Today, twenty-eight years ago, you came into this world, completely changing it for the better! I can't believe I get to call you mine! You are an amazing father! Hadassah is constantly spoiled, loved, and cherished by you. You give her an amazing picture of who her Heavenly Father is like. And you lead us by example as to how He desires for us to live! 

As far as how amazing of my other half you are, words fail. So here are a few of the things I love about you.

This is the third senior year session that we have shot for Jubin, and she once again absolutely rocked these photos! She had been snowed into her house for 4 days, but she wanted her winter session in the snow, and we were happy to comply! Even though there was a lot of snow on the ground, it was a beautiful day and 45 degrees out. If you ask me, that's the perfect weather to do a blizzard session in.

For all of you who aren't local, we just survived Snowmeggedon 2016! It was a little rough out there (what we would call a "nice spring weekend" back in Indiana), but we survived. Tabby really wanted to make sure that we did the winter session of her senior year in the snow. We were SO excited to capture these images for her. Seriously, I don't go out in the snow for just anybody! I hope you enjoy the images. She's counting down the months until graduation - we are currently at 4 months left to go! Give Tabby some encouragement in the comments! #FinishStrong

Yesterday, Jonathan took care of Hadassah. She caught a sinus bug that both Jonathan and I have had, and this is the sickest she has ever been. All she wants to do is cuddle, and whimper as she tries to breathe through her nose but she can't because it's too snotty, and furiously wipe her face with tissues, and watch movies. I never knew before how hard it is as a parent to see our children suffer. I think God is really teaching me through this past week His own heart. 

On this day in 1945, the largest Nazi Concentration camp - Auschwitz-Birkenau - was liberated. The war was not yet over and there were many other camps yet to be freed, but this was the beginning of the end. In 2005, the UN made this day the International Holocaust Remembrance Day - which urges all the members of the assembly to remember the victims from this genocide. But why is it important for us to remember? Shouldn't something this evil be something we put behind us and forget? 

We have no shortage of problems in this country today, and no shortage of candidates and self-proclaimed experts with ideas to fix them. But we need more Dr. King's. We need prophets in our generation. We need leaders, but not just to lead rallies and organize marches - true leaders, who stand against injustice in their own communities and go about the hard work of righteousness, regardless of recognition or reward.

People across the U.S. have been flocking to buy lottery tickets this week, in hopes of winning a chunk of the $1,580,000,000 payout. To put that in perspective, that's more than the gross domestic product of some countries. You could go from scrambling to pay rent to buying your own island in the tropics. Or maybe a few islands. With helicopters. And a cruise ship. With Celine Dion living on board to sing to you.

And then there's the rest of us.

When we were first starting to teach Hadassah sign language, we did a little research on what words and phrases should come first. One of the suggestions was to start teaching her "please" and "thank you." They argued that manners are the most important thing and to start teaching them first.

The first time I traveled to Israel, I can tell you that manners were not the first thing I learned. I thought it was a lot more important to know how to say "Where is the bathroom?" before I knew how to say "you're welcome." Can I get an amen?