Personal Story: Hey y'all! Just checking in...

Whew y'all!  Has anyone else noticed that we are half way through 2013 now?  Once we get into wedding season I feel like time flies!  If you follow me or Story Photographers on Facebook, you've seen that there have been major life events going on for people in my family.In January David and I bought a house!  We LOVE our space and are really starting to feel settled in and getting it to the point where it looks like we live here.  I can't wait to share pictures with you all soon.  You know me, I had to have it just right before I felt like I could share.Last weekend my little sister Amanda got married!  Remember her and Trevor's engagement session where her puggle Madi continually tried to steal the show?  Sadly her puggle was not invited to the wedding, otherwise I think she would have tried to steal the show again.  I would have a bridal shoot to share with you but my goodness, we got rained out THREE TIMES.  So yeah.  That was a bummer.  My sister was beautiful, Trevor was handsome, and the whole day was just stunning.  April photographed the event so David and I could be involved in other ways and I can't WAIT to share the images she captured with you all.  I do love this one that we got of April and I during Amanda's reception.  I love this lady and what she means to me and my family (even if April likes to lick my face and bomb good photos)(yes, that is me without glasses)!My Mom is currently in South Africa finalizing the adoption of my sweet little brother Thabiso!  He is eight years old and we have known him since he was one and half.  It's funny, we feel like any time we tell his story and how we got to this point with him, we make people cry.  This has just been our reality with him... always hoping that one day he could really be a part of our family here in America.  The court date went smoothly, now we just wait for the papers to be processed.  We are all so excited we can hardly stand it.  Thabiso's story and our story with him is truly amazing - I would love for you to read his story from when I recently shared it on the blog.I take pride in the fact that I was the first to fall in love with Thabiso.  He was so sad, hurt and angry when we first met him.  His belly was distended from hunger - he had only been at the orphanage a couple of weeks when we first arrived.  The shirt version of the story is that his father killed all his family members and then himself, leaving Thabiso all alone (read more here) so even at almost two years old, he was feeling the stress and trauma of what happened.  I was drawn to this little man that wouldn't smile.  I loved it when he would bark little commandments to me in his native language, Tswana, which I would have translated by an older child or I would just smile and pretend like I knew what he was saying.  What broke my heart were the snuggles.  I loved holding this little boy... so much so that I would dream about him being a part of our family after we had returned to the states.  A seed was planted in my Mom that year, and she too would fall in love this this precious little man.  This is my favorite picture of me and Thabiso (this is a scan of a shot from my film camera)... I am so thankful to have this portal back to this moment...I can't wait to share more photos and stories about my little brother.  Since he has always had my camera in his face, he LOVES taking photos himself.  Thabiso loves to draw, figure out anything technical, is sensitive and sweet with animals.  It will be so awesome for us all to learn more about him once he is here with Mom.  I love you Thabiso!