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A Father’s Song – Please click on this link to listen to the song first or you might not understand this post (if you right click on the link you can open it in a new tab or window)

A lot of you know that my husband is in the professional bluegrass band Blue Moon Rising, if you didn’t know that, you do now . As I sit here typing this watching it snow in the reflection of my iMac and getting ready for a session, while our 2 year old plays with his cars and our 6 year old is getting spoiled by Mamaw, my husband/their daddy is on the road to a show. He called me up earlier to listen to a song; Darrell Scott’s A Fathers Song (the song above). This song defines my husband.

Musicians are mistake as horrible people who don’t care about their family and would rather put music before their family but that is NOT always the case. It is often considered an oxymoron to be a family man and musician on the road! There has been MANY time my husband has not even been out of our neighborhood and I will have to wipe the tears from our 6 year old or deal with a 2 year old tantrum all because they just wanted daddy to stay home this weekend. They just don’t understand that daddy has a “fire” so strong that we can’t keep him here and he does this for them. I promise them that Sunday or Monday he will be back to us, and all 4 of us snuggled up in our King bed until they fall fast asleep. They might not understand now, but one day they will know that he does this for them!

So next time that you are at a show or a festival, I beg you, please thank them (whoever it might be) for the sacrifices, tear-filled phone calls, missed holidays and missed birthdays all so that you could have an amazing holiday/weekend with YOUR family.

If one day my husband does ever decides to leave music, I KNOW that that music will never leave him because it is his passion and that will never leave him. I love my husband and my love includes loving his passion so I will be here to wipe the tears of sadness until he can get back home to wipe the tears of happiness.

If you liked the song above Darrell is actually giving a free download of it away!

Here is a picture of my husband playing his pre-war bass.

Let It Be – click to listen (right click and open in a new tab or window and you can continue reading the post:))
Songwriters: Lennon, John Winston; Mccartney, James Paul;

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

And when the brokenhearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be

For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Yeah, there will be an answer let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be

I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Yeah, let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

Back in April of this year my family and I had to deal with something that I NEVER thought we would have to deal with, and only close family and friends know about this.  I think that my husband is really the only person who knows (until now) how it has truly affected me!  Before you start worrying just know that it is not something to do with death or health, but of betrayal.

Let me start this by saying I am not a very emotional person, ask my family they have NO CLUE if I like my Christmas gifts, I have never been the person to just cry (my husband can probably name the few times in the 9 year we have been together) or scream because I love a gift.  With that said I am a passionate person and when I am passionate about something then I am ALL IN 120%.   I LOVE kids always have and always will, in family videos and pictures I an 9 times out of 10 carrying a baby doll or a real baby that appears to be larger than I am (not sure what crazy parent thought that was a good idea but hey it was the 80’s we didn’t even wear seatbelts), guess that is why I love my job so much because I get to play with your kids.

For the better part of 4 years I had the opportunity to care for some kids every Sunday and Wednesday and watch them grow up right in front of my eyes.  I held these babies when they had separation anxieties and watched them wave bye months later.  I wiped tears when there was boo boo’s and laughed with them when I ticked there belly.  I felt they were mine! Then one day this April, this was taken from me, and when asked NOONE would/could give me an answer and I was not the only person this was done to (and they were not given answers either).  I had so many emotions run through me at once; confusion, mad, hurt, frustration (because of no answers) and even relief.  All of these emotions confused me and then I realized it was because I was passionate about these kids and they had just been (proverbially) taken away from me.  I knew that they would be in good hands with the temp because she is one of the FEW people I would feel comfortable raising my children (if something every happened to myself and my husband). I was just so confused and honestly had some questions for God; these “CHRISTIANS” are the people who I am supposed to trust completely!  I was lied to and betrayed by them.  My husband and I had to make a hard decision at that point, move on or suck it up and continue on with them.  We made the decision to move on because things that were said to us that cannot be taken back.

Seven months later I still do not have answers from them (and do not expect to get any) but daily God has given me answers and I see that he is teaching me things.  Erica Mowell Photography has grown because I am able to put more time into the backend of my business.  I have become closer to God through my daily struggle. During my “soul searching” I found a Beatles song that has helped me through this, and with the help of my AMAZING husband, and made me realize I have to just Let it be.

I still struggle daily with this but I just tell myself to Let it be….

I seriously cannot stop looking at these images!!!!! Their family property they took me to was just to die for. I think that the only thing that would have made this session better was if the few flurries that we got would have turned into fluffy white snow (for those of you who know me, know that me saying that is a big deal )

I love this next one sooo much! Actually I just love everything about the next 3!!!!

I swear these guys are so easy to photograph! We had a pretty interesting session and some good laughs but we walked away with some AMAZING images!

I did a contest a  couple months ago and Ashley was the winner.  We had this session scheduled and seemed like the rain was my enemy… we had to reschedule twice and another obstacle presented causing us to change the location of the session.  Although we were wondering if we would get the session done before he had to go for another surgery we did get it done and other then the fact that it was FREEZING that day, the session turned out wonderful!  Hope you guys enjoy your sneak peek!

If they get 10 comments then this family gets a 8×10 on me – 20 comments then I’ll upgrade them to an 11×14!