why radford?

Personal

Why Radford? It’s a question we get pretty often. Most people who know us via the internet/wedding photography are surprised to hear where we live! But yep, we live in Radford! And just in case you didn’t know, Radford is a tiny little town in Southwest Virginia super close to Virginia Tech, nestled in the heart of the New River Valley. The town is mostly made up of college students and Radford University is why we’re here. To be honest, we aren’t super crazy about the town itself (okay it does grow on you a bit :]) – it’s small and a little run down and there aren’t a ton of options or much diversity. But it’s the people that have kept us here.

David and I both ended up here by accident. We had our sights set on different colleges and somehow, we ended up at Radford instead. We had intentions to transfer out, to ride out our time here without much significance, and then move on to where we really wanted to be. But God had other plans. I was changed here. From the inside out. We both stumbled upon a college ministry called CRU and the people that made it up changed our lives forever. More importantly, Jesus changed our lives in this place. It came time to graduate (and get married!) and there was no other option in our hearts. We had to stay! We knew we had to pour our lives back into this ministry that had so altered us for the better. We desperately wanted to be a part of what God was/is doing here.

So we decided to stay. We decided to work part time with CRU and grow our photography business that we’d been dreaming up. It’s been almost 6 years since we made that decision and we’ve never regretted it for a second. We get to love college students and share the Gospel as our job. God’s grown our business along the way over the last 5 years into something we’d never imagined. David’s pursued grad school and is now teaching some college classes. But our calling to CRU has always remained. So it’s worth it for us. It’s worth it to juggle the odd hours and drive hours out of town for over half of our weddings. It’s worth it to have seasons of late nights and having to readjust every single semester. Because we get to be a part of something so incredible.

Along the way, we’ve built a life here. God’s built a strong foundation of people around us and He’s continued to do big things with CRU over and over and over again. We have a front row seat to watching lives be changed by Jesus and it is truly our greatest joy. Don’t get me wrong, it has not always been easy, but it has always been a privilege.

Here’s a little glimpse into the students that we love. Some of them change or graduate every single year (one of the hardest parts about college ministry), but we just love their weirdness and their questions and their enthusiasm for Jesus. Every year we have a Fall Retreat and it is just my favorite weekend so I wanted to share it with you all! Through tears and joy, we’re always reminded that the sacrifice is worth it.

They are so goofy and fun and we love them :]

The dance party this year was themed “out of this world” and it brought out so many good outfits!

Oh these boys.

We also play assassins every year and the students get SO into it. This is one of them “hiding!”

Also, we get to work with some people we looooove!

Part of my week looks like discipling aka mentoring a few different women! It’s the best!

Alumni always come back to cook in the kitchens and it’s the sweetest thing to see how God has used CRU to make such an impact in their lives.

I look forward to this night every year. On Saturday evening the students have a chance to share what God is doing in their lives in front of all of their peers. I always happy sob the entire time!