Katie + Jory – Withjulespham

It started off as just an idea.

At first you think to yourself “this could be really good”…and then reality sinks in and you realize it’s a total looong shot.

So it turns into a dream.

And you tuck it in the back of your mind for “someday”.

But it’s so close to your heart that you slowly and secretly plan it out in your head, even with all the doubt in the world that it’s never going to happen.

Then suddenly, you find yourself checking off “Step One” of “The Plan”…and it just keeps rolling.

I’m so happy to finally share my dream come true.

Those closest to me know my love for service.

I went on my first mission trip to Belize in May 2014. And I’ve been thinking of ways to go back ever since. Of course, life sank in and I was faced with limitations and little funds to finance more mission trips.

Somewhere along the way, my idea to “start a blog” crossed paths with my other idea to “go on another mission”.

A lightbulb went off.

“I could use money I profited from the blog to fund more mission trips!”

It was brilliant!

And then reality sank in again and I realized no one would ever pay me for my crafts or want to advertise on my blog. Even if they did, then it would take a really really long time to get to that point.

Two months.

Two months was how long it took for a old high school friend to reach out to me earlier this January because she read about my recent blogging adventures on photography.

She asked if I would be interested in photographing her wedding.

Her wedding.

Y’all, my mind was blown. Like what?! I doubted my capabilities and told Khang there was no way I could do it!

But God works in wonderfully mysterious ways…

–Keep in mind during the time that little dream of mine started creeping back and I found myself praying about it a lot.

So I realized that this crazy, cool, and scary opportunity was God working and answering my prayers.–

I quickly informed her of how inexperience I was, but if she was still interested then I would love the opportunity.

She could not have replied in a better way by saying “I think you’re so talented and I have all the faith”.

Faith. In me.

Gosh okay, so I quickly accepted the invitation.

I still feel beyond honored to be given the important task of photographing Katie and Jory’s wedding.

Thanks to them, my dream is coming true and I’ll always remember it started with them. And because of their sweet love for each other.

So here begins my new adventure, which I named a long time ago as “Helping Hands”.

My long-term goal and hope for this blog was always to use any profitable opportunities and setting it aside to fund my next mission trips, wherever and whenever that may be.

You can bet, I’ve already started those plans.

This is my reality now.

Ahhh! This is truly near and dear to me and I cannot thank my lucky stars enough that it’s all really happening.

I hope to have an update with Helping Hands in the near future.

I’m excited to share a few sneak peeks of J+K’s engagement session too!

Katie made sure to include Jory’s two precious daughters in the shoot.

I’m not going to lie, it made me really nervous because not only was it my first time shooting an engagement, but technically, family portraits too.