Someone asked me the other day who had sacrificed for me to do this job that I love to do.  It took me half a second to think of the 4 people on this earth that have done SO much for me and this business.

My mom’s side of the family gave me my first film SLR in high school and then my grandparents loaned me the money to buy my first digital SLR in my 20s.  That Nikon D90 did so much hard work for me and getting this business off the ground.  Not only that, but a year after helping me buy that camera, my incredible grandparents sent me to France for a workshop with National Geographic. My grandfather had been sick and he passed away the day I came home from that trip, but I will never forget talking with him on the phone before I boarded the plane to France.  He told me to have a wonderful time and to take some pretty pictures :-)

It might seem small, but that trip changed the course of my career with photography.  And I could never thank my grandparents enough for how much they believed in me and how much they love me.

Unfortunately I can’t find any photos of just me with both of my grandparents, but I’m glad I have some with my grandma!

But this doesn’t stop with my grandparents.  My husband has done SO much for me and this dream of mine, even before we were engaged!  He helped with organizing my books back in 2011 and he continues to keep up with them!  He has been blessed with a great mind for business and has helped me so much over these last 6 years and he’s also prevented me from buying ALL the lenses at once so I didn’t go into debt :-)

He learned photography for me so he could second shoot weddings with me for a while.  After working all week, he would give up his Saturdays and sometimes full weekends to travel to all kinds of weddings to be on his feet for 8-12 hours with me… camera in hand and never once complaining.  But even more than all of that, he continues to encourage me, push me, pray with me and for me and I believe he’ll always be my biggest cheerleader.  I couldn’t do this on a daily basis without him!  And again, I could never thank him enough for all he’s done.

There really have been so many people who have sacrificed many things for me in the name of this love I have for capturing memories for my brides & grooms, parents to be and families along the way… but over the last 2+ years, my mom is definitely at the top of that list.  She has sacrificed so much of her time to watch our babies while we’ve been at weddings or I’ve gone to an engagement session or to photograph a birth.  She’s kept Catherine for days at a time so we could go to a marriage retreat for couples who are in business together, she came over in the middle of the night when I went into labor with Isa.  Countless times she has changed her plans to help me out at the last minute and I’ve finally been able to see how much she did for us when my brother and I were babies… and she’s sacrificing all over again for her grandkids.  Mom, all of us love you and are so thankful for you!

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it’s taken a village to raise this business!  I couldn’t keep doing this without this incredible family of mine.  And I’m so incredibly thankful!

So now it’s my turn to ask YOU… who has sacrificed for you?  And have you ever told them how much that sacrifice has meant to you?  My guess is you could make their day by letting them know you see them, you see what they’ve given up for you and that you appreciate it more than words could ever convey.