coming soon...

I know that it has been so so long since I posted anything.  I have so much to catch the few of you who actually read this up on!  I have big plans for this to become RachaelHopePhotography's web blog...I've been super busy and can't wait to catch you up on married life and my photography adventures.  

So stay tuned...!

Walk for Hope...

As some of you know and many of you may not, in March of 2007 my father, Michael Ham, was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. With the onset of this disease's symptoms in most people's 30-50's, my Dad is just in the beginning stages of the disease and if you didn't know that he had been diagnosed, you would probably never notice anything different about him than anyone else.

With the prospect of my Dad's movement, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms increasing over the next 15-20 years though, it would obviously be an understatement to say that this diagnosis has simply effected every part of our families lives, including Drew and I's courtship and marriage. Through it all though, through the realization of the effects of this disease on our family and the genetic ramifications for myself and my siblings, we have found hope.

Hope can be found in many places. For me, I've found great hope in the fact that my name is "Rachael Hope," and feeling like there was something in my name that would be called forth in a time like this for my family, to hope in and for the best in the face of a fallen world that has effected our family so physically. Obviously, we have all searched for and found our hope in the Lord and his word...even though it is often a daily search. We have found hope in the incredible support group of family and friends that we have been so blessed to have surrounding us, helping us through the challenging times and committed to stay by our side for all the years to come. Finally, we have found hope within the Huntington's community of the Pikes Peak Region, the Huntington's Disease Society for America, and the annual Team Hope Walk for Huntington's Disease.

Last year being our first year of involvement with this organization, we decided to participate as a family, still in the recovery stages of dealing with my Father's diagnosis, not really knowing what to expect. To help get the word out to our few family friends who knew what we were going through, we created a web page through the HDSA organization, with a goal to raise $500.00 to support HD research and sponsor our family at the Walk for Hope in Denver. Just a few short weeks later we were blown away by the response from the people around us who donated $3000.00 to HD research and our whole family was able to be sponsored to walk. What a miracle!

Walk for Hope 2007: Rachael, Michael (Dad), Laura (Mom), Shiloh (Sister), Judy (Grandmother, also diagnosed with HD)

Now, a year later, we are preparing to walk again, and this year we are ready to begin taking steps to raising awareness about this disease an how it has effected our family. We would love to have you check out our website to get more information about our family, this event, and the great work of the HDSA organization. And of course, more than your financial support, we appreciate your prayers and thoughts.

Our hope is that the Lord's purpose will be served through our family and that we will be able to bring this hope to all those around us, especially in the HD community on August 16th.

To him be all the glory,

Drew & Rachael MacPhee

www.firstgiving.com/hamfam2008

lost chickens...

A funny thing happen on the way to our house...

Tonight Drew and I decided to take a nice walk around the neighborhood after dinner...enjoy the sunshine and being married...all that warm and fuzzy kind of stuff.  But what was very peaceful and nice, quickly turned into a qu

ite hysterical experience. Read the following...

Yes...Tiko, the seemingly beloved pet chicken of one of our neighbors, has gone missing.  Now, on first glance it would seem that this poster was recently posted.  As you can see on the right, there is only one little phone number tab missing and I was the one who took it.  It is now on my fridge just in case a see poor lonely Tiko.)  So, all signs seem to point to this poster having been very recently posted.  However, apparently Tiko has been missing since 2006!!!

So sad!  

Anyway, I'm hoping that this poster just has the wrong date on it and Tiko hasn't really been missing for two years!  My other worry is that maybe Tiko has been missing before and when the owner went onto their computer to re-print their poster they forgot to change the date from two years ago...maybe Tiko just doesn't want to be found?

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know, if you are around Boulder any time soon...beware that there is at least one (if not at least two?) chickens running around my neighborhood.  Oh, and if you find her, beware, she may only "tolerate being picked up."

a few more honeymoon pics...

the hunt...

So, since I originally said that I would write about my adventures in planning your wedding on a small budget, I thought I would recount my most recent adventures as a BOB (Bride on a Budget.)

