Well it’s true. Little Luke will be on his way home tomorrow. We’re all so excited and have to say, THANK YOU to all of you that have prayed for us and cared for us over the last couple weeks. It’s been crazy and as you all know, quite unexpected. Here’s a little collage for you to enjoy!

So my friend Suzie has this cool blog for women, though they’ve let me join them, but I think Suzie has some great stuff to offer over there. Anyway, every once in a while she’ll put up a questionnaire and I think they’re sorta fun. It also let’s us create more of a community in our little blog world. I love hearing from all the people that visit my blog and sometimes it takes me by surprise. It’s so fun to hear that people are enjoying my photos and craziness. So anyway, if you’d like to participate, copy and paste the questions below into the comment box and provide an answer and lets see where it takes us. Enjoy!

1. Do you read in the bathroom?

2. What do you love most about your kids? If you have kids.

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?

4. What’s the most romantic date you’ve ever been on?

5. If you could accomplish one major thing that would really stretch you, within the next 30 days, what would it be?

The last several weeks have really been a blur, emotionally and physically.

Aunt Chris and I finished the boys Halloween costumes which was great and I think the boys really enjoyed them. Isaac was Anakin Skywalker and Josiah was Jango Fett.

And now some updated pics of Luke.

Ok, my friend Dan brought that saying to my attention from Star Wars, so I couldn’t help myself.

So for those of you that have a million questions, here’s the low down on what happened yesterday.

Yesterday morning I was shooting the YMCA celebrity luncheon. Well about 20 minutes into the lunch I received a phone call from my wife who is due with our 3rd boy in December. She told me she was feeling some bad cramping and wanted my opinion as to what to do and of course I said go in and get checked and keep me posted. About 45 minutes goes by and my phone rang again and I ran outside to listen to my wife crying on the phone because she was in Labor and Delivery and the monitors showed the baby as having a weak heart beat. God provided by already having her regular doctor at the hospital doing another procedure so it was seamless for him to move right over to my wife and provide for her.

I arrived at the hospital at about 1:30 and was with her as the doctors and nurses paraded through to check on her and the status of the baby. All of a sudden the decision was made and everything went into hyper speed and they rushed her into the OR to prep her, I threw some scrubs on and went in to be with her since I’ve watched all my boys be delivered. At 2:20 yesterday Luke Thomas Christensen was born. He’s 34 weeks along. He weighs 3lbs. 14oz. and he’s 17″ long. His lungs sound really good, he cries great which is a wonderful sign for us on his development.

Thank you so much to all of you that have been praying for us, please don’t stop. As you can imagine I will be posting pictures over the next several days weeks and years of this beautiful little boy. Josiah and Isaac can’t wait to get to meet him. For now we have to wait a little bit for the safety of Luke. Wow, I’m exhausted just remembering all the things that have happened over the last 24 hours. Thanks again for all your wonderful prayers and comments. Love to all of you.

- Mark

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Not only did I marry the most amazing woman in the world, but she has proven she can make the most beautiful babies in the world. I’ll write more about our day later, but in the mean time may I introduce…

So my buddy Crhis Austin put together a Trash The Dress shoot out at the March Air Force Base Museum and we had a great time! Some of you know Christie Riseley, formerly Currier whose wedding I shot, she was there getting in on the trashing action as well! My model I got to spend most of the shoot with was Diandra and I think we were able to put together some great shots. Let me know what you think, and if you’re interested in doing something with that dress packed away in that closet.   ;)  While you’re thinking about it, here’s some inspiration for you! Enjoy!

So my wife is sitting here on the couch herassing me because I should be posting every day on my blog. Well as you know I haven’t exactly been doing that. But I do have quite a bit to share with you all. What she would like me to share, I mean what I’m going to share is, Josiah’s teacher asked me to come and take pictures of the kids in the class as they spent time helping the 1st graders with their reading. They call this, “reading buddies”. It is really cute, that’s for sure. I just can’t believe Josiah is already in 3rd grade! Wow! Well, here’s a little slide show for you all to watch. Enjoy!

Had a great shoot with Hannah the other day. She brought in her motorcycle and snowboard and we got some great shots. Enjoy!

So my youngest, Isaac, is in Kindergarten and has to bring home book bags to encourage reading. In the bag is a book we need to read to him, a stuffed animal that represents a character in the book and a little questionnaire paper we fill in for him. So I got an idea when he brought home his first book, If You Give a Pig a Pancake. I planned some moments where we could take pictures of him with the little stuffed pig playing out things in the book. So, of course we made him pancakes, he took a bubble bath and it was really fun. The new book he’s brought home is about a lobster. Below are some quick pics from the first book.  Let me know if you try this idea as well. It’s just another way we can interact on a fun, meaningful level with our kids.

Hey everyone, I wanted to give you a little heads up. I’m launching a new website especially for high school senior portraits. We have a little more work to do on it before it will be ready to view, but I wanted all my friends here to know about it first! If you have a junior or senior in your family you’re going to want to have them check out this site. We want to offer kids something different. Something they want. Something that makes them feel great about themselves and shows who they are in their portraits. It’s not stuffy and it’s not traditional. I can’t wait till launch day. Hmm, maybe we should have a party at the studio!!! Anyone interested?

In the mean time, here’s a taste of things to come for seniorzrule.com, Enjoy!

So let me know what you think. And seriously, if you know a kid that wants something totally different, something they’re going to love, let me know and let’s schedule a shoot!

Hope you’re all doing great!

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