Grubbs Family | 2014

You know those families that you love so much that it’s like they’ve been a part of your own family your whole life?  This family is like that for me.  I became friends with Natalie several years ago when they moved to Georgia.  Her husband came to be one of the staff elders at our church.  I still remember my very first conversation with her when they were visiting us.  She knew who I was without an introduction… apparently she had been looking through the church directory, praying for the families of our church, and learning faces and names in the process.  Who does that?  Natalie.  She prays for people she doesn’t know.  And then when she knows you, she’ll do anything in the world that she can to show you she loves you.  She’ll drive an hour to you and be the first person who shows up with food when your mom dies… and it’ll be something totally random, like pancakes, because that’s what she has on hand.  She understands that the simple act of love is more important than making a 4 course meal with all food groups and lots of color and special napkins.  And when you get hard news and you call Natalie, she’ll randomly show up in your town, bring you food from her pantry and clothes for your children and cry with you in a parking lot, and then she’ll watch your kids on a playground so they can have a break while you do a photoshoot.  And turns out, she’s not just like that with me.  She’s always been this way.  Natalie’s that kind of friend.  When we see each other, we share a heart and we cry together and laugh together and speak truth about hard things and it’s beautiful and freeing and good.

And meanwhile…  there is her precious husband.  Wade speaks for Natalie when she cries and cannot speak.  And when she’s busy driving across town to cry with me in a parking lot, he volunteers to keep the nursery at church in her place because I don’t even realize she’s missing that so that she can be there for me.  And he’ll dig through the trash looking for keys Natalie thinks she might have accidentally thrown away… and then he’s able to laugh when she finds them someplace obvious, like her purse or the car.  He’s one of the hardest working men I know, with one of the gentlest hearts.  And he’s funny and loves 90’s praise music and teaches deep and serious truth to the young people in his care at church.  Wade doesn’t compromise, but he’s gracious in his strength.  And he is a man I both love and respect because his love for the Lord and his love for his family are undeniably beautiful.

And then there are the kids.  Oh, gracious!  Don’t even get me started on these kids.  I love these kids.  Like a real family kind of love… not an, “Oh, what great kids!” kind of love.  All four of them are a full-on delight to me when I see them and pray for them and think of them!  The older boys are some of my boys’ favorite people, ever.  And Ruthie…  good grief, she couldn’t be more precious.  I still remember when Natalie first showed me a photo of Ruthie when they were in the adoption process.  I loved her on the spot.  And sweet baby Shepherd!  He’s like a mini-Wade.  He’s perfect.

So…  this is my love-post for the Grubbs family!  Ha!  I know, it’s gushing.  But I gush when I think of them and when I speak of them.  They’ve blessed my family in an eternal way.  And so, when I take their photos I take them with all my heart.  We experiment and play.  We have fun and I’m not afraid to say, “Let’s try this 15 times so I can figure out how to do it right.”

When you see these, I hope that you see even just a little bit of why I love this sweet family so!