i tell you this because i must.

because if i don’t, i will have failed in sharing some of the best parts.

there are times in your life when you meet someone and you feel as if you have known them your whole life, if not before.  you walk right into your friendship, and it is comfort you feel and a resulting strength that emanates from your soul.  you become a better person because of this new friend in your life.  i have been fortunate in the past several years because that has happened on not just one occasion but on at least two.  God has seen fit to give me exactly the people that i need in my life at exactly the right time.  not only has He given me what i need to grow in my person, but to grow in my FAITH exactly because those exact right people were placed in my life at the exact right time under the exact right circumstances.

THAT is how i feel about Natalie Norton.  i knew her voice before i even heard her speak.  and for reasons i’ll explain below, i want you to meet her too.

first and foremost, Natalie is a daughter of God.  His light lives within her and anyone who has met her or spent any amount of time with her will tell you the same thing.  she radiates.

Natalie is the mom to 4 little boys.  her youngest little boy, Gavin, beat everyone to heaven last year at the age of 2 months.  he waits there for the rest of the family, together with Natalie’s brother Gavin.  it is Natalie’s faith that has allowed her to live beyond those dark days, her firm belief that indeed, she will see and hold and kiss her son and her brother again when she returns to the Heavenly Father.  it is these deeply held beliefs of her family that continues to hold their family together.

knowing these things, the tragedy that has befallen Natalie’s family, my natural thoughts are, how does she go on?  how does she not just go on, but how does she flourish?  how does she continue to shine so brightly?  how does she rise everyday and grab each day by the horns and shake it and say, give it to me, i’m ready?  however she does that, i want THAT magic in my life.  THAT is what i need.  the power to surmount the insurmountable, the ability to live beyond the incomprehensible.  and not JUST surmount, and not JUST live beyond, but to do it in a HUGELY successful way with grace and light and beauty and HOPE .  THAT is what i need.  because, let me tell you, that woman has been dealt some cards, and she has a full house no matter how you turn them over.  she is blessed.  but she is blessed because she allows the blessings in.  it is your RESPONSE that determines your OUTCOME.  Natalie taught me that.

so, why do i write to tell you about this right here, right now?

Natalie, in case you didn’t already know, is also a very successful wedding and portrait photographer.  she runs a highly successful business.  and along the way of building her business (that has been featured in InStyle Weddings, Exquisite Weddings and Ceremony Magazine), she has learned many lessons that have led to the very success of both her business AND her family.  because, ladies, as we all know, the trick isn’t in establishing a successful business, and the trick isn’t in running a happy home.  separately, both those things are definitely possible and attainable.  the real difficulty (and KEY to any happiness) is balancing those two realms of your life and not having either side suffer at the expense of the other.  THAT is success.  Natalie knows that success.

and she wants to bring it to you.  not only to professional female photographers, but to professional entrepreneurial women everywhere.

what a great opportunity!

Natalie has announced BREATHE, a half-day workshop designed to empower moms with tools they need to achieve success in business while simultaneously achieving balance, order, harmony and success on the home front.  AND, Natalie has announced not just one, but TWO scholarships to her half-day workshop which will run during WPPI in Las Vegas in three short weeks.  TWO SCHOLARSHIPS!!

Natalie wants you to be able to BREATHE in your business.  she wants you to BREATHE at home.  she wants balance for you the way she has put balance and BREATH into her own life.

if you’re going to WPPI, if you’ll be in Vegas around February 22nd, if balance seems like something you need in your life between your demanding work life and your very important home life, then please RUN over to Natalie’s site and either nominate yourself (or a friend) to win this very generous scholarship.

if you see yourself in any of these descriptions, then BREATHE is for you.  don’t let this opportunity pass you by.  grab those horns, and shout it out.  I AM READY!

2011 is your year to achieve your professional goals, without sacrificing your family values.

so, get out of the bathtub.

write it down.

2011.is.my.year.

i’ll see you there.

xo

A