Aimee, Mac Powell’s wife, and I got a chance to meet up at the Created4Care conference in March. And she graciously – and amazingly generously – offered to hook our entire crew up with tickets to the Third Day show in Raleigh.

For our family, getting a chance to go to this concert was a especially rare occurrence.

As in, we rarely go anywhere with everyone that charges more for admission than the Chick-Fil-A play place.

So, needless to say, our kids were pumped.

The very best part? Aimee worked it out so that we could meet up with her man, lead singer and front man Mac Powell.

One of Chris’ and my most favorite, love-’em-so-much-you’re-almost-a-stalker singers. Ever.

Proof: see my face in the above picture.

Case closed.

And, amazingly, my huckster grin and goofy blathering didn’t frighten him off. We even got to meet Tai Anderson and David Carr, two other members of Third Day.

Third Day was the first Christian band I fell in love with back in 2001. We’ve loved ‘em ever since.

Our kids know and love their music because our iPods and iPhones are packed full of Third Day songs.

And worshiping our amazing God in a huge arena with thousands of other believers was nothing short of awesome.

Chris and I even bought the concert t-shirt.

Thank you, Aimee and Mac, for making last night a night we’ll never forget. You truly blessed our entire family in a crazy cool way.

And a P.S. for the photography stuff. While these aren’t the best, and they definitely don’t do the night justice, they’re so very special to me. My favorite shot (photographically speaking) was the first one, of Jude, because of the way I caught a ray of the sun as it was setting.

These were shot on my Nikon D90 with my 50mm 1.4 lens. My settings for that first shot were ISO 1250, 1/100 sec, f/3.5. I was playing around with my aperture trying to get some sunflare and this is what I got.

Can’t wait to see your Snapshots.

Ready to play along? Here are the Sunday Snapshot rules – in a nutshell.

1. Sunday Snapshot will begin weekly with my Snapshot post on Sunday (or Saturday night) and will close Tuesday AM.
2. It is open to anyone who wants to become a better photographer and have fun in the process.
3. Snapshot posts should have the photo to be considered AT THE TOP of the Sunday Snapshot post, and should include the Sunday Snapshot button as well as a link back here to encourage others to play along.
4. Share any photography tips and/or settings on your posts for others (like me!) who are learning – this is encouraged but definitely not required.
5. Each Snapshot entry will be reviewed by me. Then I’ll select a favorite photo to be announced on Wednesday.
6. The winning Snapshot will be selected based on composition, color, emotion, creativity and post-processing.
7. Weekly winners will be featured in a monthly Sunday Snapshot post which will be judged by y’all, the readers.
8. The winner of the monthly Sunday Snapshot will receive a photography related goodie donated by the Sunday Snapshot monthly sponsor. May’s Snapshot sponsor is SnapShops.
9. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
9. Rules subject to change, as necessary, to keep this fun and fruitful for everyone.

If you’re ready to link up this week with your Sunday Snapshot, just copy the code under the Snapshot button and paste it into the body of your post where you’d like the button to be displayed.

When you hit ‘publish’ it should show up just fine. Then add your link below.

Happy Sunday, y’all.

And how seductive it can be. Ever thought of color as seductive in a photograph? I hadn’t. But it most definitely can be. And I have realized that I am enamored with color. Lots and lots of color.

Hello. My name is Stefanie. And I am a color freak.

Back to my book.

The author begs the question, “Have you tried your image in black and white?”

He goes on to explain that every element in an image is significant – it has meaning whether the photographer intended it or not – and this includes the inclusion or exclusion of color.

And that if color doesn’t add to the overall image, and what it conveys, then it detracts.

Ouch.

So the author gives his readers the following exercise.

Collect six of your favorite photos. Or nine if you’re like me and can’t choose only six.

And convert them from color to black and white. For mine, I basically just desaturated them completely. I upped the exposure where I needed to, but that was about it.

And then he has you ask yourself the following questions:

What changes when the color is excluded from the photo?
How is my eye drawn differently?
How do I respond differently?
Is the color helping the photo? Or simply propping it up?
And are the components (lines, tones, moment, light, etc.) powerful on their own without color?

Personally, I loved this exercise, since I rarely ever convert my pictures to black and white (see earlier admission about being a color freak).

I purposefully chose some pictures I was sure I wouldn’t like in black and white. And some I thought I’d love.

And I was surprised. Some I really liked that I wasn’t expecting to like. And some I didn’t.

I was also surprised by how much “more” I could see about the image with the color excluded.

What do y’all think? Any of these stand out as better in black and white? Or color?

And if you decide to do this exercise on your own, I’d love to hear if you gleaned anything from it.

Happy desaturating!

But I have to fess up.

I have a hardcore crush.

It seats twelve.

It starts around $30,000.

And it ain’t ugly. In fact, I think it looks good. Really good.

And did I mention, it seats twelve?

Twelve passenger seating looks great on a vehicle.

P.S. Anyone out there have a contact at Nissan? Would love to get one of these bad boys. Someday. Somehow.

P.P.S. A girl can dream, right?

Jude came home from China five years ago. He was 16 months and had bilateral, unrepaired clubfoot.

