Think Pink!

Breast Cancer. Not something that comes lighthearted in our family. My mom has been diagnosed twice with breast cancer in the past six years. She fought like a champ both times. The first time she had a partial mastectomy and went through chemo and radiation. I remember before she started losing her hair we went to the Huntington mall to the wig store. I remember we all cried the whole time, and then laughed when she put on hideous wigs. I remember the lady who worked there even cried with us, and when leaving she asked if she could pray with us. She held our hands and said a prayer for my mom. Prayers were answered. The surgery, chemo, and radiation helped. Fast forward a few years later. She found a lump in her other breast. It turned out to be breast cancer as well, luckily it wasn't spread from the previous time, it had nothing to do with having cancer before. She just was one of those people that got it again. She went through chemo again and lost her hair again and BEAT IT AGAIN!

I can't say I know how it feels, but I can say it isn't something you want to go through, yourself or seeing a family member go through it. But one thing is for sure. She was a fighter, she never once complained. I never got a phone call saying poor pitiful me. There was never a day she ever made you feel like you should feel sorry for her. Her and my dad were always positive, never made it seem like she had a bad day. There were days she couldn't get out of bed, days where everything made her sick, days she probably laid in bed and cried. I wouldn't know because she made it seem like beating cancer was just another thing on her to-do list.

My grandmother had breast cancer before I was even born. My moms sister, who lives close by, had breast cancer before my mom did. Her other sister from Charlotte was diagnosed this past year with breast cancer. My mom and aunt didn't think twice to pack up and go there to be with her and help take care of her. They were there during her surgery and to help her come home. They went back weeks later and helped her out again. Luckily, we do not have the gene that runs in our family. My mom and her sister were both tested for it and to confirm it wasn't in the family gene. It is just a rare occurrence that so many people in our family have been diagnosed.

Lets just say if I had to go through what they had to I would have been a hot mess. I don't want to go through it, I don't want my sister to go through it, I don't want my daughter to go through it, I don't want my best friends to go through it, I don't want anyone to go through it. So thats why we walk!! Have you ever done a Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure? Have you donated before? Here is your chance.

I am going to do one more mini session special this spring. All money for the sessions will be donated to our Susan G. Komen team.

DETAILS:

When: April 22, 2012

Location: TBA (Charleston area) if raining will be inside

Prices: $50 for 7 images on CD

            $80 for 14 images on CD

Time: 4:00-4:20

          4:25-4:45

          4:50-5:10

          5:15:5:35
          5:40-6:00
          6:05-6:25
          6:30-6:50
          6:55-7:15

The sessions are for up to three people. (To add an extra person it is $15 per person. No more than 6 people total)

How to sign up:

Go to Paypal.com. Click on the blue tab "Send Money." In the box there is an option for "purchase or personal" Click on Personal and then the option "gift." Click continue. Before you click send money please scroll down to the message part and please leave a message with your name and address and time slot. That way I know who donated and the amount of pictures that will go on your CD. If you are worried about a certain time slot please ask me beforehand if it has been booked! Thank you so much and I am so happy to work with you all!! If you are interested in just donating without a session click here. 

If you want to join our team and walk with us please email me and I will send you a link.

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines Day!  I am going to do another post about me haha!!  I get to meet so many families and hear a little bit about each family, like what they do, where they work, and about their children.  If I am doing a session with a child that can talk, more than likely I probably talk A LOT to them!  haha They probably think I talk way too much.  If you have a little one that can't talk I probably talk to them too much to them and make too many noises to get their attention and think I am a crazy lady. I do it to make them smile and make them comfortable with me, maybe make another small friend so next time they remember me (even if they think I am crazy).

I thought I would tell you a little bit about me and my love story!  It all started back in 2005.  We both worked retail at the Huntington mall.  He was a manager at Rogers Jewelers and I was a manager at B.Moss, the stores were right across the hall from each other.  He was getting out of a serious relationship and so was I.  I had been engaged and was about to adventure in the life of being single and only doing things for me, something I hadn't done in awhile.  So I decided I was going to trade my engagement ring in at...you guessed it Rogers.  I walked in and he was the one to help me ( I had never seen him before that day because he had just transferred stores). I wanted diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds. haha! I couldn't decide what I wanted and it took me a few weeks to pick out what I wanted.  Well a few weeks later he helped me decide what I was going to get to replace my ring.  Diamonds make everyone better right??

Well we started going out all the time together or meeting up after we had been out with our own friends. We really turned into great friends.   His nickname was "Mr. Rogers" and I was"B. Moss girl." We both said for the longest time "I am over relationships and refuse to be in one for a long time." We became best friends.  We would stay up really late talking about life and everything we could think of.  We complained of past experiences and how we would do things differently.  We would sit for hours and play cards, just the two of us.  He ended up moving about an hour and a half away to help manage another store.  There was never a second I thought about if we were going to be together forever.  But I refused to move anywhere for a guy without a ring on my finger.  He ended up proposing 8 months after we started hanging out, four months after moving away.

I always told him I wanted to be proposed to when I woke up because it would be like a dream come true haha!  I would not have been mad if he didn't do it that way, just always joked about it.  Well it was easter weekend and I had taken a shower that Saturday and was laying on the couch taking a nap.  He woke me up and proposed right then and there.  My dreams did come true!

We ended up moving to Virginia Beach for about a year and a half.  We planned our wedding from there and got married back here in West Virginia. A few months later we had a baby on the way.  We moved back here before Miss Bailey was born and have been here ever since.

We will be married for 5 years in May.  We have had a lot of good times and several hard times.  We brought the most precious girl into the world a year after being married on May 27th 2008.  She is our life thats for sure!  If anyone knows me close enough they know Jason travels a lot for work.  He is more than likely traveling at least 2-3 days a week every week.  I play single married mom a lot, that explains why my child randomly tags along to a few sessions.  Don't get me wrong it is very hard, but for the most part its just part of our life and absence makes the heart grow fonder right?  That also explains why Bailey and I shop a lot! haha

We started trying for baby number 2 after her being 7 months old to come to find out it just wasn't meant to be.  We have been trying for 3 years with no luck and lots of fertility drugs, doctors, hormones, tests and a miscarriage .  You know your marriage is going to last if your husband can deal with you through all the emotions you go through with hormone drugs. It has been a long road of disappointment.  But, through it all I have learned that everything happens for a reason, I mean if I hadn't walked in that store to buy jewelry we may not be were we are today.  Trust me there are days I get so angry and don't understand and complain way to much, but unless you have gone through infertility yourself you have no clue how frustrating it is.

So I get my baby fix from doing newborn sessions haha! They are so cute and cuddly and then you Momma's have to deal with the 3 o'clock feedings and all those diapers!

All marriages aren't perfect and finding that perfect someone isn't always easy.  You have to go through the bad to get to the good.  I wouldn't trade my life for anything even when my husband is at his worst.   Just remember everything happens for a reason.....what was your reason??

Love you Mr Rogers,

Your B. Moss girl!