love is the best medicine, and there is more than enough to go around once you open your heart.
- julie marie

a fellow photographer, S, posted this (below) on a photo sharing site a couple months ago.

This morning I had an amazing realization. A few years ago I went to a funeral of a little friend from the Children's Hospital... and as I sat with tears on my cheeks the thing that hit me the most was PICTURES. "I need more pictures of A. I need more memories. Why don't I take more pictures?" With his health being so precarious right now that memory came back to me...and I realized that it was only a month or two later that I bought my first SLR. I never realized it...but I believe photography was God's answer to my heart's tears that day. No matter the end of this story I will hold beautiful pictures of my baby...whether its in 10 years or 2, I will have his face immortalized in photography with the beauty I see in my naked eye.

a brief history: S and N adopted their oldest child, A, when he was three years old. prior to the adoption, he had been in a group foster home and almost continuously in and out of the hospital (sometimes in for months at a time). A suffers from a condition that is not curable, only treatable, and they don't know for how long.

i only had met S briefly once before, but i also followed her work as a photographer. when i read what she wrote, i immediately let her know that i would be honored to photograph her family. and i secretly hoped that she would let me. i so wanted to not only give her beautiful photographs of her baby, but also her family. she did take me up on my offer and today was the day.

it was the most amazing session/experience. their love for one another was so evident. the boys love their mother more than words can even describe. i not only saw it...i felt it. they are truly a family that loves life, lives life to the fullest and cherishes every moment.

i've shared some images with S and she has thanked me numerous times but i keep telling her that i am the one that needs to thank her. i am blessed to have gotten to know their most incredible, kind and loving family.

when i asked S if i could share her inspiring story on my blog, she said, of course, and shared this poem with me, the poem that they put on A's adoption announcement four years ago:

today i kissed an Angel
i knew it from the start
the first time he smiled at me
i gave away my heart

today I kissed an Angel
this Angel child of mine
though not of my creation
my child by God's design

today I kissed an Angel
my heart is dancing wild
a family, by a miracle
blessed by this Angel child