of a sudden, not so little anymore.  Part of me is a little sad, knowing that snuggling with me probably won’t be your highest priority forever.  But another part of me is really happy, seeing who you are, who you’re becoming!

You’re creative, constantly wanting to work on projects, making crafts or drawing and painting, constantly exploring and building. You’ve got a gigantic imagination!  You’re a great pretender, making up stories and acting them out all day long.  I love how excited you are about life, all of it!  Even the smallest detail is amazing through your eyes.

You’re a funny kid :)  I hope you’ll always have this quirky, uninhibited charm about you.  You can be sneaky, but you know how to cover for it with sweetness.  I haven’t decided if that’s a good or a bad thing!  You love your family and want to do everything with Daddy or me or Silas.

Silas is your best friend.  You two don’t always get along; I guess that can be expected from brothers.  But it gives me so much joy to see how you play together, take care of each other, make each other laugh, cheer each other up.

Daddy and I are so very very proud of you son, of all that you are and all that the Lord is shaping you to be.  You are a sweet blessing everyday, and we thank Jesus for allowing us be your parents!  Keep your eyes, your heart, all that you are, ever stayed on Him.

We love you much,

Mama

I started taking an online photography class this week :)  It’s the first one I’ve taken in a decade!  Man, I’m getting old :/

It’s been really cool so far; everyday there’s new information to chew on.  And since it’s online, everyone taking the class (I think all ladies) can encourage and critique each other, which is really cool but also a little intimidating!

This week we were supposed to do an assignment on lighting, exploring how manipulating the same light can create different moods in images.  Lately I’ve realized that I seldom purposefully ask Silas to be my subject.  It actually made me kind of sad to think I’ve been sort of neglecting him :/  He’s always willing to pose for me, but he’s getting older and capturing a natural looking expression is getting harder.

So, thinking through what I wanted to do for the lighting assignment, I asked for his help.  By the end of it, he was asking to be done so he could go play, but he stuck it out and I’m really happy we spent that little bit of time together, and that I have these sweet images of him :)

I think the image above fits the mood of this lighting the best, but I love these too :)

See, a real smile!  I love his slightly chipped tooth here :)  Someday those little pearls will fall out and his smile will change, and I’ll be happy we took this picture.