One year ago today I did a portrait session with this beautiful family. We were celebrating Terry's victory over lymphoma and his return to teaching math at Alvin High School.


Nine months later we celebrated Terry in a different way...

(Thanks for the photo, Mark Davenport.)

... and boy was it a celebration! We started with a memorial service that Terry would have been very proud of (since he had told us exactly what to do and we followed his instructions to the letter). Then we all proceeded directly to a fundraiser organized by Teri Lynn's Angleton Central Elementary School co-workers and hosted by The Ice House. People came from all over the place to show their support for this beloved family.

Nathan created his own fundraiser by picking up bottlecaps and selling them to eager customers, while Rachel hung out with a friend near the baked goodies.

Fried catfish plates flew out of the door and into customers' watering mouths.

And then the auction got underway and everyone joined in the fun.

One bidder's pockets were so deep, he brought more than one person in the crowd to tears.

And the bidder got what he really wanted out of that deal -- a hug and huge smiles from Teri Lynn.

It was a day of wildly mixed emotions, a day our community poured love onto broken hearts, a day I'll never forget. Thank you, Terry, for being the sort of guy everyone rallied around, on your good days as well as all the others. Thank you for being my friend.

O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?

1 Corinthians 15:55 KJV

I'm back after a one-month hiatus to share a very important and undeniable mathematical formula with you:

1 big ol' high-def camera
+
2 adorable little girls needing a break during a family photo session featuring their precious new baby brother
+
1 silly and daring and somewhat desperate photographer
+
1 said photographer's possibly ill-advised willingness to place said camera in said girls' hands
=
OH MY GOODNESS WHO IS THAT CRAZY OLD WOMAN AND WHEN DID I MOVE INTO HER BODY??!!


But the horror and humiliation were worth it because when I wrestled the camera back into my hands, the two junior photographers rewarded me with THIS:

Where has the time gone? Only yesterday my adorable little blonde sister and I looked exactly like Mia and Micah.... I guess I'm just going to have to stop pretending not to be affected by the relentless aging process and instead count on this promise:

Therefore we do not lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day....

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,

but on what is unseen,

since what is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16,18

P.S. I have more sessions to share with you and hope to do so very soon!