everybody’s baby : sneak peek

It is always an honor to be invited into someone’s home to photograph their family, but this session was particularly special to me. Karen and I went to Junior High and High School together. And like so many people our age, we have re-connected after nearly twenty years thanks to Facebook. I had been reading Karen’s blog for some time, as she would write about her family – her husband Ben (who also went to school with us in Junior High) and her three beautiful children Ansley, Benjamin and Brock. She also wrote about her and Ben’s dream to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. I was THRILLED when she posted that their baby was here – not arriving from Ethiopia as planned, but in a most unexpected and exciting way. To read their adoption story is to read the story of God’s own hand weaving together just the right people and events to bring that sweet baby boy to Karen and Ben- to Ansley, Benjamin and Brock. I hope that as you look at his sweet pictures, you will be moved to go and read Nate’s story for yourself – as Karen can tell it far better than I ever could!

When I arrived at Karen’s home the morning of the shoot, I was immediately struck by how peaceful it seemed. You would think that having four children – including a pre-teen and  a newborn – might make for just a little chaos. But you could just feel the sweet calm surrounding all of them as they loved on baby Nate. Before I arrived, I had suggested to Karen that maybe we focus on photographing just Nate this time, but she really wanted to include her three older children because, as she told me, Nate is “everybody’s baby”. And her words could not have been more true. I have never seen an entire family so completely enamored by and totally in love with a new baby. It was a beautiful, precious thing to experience!

All I can say about this next image is that it is like looking at Karen sometime around 1989. If you know Karen, you will no doubt agree!

These sweet, sweet boys just melted my heart.

And baby Nate, with all his perfect, tiny parts is just a little miracle!

Karen, you are every bit as beautiful as you were in High School and your family is equally as lovely! I am honored that I was able to share such a special time with you and your kiddos and I hope that you will treasure these images always. I’ll be in touch soon about the rest!