Theres no doubt that I love weddings, I love creating, designing, and all things pretty, but on a crisp day last week, our hugely talented friends Erika and Ryan from Rowell Photography, spent some time with us and captured our family outside the world of events and weddings. While I’m thankful to be able to do what I love for an occupation, I can’t let what I do define who I am. The reality is, I am just a mother of three amazing boys, the wife of a loving and insanely handsome husband and woman of faith in God. And while our working days are often spent in the hectic-ness of the city, a little farm just north of Toronto, is where we call home. This is where my heart is, I mean not so much the physical location, albeit the beautiful Caledon countryside is something to behold, but right here at home, the place where David and I aim to raise three young men who choose right over wrong, who have a love for God. 
We have always struggled with the balance of running a stressful event business and meeting the diverse needs of our children. Each of them with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. While our youngest is a lego engineer and a basketball lover, our oldest two boys, Caleb and Josiah train and compete on quarter horses for the western sport of barrel racing. They have competed all over North America and I’m not going to lie, its pretty exciting when they win. But in a world that one’s identity, is associated only by accomplishments and ‘things’, we encourage them to want to be known for their character rather then by their talents. ‘Character’ is how they act when no one is watching. Yes, I’m the crazy mom screaming and cheering when they race.. and the excitement of seeing their hard work come together causes much happiness. But nothing compares to the joy our children bring when they make a good decision. They are not perfect, and it is painful to watch them make mistakes but I am comforted by my fathers words of wisdom as he always told me.. “Its not the mound of clay that counts, but the beautiful vessel that it becomes” 
Our oldest son Caleb is full of determination. Always has been. He has a lovely girlfriend Chelsie, who shares his passion for horses. Although Caleb would like to stay as far away from the city as possible, and admittedly is not the most creative one in family, he works in the business, as he saves for his future. Caleb loves to break and train young horses and we think he is pretty good at it. He is currently training in Oklahoma to be a farrier. He also loves to hunt. But yes, he is the one, that when he thinks nobody is watching, is quick to show the love.. and hug his horses face or get down on his knees and embrace his young dog Gunner. On more then one occasion I have ‘caught’ him in these random acts of kindness, though I am confident he would deny it!
Josiah is right there in the middle. He and his super horse Sure Dash, are the best of friends, spending countless hours together together training and keeping fit for the sport of barrel racing. And yes, he still jumps around on the tramp. Still in school, he works for the business part time. His gentle spirit and eager attitude are major assets to our company and we think there might just be a bit of creative talent here.. so we will wait and see. 
This is Jacob. Although Jake is a pro at analyzing his brothers horse runs, and offers his advice free of charge, he does not share his brothers passion for fast horses! He does however, love basketball and can talk basketball stats like no body’s business. Jake is kind and has a genuine concern for others. This year Jacob plays for a rep. basketball team. Yes we were pretty proud at his first game of the season when he shot the only three pointer, but that didn’t compare to the warm fuzzy feeling I got when, one night after a Raptors game, when Jacob was deeply concerned and very adamant about sharing his money with a homeless person. 
Among other things, David and I pray every evening for our children. Our prayer will always be that our boys will grow to be honourable men. Men of courage. Men of Integrity. We are not ashamed of our faith in God. We are thankful for His saving grace and believe He has blessed us immensely. 
David and I are business partners yes, but more importably we are the best of friends. We believe in love, not just the feeling of love, but the decision to love. Our goals and dreams haven’t changed much over the years and together we embark on the journey of the joys and sorrows of life together, with our boys, knowing and believing that together we are in the perfect will of God. 
Thank you so much to Rowell Photography for sharing your talents with us and capturing us with all our idiosyncrasies. The images are stunning and somehow a bunch of rednecks ended up looking half decent. Let me just say that no one around here jumps up and down when they find out it is picture day and between a mis-hap in the barn, two irritated horses, and Jacobs grumbling’s, “Why do the horses have to be in the picture anyways?, “are we done yet?” and his quick exits from the scene, Erika and Ryan were patient and somehow able to get each of the nay-sayers cooperating!