The Stephens Family

Just a few days away from Christmas I find my thoughts are consumed with gifts and I have to say I am pretty impressed with my selections this year. But then something happens... I actually listen to the words of the Christmas song Sufjan Stevens is singing in the background, from iTunes, while I am composing this post, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, and I am reminded of the truest, dearest and most sacrificial gift that arrived here on this earth amongst a fallen world as a baby over 2000 years ago. Not so impressed with my own gift giving this year anymore. Not. At. All.

If anything, what I want is for the world to know about this gift, but I don't always know the words to use. What I do know how to do is make a valiant attempt to capture the smallest glimpse of God's love, grace and mercy that radiates through the eyes, grins and hearts of His children in a way that always makes me step back in awe of Him. Always.

The Stephens Family was certainly no exception. Before every photo shoot I begin with a prayer. God bless this family and bless our time together. And as I pull away after our hour or so with the images I saw through my lens and the experience we shared together still fresh on my mind I find myself full of love, praise and thankfulness for the gift of those moments God allows me to be a part of. I don't know what it was about this session. Maybe it was the lighting that afternoon, or the way the weather was changing, the way our time together felt like we were writing a simple, beautiful story, the way we started off at the front of a house and slowly made our way over the next hour to the back, down the lawn to the place where the waves of Lake Jackson met the sand and then beyond, the way the sun looked in the sky as it dipped below the horizon, the look of a baby girl in her mom and dad's arms, the love and protection in the kiss on the forehead from a big brother to his baby sister, or the way when it came time to walk back up to the house just after sunset and after a chilly wade in the lake I got to scoop Nolan up in my arms and fall in love. I am not sure what it was, but I left this session with the Stephens Family feeling the same way I do when I watch movies like, The Blind Side or Hoosiers or The Holiday, I just didn't want it to end. (Seriously, I immediately got home and put in an official request to Heidi - on facebook - asking if they would adopt me, which I think somehow offended all the other families I hadn't asked to adopt me and my own mom and dad, whom I all love dearly.)

That day, as with everyday I make the drive home from a photo shoot with images in tow, I found myself thanking God for the gift He had given me as a glimpse into His heart through the lens of my own.