Christmas Mini Sessions

Most of my Christmas sessions this year were either family or close friends. Either way, I enjoyed photographing them and their precious ones :)

Merry Christmas!!



{Randi + Michael} = MARRIED!!!

I am so glad I had the privilege to photograph this wedding as my first wedding. Simple yet beautiful with a bride who knew exactly what she wanted made my job a breeze! Enjoy :)

To check out more photos from Randi and Michael's wedding follow the link below to my facebook fan page. Don't forget to "Like" it :)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Memories-In-A-Flash-by-Karissa/107653095983078

When You're Under Attack

My devotional for the day:

Martin Niemoller, a former U-boat captain, was among those in Germany who spoke out against Hitler. Predictably, he was arrested and imprisoned. En route to face his accusers in court he was walking through an underground tunnel when he heard these words: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Niemoller was shocked. There was nobody around who could have said hem. Had God spoken to him audibly? In the end it didn't matter because God used His Word to strengthen and encourage one of His own. Apparently a Christian guard, who knew the acoustics inside the tunnel would allow somebody to whisper into the wall and be heard up ahead, had quoted the verse. Niemoller was acquitted, but he was still imprisoned for another seven years. When the prosecutor asked, "How can we imprison a man who's been acquitted?" Hitler replied, "Because he's my personal prisoner." Jesus said, "When people...persecute you and falsely say...evil against you because of me. Rejoice...great is your reward in Heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV). Charles Swindoll writes: "When you're punished for doing the right thing, you've a 'great cloud of witnesses' surrounding you (Heb 12:1)...faithful men and women who extended the kingdom and made the world a better place...at great personal cost...Take courage..you fight for the winning side." The Bible says: "Everyone who wants to live a godly life...will suffer" (2 Ti 3:12 NLT). The second that prison-cell door slammed shut, Niemoller joined a distinguised league of saints willing to endure hardship in this life in order to reign with Christ in the next one.


"The name of the Lord is a strong tower." - Proverbs 18:10 NKJV

I Miss You...

Is a phrase that is, I think, overused way too often these days. Don't get me wrong, I understand that if someone's spouse is gone from home for any length of time that they will miss them. One thing I don't understand is all these 13 and 14 year olds that have what they call "the love of their life" and see them everyday at school and the minute that 3:00 strikes the clock they post on facebook how much they just miss their baby. Seriously? Grow up. It won't kill you to go 17 hours without seeing them. Let me just say that from experience you NEVER really know how much you do miss someone until they are gone from you until it's your time to meet them again....in Heaven. I also think they people believe that they have to put stuff like that on facebook to get their point across to their significant other. I for one, have never thought that Landon would love me any less because I didn't say I loved or missed him over facebook. It, to us, is just like a mutual agreement that when you're gone for any length of time you will be missed, but atleast you will be back. For me to know that he misses or loves me, it doesn't have to be all over the web. Sorry if I'm going off the depend but it really just irked my nerves the other day when that is all I heard every 10 minutes. Just be thankful that whoever it is that you are saying you miss will return home to you. I also, understand that tomorrow is not guaranteed. That is why you need to tell the people you love that you love them EVERYDAY! It's not easy losing those you love, especially when it's one of your parents, but I get through the day knowing that he is in Heaven, he is no longer eat up with cancer, he doesn't ache, his side doesn't hurt so bad that you have to hug him from the other side, and that he will never have to worry about another test, needle, surgeon, or hospital bed ever, ever again. I miss him more than words can say and I cannot wait until the day that he can hug me and say "hey babygirl" again.

                                                            my highschool graduation

                           Daddy is the last on the bottom right in the striped shirt with those long side burns

 

                                                     when we surprised him at hope lodge

                                                         his "hair hat"....on christmas 2010

                                                               Tyler and his Big Daddy

                                         What Big Daddy will do if someone messes with Tyler

I think he might have been telling Tyler that he was going to have to pull for the tide ;)

Meet Martha!

Martha is my new name according to my cousin's husband, Shane. He calls me this ONLY because Leigh, my cousin, decided she wanted to paint her den. Do note that the den has three walls of brick 1 and a half walls are panneling. Also, I LOVE to decorate so I told her I would help her with whatever "projects" she had in mind and Shane (quiet but no so quiet) said oh dear! Over the phone I was throwing out ideas to her about color because one of the brick walls has a fireplace on it. I thought it would be pretty as an accent wall and she agreed so the fireplace wall is now chocolate brown and the rest of the room is sky blue. It's very pretty and I think our Mam-Maw would be proud that Leigh took her and Paw-Paw's home and made it her own. So anyway, neither one of us thought this would take long. Let me tell you...that was a LIE! So far it has taken TWO WEEKS and we still aren't completely finished...there's still some touch up work that needs to be done. At the beginning of our "Martha and Stewart project" Shane promised that he wouldn't be helping. However, he has helped at some point everyday and when we tell him to put the paint brush down and go to bed, he insist on still painting. Poor thing, he is just ready to have his house back to normal. So I have a few pics of our unfinished project so maybe Leigh won't mind me posting :)

the walls before

the color afterwards



So funny story about painting...I got primer in my eye. Yes, it hurt. No, I didn't cry...not from pain anyway but from laughter. I was on the step ladder painting under the trim because Leigh is scared she will mess it up....go figure :) No seriously, she doesnt paint close to the floor or close to the molding at the top. So she went on a snack break while I was diligently working when out of nowhere drip and theres primer in my eye. I screamed for Leigh and said "LEEEEIIIGGGGHHH there is primer in my eye!!! I can't get down off this stupid ladder by myself either! Oh wait I got down do something to fix it!" She said "come here NOW and I'll rinse it out under the sink." This meant that she was going to let my head get soaked. No way sister! My head couldnt get down under the faucet. She had a better idea after forcing my head towards the sink. "Wait I know I'll pour water out of Blakeleighs clean bottle to rinse out your eye." I said ok do you think we should call poison control. Well we did and they told me to let water from the shower head to run down my face for 15 minutes. Um no sweetie I didn't have that kind of time right then so I squatted down by the bath tub while Leigh poured water on my face and I got SOAKED! Good news is that I'm not blind and I now know what to do if primer gets in my eye!

I proudly introduce to you....the baby bottle that saved my vision :)



Time to catch up: Alabama Junior Rodeo

I haven't blogged since April and I don't know why, but for right now I need to get my mind off of some things so I'm going to spend some time catching up and sharing my latest photoshoots with you. Since April I have been in charge of photographing a junior rodeo, vacation bible school, and have done more of the normal things like families. To start off with, I'll share about the rodeo. The rodeo was in May and it was COLD! It is not supposed to be cold in May. I tell no lies when I tell you that I wore a jacket all day everyday that weekend. My cousin went with me and I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't gone. We stayed in his horsetrailer and I would tell you some funny stories about that except it probably wouldnt be that funny to you because you weren't there. Although it made for a long weekend, it was a good weekend and I personally am happy with the outcome of the action shots that I got; even though it took me FOREVER to get them edited. Here are a few pictures from that weekend:

this one ^ is one of my favorite pictures

another favorite