My passion lies in photographing families and weddings so I don't often find myself with the opportunity to shot other things. I am thankful to the WCA for giving me some opportunities this year to stretch myself. I was a little nervous but loved every minute of trying something new and enjoyed so much working with the lovely folks at the WCA.

You can see a few of my images in the online Fall resource Catalog here.
 For more info on the WCA, the Leadership Summit, and The Intensive you can visit their website here.

And while we are at if you are in the Chicago-land area and are looking for somewhere to attend Christmas Services this year, look no further! Willow Creek Community Church has put together a beautiful service that glorifies God, inspires people, and instills wonder in all of us artist who are thirsty to see beauty in image and story.

Now here are a few of my favorite images from the year, grateful for the opportunity to take them:

When I was a child every morning in our house began the same, Mom and Dad at the table drinking coffee.  Regardless of if it was a challenging day, a restful day,  or a joyful day ahead my parents had their coffee time.   I LOVE sleep, but often I would want to wake up early so I could be a part of the morning ritual. There was something about it that made life seem normal and stable, like no matter what comes in life we have each other and we have our coffee. =)

When I was older and would go home to visit at least once during each visit I would hear Mom say, "I am making coffee for Dad" or Dad would say "I am making coffee for Mom". It would amuse me that they would never say I am making myself some coffee (knowing full well they would be drinking that coffee as well). But in my family making coffee isn't really about making coffee.  It's about partnership, and starting the day knowing we have each others back and  that we are worth it.  We are worth taking a minute to stop and appreciate what we have together if it's a challenging day that awaits or a joyful day that awaits.

So when I get up in the morning, I make some coffee for my parents and then I drink it alone. Knowing that even though they are in Vegas now and I rarely see them, they have my back. That they think that I deserve the time to stop in my busy day and make myself some coffee and remember I am loved, so I do. 

Unfortunately I didn't hear to much at the conference because I was loving getting pictures but I did hear some of Jim Collins interviewed by Bill Hybels at a lunch on day one.  He was talking about the differences between good leaders and great leaders.  Collins was saying that he feels one of the major differences between good and great leaders is how they respond to their failures/mistakes while they are in them. I find myself in mistakes pretty regularly. =) Certainly felt challenged to be sure those are the times I stop, think, and respond with character and grace.

OK and one last video just because I thought it was really well done. 

For more of my pictures and the other pics the GLS media team photogs took visit the WCA's Flicker here 

And here is a link to the awesome bloggers that covered the GLS. .