So...photography.  Well, I've barely shot anything all year.  Some work for a friend, and a session with Ada.  That's it, and that's okay.  My work was at home this year.  That leaves me with the question of how I want to continue, if I want to continue.  For now we are still going through the health battle.  We are on the upside, it seems.  I have had a disconnect with photography as it is this year.  I haven't kept up with trends, or education, or equipment upgrades.  The biggest convention that I've wanted to go to since I begin this work was in Atlanta this year, and I passed on it.  Honestly, there are a lot of good photographers out there, and probably even more bad ones.  There are some great ones that stand out, that lead the pack, that make me want to be a better photographer (Barb Uil for one).  There are an awful lot of good ones that are so repetitive....meaning I see the same locations, posing, light, etc.  It's not bad work at all, it's just tiring to me to see it over and over again....even if it is great in every aspect of photography.  Quite frankly there's not a lot of variation that can be done most of the time.  Pinterest hasn't helped matters any.  Everyone has a photography board of the cutesy newborns in baskets with hats all snuggly, the sweet families in a a field, the couple in an edgy downtown scene.  Right now I'm just sort of tired of seeing the same kind of work.  Again, not bad, just...without a better word...boring.  So as for me, I'm taking some time out to do the family thing, think about where I'd like to be as a photographer, and think whether or not I want to venture back in to portrait or wedding work, and if I do what I want my work to look like. I love candid moments, and I always have.  I first set out to be a photojournalist back years ago when I started my photography journey at school.  That didn't come to pass.  That's part of the reason weddings appealed to me.  There are photographs that stick out in my mind that I've taken either at weddings or sessions that are totally unposed, in the moment, pure emotion stuff.  Those are my favorites.  I have learned this year as we struggled with Jeff's health, as he had many days where he couldn't be involved much at all with Ada, that the two of us couldn't do the projects we like to do together, that we wondered if what might be at play with his health might take him from us much earlier than we ever intended...I have learned that the day to day things are meant to be cherished.  I have enjoyed taking snapshots of mostly Jeff and Ada having sweet moments together.  I wanted her to be able to have something to look back on if the worst came to be.   Here are the photographs of 2013 that mean the most to me, that I couldn't imagine not having. Many of these are iPhone photos so the quality may not be superb.  These are the top ten, in no specific order. Then a slideshow with some other favorites of the year.

...

That's how long it's been since we started this crazy medical journey.  We haven't been clear on what's really been going on with Jeff.  A suggestion from a nurse this past May pointed us in the right direction.  None of the doctors we had seen here had mentioned anything like this nurse, whether or not they thought it I don't know.  We knew it was an autonomic disorder, thanks to our nurse friend.  Narrowing which was the hard part.  So after Googling...a lot....we came upon something that had the same symptoms and the onset timing was right.  Still the symptoms of many of these disorders overlap so without proper testing we knew nothing.  We finally got an appointment with a neurologist here in town, and she gave us a referral to the Mayo Clinic.  Jeff had been there before as a patient so getting in was easy this time.  We had an appointment for late September to see a doctor that would point us in the right direction.  Jeff, his mom, and I loaded in the van and set out on our trip.  We were there a week and a half...including the weekend (Mall of America)  Jeff had several tests done, and met with a few doctors, and had more testing set up for October.  So a few weeks later we loaded up again.  This time we spent a week.  Jeff had some really fun tests (I'm being extremely sarcastic).  In the end we got the diagnosis.  Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy.  It's extremely rare, only a few dozen have been diagnosed since it was discovered in 2003.  There is treatment.  Let me let you know there are a couple of forms of dysautonomia that terrified me.  The main one being multiple system atrophy....seven years....that's the average prognosis of life.  That just didn't set well with me.  Not only because I don't want to loose Jeff, but Ada needs her daddy....Man, does she NEED her daddy.  Honestly, this whole summer of there was a cloud that would appear over my head from time to time when I thought what if.    Even after I ran upon AAG and things seemed to match so perfectly, that darn cloud would show up.  Jeff and I are both positive people for the most part.  We both believe that you have to make the best of what God gives you...that if things don't work out the way you planned there must be a bigger, better plan that you are privy to at the moment.  Trusting in God, knowing that no matter what the earthly circumstances maybe that he would take care of us is the main reason you saw us smile through this.  It's such a relief to not to really have to worry about things....although our humaness still makes us worry at times.  Let me be clear, Jeff still has a battle ahead of him.  I guess me too.  He's not going to start treatment and instantly get better.  This isn't a cure, but it's a whole heck of a lot better than what we had before we knew.  He will soon begin IVIG therapy.  It can take up to nine months to see improvement.  We'll be headed back in January to do some more tests and visit some more doctors.  And yes, I'm very thankful that I have a great mother-in-law.  I've heard some of your stories about yours, and I'm sorry....but it's not bad road-tripping with Jeff's mama for a while.

Five Years.

That's how long Jeff and I have been hitched.  Yep.  November 1st is the day.  I can say even throughout this year being married to Jeff has been wonderful.  There's not a doubt in my mind that God's hand had a big part in pushing us together...he's the ultimate match maker.  We are both so dorky, and goofy.  We seem to always have some sort of project going on, and we make a good team getting that project done.  (This year our project was don't let Jeff's head bang on something when he passes out...haha).  We help each other think stuff out.  We don't finish each others sentences...Jeff would say I cut him off a lot....but he knows what I'm saying when I just start talking about something out of the blue or use the word thingy as the subject when thingy could be car, house, garden, chair, fork, Ada, etc.  We just fit together perfectly.  Jeff is absolutely the bee's knees, and I love him so!

Here's some pictures from our recent trip to Minnesota.  Here's what you're going to see.  Corn, farms, barns, windmills, a teeny section of the waiting area on one of the 19 floors of the Gonda building at Mayo, Jeff eating onion rings from Twigs (a delicious gluten free Rochester restaurant), gorgeous flowers at Mayo in September, the coolest Barnes and Noble ever (used to be a theater), a wedding party we cam upon having their photo made, a couple of small shots of the inside of the massive Mall of America, a wall of lego bricks, leaves turning in Wisconsin in October, a barn that I fancied as we were passing, wheelchairs lined up at the entrance to Mayo, a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, the Minnesota sky in the morning, Ada reading (couldn't leave her out), and I picture of us on our wedding day, which captures my joy, and pretty much how I feel everyday with Jeff and Ada.  Except our wedding photo these are all iPhone, people, forgive the graininess.