Kyle N Kristy

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Abigail Ruth Part II

Here's the other half of the post. Connor was so great with Abigail. I was really impressed! We got some good ones with Mom and Abby too. This family is so precious! Thankful for the chance to take their pictures!

Finally, poor Abigail was wore out from the glamour shots. She did so well though!!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Moving

As many of you may know, Kyle and I are planning to move from our home in Tennessee to Groton, Connecticut. We have been praying a long time about this. We knew that Tennessee would be a temporary place for us. Right after we got married, we were well established with our college jobs and just felt the Lord wanted us to stay in Tennessee after I (Kristy) graduated from college. Kyle still had to finish up his Masters degree so it was the perfect place to stay. Through the last two years there have been some change in jobs and circumstances here and there, but it was good for us to lay a foundation for our marriage. It was a familiar place to get to know one another. We loved our church, our little home, our life.

But .....

we've known it would not last forever and we would probably not plant our roots here. The goal had always been to move to New England. Two years ago, we had no idea when or where it would be exactly. As God has moved and worked on our hearts, we believe he's leading us to Connecticut to work with a pastor there. After we've had a chance to get established, we are hoping in a few years to start a church close to that area.

After our first year of marriage, we really had no idea what to do. Do we stay here? If not, where do we go? It was really unsettling. So many questions and no answers. The only thing we knew to do was to pray and wait. In the meantime, we were very involved with our church's ministries. We are the 10th grade Sunday School teachers and a church sponsor at a Bible club at Austen East High School. Kyle is in the choir and I am in the orchestra. Kyle has worked as the Assistant Director of Admissions at Crown College and I have taught piano lessons at home and at the Crown Conservatory while working another part time job. We were set. We were comfortable. God has been working on our hearts in the meantime.

After a long time praying and considering, we believe this is what God wants us to do, as hard as it may be to let go. This is the first move we'll be making as a young married couple. We've been preparing for it mentally since we've been married. It's hard to believe it's actually going to happen. All we've known is this peaceful, wonderful place called home. We are sad to leave it but looking forward to what's in store for the future.

Many people ask me why we are going to New England where there are freezing winters and rude people. The first is true but the second not entirley. People are people no matter where you go. (There are rude people in the south too! Ha!) And there are a lot of great people up north. I love the south and I will probably always be a southerner at heart but there is a church on every corner down here. Not to say those churches are full, because they certainly are not. However, up north, churches are far and few between. Churches that are gospel believing and preaching are even more scarce. True, in every part of the world, there is a need for people to be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet we have grown calloused to the spiritual darkness in this part of our country. A lot of our Christian heritage comes from the New England area but sadly cities are full of hundreds of thousands of people with no local gospel preaching church. Can you imagine? This is why we have a burden to go there. We're trusting the Lord will use us to bring more people to Christ and learn more about church ministry.

Tennessee has been the most wonderful time of our lives. (so far) God has used it to prepare us and teach us many things. Our church, our jobs, our friends, our family, our home. We will miss it. Probably more later than now. Oh, how we will miss it.

Please pray for us. We don't have any details of where exactly we will live. We don't even have a set job. We'll be making a trip there this weekend for Kyle to have some interviews. This is probably one of our biggest concerns right now. It is going to be quite a transition. We will just have to exercise our faith and trust the Lord will provide for us. We believe He is in this! So we trust He will take care of us!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. We love you all!

Abigail Ruth

A friend and co-worker of mine was telling me she really wanted some pictures of her 5 month old daughter. She didn't realize I've worked at a studio and done some stuff on the side before. Even though I have not done much photography lately. I've just been too busy with school, then getting married, then piano lessons and work and being a wife so it kind of went on the back burner. I also didn't have a battery to use for the longest time in my SLR. (my old one went bad) I finally purchased one after Christmas. So I was a little hesitant to offer but I am so glad I did! We got some great pictures of Abby and her 6 year old son Connor. I'm going to split these posts into two because there are just so many good ones! Abby was such a doll and sweet girl. I really enjoy shooting babies her age because they smile and laugh and coo and just makes it so easy to get a good photo. It was so great to get back into photography again!

There are more to come! Stay posted!!

Our 2nd Year Anniversary

It's so hard to believe we have been married for 2 years! We have officially entered the "plural" form of marriage. Instead of saying "A year and 4 months" or "a little over a year" when someone asks us how long we've been married, we can now say "2 years". It's the little things in life. ;-)

Since our anniversary date was on a Sunday (the 24th) we decided to celebrate it on Memorial day that following Monday. We live only 2 hours from the famous Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. We were able to take a day trip and see the beautiful grounds and Biltmore house. It was absolutely amazing! If you ever have the opportunity to go, you should! Because it's really, really cool.

Pictures just will never do it justice!

The front of the Biltmore House

The view of the Blueridge Mountains

Can you imagine living here and this being your backyard?

Selfie.

You basically put your life in people's hands when you ask a stranger to take a picture of you. Not the best but we'll take it.

Italian Garden! Sorry, we thought it was funny.

Kristy in one of the gardens.

Kyle imitating the statues in the gardens. (I have several different pictures of this kind. hehe)

Decided we should do some portraits of each other.....

I am teaching Kyle the ways of photography. He is learning very fast!!

He's taking way to many pictures of me. :-)

So I thought I'd get him back.

Kyle was picture happy I think...

Our server let us know about a lagoon with a great view of the house. If it hadn't been for the wind, we would've seen a reflection in the water.

It was still beautiful!!

We just had the best time! Everything was captivating. There is nothing like spending your life with your best friend. We are so blessed!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Parentals Come for a Visit

We recently had Kyle's parents in town for a weekend and let me tell ya, it was quite an overdue visit! (And much needed since we have not seen them since Thanksgiving.)

We had such a great time.

We ended up spending a lot of time relaxing and sitting around talking but on Saturday we went up to the Smokey Mountains for a picnic and hike. We went to Clemon's Dome, which is the highest peak in Tennessee. It was absolutely breathtaking! Here are some pictures from our day!