An (overdue) Update

I feel as if I need to brush some cobwebs and dust of this blog. You may or may not have noticed that we haven't been posting much personal stuff on here at all. The truth is Jonathan and I have been under tremendous amounts of stress lately. Before you start to worry, we're both fine. No major health issues or anything (Praise Jesus!). To save you from an extended post full of boring details, I'll just sum up what's been going on like this:

For the past couple months, through various circumstances, we had every reason to believe that Jonathan was going to lose his job. It was a long process of questioning, worrying, crying and both of us being honestly stressed to the max. We knew that whatever happened, God would provide. We knew He wouldn't let us down. But that didn't keep the feelings of fear from circling and clawing all around at times. God was testing us, I'm sure of that. And He was also weaving evidence of His faithfulness throughout. We saw it in His claimed promises, the support and prayers of friends and family, and how Jesus provided everything we needed throughout. 

I'm humbled to say that God has had great mercy on us. Jonathan not only got to keep his job, but he got the position he's been working incredibly hard for the past two years! I don't know why our Heavenly Father loves us in the ways He does. It's so intimate and passionate and faithful. We don't deserve His graciousness in our lives. 

This was a trying time for our marriage. Me and Jonathan had to work through issues of trust and depending on one another. I have to say how incredibly proud I am of Jonathan. He pressed on in the face of failure and bravely did what he needed to do to be the provider for our family. I'm honored to be his wife. Our love and commitment to each other has been greatly increased through all this. We've found that there is always blessing and beauty. Yes, even in the barren. 

So there you are, an update (just in case anyone was wondering what was happening in our lives). We know that, in our lifetime, we will most likely face things much bigger and scarier than a job loss. We know that our troubles never really end this side of eternity. And furthermore, there are people we know who are, at this very moment, facing overwhelming and debilitating trials. We're not even remotely comparing what they're going through to our situation. But what we are doing is taking time to thank God today for pulling us up from the waves of this storm and bowing humbly amazed at how He works. 

To sum up, our days lately have been simple ones. We've been enjoying the Christmas season and all that Jesus is blessing us with through it. The Christmas tree is up, presents have been bought and we're so excited about the upcoming extra time with both sides of our family. We hope and pray you can do the same today, no matter what's going on. If your Father in Heaven can give you His Son, willingly with no withholding, He can also give you His grace to carry you through the coming storm. Trust in that for whatever lies ahead. 

Amy

Her name means 'beloved'. And believe me, it couldn't be more appropriate. Everyone who meets this girl, loves her. She is simply a delight and joy to interact with. Her plucky, bold spirit undeniably shines out from inside those Smoky-Mountain-Blue eyes. She's fearless and comical and sweet. She is (as Mom put it) the perfect end mark to their line of children. The last Bailey, the final sister and she where we'll begin this portrait series.

Being the youngest, she's had the most exposure to our all of our Bailey wit and sarcasm. Thus, she's developed some the quickest humor in our family. Don't be fooled by her young age, she can put you in your place before you even know what happened. And yet there's an honest innocence about her that's won our hearts over time and time again. Overall, we say that she has the most diverse and well-developed disposition. All the parts of us in her have created a beautifully unique personalty that is all herself. 

Her nicknames include (but are not limited to): Banana Pants, Ames, Gigi, Amers and The Child (that last one has a hilarious story behind it which you'll have to get my mother to tell you sometime). Although us Bailey girls share many similarities, some of us share more than others. I see so much of myself in Amy and it's not just in looks. We're extremely observant with short attention spans.We both love to read and write. (One of her dreams is to be an author. To which I say, 'Go for it, Amy!') We have a fascination with the Medieval Age and active imaginations. We both feel emotions on a deep level and can be prone to passionate responses (good or bad). 

She told me that she enjoys being the youngest because she doesn't feel as much pressure. You can see that in the way she carries herself, she's free. Free to express herself through her love of people, her love of literature and creating things (example: she is amazing at knitting, I need lessons from her!) She truly enjoys so many aspects of life. That's one of the things I love about her: she truly delights in living. 

So there you are, a short introduction to the youngest Bailey. I truly hope you have the pleasure of knowing her in person. Having a relationship with her isn't something you want to miss out on. If there's one thing I could tell you about Amy, it's that she is a treasure. She's the sunshine in our family, the truly 'beloved one'. She's taught me to how to love openly and without fear. She's shown me that being yourself is sometimes messy and weird, but it's alright because people will really love you for that in the end. 

Starting Over

It's here! We can finally let you all in on the secret we've been working on for the past few months!

Say hello to the new name for our business:

That's right, from now on J & B Photography is no more. We're moving in a new direction with fresh motivation and we couldn't be more excited. Because the official website for our photography isn't ready yet, we had to make this announcement via our personal blog (more details on the coming website and how it's going to affect this blog later). For now, I'll start off with saying that we've been wanting/needing to grow our photography business for some time now. So in the last few months we began seriously thinking about some practical steps we could start taking to advance our business. The first obvious change we felt needed to happen was a name change. To us, J & B Photography was simple and to the point but a very safe route to go. We wanted to stand out, to stick in people's minds and make them curious to find out what the story is behind our work. As you know, Light & Letter has been the name of our personal blog for quite awhile. When we started brainstorming about new names for our business, the thought crossed my mind to use that same name for our photography but I wasn't sure it was the way to go. That was until Jonathan suggested it one day without me saying anything to him myself. It was so exciting to see that we were on the same page without having even discussed it together yet. The more we talked it over it just made perfect sense.  Instead of compartmentalizing our personal blog and our photography business into separate areas, we're excited to finally have the ability to merge our passion and work into one unified idea. Why didn't we think of this sooner, right?

