You are meeting Todd and Erin Vogtman and family through photos. Welcome! Hi! We had a tremendous time during our backyard photo shoot in the fall of 2011. We all felt so comfortable with very low stress of the photo shoot, especially from the parent perspective. Have you ever taken kids to a cramped, crowded, hot and stuffy studio hoping to get everyone to look at the camera and smile at the same time? Nearly impossible. Home shots are the new way to catch our family in photos, that is for sure. Visit our photographer's site here (we're featured on his home page.)
We believe that our family members were divinely ordered to be who they are and where they are because of a creator who arranged it that way. Our four kids are so unique from one another in many ways. We try to encourage them to learn from each other and learn to be a team. Currently the kids ages are 9,6,4, and 2, but birthdays are coming up in the next 2 months for the middle kids. As you can see, there is a lot of energy and dynamics in this home, but that's just the way we like it.
We believe that our family members were divinely ordered to be who they are and where they are because of a creator who arranged it that way. Our four kids are so unique from one another in many ways. We try to encourage them to learn from each other and learn to be a team. Currently the kids ages are 9,6,4, and 2, but birthdays are coming up in the next 2 months for the middle kids. As you can see, there is a lot of energy and dynamics in this home, but that's just the way we like it.
Yes, being that these photos are a year old, we've changed some. On the exterior the kids are taller, MJ has more hair, but Erin and Todd's hair hasn't turned gray yet! On the interior we've changed by leaps and bounds. During this photo shoot we thought our family was complete. Perfect day, beautiful mountain view, happy and healthy kids...we thought we hit it big and life would be smooth sailing....
That's when Jesus took hold of our hearts and told us that love is more than living out our American fairy tales and the simple comfortable life that we are living. God wants us to know Him, know His love, be His love, and bring Him joy. He wants us to be His hands and feet to this world to demonstrate (show: not only saying, but doing) His love, not just by words and thoughts or showing up at church on Sundays to sing, but in a tangible way. In a way that touches lives, hugs the hurting, feeds the hungry, and shows the lost that there is hope in the Lord. And He has opened our eyes to love through adoption, called on our family to adopt, and we said "yes!"
We came to the conclusion that we didn't want to be couch potato Christians that believe in the Lord, have our eternity secured and then just ride out our lives and wait for our eternity ticket to be checked in. Nope, we want to bring joy to the Lord through the way we live, to reach the lost, help the hurting, lead them to know God, and encourage others along the way. This means getting off the couch and doing something.
Mark 8:34 "Then calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "if any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me."
Philippians 2:3 "Don't act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves."
Colossians 3:12-14 "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
James 1:22-25 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man that looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- he will be blessed in what he does."
Micah 6:8 "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Just think, what if we all moved in this way?
It's important that as you read about us and follow our journey in life, you understand where our motives rest and our passion dwells. Maybe you are a follower of Christ, maybe not, or maybe you are still seeking. But this gospel (the good news of Jesus) is huge to us individually and as a family. It is our purpose for living how we do and doing what we do.
Thanks for stopping by! It was nice to meet you!
(Read more about us on our "About Us" tab seen on the Home page)
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