The talent and warmth of Kathy Wolfe’s voice can be heard with AT&T, Chase Bank, DirecTV, The Home Depot, and Panasonic. In person, she has a genuine excitement for the people around her – whoever they may be. It’s a rare gift that allows those in her presence to feel “seen”. And that makes her a joy to be around and a pleasure to work with – thank you Kathy! Check out her work at lovethatvoice.com!
Sometimes, I am overcome by spontaneous laughter – an eruption of joy springs forth from the belly of my soul. It comes from a moment when life suddenly makes sense or from a subtle reminder I am loved or from a simple thought that God is good. And this weekend, I was given many more reasons to smile at life. Heather and I went to the Family Life marriage conference, Weekend to Remember. It was held at the 4 diamond Hilton Hotel next to the Quest Center so the lobby was filled with hundreds of Bruce Springsteen fans the first night (the guest speakers even met a few of the E Street Band members on a trolley ride).
The event was a wonderful and healing time for us. Mostly because it gave us tools and space to talk about a few small weeds that have crept into our relationship. Without which, I don’t think we would of noticed. It also gave us an inspiring vision for parenthood. Greg Speck, a speaker Heather saw years ago in Spain when she was a kid, brought me to tears when he talked about the good man his father was and the kind of father he has now become.
He used to always put the kids to bed and for the first few years he was annoyed because they wouldn’t stop asking him questions. He always wanted to rush through it so he could spend time with his wife. But something clicked one day and he realized he was missing out on a great opportunity to really get to know his children. For the little ones, he crawled into bed with them and started asking them questions like, “If you were an animal what kind would you be?” or “If you could get anything at Toys ‘R’ Us right now, what would it be?” and even deeper questions like, “Is there anything you wish Dad wouldn’t do?” For the older ones, he sat on the edge of the bed or grabbed a chair and talked about how they were feeling about various things in their life. During these interactions, rich moments were shared throughout the years, and his children never doubted they were loved. Wow – I want to be the kind of man my children could freely trust with their hearts.
The best part is that we could share this experience – a couple of our friends and clients came too!
Omaha musician, Tim Wildsmith recently released his second CD called “A New Morning” (and won an Omaha Entertainment and Art Award). Check out a couple of his tracks on myspace and help support local artists!
Heather and I spent the weekend together with a bunch of other photographers – we had great talks with our friend Tammy from Creative Images by Tammy and met Judy and Joe of Joseph G Johnston (true masters of the craft!). It’s truly an amazing encouragement to be involved with the larger photographic community! We were grateful to hear Jeff and Julia Woods speak and share their experiences growing their studio. It’s like Henri Nouwen once said, the best teachers are those who can articulate the inner realities of their own experiences and allow their words to become a sort of road map for their students to do the same – but only with the students’ heart, mind and soul instead of the teacher’s.
I’ve been a fan of the Woods’ work for a long time; it was great to meet them both in person and discover we share more than an obvious love of the craft. We also share similar values for how it should be done, by incorporating a priority for family and relationships (even though it’s tough sometimes and we fall short more often than not), and by maintaining a view of the world that believes its foundation is built on agape Love itself (perhaps best described in 1 Cor. 13).
