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Boy #3 {Downers Grove / Hinsdale Maternity & Family Photography}

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This beautiful mama may very well be in labor this very moment! A couple months ago we had a blast photographing her baby belly & other 3 boys {including her hubby!}.Julie Chen Photo_0002

What a fun family. And, soon enough Miss M there will be even more blue in your laundry basket! Can’t wait to meet him!

 

Grace & Peace,

JulieFreeSHIPPING

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Garage Decore {or graffiti?}

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I just stumbled upon My Favorite Little Mister creating chalk art on the garage door & I LOVE IT! Can I just tell you that even though he is 11 years old & going into 6th grade on Monday, I still think he is the cutest thing in the world & just want to eat him up. Man, I love this kid. His creativity does not stop. He is usually found building {Legos, architecture, Mindstorms, origami, magnets} & tends to create 3-dimensional art. But, his drawing ability is also amazing.

 

{OH, when he caught me photographing him he gave me the bottom look. So typical of a kid sick of being photographed, eh?!}

 

What kinds to creative things do your kids love to do?

 

Grace & Peace,

Julie
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Ephesians 6 : The Armor of God {Behind the Scenes with Life Verse Design}

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{best hubby model ever!!! & the kiddos had to dress up too!}

A few years ago, a customer of mine requested that I create Ephesians 6, the chapter about spiritual warfare, for him in my Life Verse style. I wrote it on my “to do” list, thinking that would be a very unique piece to create. The problem remained, where on earth would I get authentic looking armor to create such a cool piece?

I decided to use Facebook to ask people where I could find a suit of armor … I got lots of advice as to where to pick up some local armor and my best lead came from my Tyndale coworker’s wife {whose hubby creates some awesome covers btw} … I cannot believe I did not think of that. For, you see when we are creating fiction covers at Tyndale we sometimes need to rent costumes for those covers.

So, my art director’s advice was to go to a little shop in the burbs called Kult of Athena, where the owners of the shop were experts at armor {and any type of weapons you may be looking for in fact}. The shop rents out to both Disney and Hollywood! He also told me to be sure to take Sam & my favorite little mister, as they would LOVE the store {boy, was he right!}.Ephesians6 Photo_0002

After I briefly explained to the store owner how I wanted to visually illustrate the Ephesians 6 passage, he immediately knew exactly what I was looking for. He said for that New Testament era the high Roman guard armor would be authentic to what I need and what Paul would have been referring to in his passage.

My knight in shining armor {aka my hubbalicious} was more than willing to pose for this shoot. He graciously suited up in all the layers (a wool tunic & all) in about 90 degree heat to pose for me. As we previewed the images, he would state how it “needed to look tougher”… oh so fun to get a man’s perspective!Ephesians6 Photo_0003

I was really awestruck when viewing the pieces of armor in light of thinking about Paul’s instructions on how we ought to daily suit up to fight the spiritual battle.

put on the full armor of God
{every piece to be fully covered}the belt of truth
{which holds everything together in its proper place}the breastplate of righteousness
{Jesus’ righteousness covering our hearts}

your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
{walk your talk, go & share, be active}

take up the shield of faith
{which extinguishes the fiery arrows of attack}

the helmet of salvation
{protects our mind and thoughts}

the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
{the only offensive piece with which to attack with:
the powerful word of God}

The piece that shocked me most was the shield. I guess I always just pictured a shield that you would carry around that covers your chest area, but they were saying at the shop that the shields were HUGE {as you can see from the proportions of my images} and were placed on the ground & then you were almost completely covered. So interesting to think of faith in light of that shield.

I hope I utilize my spiritual armor in a more powerful way in light of this passage.Ephesians6 Photo_0004

The art is available here with FREE shipping for a limited time.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Grace & Peace,

JulieFreeSHIPPING

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CAUTION: Major Cuteness Warning! {Downers Grove Family Photography}

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Last week I had the sheer joy of photographing this more-than-cute-purely-adorable-loving-family. The baby was on the move. The little sis was full of giggles. Big sis is the perfect mommy’s helper. Big bro’s smile stole the show.

