I keep calling friends and saying I have big news – and I keep getting big shrieks of joy, to which I have to quickly reply “no, no, we are not having another baby!”.  “Oh,” goes the response, “well, then what?”

The “what” is that we are moving…to Kansas!  My husband has accepted a wonderful new job with UMB Bank in Kansas City and we will be moving the family to the midwest this summer. “Kansas?!?” is the first response.  Yes, Kansas.  No, we don’t have family right in Kansas City, but we will be a little closer to most of our family – who are spread from California to Oklahoma to Kentucky.  But the big reason for the move is to be with our own little family just a little more.  My husband works long hours here in Northern Virginia/Washington DC, commutes in nutty traffic and travels extensively.  My boys are 3 and 5 and they need to see Daddy a whole lot more than they do.  So we have been looking to move to a smaller community for a while.  We have looked at a lot of jobs in a lot of places and this one, well, it fit.

So we are really excited about this adventure for our family…but the bittersweet part – we have to leave our friends, neighbors, clients and collegues here.  That part is hard.  Really hard.  I have lived here for 15 years, met my husband here, my babies were born here, we love our school family, our neighborhood, our home.  And then there is all of you – the most amazing clients I could ask for.

I have to admit, when I first realized this was going to happen, that it was all really a go, I went into my studio and cried.  I have worked hard to build Renee Stengel Photography, and have been rewarded with kind, generous, loving clients who are a dream to work with and for.  I will miss you all dearly.  I sincerely wish I could call each of you one by one to tell you this news.  I keep thinking about missing this family’s fall pictures, or that newborn’s first birthday cake smash – I love watching my clients grow and it is hard to know that I will not be able to continue documenting those precious moments for you.

It has been hard turning down sessions during this transitional period where we didn’t know what was going to happen – especially when I couldn’t explain why – but I thank you all for your understanding.  I have a couple sessions left on the schedule before I leave and will be sharing those along the way, but I will not be taking on any new sessions at this time.

Thank you for letting me share my bittersweet news with you all, thank you for being a part of our lives, thank you for being a part of Renee Stengel Photography.