THE HUNT

Every bride experiences the hunt... for the perfect wedding dress that is.  I often have to save a chuckle when I visit with women who say they never thought about what kind of wedding gown they would want or thought that they would like.  Being a long tie wedding dreamer girl... often referred to as one of those girls', I respect that though this my be true, either way you will experience the 'moment.'  I am a firm believer in the 'moment' and that every girl has one.

The 'moment' is when you experience the euphoria of finding the perfect dress.  Even for those who haven't ever thought of their dress and have no idea what they would want, the moment comes for all who pursue the alter.  Fo those few that think they know exactly what kind of dress they think you want... the moment usually comes when you put on the dress you insist you won't like but everyone with you wants you to try on.

Working in a wedding gown shop I get to see this process on a weekly basis, and though it can be quit tiring to go through the emotional process of trying to find a dress with multiple brides in one day, it is always rewarding when you see the look on someone's face when they realize that they don't want to take that dress off and so it's the one.

This was no truer than my hunt for the perfect gown.

It began just a few weeks after I got engaged.  Convince that finding the perfect dress early would set the tone for our wedding 10 months away, it didn't take that long for me to start my hunt.  Ignoring the annoyance of my mother and sisters who were dragged along with me to several bridal gown Wal-Mart's (also known as David's Bridal) and the most intimate boutiques where I found all the gowns I could never afford, I ignored the wining and continued on.

We started out with the very slimming bejeweled style reminiscent of a regal world...

We moved on to what I call the innocent bridal I think i probably saw in my dreams with a delicate bow...

Next came the flattering beach wedding gown...

What I like to call the wedding cake gown...see for yourself...

And finally, the gown of all gowns...the Cinderella gown...(so big by the way I could hardly get out of the dressing room and would not have been able to get down the isle by myself, let alone with someone next to me.)

I can tell you that I ended up with something completely different than all these.  Unable to show you, hopefully for obvious reasons, I had the moment and found the perfect gown...or so I thought.

Here comes the part where I thought I was finished all the thing having to do with the wedding dress, and yet it was just the beginning.  Unfortunately the euphoria wore off and when I woke up the morning after I was faced with the devil dress.

THE MORNING AFTER...

Not long after receiving my gown, the holidays were upon us complete with goodies and treats and all that the holidays entail for good red and green blooded Christmas lovers.  The next time I tried on my dress, it did see a little tighter than it had been a few weeks earler, bit I didn't worry about it to much seeing as I still had 6 months to get back into shape and hey, I could still zip it up!!!

After wearing it for about half an hour, showing a friend and sitting and visiting in it with my Mom, I decided to go take if off so as not to tempt fate...and then it happened.  It started as a little itch in my nose and next the noise my Mother equates to a horse's loud neighing came forth and then I felt the rriiiippppppp....

Everyone froze.

The silence was broken, "Well you had better loose some weight or not sneeze on your wedding day!"

Fortunately it seemed like a minor tear.  The zipper's seam coming unattached was easily fixable and several weeks later I picked it up from the seamstress supposedly brand new and beautiful as every.  Back in shape I could fit back into it no problem and the dress was back in the closet, off the list, and out of my mind.

I could again take it out and show my dear friends and they could get the beautiful picture without any blemishes.  It was after one of these viewings that I forgot to put it back into its hanging bag in the closet.  Several days later I noticed I had forgotten to put my dress back in its hanging bag and innocently went over to put it away properly like a good little bride.  I turned it around to zip it up and all of a sudden it wasn't zipping.  The zipper had detached itself from on side and was innocently sliding up and down without zipping the dress up!

"You have got to be kidding me!!!"

Over the next half an hour I tried in vain to reattach my demon zipper.  Needless to say, nothing worked and next thing I knew, the zipper runner popped into two ieces and now there was no hope of zipping up my dress at all!

"WHY?!?!?!?!?!"

Needless to say, my dress is back on my list and at the dress shop again waiting for a new zipper.

