Growing families, businesses, and tummies | Chicago Fine Art Wedding Photography
"Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails."
Proverbs 19:21
"We've got a three month open window to try for baby Imhoff #2! Ready and GO!"
I know it's silly and even borderline embarrassing to even admit that this was our thought process this year, but those were our plans as we got ready for our upcoming wedding season. We were back tracking nine months so that we could ensure that if we had a baby, they would be born in our winter off season. As wedding photographers in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, we are crazy busy between the months of April - October. We're pretty much the reverse schedule of school teachers.
When those three months came and went... no baby. In all sincerity, we were disappointed. We really felt like our hearts were being made ready for another child. So, we quietly laid those plans down and moved forward knowing we could try again in a year.
Surprise, surprise, surprise. Five months later, we received the most unexpected and incredible news. Baby Imhoff #2 would be making an appearance this summer! The timing was so far from what we had planned, but our hearts were more than ready.
It's so funny how we are constantly being stretched in this area of giving God the plans for our life. As self employed business owners, we are intense and serious planners! You just have to be when you are in charge of your own business and livelihood. It's engraved into us. ...there are definitely moments when it would be so nice to just call in to our boss sick and let someone else handle the tough work for the day because we're tired or we just could use a break. However, it's our couples and these incredible milestone days that far outweigh the luxury of getting to depend on a hierarchy of leadership. (There's also great freedom in our down season too : ) We were both brought up in homes where all four of our parents were always self employed entrepreneurs. The four of them paved the way for us. We both grew up in "can do , never give up, the skie's the limit" environments. So, I guess you could say, it's always been in our blood and we've never imagined life any differently.
With the perks of having that entrepreneurial mindset, also comes the internal struggle of total and complete self-reliance. It can be a really major and lonely struggle. In the very beginning when we started our business right out of college, we could go for months and months without seeing a single paycheck. Eventually, time, perseverance, and just flat out working our butts off paid off and God's grace blessed our business. We're so thankful to be in this current season of life as a family and a business, but you still cannot escape that constant little thought in the very back of your head from popping up once in a blue moon: "What if no one ever wants us to take a single picture of their wedding ever again?" These are the secret thoughts of every self employed entrepreneur. Am I right? So, with this incredible opportunity comes great responsibility.
It's clear what our struggle is: letting go and letting God take over. ...Even when it comes to planning our child's birth according to our work schedule. The amazing Lovsie (Meg's Mom) has always reminded us when we'd tell her what our business and family plans were. She'd say: "Only God can choose Birthdays." #truth
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
Proverbs 16:3
Despite the fact that our baby boo will be arriving during a season that we so did not plan, we've been blown away to watch how God has taken care of every single detail. A few years back, we made a relationship with our amazing friend Natalie. Natalie is an incredibly talented photographer (insanely gifted with fine art film) and she has joined us over these past few years to fill in for Meg when she was under the weather or if our daughter needed some very much deserved TLC during the thick of wedding season. Natalie is a gift. She knows how we work, she anticipates those golden moments, and we NEVER have to worry about how a wedding day is going to go when she's there in Meg's place. She's calm, cool, collected, and she works so hard. She's truly our go-to girl. We just about jumped out of our seats when she confirmed that she could take over full time this summer as our 2nd shooter. We were thrilled and we couldn't be more confident in our team this year. We feel spoiled that plans just truly worked out so beautifully. Because, when God plans birthdays, he's also making a way.
