This year, I’ve committed to a lot of things personally and professionally and I want to share how grateful I am about it. Today’s post is more about the personal side of this! Holy week is a time of reflection and I find myself filled with gratitude. If I’m being honest, 2022 is not a year I look back on fondly in a lot of ways. Essentially, it was a wonderful year of growth in my business- many new families, as well as returning ones, and 81 new babies photographed! However, personally, I struggled to have any semblance of work/life balance. Juggling a new home, a husband with a broken shoulder (another story for another time!), two children under the age of four, multiple illnesses, a surgery, and the grief of loss became too much to carry by the end of the year.

Well, moving into the new year, I knew that something had to change. Every “yes” I committed to professionally had inadvertently become a “no” personally. I decided that 2023 was going to be the year I said “YES” to God. I wasn’t prioritizing my faith, myself, my family, or my relationships. After committing to work on those things FIRST, God has SHOWN UP in some major ways. This isn’t to say I haven’t been moving forward with business things, but it’s been secondary to my personal life. I’ve been offered a lot of “Yes’s” and it’s just the beginning of April. Through this willingness to obedience and submission, I have had so many wonderful benefits trickle into my business. I have entered a new chapter of contentment. There is less striving and more openness. Openness to receive whatever it is I am MEANT to be have.

Here are some reflections I have on this Good Friday:

The work of the cross is a daily reminder of my humanity and my complete dependance on the Lord.

I have learned that easy yes’s aren’t always the best yes’s. Personally or professionally.

Being obedient to what the Lord is calling me to and living in His will is always going to be better than my version of life.

I don’t have to emotionally and mentally carry everything. That’s not my job.

Serving families who understand my heart for them, and for motherhood, is a privilege that isn’t lost on me.

Simply being present in my daily life and viewing it as a blessing and a joy more regularly helps to shift my mindset.

My daughters are my complete pride and joy. They make my heart soar even on the hard days.

Ultimately, living from a mindset of gratitude is changing a lot for me this year.

Girls’ Dresses: Zara and Jamie Kay

Location: My home!

See another session from Corlyn Brae here