Beautiful Ending....Almost

May I just take a moment to be proud of these girls?  I know, I know, some of you are just sick of me gushing about them, but just give me this one last chance.
 
  The Real Beauty project is coming to a close.  The blog will continue for a while longer, because Faith and Aubrianah have photographed and interviewed many more beauties that we haven't written about.  But each of the girls took their last official project pictures on Wednesday.  Aubrianah photographed a woman we've known as beautiful for a long time.  She's a pastor's wife, a hiker, a grandmother, an angel collector, and a wonderful and caring woman who has taught both my children (and me) a lot about the Bible.  Faith's last Real Beauty subject is a nurse, young mother, loving wife and sister, and the most compassionate person I've ever known.  What wonderful women to end the project!  Then again, all of the women the girls have spent time with this summer have been extraordinary.

  Both of our beautiful photographers have spent the summer working hard, but I doubt either of them have considered it working.  I'm not sure how many women and girls they photographed, but it has been over 100 for sure.  All that and summer traveling besides, and all the RB shoots were free...they also did paid shoots this summer, with editing and deadlines!  Faith and Aubrianah have had a very full three months!

  When I first assigned them this project, I had no idea how much we'd be blessed by it.  The women we've met, the stories we've heard, the beauty.....I've been moved to tears several times by the beauty.  I hope you have, too.  I was just watching a video Aubrianah made to showcase more of the photos and got all weepy again!

  Anyway, tonight is the  main culmination of the project.  The girls have set up an art show, and tonight is opening night!  You are ALL invited, and if you haven't heard of it or gotten an email or Facebook invitation please message me, send me an email, or write on the Real Beauty Facebook wall and I will give you the details!

THANK YOU, Beautiful Girls, for participating in the project!  And THANK YOU, Beautiful Girls and Guys who may not have had your picture taken but supported Aubrianah and Faith in other ways.  We love you all!

A Beautiful Girl has Many Sides...All of Them are Beautiful!

If you know Courtney, you love her.  That's just the way it is.  Because she's one of our MVP Beautiful Girls, we want to do something a little different with her post.  Courtney is a multi-faceted beauty, she has lots of different interests and she likes all different kinds of people, and she can get along with anyone of any age.  So we decided that it would take more than one person to write about our beautiful Courtney.




Esther says:  "Courtney is a beautiful, funny, fun and very loud girl.  Living with her is a fun adventure.  When you play Blitz you want her around, whipping out cards and screaming whenever she wins.  I remember when I was on her team.  She tried to hi-five me, but instead she dumped lemonade on me.  I only know one person who can need stitches from taking trash cans up to the street and that's her.  She also has a dream of going to Kenya and being a missionary.  On the back of her truck there's a sticker that says "In my dreams I'm a Kenyan"."


Faith says:  "Courtney is one of the most fun people you will ever meet. She loves to run, has dressed up and gone to the Holy Land multiple times, is an avid blitz player, and she enjoys the outdoors. She is also a strong christian and organized a "Disciple Now" weekend for our youth group. She is super competitive and always gives everything her all. She is sweet and joyful and energetic. She is a very beautiful girl!"


Ruth says: "I've been dreaming of the day Courtney will marry my son and she will become my daughter-in-law.  Alas, even though I found them a summer home, Courtney has broken his and my hearts by declining the proposal.  I've even bought her clip-its and offered to give her the lead role as Nellie Oleson in my Little House on the Prairie-Nellie Style movie, but still she won't marry him. However, even if she will never be my daughter-in-law, I love her anyway, because she is a great example to my daughter that a young woman can be driven, smart, in love with the Lord, talented, and be extraordinarily beautiful."


Cindi says: "When I think of Courtney, I think of fun, fun, fun…..energy, joyfulness, exhuberance. Who else would I be excited to run 13 miles with at the crack of dawn? Who else would I dress up like a Bible character with to walk through the Holy Land? Who else would I dress up like a Duggar with to go strawberry picking? Only Courtney!
Courtney is also BRILLIANT! Currently, she is getting degrees in midwifery and nurse-practitioner……..and will use these degrees to serve the Lord as a missionary. The Lord has great and awesome plans for her and I’m so excited to see her service to Him as the years go by."



As you can see, we love Courtney.  She is standing on the edge of her adult life, and we can't wait to see what she does!  But even if she never does another thing, this beautiful girl has had a  tremendous impact on us, and we are blessed to know her!  You go, beautiful girl!

Beautiful Blessings, A Gift and a Promise

We met Lisa just last week when Aubrianah did back-to-school pictures with Lisa's two children Libby and Matthew.  Lisa has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, but we all know that just a pair of gorgeous peepers isn't what makes a woman beautiful!  So of course we had to talk with Lisa to find out what makes her beautiful.  It didn't take long, because when she looked at her children her face glowed!  Lisa's beauty word was 'Blessed x2', and she told me about Libby's adoption and Matthew's birth.  Here are Lisa's two blessings!

 Lisa and her husband tried a long time to have a baby.  They were first blessed by Libby, adopted as an infant.  They named her Elisabeth, which means 'Promise of God'.  What a beautiful blessing Libby is!

Soon after Libby's adoption, blessing #2 came along.  Lisa was pregnant with this beautiful little guy, Matthew.  Matthew means 'Gift of God'!

So you can see what makes Lisa beautiful, and what makes the light in her gorgeous blue eyes shine!  She has a promise AND a gift!  Aubrianah and I are blessed to have met this beautiful family, and we're all blessed to be children of God, all of us adopted into His family!