So much to be thankful for

I bet you have seen these posts everywhere, right?  Sorry to be so cliche with the season, but I really am so thankful for so much this season.   As most of you know, the Midwest was hit heavily with tornadoes on the 17th, the town I live in Coal City/Diamond happened to be one of those hard hit towns.  I drove through the devastated area today, I could not believe my eyes.  In 10 days, the volunteers, home owners and the community has most of the debris out of the area and all that is left are very badly battered homes.  I was almost in tears as I rode through the neighborhood today. This was posted by the church that ran the collection site for the community, it describes this community perfectly. 

Now for my thankful list.... 1. Thankful for the family that I married into, I miss my mom dearly this holiday season and I know that even though I miss my mom they are here for me 2. My husband, he works so hard to provide for us.  I miss him a lot while he is working overnights and is gone 15 hours a day.   3.  My best friend Trisha, she has proven time and time again what an amazing person she is.   4.  My nieces and nephews, they keep me on my toes but I love them so much and am very lucky I get to have them in my life as often as I do.   5.  Thankful to have the support from my family for opening my photography business, I have a long ways to go, but they are supporting me 100%.   6. The group of women that have been a constant support system over the past 2 years; The September 2012 wives group....lobe you all Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you are all able to spend it with family and loved ones. 

I bought it!!

If you have been reading along, you will know that I have been back and fourth about "pulling the trigger" about buying my very first DSLR so I can pursue my dream of photography.  That is exactly what I did last night, I bought my Canon Rebel T5i and I am in love!  This purchase also marks another completed item on my 30before30 list.  

Canon Rebel T5i 18-135mm STM lens

I have spent all day playing around with it, I have ALWAYS been an auto focus gal, until I switched that dial to manual focus...Oh my goodness, I will never go back.  I have so much to learn, but I am having a great time so far. The weather was not very nice today, so I was limited to shooting from my front porch.  Here are a few unedited, straight out of the camera images I took today.