And in case you're not sure of why we chose the name Light & Letter in the first place, let me explain: The word 'light' symbolizes the photography aspect of our business and is represented by the lightbulb in our logo. Without light, capturing the pictures we want to simply couldn't happen. The medium of light is one of the main tools used in crafting and capturing the images we produce. 

The word 'letter' is obviously geared more towards symbolizing the blog part of our business and is represented by the feather quill in our logo. We don't want to just share images from life. We also want to weave letters into words and sentences that display all parts of the stories we encounter. 

We believe that photography and words, when paired together, become a unique and beautiful way to translate the world around us. And that's just what we've been aching to do. Our dream and hope is that Light & Letter becomes a place of carefully sought out moments, captured forever. A place of well-chosen words that inspire and encourage. A place for your story to be told. 

Lord willing, we're launching the official website at the beginning of next year. I know, that's forever away and it's killing us to wait. But we need the time to get everything perfected and in place before we make the big reveal. This post was just to announce the new direction for our business and honestly because we couldn't hold the news back any longer. We had to tell y'all something! And once our logo design was finished, we thought it was a perfect time to let you all in on the secret. For now, I will continue posting here as I usually do, but changes are coming as soon as the website is ready. Obviously it's going to become the place where we display our photography and all business aspects of our work. But it very well could become where I keep up my regular blogging as well. As the time gets closer, we'll let you in on all those decisions.

And be on the lookout out for new changes and updates on the Facebook page. We still have some things to share! Oh and did we mention that once the website is up, there's going to be a killer giveaway? That's right! Who doesn't love giveaways, amen? You're going to want to keep a close eye on details for that, trust me. We're super excited to use a giveaway as an avenue to get our name out there and thank anyone and everyone who's shown us support through this process.

Thank you all a thousand times over for the all the ways you have encouraged us through this process. We're excited, nervous and so ready for this new adventure ahead. God is faithful in so many ways and we give Him all the praise for the Fatherly guidance we've received from His hand on this journey.  

Here's to new adventures and new beginnings!

Letting in The Light

You hold this fragile thing called a dream in your hand. It glows small, just a glimmer in the dark for now. But you know (or you hope anyway) that the blaze will catch; that full illumination will come. And that everything you've worked for won't be snuffed out, that somehow, just maybe, this flickering light of a dream will survive on it's own one day. It's thrilling and dangerous and wonderful to step out into unknown dark. And maybe, you're thinking, all of our stories should be written like this?

Maybe we're all meant to live this way; always entering the open wide of uncharted life and straining for what waits ahead. Maybe we all need to leave behind the comfort of...well...comfort itself.  I know the fear that comes with this thought process though, I've felt it strongly lately. We haven't just had to think like this but live like this for awhile now. Jonathan and I have been thrust waaay out of our comfort zone in the last couple weeks and I'll be honest, I've crumpled under the fear more than once. I've played that debilitating-smothering-what-if-game and wondered, trembling, how God was going to work this all out, or if He even cared about what was happening. We've all been there and done that and to sum up: 'Lord forgive Your desperate, doubting children.'
How we need Him, amen?

God is faithfully stretching us and spreading grace into the the worn-thin places. It hurts good, it's very uncomfortable but really this is what we've prayed over our lives for awhile now. We don't want to be complacent. We want our lives to have eternal purpose and meaning. And we're learning that maybe what that look like is something totally different than what we originally thought. But isn't that what it's all about? Surrendering our ideas and expectations over to the Father so He can mold and weave them into the beautiful story they were intended to create. So we're lifting high our fragile dream into the dark, letting His light inscribe itself into our pages and realizing that, until He shines His glory through, we're naught but ephemeral shadows.

Here's to the victory found in Jesus Christ. Here's to having the privilege of being made His example to the world through what He does in our lives. We weren't created to live safe lives (that is 'safe' as the world defines it anyway). Because no matter where God leads us, we're always safe in Him. Here's to the pain of Divinely appointed transformation and the truth that, no matter how much it hurts, it's always worth the result. Our Father doesn't work without a purpose. May we simply trust in the heart of the One who works all for our good and His glory. May we allow the the ink of His holy light to etch out each letter of our eternal story. Herein is the ultimate realization of all our hopes and dreams.


"To them God chose to make known how great among the
 Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, 
the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all 
wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, 
struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me."
Colossians 1:27-29

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power
of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Romans 15:13

"I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the 
Lord; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth 
I tell you of them."
Isaiah 42:6-9

ps. Don't forget, we're making the big J & B Photography

announcement this Monday (yay!) Be sure to like our 

Facebook page so you can be the first to see what we're

so excited about sharing with y'all!

A Prayer

May we, in all the fullness we receive, turn to You and let Your light shine through. May Your glory be displayed in us during the times of abundance, when we are heavy laden and overflowing with good.

May we not forget You then. 

And then, when the skies cloud over and the stripping of us begins, may we praise You still.  When the colors are drained and we feel the barren fear clawing at the hollow inside of us; may we wave triumphant even with these empty hands. Give us the grace to not blame but bless Your sovereignty.

For the truth is, You have ordained it all. You give and take away. Your ways are not ours. Who are we to doubt You? We admit our weakness and acknowledge Your strength. Therefore we call upon You to give us the courage to stand, rooted and grounded in You, against the onset of storms. 

And in the end may we learn that whether we're accepting blessings humbly by adorning ourselves in all Your gifts or opening wide our hands to let You take them away; it's all beautiful to You. This is how we must live, being filled to emptiness, so that all we have is You.
 Help us to do this, Father. 

Amen 


....fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, 
for I am Your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,
 I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, 
my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord,
 and He answered me from His holy hill.
Psalm 3:3-4

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. 
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Psalm 37:5-6