Wow…choosing a name for our daughter was so much harder than the boys. Name meaning/signifcance is important to us. We look forward to the days in the future when we can tell our kids why they received the names they did and why we pray certain things over them. With that said, I would like to share with you about our daughter’s name. Breese (Reese with a b…not “Breeze”) was my grandmother’s maiden name. If you knew my grandma, you knew she was a firecracker of a woman. Small in stature and big in presence. She was deeply committed to and loved her family. She was simple, liked simple things and could make one killer blackberry cobbler.  I’ve spent most Saturday nights (from childhood to the present) at her home – gathered with my loud and fun family. She LOVED my boys and lit up when they would barrel through the door. Grandma passed away on Mother’s Day 2008, she never got to meet a great-granddaughter. I can only imagine the joy she would have had to see little Breese with a big ole’ bow on her head.  A couple of months ago my grandpa mentioned how happy grandma would have been to meet my daughter. Then he asked when she was due. When I told him “July”, he responded, “I knew it. She’s going to be your firecracker.” We pray that in many ways she would grow up to be a bit of a firecracker that deeply loves her family, is committed and loyal to those she is around, that she would appreciate the simpicities of life and that she would leave a strong legacy behind her.

Breese’s middle name is Finley…which means “fair warrior”. For obvious reasons “fair warrior” is a great meaning for a girl with three big brothers. We love this name for many other reasons. We pray that she would be a warrior for those that can’t fight for themselves, a voice for those who can’t be a voice for themselves…one who is not afraid to defend the defenseless and is willing to give of herself to fight battles so much greater than she is….that she would make an eternal difference. While doing all that we pray she is “fair” in the sense of feminine. That she can embrace and appreciate the uniquely feminie way God created her and placed her in a home with big brothers that she will likely want to imitate. We look forward to the breath of ‘fair and girly’ air she brings to our family….

And, of course, a few pictures from the hospital….

This one just cracks me up…looks like she already picked up some mad karate skills from her brother.

When we put the dress on her she was not too happy about it. Then once the flower hat went on, she was totally good. I guess she is a hat girl.

For those wondering why we are just now sharing her name, it was important to me that I get to tell my grandpa her name. I didn’t want it to get back to him, so I waited to post it online. We drove straight from the hospital to his house. Naturally (and perfectly) we found him in his favorite place – outside in his garden. This is me introducing Breese to him…

For obvious reasons I won’t be doing daily posts for a while, but I’ll still be posting…..

]]> http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/07/09/introducing-breese-finley/feed/ 47 http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/06/17/robert-rachel-and-adoption-makes-3/ http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/06/17/robert-rachel-and-adoption-makes-3/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:03:05 +0000 AshleyAnn http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/?p=1530 Where to begin on this post? Rachel and I have been close friends since 6th grade and that means more memories than I can even begin to think of. Robert and Chris have been friends since elementary school. A true life scenario of 2 guy best friends marrying two girl best friends. Rachel probably knows more than anyone how crazy it is that I am 29 and about to have my fourth child…not really the plan I had back in the day. She survived 6-12 grades with me and all our awkwardness, stood beside me at my wedding, and celebrated with me the arrival of my boys. She also has watched me go from picking up a camera to having a business and now this crazy blog. I have been anxiously awaiting when I would finally get to photograph her and Robert…knowing it would take the arrival of their first child. Soon and very soon I hope to get a call to rush to the hospital when their child is born…and wouldn’t it be a dream to be able to photograph a strong beautiful birth mom placing a delicate baby into my dear Rachel’s loving arms (hint, hint Rachel). They are putting the final touches on a book about themselves for their domestic adoption. It was my GREAT honor to attempt to capture a bit of who they are for that book. Obviously all the pictures below won’t be for that book, but since I finally got to photograph them I was going to have some fun with it. I can’t wait to post again when they are a family of three!

A little bit country and a little bit Rock’n'Roll

I think this is my favorite from the session. I love how he makes her laugh…I have too many favorites from this session!

These last two make me smile. The first just seems so Rachel to me. The second so Robert. Chris has TONS of pictures from high school of him, Robert and a few other guys making this pose. Just makes me laugh, so we had to do it for their session.

Totally embarrassing myself here…I told Rachel this is as close to a ‘being pregnant together’ picture as we’ll ever get.

Next time I’ll be the one adopting and will look all cute and skinny…she’ll be the miserable, sweaty, pregnant one

One of these days I’ll get together a post of those! Enjoy (in no particular order)….

The girls will probably want to kill me for posting this, but I love it. It just says so much about sisters. The pose is one they do all the time…just not picturing 3 brothers doing this. I love how much fun they seem to have with eachother. Funny as I watched them it made me want a sister…OH YEAH I have a great sister (who everyone describes as the ‘fun’ one)…. Yeah for sisters!

Isn’t she beautiful! J & B, thanks for having me over. It was great to spend a little time with your incredible family. Congrats, Cardyn is precious!

This picture just makes me laugh a little, this is the 4th member of the family. We were attempting to get him to take a picture with the baby….who looks TINY next to him. He could be the biggest dog I have ever seen. I told them my boys would love to go for a ride on his back.