Virginia Wedding Photographer + Destination Wedding Photographer Blog

This past week we’ve had yet a few more things to fix with our car..

And in case you haven’t experienced it yet – cars are expensive. No really, they are seriously expensive. Oh, you knew?

See, we really didn’t. We’d gotten used to getting around by train in Europe for a small monthly fee of about $75.

We loved to complain just when the trains were 10 minutes late.

So, buying a car and having to learn about problems with the “spark plugs,” “catalytic converters,” “engine mounts,” “transmissions”… it’s taken some getting used to.

“Mr. Bethea, the problem is the doohickeymissionbelt is warping around the plasma transfusion coil, causing excess fuel to leak into the warp drive hyperspace relativity mechanism. Looks like you’ll be needing a new flux capacitor. We can fix it, but it’ll be another $900.”

(I really didn’t have a dad around to teach me about cars, so most of my mechanical knowledge comes from science fiction).

And as I sat in the car shop, so tempted to complain about just how much it sucked having to sink another chunk of money into the car, after having done so just a few weeks ago…

I thought…

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.” James 1:2

You know? I know so many people who drive their cars down the road in honest fear of not knowing whether it will keep going  or just break down on them in the next mile or two.

That’s how it was for me (Mike), growing up with a single mom who worked three jobs and who didn’t make enough to take care of the bills, car repairs, and groceries all at once. She had to choose between the three. Usually, car repairs came last… let’s say I’m an expert at guiding a car off the road after the engine shut off.

How selfish is it of me to be ungrateful that we have issues with the car which we are completely able to take care of?

And we took care of them using our only source of income – a job that we love to do and which others dream of doing?

I wake up in the morning, I go to work, sure. But my work is something I love to do. I’m a photographer.

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4

We have two friends who are right now working several jobs to keep her photography dream alive. They’re both the most creative, enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky people to be around and we are blessed to know them.

Another friend was just hit by the sequester. Lost his dream job working for the space program, educating the public and engaging schools about the future of nation’s space program.

Lost his apartment, faced with a move, we asked him, “What will you do now?” “I think I’ll go try and get involved in a community garden. Do something to give back to the community and get involved where people need help most.”

Talk about putting perspective on things?

We are so blessed, that when we look at our lives in proper perspective… I really felt ashamed for just how petty it was, in our situation, to be so upset by car repairs.

It’s still not nice to have deal with these issues, but I am so thankful that we can deal with these issues. And we wouldn’t be able to if it weren’t for the clients, fans, friends and vendors who help make our business successful. So thank you guys.

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Moving on. Next week, barring bad weather, should be really exciting. But you guys won’t get to see what I’m talking about til later this year..

But we get to hang out with some of the coolest vendors around! I’ll say that!

We had lunch with a very good friend of ours the other day.

We were talking about people in the wedding industry..

He said, “You guys always talk about the vendors you work with with such respect. It’s as if you put everyone up on a pedastal.”

I don’t know about that, but we certainly love the people that have helped us along the way of our journey.

I can’t talk enough about them honestly, because we owe them so much <3

We got off a plane, we approached a few people and said, “If you give us a chance, we’d love to help you grow your business, and you’ll help ours as well.”

A few people said no. A few people said yes.

It’s so important to build each other up.

Without that kind of support network, you can still succeed, but it’s all the more tougher.

So thank you to all of our friends and vendors for putting up with us!

We love you and appreciate you!

I know we’ve said it before, but on the eve of something really cool and exciting next week, we’d thought we’d say it again!

Yours, Michael & Carina <3

PS. Trains are really awesome! We should build some!!

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at [email protected], or call 757-401-2551. 

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