Thank You Service Members

       Freebies at the studio come more than you may think! I wish I could offer my art for free all the time but free unfortunately does not pay the bills or keep the studio open. I do offer freebies when I am able and I try to do them for a purpose. For instance, we just had memorial weekend and a way to say thank you for Memorial Day I wanted to invite military families out for a freebie session of their families to cherish and love for years to come. Here is why.....

Family is some thing we all have either our birth family or the family we create or take in under our wing or who we befriend and become life long friends with. Family is something I believe in deep down to my core. So much I have taken for granted in my younger years and I know that some times a portrait may be all we have to hold dear of a family member to remember the love the happiness and the unity.

I met and married my husband and realized very quickly that the meaning of family and love that I knew changed and the meaning of these two things was a deeper meaning than I will have ever known. We married 3 short months after knowing each other (quick I know, but I would not have it any other way and this July is year 5) and 3 short months later he was deployed on his first deployment. I only had one photo of us and our daughter together and I held to that dearly and loved it and as soon as he got back we had more so I could have something to look at when we were not together, either in the same state because he is out training again for deployment or same country because he is away fighting for our nation. These moments show me how much a portrait can mean and I wanted to give this to military families and allow them the chance to come out and have a portrait they too could have through these times.

Our armed forces means so much to me and my family. I grew up ignorant to the military and unknowing of what they truly did and do for us. As we spent the holiday weekend remembering those who have given their ultimate sacrifice we wanted to give to the people currently serving. I am not great with words and saying thank you seems odd to just say thank you and move about my day because that does not show how much I truly appreciate someone; but to say thank you and create for someone made more sense to me.

As I told many before there are only two ways I know how to say thank you to someone, I can cook a good meal for you or I can take your photo. I am so honored to have been able to meet four wonderful families and will be working on many photos for them this week! I cannot express in words to describe how thankful I am to everyone in uniform and your families and all that you do but in the way of actions I will be offering these every year to new families to give back. I look forward to meeting and thanking many many new families to come!