We took him to Iowa for casting and we followed the bracing protocol to the letter.

And all went well until we took Jude out of his night-time boots, right before his sixth birthday.

He began to relapse on his right foot. The relapse rate for kids who are treated properly and braced properly is only about six percent. So I guess our sweet Jude is proving that he truly is one special guy.

Tomorrow we go for a sedated MRI to rule out any neurological component. Since Jude relapsed very quickly, there is a small chance that he could have a tethered cord. Our neurologist feels confident that this is not the case, but an MRI has been ordered to confirm.

Once the MRI is complete and – assuming he does not have a tethered cord – we will schedule surgery for our little man. He’ll need to have an anterior tibial tendon transfer.

*sniff*

So, if you think of it, please keep Jude in your prayers. Needless to say, this mama is the tiniest bit anxious about tomorrow.

And, assuming we get the all clear on the MRI, Jude and I will travel to Iowa for his surgery. Then he’ll spend six weeks in a non-weight bearing cast (using a walker or wheelchair) and then a full six months to recover completely.

I don’t think this is going to be quite the summer Jude had planned.

Amy at One Less Broken with her capture of her daughter, Lily, praying.

Sophi Belle at Rose Tea with Sophi and her drool-inducing tiramisu.

Sharon at The Covert Lens and her beautiful Linhsey.

And Katherine at Life of a Pilgrim‘s stunning shot taken on an afternoon of vineyard-visiting and wine-tasting.

My most-favoritey-favorite this week is from Amy at One Less Broken. Her image of her daughter praying is beautifully composed, and the natural expression, soft colors, and lovely bokeh create a dream-like scene. So very sweet.

Congratulations to Amy. Her picture will be entered into this month’s Sunday Snapshot post, to be voted on by y’all, the readers. The May winner will receive a spot SnapShop, an online photography course by Ashley Ann Photography.

Since it was Mother’s Day weekend and I’m, well… a mother, I didn’t have the chance to comment on many Snapshot posts this week. But I did visit them all! If you haven’t joined in yet, but want to improve your photography skills, I hope you’ll give it a shot. And be sure to read the linked Snapshot posts, many of them have details on the settings as well as photography and/or editing tips.

See y’all on Sunday!

Addressed to Tallula.

I held onto them til I could get my act together and get some pictures of her opening them.

And finally, I did just that.

I took her out on the porch and put her goodies in front of her.

And Tallula was all over it.

No instructions necessary.

She was so focused.

So determined.

And so very, very happy.

To my sweet friends who have blessed our girl with some goodies, thank you.

From all of us.

is that it’s the one day a year

that you can get everyone within arm’s reach together

for a Mother’s Day picture.

Everyone looking at the camera and not looking pained is optional.

More of a slice of life post instead of anything planned.

Because this is really what life looks like.

At least, this is what my life looks like.

On this day, the day before Mother’s Day.

Making some homemade cards.

Imitating mom.

Ignoring mom.

And completely unaware of mom.

Playing.

Flying.

And loving.

Living life,

as a big ol’ family.

I love being the mom to this crazy crew.

I played around with my settings today – they were all over the place. And while none of these is going into a frame anytime soon, there is something about them that makes me smile.

Can’t wait to see your Snapshots.

Ready to play along? Here are the Sunday Snapshot rules – in a nutshell.

1. Sunday Snapshot will begin weekly with my Snapshot post on Sunday (or Saturday night) and will close Tuesday AM.
2. It is open to anyone who wants to become a better photographer and have fun in the process.
3. Snapshot posts should have the photo to be considered AT THE TOP of the Sunday Snapshot post, and should include the Sunday Snapshot button as well as a link back here to encourage others to play along.
4. Share any photography tips and/or settings on your posts for others (like me!) who are learning – this is encouraged but definitely not required.
5. Each Snapshot entry will be reviewed by me. Then I’ll select a favorite photo to be announced on Wednesday.
6. The winning Snapshot will be selected based on composition, color, emotion, creativity and post-processing.
7. Weekly winners will be featured in a monthly Sunday Snapshot post which will be judged by y’all, the readers.
8. The winner of the monthly Sunday Snapshot will receive a photography related goodie donated by the Sunday Snapshot monthly sponsor. May’s Snapshot sponsor is SnapShops.
9. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
9. Rules subject to change, as necessary, to keep this fun and fruitful for everyone.

If you’re ready to link up this week with your Sunday Snapshot, just copy the code under the Snapshot button and paste it into the body of your post where you’d like the button to be displayed.

When you hit ‘publish’ it should show up just fine. Then add your link below.

Happy Mother’s Day, y’all.

Just to surprise me for Mother’s Day?

And what a month and two days it’s been.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it hasn’t.

At least not yet.

This kid is ridiculously easy-going.

And fun.

And feisty.

I wasn’t able to upload any videos in China, so I’m going back and adding a few to the blog.

And if you’d like to watch our first moments together, you can see the Tallula Day video here.

Don’t know what the next month with our littlest wildcat will be like, but I sure can’t wait to find out.

For more Friday Favorites, visit my friend Lisa’s blog, The Long Road to China and Back.