Dreamer Contact — Liv Photography

One year!
💛😭😍🙌🔥😘🍁❤️
This man is a gift and I am so thankful to be his wife.
Our first year of marriage wasn’t all rainbows and cupcakes, but we learned something that surprised me: life can be really hard and marriage can still be really good.
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We have made it through totaled cars, scary low bank account numbers, panic attacks, job transitions + working a million jobs to make it work, painful situations with family and friends, sickness, and questioning - and at the end of the day, he is still my favorite person to be with. He is still my best friend. He is still the one who makes me laugh the hardest. He is still the one I want to hold me when I cry.
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We are praying + believing for a year with a little less crazy, but I’m thankful for the foundation we started building.
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I’m thankful that we learned how to seek God more than ever. I’m thankful that we surrounded ourselves with the best people. I’m thankful that we push each other towards the dreams + giftings given to us by God for the sake of his glory & the good of people.
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This is marriage - Imperfect people choosing to do life together. It’s messy and wild and absolutely worth it all.

REST.
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This week was a pause, a Selah. In the middle of a long to do list, my computer was in the shop & I was forced to shift my schedule to focus on rest + people.
Which is good because Caleb and I have both been convicted about some rhythms in our life, namely:
1. Sabbath/rest. Do you know how many times in the Bible God talks about rest? A frick ton (someday I’ll count). It’s not about a rule or law, but it’s actually a GIFT from God. Rest reveals God’s goodness. So as wedding season wraps up, we are seeking direction for new rhythms of rest.
2. Bringing people into daily life. From movie nights to running errands, we want to do life with our people better. Yes, we are all about that mentor/discipleship life with coffee dates & heart to hearts, but we want to learn how to do FAMILY with people. (And then teach them to do the same. All people need family & discipleship but us Alneses can’t love everyone on our own.)
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My heart feels peace when I think about cultivating these things in the middle of an achievement based, busy to the point of bursting, lonely culture. They feel like protection against burnout, a way of doing things that models Jesus - available & intentional, but still stole away to be with his Father. That’s a way of doing life I’m so here for.

Two years ago, a few short months before sparks started flying with our boys, we sat in a car after driving through the night and dreamed.
“Our future husbands just have to be best friends. If they don’t like each other, it just won’t work.”
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At the beginning of our dating journeys, we were both bridesmaids in a wedding and watched our boys shake it on the dance floor together - equally ridiculous and definitely hitting it off as friends. Fate & I kept looking at each other, the feeling of a little dream come true erupting in our hearts.
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Fast forward to a few weeks ago where Caleb was one of the first to know about the proposal and I was (GLADLY) roped in to photograph + scheme. It’s a really good thing Dan included us, because Fate might have said, “I’m not getting out of the car unless Liv is in the woods.”😂
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There are not enough words of love for these two, which is probably why it took me a while to finally post these. My heart is so full, so for them, so thankful. Our friends are getting married!! Truly, I could not ask for a better husband for Fate or a better friend duo to do life with. THE ALNESES LOVE THE FUTURE SCHUSTERS SO MUCH! Forever & ever amen.🙏🏼🙌🏼❤️

Caleb is great.
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Like sometimes he’s too awesome. I’ve found myself saying this year that, “the worst thing Caleb has ever gone through in life is being married to me.” And that, friends, is self deprecating humor hiding a huge wound.
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I’ve felt shame because I’m the one with the broken family, physical + mental health issues, and at least a decade of pent up pain that seemed to explode once we got married.
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This year I dealt with a lot of stupid false humility & lies about my worthiness by believing that I sucked and Caleb deserved better than being married to me. Do you know what? That belief NEVER brought us closer and actually served as a barrier to true connection.
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Believing other people are better than you is NOT HUMILITY. It’s usually just comparison, lies, and fear. It actually hinders you from serving others because it somehow makes it about your lack rather than laying yourself aside to love purely.
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This is the truth I’m trying to embrace more fully: I am worthy of love because God says that I am a daughter, fearfully & wonderfully made, and have a wonderful inheritance of abundant life.
You are too. You don’t need to be stuck in the “I suck” mental rut. You don’t need to believe others are better than you or more put together or superior. You don’t have to believe that you are just the messy one who will always have bad things happening to them. You don’t have to feel like a mess.
There is freedom.
You have a good identity.
You are made to glorify God and enjoy him.
You are called to be a blessing to this world.
You are not better or less than anyone else.
You are loved - wildly and completely with a love meant to transform every bit of your life.
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What keeps you from fully embracing that truth?

Thankfulness is the key to abundance.
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Life has been hard lately. Yet I’m still fighting for freedom + wholeness, even when I can’t feel it or see it. One way is through practicing thankfulness.
Today, I’ll let you in on my list:
• coffee dates with friends after a crazy week.
• being a part of my best friend’s proposal.😭😍🙌
• fall everything. Especially maple flavored almond milk coffee creamer.
• the color blue
• the kindness & patience of @calebalnes - even (especially) when I don’t deserve it.
• a job that gives me flexibility for all my dr apps this last month.
• my newly discovered love of true crime podcasts
• watching one of my favorite tv series from high school all over again. Thank you, Eureka for reminding me of my nerdy sci-fi loving self.
• the weather being cool enough to wear cozy things again.
• understanding clients, even as I’ve been behind schedule due to life + health.
• medical professionals who’ve been really helpful + some answers/diagnoses to what I’ve been dealing with.
• an abundance of apples that I’m about to go turn into a quick apple crisp
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What are you thankful for today?

Sometimes it’s easier for me to declare big bold statements like “Jesus loves strippers” to the world rather than whisper, “Jesus loves Olivia” to my own heart.
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Jesus loves strippers.
Jesus loves pastors’ families.
Jesus loves gay people.
Jesus loves goodie two-shoes.
Jesus loves addicts.
Jesus loves perfectionists.
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No matter where you are at today, Jesus loves you as is. God has good things in store for you. You are beloved. God moved heaven and earth to be close to you.
That’s the truth.
Let it sink into your heart & spill out onto the world around you.
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(And if you want to be a part of seeing the love of Jesus spill out onto women in the sex industry, reach out! I’d love to tell you more about @wellwaterfargo)

Fargo, ND based wedding and senior photographer. Roaming the world and telling the stories of your adventures.

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