Mary Fields Photography Blog

Ok, so this post has been a LONG time coming! Last fall and winter I kept trying to sit down and write it but there was just SO much to say that I just didn’t even know how to say it. With planning a wedding and all the changes of this season, I just couldn’t seem to get it done and I wanted to do it right. Well, since so many people have requested it and since it’s high time I talk about it…let me write a bit about the love of my life and the man I now call my husband. I posted yesterday ’10 Get to Know You’ facts to get us started but now let me get into more detail as I share our love story. 

(I’ve decided to break this up into a few different posts because let’s be real, there is so much to say and attention spans are not super long! So, when we get to the end of this post and it’s not quite complete, you will know why!)

There’s no better place to start than the beginning and well, the beginning is hard to define but it started LONG before we actually met. It started with a young girl who hoped she would get married but wanted to marry the right man so, she began to pray. Of course that young girl was me and for years I prayed for the man who I would call ‘husband.’ Years. Aaaand what felt like more years (now looking back it really wasn’t that long). In fact, I was praying for my husband long before I was even close to being ready to get married! Thankfully, I had some wonderful mentors and even more wonderful parents who taught me to have high standards, even from an early age. As my dad so perfectly said to me when I was a young girl, “You come at a high price.” Those words were said to me about two decades ago and that conversation is seared in my brain so clearly because they were so meaningful.

Prayers for a husband began to get more and more serious through high school and college as I dated more, but probably more so as I launched into adult life and started a wedding photography business. My life was surrounded by weddings and couples in love which only increased my desire to have the privilege of being someone’s wife. My friends got married, my sisters got married and yet I was still praying. People would always say, ‘it will happen when you least expect it, just keep praying,’ and while that was certainly true, I think the lessons went far deeper than waiting for God to surprise me. He had so much more to teach me about what was for my good.

Eventually, my prayers served to give way to the most wonderful truth. I began to see that the real beauty was finding my satisfaction in the Lord and not someone else who simply could not satisfy. I was not promised marriage nor would that be the key to my ultimate fulfillment. Even more so, it was far better to never marry than to marry someone who was not God’s best for me. What an incredibly hard reality but what a beautiful truth! God was enough and my hope was in Him.

I am so thankful for those years of praying and asking God for His best. Thankful that I had to wait longer than I had expected. Thankful that there was heartbreak in the midst of it and difficult seasons of wrestling through singleness. Thankful that God didn’t craft it together like I thought He should. Thankful in the midst of it, He never promised me anything except that I could trust that whatever happened, it would all be His very best and FOR my good. I am thankful for these things, not only because He, in His perfect timing, did answer my prayers, but because they taught me to see Him as all that I need. To know and believe wholeheartedly that His ways are higher and greater than my own and that He truly does know better.

Almost two years ago, I went on a date with a guy and I had no idea that he would be the answer to so many prayers. Prayers from a little girl, a naive teenager, an anxious student, a bright-eyed new business owner and a hopeful woman. Yet, the truest blessing was that, in God’s never-ending faithfulness, He wasted none of it. The years of waiting were just as much a gift as the years ahead of me. I really do firmly believe that. Praising God today for His perfect timing and His perfect faithfulness. He answered my prayers for a man to share life with but He also did so much more along the way and for all of it, I am thankful.

I know that there will be many more seasons of life ahead of me where it seems like my prayers aren’t being answered or that I keep ‘waiting’ and I hope that I will stand on the firm foundation that His ‘steadfast love endures forever.’

So, in the name of long-awaited answered prayers and so much more,

I Say, Take Me Back!

Tune in on Friday to read about how the Mr. and I met!

Well, Internet, it has been FAR too long. You may have been wondering where I have been for the last six months. Well, there have been a number of things that have been keeping me busy and not quite as attentive to the blog as I used to be. I won’t go into all of them but the number one reason was that I GOT MARRIED! Yep, between getting engaged, moving and planning a wedding, life has been super busy and full of exciting changes. God has been so good and blessed me so richly these last several months and I can’t wait to tell you about it all. So, I figured the best way to start back on the blog would be to do a small series on what’s been going on in life, namely the story of my journey to marrying the love of my life and what life has looked like lately. Of course, after this series, I will get back to showing you the lovely couples and clients whose lives I have the privilege of capturing as well as the occasional random musing I so love to share on this here bloggity!

