I've never blogged without pictures before but I'm feeling reflective after 12 hours of shooting today...
Today was an amazing day. Not one I typically have, nor does anyone. I started my day with a celebration of life. A 1-year old birthday party. This little girl belongs to an amazing family. One that you have seen many times before on this blog because I have captured her from the womb, every 3 months until today. Life is so precious. It's so fragile. Her big brother lost his life and went to the arms of Jesus at 4 months of age and I can see in every expression and every shoot that I have with her family the preciousness of every moment they have with her. We had a fun morning...cake and icing everywhere, tissue paper thrown about, lots of laughter and a few tears when she was tired of all the excitement.
Next I moved to a new stage of life. Marriage. A new chapter in most of our lives opens when we start a new life with our soul mate. Today was just a bridal shoot, but nevertheless, marriage is such a precious and exciting time of hopes and dreams. Most of us start with humble beginnings. I remember Steve and I starting work at a Christian camp in Tyler, TX a week after getting married. We graduated from Texas A&M, got married 2 weeks later, and moved into a new home and started new jobs a week after that. Talk about a whirlwind! We were very blessed to have a house to stay in free of charge close to the camp. It was an old 2 bedroom farmhouse that needed a lot of repairs. You could feel the wind blow through the windows even when they were shut, we had a hole in our bathroom floor where we could see the dirt below, no heater, the only AC unit was in the window in our bedroom so we could sleep comfortably in the 100 degree Texas summers. And it was a little crowded in there with all our mice roommates. A few weeks into the cold of winter, we were having dinner up at Rosie's, our local gas station/diner. We were lingering there up to the time they closed and the owner, Ken, who was a fireman, asked us why we were still there. We told him laughing that it was 38 degrees in our house so we didn't really want to go home. He told us to get in the truck and follow him home. We pull up to his garage and he loads up an old Dearborn gas heater into our truck and came back to our house and hooked it up for us that night so we wouldn't freeze to death. Fond memories. Those are the beginning times that bond us together.
Lastly, tonight I shot a celebration of life event. A woman that has battled cancer for 10 years now. She is still battling. She is an amazing woman who has overcome great trials from a young age. As a Neonatologist, she has saved the lives of countless babies, one who was even there tonight. There was a precious little red-headed boy, probably around 4-5 years old, there tonight with his parents that was born weighing only a pound and a half. I was looking at a miracle child. Looking around the full ballroom I saw the faces of people who had been touched and influenced by this woman's life. Many people spoke of how she faced her cancer with such a positive and hopeful attitude. She wasn't going to live in defeat but instead learned to water ski. :) She turned to the Lord for her strength and has lived a life in pursuit of His glory.
As I began the day and ended the day, I was with people that don't take a minute for granted. They know how precious life is. But they also know that without their Lord, Jesus Christ, they couldn't make it through the trials they have faced. And both families would tell you that although they never would have wished for broken hearts and pain, it brought them closer to the Lord and has allowed them opportunities to witness to others of His grace and love in their lives. God works through our circumstances and holds our hands in the darkest moments in life so that we may be light to others in a dark world.
"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
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