Time to Return to Writing

It’s time. I’ve been hemming and hawing about this for quite a while, and the time for a lifestyle blog post has arrived. A lot has changed in our lives. It’s been over 18 months since I hit “publish” on my last blog post, right before we found out we were expecting Dennis. Writing is one of my (Dianne’s) biggest passions. However, I pretty much lost the love for it when the only time I wrote was to improve the SEO for this website. That would be the reason why I have more than a dozen written blog posts ready to publish (except for some photos, which is slightly comedic seeing as photography is the reason for this website). All with the hopes of growing my reach.

But photography is not the main reason why God has put me on this earth. He has made that very clear in the last few months. And knowing this, I plan to use the talent that God has given me to (hopefully) impact those around me. In real life or virtually. 

A Blessed Life with Our Family of Nine

As I sit here on the couch with 6 children either reading, crocheting or building towers with PicassoTiles around me, while the two-year-old is napping, it is just so visible how blessed I am to have the life that I live. My love for writing gives me a natural ability to share with the world what our life actually looks like. So this website is going to continue functioning as our work website for brand photography. In addition, I will also be sharing lifestyle blog content. I am putting this calling ahead of my desire for better SEO. I believe wholeheartedly that even God is in the details of technical things such as online marketing, and such.

Shifting Focus: Brand Photography Meets Lifestyle Blog

You can expect a post next week with a full update about our lives. Please keep reading this blog post to learn a little more about our plans regarding lifestyle blog updates. We’ll be sharing about current events in our family (eg. Stella’s upcoming surgery), tips and tricks for balancing being parents as well as entrepreneurs, some of our favourite recipes, and more things that may be relevant to parents, business owners and Christians in general. I would truly love feedback, feel free to email us directly or to leave a comment down below.

In general, it is our hope to blog at least once weekly with lifestyle content. We will be launching an email list in the coming weeks. This will add value for those who want to get blog updates and more. Any freebies that we share will come through this email list. Personally I love to bless people with free things, so it will be very worthwhile joining! 

Join Our Journey – Let’s Stay Connected

Some of the things that we’re very excited about sharing are our new homeschooling schedule, our experience with the first of the spring Biblical feasts (Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread), how we function as a family of nine without a dishwasher (actually, we have three: their names are Jenelle, Pieter and Easton), and even a bit more about Stella’s journey coming from a 1.5 pound preemie and now having a diagnosis for her noisy breathing. We sometimes feel lonely living so far from family and our former home—especially when loved ones celebrate milestone birthdays or welcome new babies, and we can’t share those special moments as they happen. I know some of them are reading this (if it’s you, THANK YOU and we miss you) and this makes us feel a little less alone. 

Our Recent Near-Miss Accident

I want to share a quick story about something that happened to us before I end this. It just really made us realize how quick things can change in our lives. Yesterday, on our way to a swimming event for our homeschool group, we had front row seats to a bad accident. It could have ended up in us being t-boned if I hadn’t been completely aware of my surroundings. As we started to enter the intersection to turn left, a small sedan was coming from the direction that I was turning towards. It blew right through the red light at high speed. 

As I have a higher vantage point, being in a high Ford Transit van, I was able to stop well in time. The pickup truck beside me did not have that opportunity. The at-fault driver got the pick-up truck by the front bumper. From there he veered into stopped oncoming traffic, hitting an SUV with a elderly lady in the passenger seat. I would have been directly hit if I hadn’t been paying close attention—though my higher seat in the van kept me out of the main path. I carefully pulled forward to clear the intersection and call 911, and it really hit me that anything can happen and change life in an instant. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, but police arrested the driver.

Life Can Change in an Instant

Even just one week prior, back in our home province Ontario, in my own parent’s backyard, multiple people lost their lives in a split second. The reason why they missed the stop sign will never be known, but that’s not the point. And if that would be you or I, everything that we’ve done in our life is finished. Our legacy is set in an instant. That is not even considering the fact that at this point our time of grace on this earth is done, and we will meet our Maker. We can no longer change the impact we’ve made on Earth. We can not make amends with those who we may have wronged or who may have wronged us. We can not have one more opportunity to say the last thing we would ever say to our loved ones.

Just the Beginning

So I am taking today to be a better mother, and a better wife. I’ll work on this a little at a time. To be more patient, and more loving. I choose to be more authentic to the world, so you get to know the real me. The real us. I am choosing to fulfill God’s purpose for my life in the little and big ways that I am able. And this lifestyle blog post is just the beginning.