Season of the Chief

For today's Military Monday post, I am posting one of my own.

I thought it was fitting since this is the time of year for the Navy Chief. 

September 18th, 2010, my husband became a Navy Chief.








I am proud of him and what he has achieved all these years in his service to our country.

{ written by me, for his charge book the year he became a Chief }

He is a man of honor. 

He is a loving and faithful husband. 

He is a dedicated father. 

He is a man of faith and honesty. 

He is a man of courage. 

He is a man of strength and discipline. 

He is a man of dignity. 

He is a man of trust, and values that trust. 

He is giving and kind. 
He is full of compassion and hope. 

He is a leader. 

He is our anchor, the one that makes our family whole. 

And now this year, he will be a sponsor to a well deserving Sailor.

~Amber Hope

Coming Home.

Today's Military Monday post, I am posting one of my own.

December  14th, 2006.

I took this photograph as we were leaving the airport.

This was my husband's first deployment to Afghanistan and he was home for his two week R&R.

He had made it home in time for Christmas.

This is one of my favorite coming home photographs from this deployment.

~Amber Hope

My Sweet Baby Girl

She is growing into a young woman so quickly.

Her daddy says he sees more of me in her every day.

I bought both of my girls these vintage green dresses a week ago.

I was saving them for pictures at the beach this summer.

She put it on for pictures yesterday.

She still had her fingers painted in bright cotton candy colored nail polish.

I can still see the cotton candy nail polish in the picture of her reading her book, it makes me laugh becuase that is so much like my Kate.

One pink cotton candy and one blue cotton candy nail polish.

She was reading Charlotte's Web here, one of her favorite movies to watch when she was little, that and Wizard of Oz.

With A Heavy Heart.

With a heavy heart I will be stepping away from photography for awhile.

The deployment we are going through is taking a heavier burden on my family than I had imagined.

It is taking everything in me to be the strong wife and mother that I need to be for my husband and children right now.

I had hoped to be able to start back in the Spring with photography, but life isn't always how we plan it.

We will be making our last trip to the base my husband is training at soon. We will be with him and spend some quality time together as a family for just a few days before he leaves for Afghanistan.

Thank you for your understanding.

I hope that maybe when we adjust better to this deployment, and things feel a little back to normal I will again be able to do photography. But for right now, this is something that I need to do for myself, my husband and my children.



Thank you,
Amber Hope

The Call.

I did a post earlier about something that I was going to be announcing.

For all of you who have been wondering where I have been for the past two months....this is it.

It has taken me quite some time to adjust to the fact of knowing that my husband will be deploying again. He will be deployed to Afghanistan, again. Unlike last time, we have more than a few weeks to prepare. Although I'm not sure which is better taken, a few weeks or a few months.....having that deployment date on your mind all the time, it really feels like a clock counting down the days.

I am cherishing each moment we have together as a family right now. Because I know next year there will be no family vacations, no sitting at our son's football games together and cheering him on, no date nights, no holidays celebrated together....I could go on and on. I know he will be there, thinking of us, but we will be separated by thousands of miles. I have been through one of these deployments before, this time I know what to expect(or at least I hope I do). Which is why I am going to make each and every day count. That way next year, when he is deployed, my children will be able to look back and remember these memories we made together as a family before he left.

I have put a lot of thought and decision making into where I am going to go from here with my photography business. I have a lot of loyal clients, ones who have became friends. And with a heavy heart I have decided to make a few changes.

As of right now I will be scheduling a limited number of sessions throughout the rest of the year. There will be no sessions scheduled in December and January. I will still be booking sessions, just not as many as what I normally do. Please don't hesitate to ask about scheduling a session. I will be announcing my schedule through October soon. If you would like to schedule for one of the days I have available please feel free to contact me about the date you would like to schedule. More days may open up, especially with the amount of training my husband will be doing.

Thank you for your understanding.

Hopscotch Days.

If it seems like I have been missing in action here lately, it is because I have. We have had some things come up here at home that have taken a while to adjust to. I will be making an announcement soon about upcoming sessions and scheduling soon.

Thank you.

Thank You.

Thank you for all of the well wishes and understanding in our time of grief. My Grandpa was a wonderful man and will always be remembered and loved.