I'm not sure what i did to deserve such a frustration with what seemed to be the perfect dress in the whole world.  Flattering and beautiful, I had no idea it would cause me so many tears and be my arch nemesis in wedding planning.  I thought my arch nemesis in wedding planning.  I thought my arch nemesis would be 250 invitations, or the guest list, or keeping all the family members under control.  But no...it has been my perfect moment dress.

So...be warned all brides near and far.  Beware of the moment that ma deceive you into picking out a devil dress that could push you to the limits of your bride-ness.  And if all else fails...we'll all be married at the end of the day.

this thing they call blogging...

So I've decided I love blogging!  But I have no time for it!  Have no fear, I plan on continuing my adventures in blogging...especially since I was feeling so guilt ridden for not having written in a while.  I still have a draft about the adventures of wedding dress shopping waiting in the wings for those of you who may be interested. ;)  So, I just wanted to the big void I hope reads this know that I'm not gone forever...just for this week!

Until next time I leave you with this thought.  How do you feel about the word 'hork' in the following context; "Don't just hork it (food) down!!!"  I personally find this word quit funny.

a little road trip...

It seems that I will soon be making a little road trip...to Boulder...and I have no set date to return to the Springs.  That's right!  Drew got a job offer.  And though one might assume that this should be one of the most exciting things to happen for us right before we get married, which it is, I have felt anything but excited.   Unfortunitly my processing over the past week and half has been riddled with sadness and anxiety.  I generally find great great comfort in the thought of security and stability so I've been thinking about all the things that make me nervous about being in Boulder.

If you've never been, Boulder is a special place, in the sense that I don't think there is another place like it in the whole world.  Boulder is one of the perfect Colorado towns.  Every time I drive there I love driving over the hill on Hwy 36 and at the top you see Boulder in a little valley tucked up next to the Flatirons and a breathtaking mountain range.  It's the perfect college town built around a huge campus that reminds me of pictures I've seen of college campuses on the East Coast that are built totally out of brick and have a the collegiate feel about them.  Having attended ORU (which looks like it was built on Mars first and then sent to Earth) and UCCS (which is often lacking in personality or character of any kind), just being on the CU campus makes me feel smarter.  Everything is outdoors and beautiful in Boulder.  Drew said one of his professors told him that they tried to make the roads difficult to drive on so that it would encourage people to use public transportation or walk instead of drive.  (and it worked because Boulder is the most frustrating city to drive in.)  You always have to watch where you're walking or you'll almost for sure get hit by a biker or a long boarder.  I told Drew that he would have to buy me a bike for the wedding because if I try to move to Boulder and I don't have a bike they will almost for sure kick me out.

The summers are hot and green and lush and the winters are cold and snowy.  The have the most beautiful fall and the mildest spring.  As I describe it it feels like the idyllic place to start a life with Drew and to be young and starting my career.  So why the unrest and stress?

There is another side of Boulder that I mostly only know from word of mouth but have hardly experienced myself.  It's the party, liberal, hard core side of Boulder.  It's the side of Boulder that always gives me a stomach ache when I'm there for to long.  It's the side that weighs heavily on my soul and attacks my heart and mind every time I drive over that hill.  Beyond the normal stresses of moving away from home and my family for forever, how do I prepare to move to such a spiritually dark place?  How do I prepare myself for all the challenges to my ideals, character and spiritual life that will no doubt show themselves within a very short time of living there?  How has God prepared me to go to this place where I feel ill equipped to be?

I wish I could finish this blog by saying that after processing the last week and a half I already answered these questions that immediately weighed on me when Drew told me about this opportunity.  Unfortunately they are yelling at me louder every day and the only thing that silences them are my times in the word and in prayer.  For now, nothing else matters except trying to understand what God is calling me to do as he prepares me for this next phase of life.  I wish it felt more like we were just taking a little road trip and would return soon.  

Introduction...

I just decided to start this blog to document my adventures as a young twenty something trying to balance life, a full time job, online classes for college and planning my wedding.  All these things separately my not be considered all that exciting but put them together and I feel like I'm on a grand adventure.  So if for nothing and nobody else, this is my catharsis as I navigate my way through the next year of job transitions, finishing my degree and trying not to succumb to the bridezilla inside.