Allison & Travis

I recently spent the day with Allison and Travis photographing their maternity session. They are such an adorable couple with an interesting story to tell.

In October 2003, Travis interviewed for a youth pastor position at the church Allison attended in Ohio. Allison was also working with the youth at that time. Travis was offered the position and moved to Ohio Thanksgiving weekend. Travis and Allison soon began dating, and he proposed in Jan 2004. They were married October 9, 2004.

After three surgeries, Allison was diagnosed with endometriosis in Dec. 2006. She eventually had to have her right ovary removed. They began invitro-fertilization in September 2008. The first cycle failed after her left ovary was over stimulated resulting in a torsion. This could have led to surgery where she could have lost her left ovary. They decided to take a few months off and restarted IVF in January 2009. Two eggs were implanted, and they found out on January 30th that they were expecting. Adelynn Gwynn Coffey is due October 15, 2009.

Travis is currently the youth minister at Drexel Baptist Church. He seems to be a big kid at heart, lol ! It was very evident during our photo session how excited they are about the pregnancy, and the birth of their little one. Allison states, "We give God all the praise, and Adelynn is truly a miracle baby". I am sure Adelynn is going to be spoiled rotten, lol !

Congratulations to Brooke Laws !!

In April of this year, Brooke Laws contacted me to do headshot photos of her. She had competed at the Local level of the NC Cinderella Scholarship Pageant and advanced to the State level. She was to submit headshots at the State Pageant being held July 11 - 13 at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte.

The Cinderella Scholarship Pageant recognizes the value of higher education for women, and awards millions of dollars in college scholarships each year. Competition categories include Interview, Partywear/Formalwear Modeling, Casualwear Modeling, Photogenic, Beauty, and Talent.

Brooke did extremely well at the State pageant. She won First place in Interview, Beauty, and Photogenic. She was also awarded runner-up in the Cinderella Woman Division. She received an invitation to Internationals, which are being held July 26 - August 1 in Dallas, TX. At Internationals, a different competition is held each day, with activities and parties daily. On Friday, the top 10 semi-finalists will be announced. It is then narrowed to five finalists, which will compete for the title.

Brooke informed me that she received perfect scores and won Photogenic with one of the headshot photos I had taken. I was extremely happy to hear this. I am now bragging that I am an award winning Photographer, lol !

2009 State winners should be posted soon at nccinderella.com.

Brooke, I wish you the best at Internationals ! It would be awesome to have a local girl win. Best of Luck!

This is the photo I took of Brooke that won Photogenic !