A time for reflection.. Something different..

As Wally and I get closer to wanting to start a family of our own, I started to think about my own family and how I came to be.
Now for those of you who know me or Wally you know that I am adopted, and most of you know that I have met my birth mother.
So for those of you who do not know or want to read a good story today, here is your chance.
Grab a cup of hot coco and enjoy:

There is not one specific day that I remember my
parents telling me that I was adopted. It was just a
fact of life for me.
I always had a feeling deep inside that if my birth
mother was anything like me, she would want to know
who I am as much as I wanted to know who she was.
Although it was never a burning desire for me to meet
her, I just always had this "missing piece to the
puzzle" feeling.
While I was growing up, I was a firm nurture believer.
I felt that who you are as a person came from the
lifestyle in which you grew up.
I had (and still have) a great family and awesome friends. My parents
always made sure we had the best that life could offer
us, and told us over and over again that our birth
parents loved us and wanted what was best for us.
Don't get me wrong, life wasn't always peaches and
cream. There were many times that kids in school would
pick on me and tell me that my birth mother didn't
love me and thats why she gave me away.
But my parents always reassured us that we were loved
and that is why we came to them.
If you have gotten this far in my story, you are
probably wondering why I keep saying "us". Well 10
years after my parents adopted me (they adopted me
when they were 30 and I was 2 months old) they asked
me how I would feel about having a sibling or two. I
was really excited about that idea. So 10 months later
we adopted twin girls from Korea. It was truly an
amazing moment in our lives.
So to get to my point, at the age of 23 we moved from
Seattle, where I had grown up to a little town in the
mid-west called Grand Rapids, Michigan. My birth
place.
Shortly after we moved here I went to see a new doctor
for a check up. The doctor was asking me routine
questions about my medical history. Well in 1975 they
didn't really give out you medical history for a
closed adoption, so i explained this to my doctor. She
informed me that because I am over the age of 18 I can
open my adoption file and get information about my
medical history, birth family etc..
This sparked a fire inside of me. I consulted with my
parents about this and we decided as a family that
this would be a good thing for me to get (my medical
history).
I contacted the adoption agency that my parents had
gone through 23 years prior. This was in January of
1999.
I spoke with the adoption agency and they sent me the
information that they had on file for me. Along with
this information, they also sent me pamphlets about
finding your birth family and what steps you need to
go through to do this. Until that moment I had not
even thought about actually doing this.
I went over and over and over this scenario in my head
and finally about 4 weeks later I called the
intermediary counselor out of Lansing. This is where
the story gets good.
She asked me to sign a few papers and send a
non-identifying letter to my birth mother. That was
one of the hardest letters I had ever written. What do
you say to the woman who had carried you for 9 months,
given birth to you, then immediately signed you over
to a loving wonderful family? I sent the letter. Two
weeks later she called me saying she had located my
birth mother, did I want her to be contacted?
I had to sleep on that one for another week.
Shortly after that I received another phone call
saying that she had read the letter to my birth mother
and that my birth mother wanted to send me a letter. I
said "send it on over".
She mailed me my first letter from my mother.
I remember reading this letter over and over again.
Memorizing every word. She explained that she didn't
give me up because she didn't want me but because she
wanted me to have a good life, one that she could not
give me.
After I received this letter I spoke with the
counselor again and she said if I wanted to contact my
birth mother personally I could have her phone number.
Immediately I said yes.
I sat there for a long time staring at the name and
number she had given me. Wondering who this woman was
and was she anything like me.
I went to see my parents to tell them my decision on
contacting my birth mom. They were very supportive
about all of this.
I believe that this is the point where most adoptees
give up and never go through with the initial contact.
There is a certain amount of guilt that you feel when
you tell your mom and dad, the ones who raised you from
an infant that you are going to contact your birth
parent.
It was not all roses, we had some fights. There was a
lot of guilt on my shoulders about this, but In the end
my parents accepted and supported my decision.
I finally got the nerve to call her.
I remember sitting in my dinning room with the phone
in my hands. My hands were sweating! I dialed the
number and a woman with a very familiar voice answered
the phone. I started to cry. She said that she had
waited for this moment everyday since the day I was
born.
There was a very long conversation following that. It
was good.
She told me that she new if I was anything like her, I
would want to know who she is as much as she wanted to
know who I was. I couldn't believe it, it was the same
thing I had been saying my entire life!
We agreed to meet.
2 weeks later I was looking at the woman who had given
birth to me. The woman who had given me to a family
who gave me a life she never could have.
It was an amazing moment.
This had all happened in the matter of 5 months. From
the time I contacted the adoption agency to meeting my
birth mother.
I could not believe how fast this had happened.
Before I knew it I was meeting my half brother and
sister. then my grandparents, then my entire birth
family!
It was amazing and wonderful.
Fast forward 8 years. Last August I married my husband
in a little town in Northern Michigan at a winery.
My adopted family was flying out from Seattle for this
(they moved back to Seattle shortly after I met my
birth mother, but not for that reason).
My birth mother, her husband and my half brother and
sister were also coming to the wedding. They had never
met my adopted family and the stress about this was
killing me.
Everyone had a different opinion on what I should be
doing. My husband kept telling me that no one else has
meet both families, so they have no idea how wonderful
both parents are.
Two days before the wedding, we held a dinner for all
the parents.
The moment my birth mom met my adopted mom I started
crying. They hugged each other and from that point on
they talked non stop the whole weekend.
There is a lot more to this story, so that is the
short version :)

