The Gregory Family | A Downtown Jackson Family Session

Meet the Gregory family. A joyful, fun-loving, Jesus filled family that I had a BLAST spending time with recently!

The Gregory kids gave Ms. Karen a family session for Christmas. With a very active family of seven, we had to overcome some scheduling conflicts to make this family session happen… and I’m so thankful that Mr. Todd was such a trooper and didn’t allow his ankle surgery and cast stop us!

I first met Ms. Karen and oldest daughter Lauren when I was a missionary in downtown Jackson at We Will Go Ministries. In fact, the Lord spoke Isaiah 26:3 to me through Lauren just before I moved to the Middle East. “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.”  This is a Word the Lord knew I would need as I faced so many challenges in the years to come. I met second born Rebecca this past fall when she became one of my 2019 #meridithleebrides !! I loved every second of my time with her and fiance Adam in December at their engagement session and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding in May!

The Gregorys chose Downtown Jackson for their session, and I am loving the urban feel of their images! We spent time on the corner of Capitol and Congress Streets, as well as just down the street at the Mississippi State Capitol. I especially love the shots in front of the white brick wall around the Govenor’s Mansion!

Karen and Todd, as I spent time with you and your amazing kids, the Lord kept bringing Psalm 127:3-5 to my mind. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” You have raised up your children in the way they should go, and now as you begin to release your arrows out of your nest and into the world I feel the Lord saying to trust Him to continue to build their lives on the firm spiritual foundation He laid for each of them. Oh what a beautiful heritage the Lord has given you in Lauren, Rebecca, Alyssa, Noah and McKenna!

Rebecca and Adam | An Engagement Session at The Chapel at Livingston

Oh the joy of capturing this beautiful, Jesus-loving couple last Saturday at their engagement session at The Chapel at Livingston! I just loving getting to spend time with my MLPhoto brides and grooms during their complementary engagement sessions. It is a fun time to get to know them better, hear their stories, and hear about how their wedding plans are going. My hope is that when I arrive at their wedding in May, I will be a trusted friend and not just another vendor there to do a job. Because really, you want a trusted friend there to capture all the sweet moments of your big day!

Rebecca and Adam met though activities at Hope Fellowship Church. Rebecca told me that she fell in love with Adam’s heart for Jesus and desire to lead others into a worship experience with the One who pursues their hearts. It was so easy to capture the love and joy these two have for one another as we all laughed together and strolled around Livingston.

Rebecca and Adam, I have prayed for you as I edited the images from your engagement session. The verse the Lord gave me for you is Song of Solomon 8:6: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” The Lord has placed a fire of love within you both. Together that fire burns bigger and brighter. It is the love of Jesus that He sends you out into the world to share with the lost and the hurting. Oh the plans He has for the two of you as you become one with one another and with Him!

Jade Lott | Teen Girl Mini-Session | Highland Village

With this beautiful face featured on my website and shared so much this last week on both my Facebook and Instagram, I thought I should take a minute to introduce you to my friend Jade now that I have my blog up.

I first met Jade and her family several years ago while I was a missionary at We Will Go Ministries in downtown Jackson, MS. Jeff & Star Lott brought their kids to serve along side us as we fed the hungry and loved the homeless in one of the hardest parts of our city. I remember so clearly a very special service where our friend David Waggner prophesied powerfully over them about a kid’s ministry they would start. I am sure that if I dug through old voice recordings I would find that service and his exact words, but what I will never forget is how powerfully Holy Spirit spoke life into a dream that Jeff and Star had already been praying into! Jeff & Star were quick with their obedience and soon launched City Lights Ministries! Lee and I have both had the honor to minister at City Lights many times over the years, sharing stories from all our missionary journeys.

Jade was just a kid when I moved overseas. She was cute as a button, full of confidence, and fierce on skates! I was so excited when we enrolled my bonus daughter Annslea at Hartfield Academy last year, ran into the Lott family at orientation and found out that Annslea and Jade would be in eighth grade together!! I know without a doubt that when Annslea spends time with Jade’s family that they are speaking TRUTH into her life, and I hope trust that we are doing the same when Jade comes to stay with us.

One of my favorite things about photography is capturing natural beauty, especially in young teenage girls. Social media and Hollywood give them a very unrealistic image to strive for, and I want to call out the beauty in each one of them! I want them to see that they are beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God! That He knit them together in their mother’s womb, and that he has good plans for them!! Will you join with me in affirming not only Jade, but all the young girls in our lives, that they are beautiful, they are worthy of pure and innocent love, they are delighted in by their Heavenly Father, and He has amazing plans for them!!