Breaking the Fast | 2016

How is it March already?!  Someone, please tell me.  I feel like this year has flown by, and it’s only just begun.  But isn’t that how time is?  It slips through our fingers from one breath to the next. The Bible says our lives are but a vapor.

This year has been full of joy and heartache.  My family has been a source of unending delight – good news all around from the boys’ doctors, which has been a relief and a triumph!  And on the other side, a very dear friend almost lost her life, reminding me yet again of the necessity of walking that fine line between cherishing each moment while also gazing at the certainty of eternity with unblinking eyes.

I’m not very old, only 33.  But sometimes I feel like my soul is weathered.  Is this what people mean when they say you have an “old soul”?  I wonder.  My soul is weathered, but it loves to dance.  It loves to sing and be silly and play and laugh!  Still, because of this weathered soul, I look at life so much differently than I did when I had baby skin.  I want to cling to each moment, each memory, but I know the necessity of letting those moments go so that my arms are open for the next.

And so… in light of this journey, this knowing about the rhythms of life, I haven’t been spending as much time on my business as normal.  I took an unusually long time off at the start of this year to focus on family.  To clean my room.  To be.  I slept. I learned how to play chess with my son.  I worked on a huge school project and put together a costume, which if you know me, you know is a HUGE deal – I don’t do projects and costumes.  But for him, I’ll do anything.  (disclaimer:  in full disclosure, I didn’t sew his costume… Thank you, Lord, for Amazon!)  I needed this time for us.  They are my heartbeat.

I wanted to break this fast by sharing this session with the Hirsekorn family. I first met this family when they were expecting their second little girl.  They were still learning the whole parenting thing – nervous, figuring out schedules, struggling with how to let their growing sprite be adventurous without skinning her knee every 30 seconds… you know, all the things first-time parents learn to navigate.  You can only learn this with time and experience and it’s fun to watch parents at this stage because it brings back so many memories.  The next time I was with them was when their second daughter was born… goodness gracious, has there ever been a more beautiful baby?!  She had a FULL head of gorgeous hair!  I watched them tenderly cradle her, tell big sister, “Be careful!”, tiptoe delicately through this next phase.  It was precious in every way.

This time when we met for our session, it was a completely different scene!  These girls were like two joy-filled hurricanes and their parents laughed and danced with them and ran to catch up!  We had such a whirlwind time together and it reminded me of all the things I love most about being a family photographer – watching a family grow and learn what family is, capturing special moments of play and bonding and tenderness and roughhousing and utter delight, freezing memories for a moment so they can be cherished and enjoyed for years to come.

You know, God created the family to be a beautiful reflection of Himself, and I never find more delight in photography than in capturing a glimpse of that. That’s why we can’t help but smile at a family’s love, or even cry because it’s so profoundly precious.  God made us that way.  And I am so thankful I get to see it over and over and over again in my sweet clients.

And so, enjoy the Hirsekorn Family.  They are a blessing.  Truly.