30 Minutes in the Life: Gaining a daughter….

I will confess right at the start of this that I did not take these photo’s this month but I have a lot going on right now and it seems like this will be as much as I can do as the photo’s are all edited already.  We have a wedding we are preparing for.  As I write, family are flying in.  This coming week will be about entertaining family, socializing with friends, building a backdrop for the stage, creating the flower arrangements for the church and wedding venue,  developing a guest book,  developing a slide show and last and by no means least hosting a rehearsal dinner.

So over the past couple of weeks I have been putting together a slide show of my son and his fiancé’s journey in life,  in preparation for their wedding on Friday, August 28.  It has taken me back to some really interesting events in life. Moments of joy and laughter, moments of sadness, moments thinking “I cannot do this anymore”, and moments thinking “did we really do this with the kids”.  It was that ah ha moment when you realize things as you know it are going to change.

Cameron’s arrival in the world was not the greatest.  He was sick for 10  days with jaundice and was one pinprick away from a blood transfusion.  He was my child with allergies.  He was the child that I spent 7 years at his beck and call every time he had a surgery.  He was the boy who got me on my knees to pray when I could not deal with another surgery.  His final surgery caused me to develop shingles.  Yet I would not change a thing.  This journey has prepared him for so many different choices in life.  His teenage years were spent on crutches.  Hard on any young boy.  But what it has done for him is to help him understand that life has it’s knocks and you have to deal with the stuff.  It has given him a different perspective for life.  Cameron  has a real heart for ministry.  He has a compassion for youth that has to make me smile.

He gives love and in the same way he wants love.  So when he met the woman of his dreams, we could not help but be excited for them both.  We pray that their journey in life will be a smooth one, but that when the foundations are rocked, that the bond will be strong and steadfast.  We wish them endless joy and happiness.  We wish them a future that will be a good fit with their ministry desires.  But most of all we wish them love.  Abundant love!

We are excited to welcome Kathryn into our family, we hope she will quickly become one of us, quirky and different as we are.

Here are a few of the photo’s I took to celebrate their engagement.  It was early morning and bitterly cold as we waited for the sun to come up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love because He first loved us

~ 1 John 4:19 

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷

 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Since the wedding is now over, I thought I would just post one photo of the happy couple.

 

Thank you for joining me for this month’s 30 minutes.    This is a circle blog.  Please take time to visit my friend, Stacey Markel/Maryland Family & Child Photographer and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.

If you want to know more about 30 Minutes in the Life head over to their facebook page, or to the blog page.  There is new and exciting happenings going on at 30 minutes that you are sure to want to check it out.

If you are interested in seeing more of my photography take a look at my Facebook page or my Flickr Page.