Anyway, here is my birth mom, me and my mom on the day of our wedding.

It was truly a great moment and I am so happy to be able to share this with all of you!
Have a wonderful New Year!

How many photographers does it take..

to take pictures of 2 dogs???
Ok, so I am a little late with this post :)
As most of you know Amy and I tried effortlessly to take some pictures of both of our dogs in the studio.
Here is how they came out (with a little commentary):

"Hi! Wanna have your picture taken with me?"


"HA! Not a chance buddy. You think I want to get stepped on??"


"Fine. Your loss!"


"Hehehehehhe, I tricked her mom!!"


"Now this is more like it!"



"Hey, can we go home now?


Thanks for visiting!!
Love, Hanna and Tanner

Happy holidays to all!

Just wanted to wish all of my readers out there a very happy holiday season and an even happier new year!

logo, logo, logos....

My good friend Pete has created some new logos for me and he did such a good job I just cannot decide which one to choose. I mean, they are all REALLY good and even Wally cannot decide which one he likes the most.
So, I need your help with making this decision...Which one pops out at you? Which one can you see me using for the next 5, 10 years? Which on do you like the best?
Thanks for your help everyone, have a fabulous Christmas, a very merry New Year and a safe and delightful weekend!!
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Sugar and spice and alll things nice

Thats what these little girls are made of :)
They came bursting into our studio last night with so much energy I couldn't help but take a gazillion pictures!
Aletha thanks for bringing them in, this was so much fun!!!
Here's a preview from our session:

Winter Love...

On Saturday I photographed Kim and Bruce's wedding in Hastings at the Barry County Expo Center!
I have never photographed a winter wedding before (man was it cold!!). We had a great time at this one, aside from the ridiculous snow storm we got that night!
Kim had chosen a winter snowflake theme with pink, black and silver as her colors. She did a great job with the decorations. The place looked awesome! Cute idea: They had a family friend make a tree skirt that served at their guest book. It was beautiful! They also had a Christmas Tree with ornaments with their wedding date and names on them... LOVE IT!!!

Here are a few preview pics of their wedding day.

Congratulations Kim and Bruce!

Tiss the season...

For family pictures!
Last night one of my favorite families came into the studio for their annual christmas pictures!
Its always a fun time with them and this was my first time photographing them in the studio!
Here are a few pics from our session:

Peace and joy to all!

Tonight I had 2 cuties come into the studio for holiday pictures!
I had so much fun photographing them! They really have such awesome personalities :)
Here are a few of the pictures I took tonight:

Hello?

Who's there?

Oh, it's you!

Well I am having my picture taken right now, so I can't play. Maybe later!

Ok, sorry about that. I am ready for my close up now.

To Smash or Not to Smash....

That is the question....
I have seen a lot of brides and grooms feed each other wedding cake, and it seems to me that it is a bit of tradition to put a little icing on someones nose and kiss it away.
But never have I seen such a cake cutting event such as this one:


I took this picture at a wedding last fall. Both the bride and groom came up to me individually to let me know that they were going to smash each other with the cake.
All during the reception I had to keep this little secret to myself and wait for the moment when they went to feed each other the giant piece of cake they had in their hands. Needless to say, I was ready!
Everyone got a big laugh about it, especially the bride and groom!

Calling all brides....

Time is running out on Pearls Events DOC discount!
The deadline to book is December 31st, so if you haven't booked her now, do it soon!
I know she is booking up for 2008 and there is still a little bit of time, but don't wait too long :)

Two peas in a pod...

Today I had the pleasure of having two of my favorite clients in the studio!
I met these girls about 4 years ago when I started JK Photography.
They are quite the cuties and they have grown so much over the years, I always have such a good time photographing them.
We had a blast picking out props to play with, they showed me thier dance poses and they did some gymnastics too!
Here are a few pics from our session:

Walk like and egyptian!

Of course I had to get in there for one with them!

Fun with Spout

So on Friday my co-workers from Spout and I had our holiday pictures done in my studio!
We are kind of a crazy group and with 13 people there it was a little hard to make a decision on how to put everyone together.
But after many tries and much craziness I think we finally nailed it.
You tell me, which one do you like the best?