If I (Becky) had the pleasure of sitting down with you this week, here are a few things that might come up… What’s on YOUR mind??

What I’m reading: The War of Art. Oh, this is a good one!! One of my very favorite bloggers, Jennifer Fulwiler, gave this book credit for helping her overcome resistance in her path to writing a best-selling memoir. And in fact, Steven Pressfield writes about resistance almost as a character, certainly as a force or spirit, that keeps each of us from doing the difficult, committed, everyday work that it takes to achieve anything of value at all. In that way, the title is misleading because it’s applicable to a hundred worthy pursuits besides creating art. It’s organized into very, very short chapters – sometimes just a paragraph or two – and is a great book to leave in the bathroom! 🙂 A favorite introductory quote: “I power down… the office is closed. How many pages have I produced? I don’t care. Are they any good? I don’t even think about it. All that matters is that I’ve put in my time and hit it with all that I’ve got. All that counts is that for this day, for this session, I have overcome resistance.”

Highlight of my week: I can’t pick just one!! First, dinner with old friends Saturday evening. We have 18 kids in all between us, and they ran around like maniacs for HOURS while we chatted about old times, new joys, and future challenges. The second, was a little mother-daughter Valentine’s dinner that I hosted on Sunday as part of my work with the youth group at our church. I had a few questions for the moms and girls and didn’t know how well it would go… well, we all sat and chatted for 3 hours! – long after I thought they would leave. The girls talked about the things they had learned from their moms and the moms talked about the reasons they were proud of their daughters and it was so beautiful. These relationships can be tough, but one thing I’ve learned – everyone really WANTS them to be good, and it’s so healthy to take time and focus on the good aspects of any relationship!!!!

Little luxuries: We did a shoot with Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore last Friday, and I got to keep the massive centerpiece! From that centerpiece, I have THREE large arrangements around my house – one on our kitchen table, one in my bathroom, and one on my desk!

Hoping for: Some relief for Jack as I take him to a few appointments this week to deal with some recurring back pain.

Don’t miss: Rob and Doro’s gorgeous National Cathedral wedding. I knew that ALL of Rob and Doro’s portraits were going to be after dark and I was a little nervous – it’s always a little trickier to make good bride/groom portraits with off-camera lighting than with natural light. But God gave me all the inspiration and help we needed and I just loved the results!

Pictured today: Somebody get this kid some help! 🙂