Stay tuned to hear about how I met my hubby, our proposal, what I learned from being a bride and of course our wedding day! All to come in the next week or so and I can’t wait to share. For today, let me start with a little teaser. I’d love to introduce you to the man I now call husband by sharing 10 somewhat random but fun facts. Don’t worry, they have all been approved by the mister himself. He was excited to be introduced and I can’t wait for him to be more and more a part of Mary Fields Photography! So without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to my hubby!

10 Facts about Jimmy (in no particular order)

1. He is a Texan and an Aggie– I never thought I’d marry a Texan (as I refuse to call myself one) but I suppose when you live in the state of Texas, your chances of that go up exponentially. It’s true, I married a Texas born and raised fella, more specifically a Houstonian, and a proud graduate of Texas A&M. Whoop! (I did that in honor of him and because I love him so but it may never happen again). I can’t lie though, the man does wear cowboy boots quite often and I really do love it 🙂

2. He is a Blondie– Now, a Texan maybe, but I NEVER thought I would marry a blonde…especially someone as truly blonde as he is! We laugh about this quite often since we look nothing alike and have completely different complexions/features. Should God ever bless us with children, who knows what the mixture will be! I’m secretly voting for little blondies just like him.

3. He is Younger– He loves to call me a cougar but I hardly think a year and a half in age difference qualifies me as this. Yet, I will forever be an ‘older woman.’

4. He is a Goofball– On our first date I remember thinking he might be too serious for me but boy was I wrong! The man is siiiiillly and I absolutely love it. I’m pretty sure I’ve spent a good majority of our relationship laughing at his ridiculousness.

5. He is a Guitar-Playing Finance Nerd– So my husband’s skills are very different from mine. While I am more the creative brain, this man is much more the left brain. He is in finance and so he totally nerds out when talking about things like accounting, IRAs, budgets and economics. All things that make me want to run away, eat a cookie or hide under the bed. You might say we are opposite…you might. However, he does have his creative side too. He plays a mean guitar (was even in a band in college) and serenades me every night while I get ready for bed. No joke. 

6. He is an Excel Wizard- In the same vein, the man is an excel wizard. At first I thought this was way too nerdy but then we planned a wedding and well, let me just tell you…it didn’t take me long to see that this particular skill was GOLD. Since then, I’ve been incredibly thankful for his ‘nerdiness.’ I tease him often because the way I get giddy about photography is the way he gets giddy about a super savvy excel spreadsheet.

7. He is Helplessly Practical– Y’all, practical isn’t exactly a word I would use to describe myself. The woman who shoots two weddings in one weekend…in two different countries! Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m practical. God totally knew what he was doing though, as Jimmy is helplessly practical and boy does it balance me out in a wonderful way.

8. He is a Coffee Snob– I quickly learned that my husband has a high standard for coffee. At first I thought it was ridiculous but now I’m afraid he has pulled me into his snobbery and I don’t hate it. If you want good coffee, come to our house. We are happy to make snobs out of you too.

9. He was Voted ‘Mr. Congenial’ By the Whole World- Ok, maybe this is a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit. My husband is the most ‘popular’ man I have ever met and I swear we can’t go anywhere without running into someone he knows. I. Am. Not. Lying. He denies it when  I say it but it’s true. He truly is the most genuine person and makes everyone feel like a million bucks. I married a stud.

10. He Loves Jesus- Of course I had to close with this one because let’s be real, it’s my favorite fact about him. God gave me a man who loves Jesus more than he loves me and that’s the sweetest fact of all. He is the most godly man I know and I am so lucky to do life with him!

Hope you enjoyed meeting my husband! There is so much more I could tell you about him but you’ll get to know him in the posts to come. Check back tomorrow and over the next several days to hear more about our love story! As a sneak peek, here is a picture of us on the most wonderful of days!

Photo Creds to our ever-amazing photographer, Constance Higley. Check her site out here.