About Sarah-Ann

Welcome to Ever Changing……..I’m Sarah-Ann yes I know I have one of those hillbilly names, ahahahaha.

I am a Christian sahm of 5 kids from 4-14 (who sometimes I will refer to them by their nicknames: T-dog, J.J, Bboy, Squishy, & Berrianna), the big age range makes our life very interesting, I tell you.  Sometimes, I feel like I have two families under one roof, since I am doing all the kiddie preschool/kindergarten stuff & dealing with all the teenage angst & high school stuff.  It’s just weird doing both at the same time, something I didn’t think of till I was head deep in it all.  And a wife to my wonderful husband Jason.  All my teens years, I prayed for a loving family, a whole family.  I came from a single father home.  And my prayers were answered when I met & married Jason.  I love him more than I ever knew you could love someone.   Things aren’t always easy but with Jason by my side, I know we will always make it through, together as a family.

I have a unique setup that we call our “reptile farm”.   My husband has a hobby of collecting reptiles.  Interesting, I know!  But it’s not just little cutesy things, but rather big old snakes, dragons, geckos, & our newest pet Tegu Yoshi.  All in all we have 7 ball pythons (soon to have our 1st set of babies, which I can’t wait to document.  Even though snakes gross me out, taking pics of them never bores me) their names are: Pebbles-Bam Bam-The Beast-Belle-Big Bertha-Lee Lemon-and one I can’t think of its name, 3 bearded dragons (Hermes, Conrad, & Mr. Stinky.), 3 geckos (Sandy, Valentine, & the dude), and our little (which will be our biggest pet, the size of a small dog up to 40lbs.) Yoshi our Tegu.   You can see a pattern with the names, right?  We started using cartoon characters.  I personally wasn’t to fond of these pets at first, I made a compromise with my hubby.  That for every $1 he spends on reptile stuff, he gives me the same amount for camera stuff.  Our compromise has worked out pretty well, as you can see from above.  I am a pretty cool wife, if I do have to say.  Not a lot of ladies would have done or look at our situation the way I did.  How lucky is Jason?!?!

When I am not taking care of kids, pets, or my hubby and I get some “me” time, there are a few things I love to do.  Photography as you can guess it is my number one.  I love being able to capture something that no one else sees, being able to tell a story through my pics, and showing the others how I see the world.  Photography is so freeing and the best way for me to express myself.  Plus, I am able to capture some pretty awesome moments that years later I will be thankful for.  Another activity that I enjoy doing is kayaking.  I absolutely love it.  Last year, we got 2 and Jason & I went out in the early morning and it was something that I will do till I die.  I love love love it.  I brought my camera along and was able to capture some great pics while Jason went fishing.  I love being outdoors so anything that keeps me outdoors, I enjoy doing-like kayaking or my garden I am all for it.  I went from a city girl to outdoor lover country gal.  It only took me 12 years.

The last fact about me that I am sharing is my health journey, since it is such a big part of my life, of me.  I was always super skinny, even if I remember being chunky in school.  I had what I called the “fat girl” mentality.  A lot of skinny girls have it, which is such a shame.  But  I was super skinny.  For example, after I had my 3rd kid, when I left the hospital I didn’t look like I just had a baby, let alone number 3.  Or after baby number 2, I was buying my clothes are The Limited Too size 16 in kids clothing.  See my point, I was super thin.  I ate what I wanted, when I wanted and never exercised, which I proud of.  People would work so hard to look like me, but I didn’t need to do a thing.  Oh how I took advantage of what I had.  About 3 yrs ago, I got really sick and my liver started failing.  I was sick on and off for almost a year with liver failing and then bouncing back, to having pancreatitis.  Once I got a diagnoses, I thought everything would be over, but it never will be.  I have a rare condition which can cause my liver could start failing at any time (so the drs keep a eye on that) and has done so numerous times, I got pancreatitis a bunch of times, and my nerves were damaged in my stomach(from all the surgeries & procedures I went through in order to find out what was wrong with me as well as all the other surgeries I had done over the last 10 years like my gallbladder and hernia), so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed or off the couch more so than not……..Fast forwards 3 yrs to today and I still continue to battle my condition with other issues popping up like recently kidney stones.  I never know from one day to the next how I will wake up or how my day will go.  I throw up sometimes  but no where as bad as I used to.  My stomach & nerve damage is bad some days and some days or even weeks I am fine.  I am able to get out of bed each day and function pretty good unless the pain is overwhelming and those days are my relaxing laid back days.  I  need help with things like cleaning and bending up and down a lot, but my kids love to help and are amazing at helping their mom usually without complaining.   I can’t continually bend up and down, it hurts my stomach to much.  You don’t realize how much we use our stomach muscles until it is impaired.  I can happily say that I haven’t been hospitalized at all in 2013 or yet in 2014.  I decided that I need to refocus my energies on the positives rather than the negatives, which I try really hard to do.  A while ago, I started a new diet and exercise route that has worked wonders for me, mentally.  I haven’t focus on losing weight solely, instead I am working on my eating habits and maintaining a healthy diet and exercise route.  I need to reestablish my relationship with food and exercise.

This journey has changed me in so many ways in the past 3 yrs.  Through it all, I am so thankful that I am still here for my husband and my 5 kids.  A few years ago, at my worst point, I didn’t think I was going to make it through and realizing that, really helped me change my focus on what’s important and push me in a different direction than I was going.  I am thankful for my journey, no matter how hard it has been.  The rewards from it out weigh the struggles, by far.

Enough about me, now on to my BLOG…….

My blog’s mission is quite simple….to have a positive place to document my artistic journey through my photography, writings, & other works of art (which I will be exploring & sharing in the near future) by sharing the beauty I find, thoughts & ideas, interesting reads, or anything else that I feel would benefit my readers……..I want to encourage others through my journey whether it is by sharing inspiring, uplifting, or things of interest that I stumble upon during my week.  Over time I hope that others will share with me bits n pieces of their journey.  It’s a two-way street here.  I would love to have a showcase of people’s art (of all kinds) on here for everyone to view.

What my blog IS NOT:

*it is not a place for high end or competitive photography……..I have no desire to be the best or attempt to.  The only person I compete with, with my photography is myself.   I think my photography is great the way it is.  It gives me joy, gives others joy, it’s something I love doing, and a stress release for me.  There is nothing more I need from my photography that I am not already doing.  If you want amazing photography I know plenty of people that I would be more than happy to refer you to.

*it is not a place for negativity.  There is so much in the world that brings us down & so many  negative people  around us, that I want my blog to stay clear of that.  I want this to be a positive place that others enjoy coming to and enjoy sharing things with.  So, if you are a negative Nancy, please don’t come any further.  Turn back the way you came…..You are not welcomed.

But everyone else is WELCOMED to my blog.  I hope I didn’t scare anyone away, but I wanted you all to get a small glimpse of me & my life, what my blog’s mission is, what I don’t want on here, and the direction I plan on taking my blog.  So, come say hi, I would love to get know everyone who comes and visits, leave a comment, and enjoy the content of my photography/artist blog, Ever Changing……..

Feel free to come visit me at my other blog Living Intentionally Simple, where I blog about all sorts of things related to my simple living journey.  And if you like it, you may consider guest posting for me.  I’m always on the lookout for people interested in contributing to my blog 🙂

**I plan on adding pictures of myself, my family, my pets etc…. once I get a chance.  Till then you just get to read about me.**