When my husband and I were first married he worked as a youth pastor at a large church in Albuquerque, NM. We were really young at the time, and Aric was one of the “older” youth kids. When Aric went to college he kept in touch and would often visit whenever he would come back into town. The relationship began as “ministry”, but didn’t take long to turn into friendship. Aric has always been one of the most receptive, teachable and open people we’ve ever been around. We have always loved our long talks about life, relationships, Jesus and the Bible. Any time spent around him has been nothing but treasured time and we always looked forward to his visits.
When he began dating his wife, Casey, he brought her over to our house to introduce us and ask what we thought of her. Casey was super quiet when she came that day, but it was beyond obvious that Aric was dating a girl waaaay over his head! I was instantly impressed by kindness, her sweet demeanor, and her joy in Aric. Casey loves Jesus, is compassionate, kind, tenderhearted and absolutely beautiful both inside and out.
Soon after, they were engaged and plans for their wedding began. They decided on a destination wedding in Mexico and they asked my Matt to officiate their wedding. I was 
pregnant, though, and my baby was due only a few weeks prior to the wedding date, which meant I wasn’t able to go. I still give them a hard time about the date they picked and the
fact that I couldn’t be there! I was super sad to have to miss seeing them get married!
Through the years we have remained in contact with the both of them. Aric and Casey are the kind of people you can pick right back up wherever you left off with, no matter how long has passed, and they’ve become somewhat of a small extension of our family. They now live in Lubbock, TX, but have visited us in both NM and in CA.
Both of them are amazingly gifted, incredibly talented photographers. They own their own business there and have done extremely well with it. Their company is called Aric and Casey Photography and their website is http://aricandcasey.com in case you wanted to check them out.
A few months ago I was sharing with Casey a few of my ideas regarding this blog and some photo questions I had, and Aric overhearing our conversation, was then brought into the discussion as well. Aric, being the encourager and dreamer that he is, quickly began helping and brainstorming with me on my plans. I was on the phone with him that evening for hours as we contemplated together ideas of how to move forward.
His gracious, kind, and overwhemingly helpful response has been an incredible encouragement to me.
“Meg, I’ve inwardly wanted you to do this for years. You’ve helped me and Casey out on so many things and I want others to be helped as well. I knew your life has been crazy the past few years and never wanted to push you, but I cannot tell you how excited I am that you’re telling me you want to do this now. I want to help in any and every way I can.”
Since then, Aric and Casey have helped me in many practical ways such as finding a local photographer, setting up the actual website and helping with the design, and have offered
incredible amounts of feedback and advice drawing from their experiences on best practices.
Aric and Casey, thank you! Thank you a thousand times over! Thank you for your joy, your enthusiasm, your constant encouragement and all of your help! Your friendship through the years has been such a blessing not only to me, but to us as an entire family. All of your help and faith in me is something that has continued to blow me away and I will cherish forever. I love your love to help others and your dedication to serving other people through your hands as well as your work is something to be admired by many. I love you guys (and now your little Kai as well) so very much and am honored to have you as friends.
