emily and lane are two incredible youth leaders at revolution. they have a huge heart for God, for church, for youth ministry, for community [their home is always open!] — and in the year i have known them, come to appreciate them like crazy. emily and lane both grew up on vancouver island; met through a few friends in the last year of high school, hung out a few times… but lane was headed to australia. for two years. their relationship was left on-hold… meaning, they didn’t have one–haha!–but occasionally talked on facebook, the rare skype call, etc. after a year of school in sydney at hillsong college, lane came home for the summer and these two made it official. only to have him leave again for another year! but emily was just happy to have him as her boyfriend finally, because as she told me once over coffee, “i guess i was pretty infatuated with lane from the very beginning.” 

they made the year apart go by a little faster with emily flying to sydney to visit halfway through. when lane graduated and moved back home to victoria, their story still wasn’t a smooth ride. they were young [20 or 21?] and even after six months of dating in the same place, they needed some time to grow individually. they broke it off… and it was awful. friend groups separated, schedules were shuffled around to avoid one another; and it stayed that way for twelve months. a YEAR. that is a heck of a long time. until the next summer, at a youth camp where they were both serving as leaders together. after months of little to no contact, lane pulled emily aside one day and confessed that he missed her. still loved her. wanted to try and make this work. emily, even though she had dated since their relationship, knew she wanted to try again. nobody she had met compared to lane for her.

four months later, they finally made it! lane proposed. she said yes. they were engaged. both of them, in the right place in their lives at the same time. nine months later they were married on vancouver island, august 21, 2010 — and a few months after that moved over to the mainland for lane to finish school. that’s when they walked into my church and i met them! as i said up above, i love spending time with these two [and i say these two, because lane really likes to join our coffee dates... he'll hang around the kitchen "playing games" on his iphone while emily and i chat on the couch... juuuust teasing, lane, emily and i like you there.] we had planned since the fall to take photos “when the snow came” and i flew home from sydney on saturday to SNOW and lots more of it has been coming.

this was such a fun afternoon. i like hanging out with two fun friends of mine and i like that they are married and i like that they like coffee and walks in the snow and not only do they not complain about sitting in the snow, but they suggest it. BOOM. enjoy.

jill & matty mccloghry first met six years ago at a cafe in sydney. jill had flown from florida to sydney to attend hillsong conference and conveniently met a boy named matty while out for coffee with a group of friends. turns out she had a good feeling about this boy because two months later, jill picked up her american life and relocated to australia. not much more than a year later, jill & matty were married and now have a beautiful daughter named maizey. sounds pretty carefree… but that’s not the entire story.

i believe one of the greatest gifts [& responsibilities] we have as Christians is to invite people into our lives. our high points and our low points. to not only declare God’s goodness when life is grand but to also declare God’s faithfulness in the midst of trial, confusion and grief. jill is a songwriter with hillsong church & her track “desert song” transparently reveals what it is to worship God through the desert seasons of our lives. i would invite you to watch the video below. jill shares her story much more beautifully than i ever could.

it was a joy to celebrate what God has brought this family through by capturing their one-year-old daughter maizey. she is an absolute delight: full of smiles that remind everyone she is the long-awaited answer to jill & matty’s prayers for their family. mccloghrys, thank you. so encouraged by your faith and your story and your family. thank you for allowing me to share a tiny part of it.

jess janz was how i survived high school. we became friends in grade 10 and although she graduated a year early [meaning i was left alone for the last year, ha!] — we were kindred spirits. hours were spent laying on the floor of her parent’s family room, staring up at the ceiling, making lists of things we wanted to accomplish & places we wanted to see in our life. i loved those times. fifteen year old girls dreaming. always a treat to see this girl, as she’s now moved to toronto and only comes “home” to langley once or twice a year. she’s a writer, she’s a singer: she’s an incredible artist. enjoy.