119/365 April's End

| month in review |

In you we saw the long awaited tide of the seasons turn, and we celebrated that hope of resurrection that is felt in all the ways that spring and Spirit speak it to our souls.

 | oh to be like you |

It's funny how to me, they are just tired old tunics and dresses I've had for years. But to this girl who spent the morning going through my closet, oohing and ahhing and trying to twirl (do I wear anything twirl-worthy? no, I do not), they are pieces of elegant finery.

| garden feet |

118/365

| morning bloom |

| morning ride |

| every day |

| butterfly surgery |

| talk forever |

117/365 Tuesday Stories

116/365 Washing and Family

This morning on our walk to the market, a man was cleaning the grime off his hands. A fixer upper, he had grease everywhere. Probably under his toenails.

After this past week, sitting in the afterglow of that beautiful Gotcha Day experience while pondering all the orphans that are not in families, giving such thanks for the children of so many friends near and far who have found place and safety and love, and yet hearing the sweet struggles of a friend who is only just now seeing hope of that long desired bonding several years in, and around again to all the brokenness that I see in my own family, and really to a degree, in every family regardless of their makeup. How much we need cleansing, renewal, the grit under our toenails and the grime that we can't seem to scrape off washed for us. the hope of cleanness and healing and wholeness. It's beautiful to see the rays of hope and heartbreaking to see all the darkness still lingering. "He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks." May it be so.

115/365 #sundaysaremyfavorite

I spend a lot of time on my bed on Sundays. It's my quiet, restful spot and one of my favorite things is, aside from when it's whiny or they make me spill my coffee, they come in by ones or two or sometimes all at once and just talk. It can be about silly things like the comic they are writing or the gestation period of a hamster. But this is where the meaningful stuff comes out too... the book they are reading and the questions it's raising in their mind, the friend who was a disappointment, the worry that's been plaguing them, the never dying concern about what's for a snack. They relax here, and their humor comes out and we giggle at each other or fine tune our sarcasm or just laugh at the nonsense coming out of the three year olds mouth.

*Also, my girl took her first knitting lesson like a champ today and was churning out rows that were far prettier than any of my first attempts. 

114/365 Beautiful Saturday

113/365 Fullness of Friday

| streams of light |

| my Friday good morning |

| their Friday good morning |

| my morning exercise |

| their morning exercise |

| ladies of leisure |

| men of leisure |

| boy of leisure |

112/365 Today's Making

111/365

A Gotcha Day Story | Beginnings

When I received the phonecall the night before, asking if I could go along to document a couple picking up their son, I was beyond thrilled and not a little nervous. A dream I've had for some time now, to use my unique location in China to serve families who are coming to adopt a child by photographing the story of their first day/days together, had suddenly been birthed. I was unsure of what it would be like to step into that emotional, vulnerable moment where, because of the nature of adoption, so many hard things have already and possibly will take place. It's a beautiful, heart wrenching event, the Gotcha Day. And I know it is something families want to remember, regardless of how smooth or difficult it may be. 

This is probably the most amount of photos I have ever posted on here. But I am excited to share this story, with the hope that it can be repeated many times over.

This is a second "story" that only happened in small bits as I was able. They were a sweet couple, adopting for the first time, a little boy, their first son. They had come on their own, with no one but the agency guide to take photos for them, so I tried to grab a few in between documenting the other family. I was so grateful to be able to gift them with about 50 photographs, those first precious moments, glances, touches, tears, and send them on to them the next day as they finished paperwork before heading down to Guangzhou.