 

The best part? Just watching the love between all of them.

 

The mama was brilliant with her vision for the shoot: at “their” park, wearing pure white shirts, blue jeans, bare feet = classic. I hope these timeless portraits will make this family smile for years to come.
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We REALLY got their feet dirty, which I for one was glad as I wanted to create the above art using a poem that hung on my friend’s grandma’s fridge for life. I love it! Hope you do too!

 

Grace & Peace,

Julie
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National Park Portraits + Thoughts on Race from My Sunshine Girl {Chen Family Vacation 2014}

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Hopefully you are not sick of my vacation posts yet, but I just had to share with you all some of my favorite portraits of my kiddos. Above is Sunshine Girl strolling through the yellow fields of the Badlands. {Umm… there may or may not have been rattlesnakes in that field. *Gulp!*} There is nothing like South Dakota, where the land & sky go on forever & the wind was incredible.

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The above is our campground in Canyon Village, Yellowstone. Camping among the soft pines was dreamy. The kids loved playing in the forest. It was all I could do to have them stop for a photo. Love them so much.

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Out of my 3, Sunshine Girl is THE model for me. She loves it & I love her beauty. Those eyes, that smile, how she can pull off different looks… ahhh…

 

We had a very interesting conversation a couple weeks ago about race & self perception. I should back track & tell you 2 things first:

1. Last year when we went to the University of Michigan as one of our vacation stops, we went to an exhibit on race. It was fascinating. It discussed race, racial terms & how they’ve changed though the years, prejudice, perception, etc… One part of the exhibit was by a photographer who studied mixed Asians {ie: my kids.} The photos were amazing. They stated the mix of 2 races {ie: Japanese + Swedish} & then at the end of the exhibit, you were to fill out a card & state {or declare} what race you are & my 2 big kids declared they are Chinese. Now, what about ME?! In their eyes, they are Chinese because Daddy is Chinese. Interesting.

 

2. On the way home from Yellowstone, Sam & I listened to Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book David & Goliath {I highly suggest you either read or listen to this book} … another gem of wisdom & insight from Malcolm. In the book, there is an entire section on the Civil Rights Movement, which I know the kids gleaned from.

 

OK, so back to our conversation.

 

One day after volleyball camp, Sunshine Girl looked at me & said, “Mommy, I wish I had skin like you.” {the irony here is she actually DOES have skin exactly like me. Skin, hair & ears are all she’s got of my features.}

I asked, “Why? What do you mean?”

She replied {sadly}, “At volleyball camp, no one picked me to be their partner because I am dark skinned & it was me & the other 2 REALLY dark skinned girls that were never chosen.”

 

This made me heartbroken. As a 9 year old, does she really think she’s not chosen because of the color of her skin? Was it true? Are we here in white suburbia perpetuating racism?

 

I would like to think that she was not chosen often because many of the girls she was at camp with were already friends with each other from school {& she does not go to their schools}, so Sunshine Girl was the outsider & I explained to her that people tend to stick with their own friends & not reach out to the new kid, as it’s easier & more comfortable to stick with what you know. {& by the way, on the last day of camp, a couple girls did ask her to join in!}

 

The entire conversation was fascinating to me & made me think about how my kids perceive themselves. Sam & I do our best to communicate to them how they are fearfully and wonderfully made, chosen by God, & our beloved treasures. Sunshine Girl is so tender hearted. Compassion is a big aspect of her personality. She is always looking out for the under-dog. And, now she felt she was the under-dog. I hope this feeling teaches her to continue to step out of comfort zones & embrace those who are not like herself. I also hope she continues to grow in confidence in who she is & how God has created her. {She is my one who carries an Avengers lunchbox for crying out loud & several 3rd grade girls were horrified & made fun of her a bit for it, but she said, “I don’t care. I like the Avengers!” ha!}

 

Grace & Peace,

Julie

 

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