Change

Change: -verb
to make form, nature, content, future course, etc. different from what it is; to become different; altered or modified; a transformation.

Some people despise changes in their lives or routine, but I have learned to embrace it and welcome it; as scary as it may sometimes be. We've had so many changes in our little lives in the last three years I guess we've had no choice but to love it! I think I mentioned in my last post that we had an answered prayer.

We've been on a roller coaster ride for awhile. Three years ago Lantis left his employer of 15 years. He sold HVAC equipment and was king of the block. He was one of the top 10 salesmen for the manufacturer that he sold for! We made the tough decision to start our own HVAC company...a couple months later the economy tanked. And I HAD. A. BABY! Since then we've done a little struggling, a lot of soul searching, been totally humbled, learned how to sacrifice for a little human you just met, and learned to give it all to God. It was probably one of the best things that could have happened to us and we didn't realize it. We've also learned a lot about business in general that will no doubt be valuable for both of us.

In the meantime Lantis has had numerous job offers from former competition, current competition and things totally unrelated to the HVAC world. Yall. We had people leaving business cards in our mailbox and on our front door for him! He decided to stick it out though.

Finally, after some changes (thanks to the economy) with the banks and how their business loans are set up we decided it was probably time for Lantis to be an employee again and start taking some of the job offers seriously.

After several interviews, offers, counter offers, business lunches, prayers, and late night talks between us on the back porch, he narrowed down the opportunities...to two. They were drastically different choices and a decision that I didn't want to have to make. I prayed like a maniac for three days that God would lead us to the right choice. At the very last minute one company just couldn't quite match the other's offer. The decision became obvious.

Sooo...Lantis is now an employee again! He is selling HVAC equipment once again for another manufacturer. We're super excited for the opportunity and excited about the change.

God has been so good to us and hes blessed us more than we could ever ask for.

Man of the hour....or weekend

Today I have to make the official announcement that Lantis has earned The Husband of the Year Award. This crazy man must love me or something...he climbs walls to get a good shot for me.



Friday night he snuggled up with me to watch a movie.

Saturday he drove in the monsoon rain to be my second shooter at a wedding I was photographing. As if that weren't enough work for him that day; he then cooked dinner for me when we got home!

Sunday afternoon he hung out with Hudson while I was gone (again) taking pics. When I made it back home I was so exhausted I crashed on the couch. Two blissful hours later he and Hudson woke me up and informed me that I'd fallen asleep and stayed there for the better part of two hours. If I slept any longer I would either become a story book princess or never go back to sleep that night. Wait...how did I get two hours of sleep with a two year old running around? Because my sweet hubby (knowing that I must be pooped) took Hudson out so that I could get some peaceful zzz's.

I then jumped up knowing that there was housework to be done and dinner to get on the table. I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and was about to hop to it when prince charming totally took over the vacuuming for me so that I could get some other chores done.

After chores and dinner Sunday night: more movie time. Aahhh...love him. I dont know what I did to deserve someone who is so supportive and helpful but we wouldn't make it without the teamwork and effort that goes on under our roof. After thinking about it this weekend, I realized that we hardly ever do things on our own around the house. He helps me with dinner and house work. I help him pull weeds and mow the back yard (and he totally over looks the stripes I leave in the grass and compliments me on a job well done). There are very few jobs that are done alone. The ones that are done alone are usually ones that I'm physically unable to help with--like cleaning gutters--I figure at least one of us should stay grounded for the sake of our child. And plumbing issues--there's really no sense in both of us getting our hands dirty, is there? For serious though...we are a great team and jobs that we do together are jobs well done.

Lantis is my heart, my soul, my best friend and my team mate. Oh! and my baby daddy! ;)

Mountains and Molehills

I don't know what to say. I'm speechless over some things that have happened over the last few days. I've said it before and I'll say it again...I have been so blessed. God is so great and I think he has a big plan for our family. One that is very much in the works as we speak...or I type. Same thing.

Jeremiah 29:11 is ringing loudly in my ears: "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."

and Proverbs 3:5: "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

My life over the last two years has been crazy to say the least. Our family has been on several roller coasters with work, and we added a child in the midst of it. Just as we think we've been through the worst of it, we have another door closed and we are forced to begin a new chapter. One that will challenge us more than any other has. Luckily we just studied and dissected Psalm 23 in church a couple of weeks ago. Oh the irony--I had no idea how much or how soon it would hit home for me. God's funny like that. But the best news is that He always prepares you and never gives you more than you can handle.

So...now we recently found out that we have a hurdle to jump and two days later we have new opportunities awaiting us. Opportunities that we have worked hard to achieve and all we have to do is jump on them and make the best of them. We are hard workers and we don't wait for things to fall in our laps. We go and get them.

I fully believe that God has put us here to make us stronger and more faithful. I think He's put us here because he know that we can handle it. I think He knew that if faced with a mountain to climb we would turn it into molehill...and smile the entire time.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is the day I said "I do" to Lantis Hollis four years ago. It was an amazing wedding day. It was without a doubt the most fun day of my life. Everything was absolutely perfect. From the dress to the venues and everything in between...everything was perfection. It was my day to be a princess. I wish we could do it all over again and I wouldn't change a thing--including Lantis. No one said marriage was easy, and we've certainly had days that were tough, but we have proven to be able to handle it together. We make a great team. Whatever we do we're better at it together.

This afternoon when I got home we watched our amazing wedding video. CAM video, a friend of my parents, did the videography and it was better than I ever could have imagined. I wish I could show it to everyone. Its not your average wedding video. These guys are incredible and I have the most fabulous wedding video ever thanks to them. I watched it today with Lantis and we cried like we were living the entire event for the first time. I'm so thankful for the wonderful photos and video we have to help us remember the best day of our lives.

I cannot imagine my life without him. He is my sounding board, my support, my cheerleader, and now the father to the other love of my life, Hudson, and an amazing one he is.

We were married on March 18th, 2006 at Independent Presbyterian Church in downtown Birmingham. It is a beautiful very old church. I searched high and low for the perfect church and when I walked in IPC I started crying.I knew that was the one! Our reception was at Children's Hospital in the Bradley Lecture Center. It was perfect. They had screens with a slideshow of our photos rolling the entire time. The music was awesome and kept the guests on their feet. We had an absolute blast.

Independent Presbyterian

mom and sis attaching my train

my sweet daddy seeing me for the first time

Lantis planned our honeymoon himself and it was a complete surprise to me. He told me to pack for warm weather and lots of bathing suits. During our first dance at the wedding he shared with me that we were leaving at 9 am the next morning for Atlantis. He arranged for complete VIP treatment. Limos, private check in, concierge service 24/7, the works. I can't even describe how incredible that trip was. Uh-ma-zing. Go there if you ever get the chance. We plan to go back one day for an anniversary. Here are a few photos of that trip:

Heaven on earth. Our room was just above and to the left of the bridge suite. We had an amazing view.

pool side happy hour!

the view from our balcony...aahhh

Also this day in history...our best friends, the Courson's, met at our wedding. Technically they met the night before at the rehearsal, but the wedding night was when the sparks started flying as you can see in the photo below. I love the way she is looking at him in the photo below. Alesha, my best friend from college, and Jason, Lantis' best friend from childhood, were both in our wedding party. We would have never paired them together, but now we can't picture them apart. They are a perfect match made in heaven...or at our wedding. ;-) We love you, you crazy Coursons!! Thank you for keeping our life entertaining!