Memorable Monday - Playing in the Mud, Decisions and Disappointment

The laundry, dishes and dust seemed to build up in our home last week. I find that our house reflects the season we're in. When we're busy working, the house projects and keeping our home as tidy as I would like tends to go out the window. I try and give myself grace, but as a wife it's really hard to not let those thoughts about perfection dictate my attitude. This last week, we were shown extra love from our parents that we're talking about today!

Our Week

We facilitated January's Tuesday's Together with the Rising Tide Society and it was fabulous! We were out along the Sacramento River at our friend Carey's amazing home. We love seeing this creative community come together and continue to grow here in Northern California! What excites us more is the encouragement and support we have received from other creatives in Chico! If you're a creative entreprenuer in Chico, come join us next time, we would love to meet you!!
For Christmas, our amazing parents generously gave us a gift card towards having our house cleaned! It came at just the right time! After a week of traveling and tackling different business projects, it was wonderful to have a really good deep clean throughout the house! It's amazing how having a clean home can create such a great stress relief! We're grateful for our parents loving on us this past week!
We had to make a difficult decision this week. We prayed, talked, and sought council from others about a potential overseas project we were presented with in Africa and whether or not it was the best spiritual, personal and business decision for us. After processing through it, we realized our schedule is just too busy that time of year and it would be best to say no. Although our heart's desire was to go on this grand adventure, we really felt peace that we were better off saying no. I've talked a lot about choosing the very "best yes" for Stephen and me in 2016. Often times we want to say yes to everything that comes our way, especially when it involves travel and seemed like this project fell into our laps so perfectly. But if we went, we really felt it would be more stressful to meet existing deadlines and ultimately a disservice to our marriage and the clients and couples we serve. I wish we could go, but I'm confident God will bring another opportunity like this one again. Disappointment is never a fun thing to walk through, but it's part of life and I'm grateful we're not doing it alone. I'm choosing to believe another even better photography or videography opportunity will come our way soon!
On Sunday our good friends decided to organize a mud football game in Chico. It rained really hard over the weekend which made the field extra slippery and soaking wet! By the end of the game, everyone was nearly soaked and muddy from head to toe! The rain came down at the end of the game and smeared my makeup all off! Most of the guys, if they hadn't already been pushed or fallen in the mud, used the wet ground as a slip-n-slide and slid with a running start right through the muddy mess! This photo was taken right after we decided to pack up and call it a day! I love everyone's expressions, such a good time! Thanks to our sweet friend, past bride, and professional makeup artist, Leah, for taking this photo of our group!