through strategy, mentoring, consulting, & brand photography in Maryland, Tampa, FL & beyond.
This is the first year that I have offered Spring mini sessions and I’m so glad that I did! We had beautiful weather and I had so much fun celebrating these families! I tried something new and hosted the mini sessions at my grandparents’ farm for a change of scenery. Their farm is less hustle-bustle, too, so that worked out great for keeping the kids attention on me. :) There was a bit of an unintentional theme going (but so perfect for Mother’s Day!)… and it was these boys and their love for their mommas! I got teary-eyed while editing the photos because my heart was overjoyed with these kids and their obvious love for their mommas! I’m so grateful that the Edwards and Heck families will have these memories to cherish forever… of their boys and who they were in the Spring of 2014. These boys were THE BEST behaved children!! They were not just cooperative, but they followed every posing direction I gave them the first time! I told Crystal that they’re going to be my go-to guys for if I need kiddo models for a shoot. She told me her secret was bribing them with Sweet Frog (ice cream). I’m definitely going to keep that one in mind for the future! The boots and belts… precious! These photos are a surprise for daddy for Father’s Day. He was out hunting that day so he has no idea! Shhhh! Meet the Heck family! I’m super SUPER excited that I get to share these photos with you! Lil man here is a living, walking, talking miracle! Every child is a miracle in my opinion, but Ira, he’s someone incredibly special! And his momma, Hope, she’s one of the most amazing young women that I know. Hope has given me permission to share hers and Ira’s story below. Please read about them. You’ll be incredibly blessed if you do! I met Hope a few years ago before both she and I went off to separate Bible schools. When we had both returned we were reunited by a mutual friend, Karen. Hope and I quickly became good friends because of our shared love of The Lord and passion to follow whatever direction that He had for us – even if it didn’t make sense in the eyes of most people around us. I was pregnant that summer and my husband and I found out we were having a boy. Shortly after finding out the gender of our child, Hope shared with me that a relative of hers just had a baby boy born addicted and in serious need of several surgeries and medical help. They weren’t even sure he was going to survive the surgeries, let alone be released from the hospital. So many of us prayed for God to heal this sweet baby boy. Hope shared with me that she felt CALLED to care for him through foster care if he made it out of the hospital so that the baby could be with family. From then on we were connected by an even stronger bond — Motherhood. Though we both entered motherhood in different ways, we are both moms of boys only 8 months apart in age. And how grateful I am for our friendship! I was able to go with Hope to visit Ira in the hospital one time. I was probably about six months pregnant at the time. I remember holding little Ira, connected to tubes and wires, on top of my pregnant belly and praying for him and thinking how these two boys were destined to be best friends though neither of them know it yet. By the grace and healing of God, Ira came home with Hope when he was about 7 months old no longer addicted to the drugs he was born addicted to. In between, there are many stories of miracles that Ira overcame in order to leave the hospital so young. There were surgeries. There were scares. There were faithless doctors. There were medicine, eating, and development worries. Doctors said he was blind. Then they realized he could see. Doctors said that he would never eat on his own. Now he does (and with supplements as of now). Doctors said that he would never hold his head up, then he did… never sit up, then he did… never crawl, then he did… never stand up, then he did… never walk, then he did… I think you see where I’m going with this! I believe that he’s been able to overcome so much for two reasons. One, prayer. Two, Hope. When I say “Hope”, I mean his momma. She has had faith in him from the very beginning. She knows how to help him achieve the next goal. Most of all, she gives him more love in one day than most people know in a lifetime. I’ve never seen truer Christ-like love than Hope has shown Ira. She laid down her own life and her own plans as a 23 year old single young lady to take on the responsibility of a special-needs child. If you’ve never seen true love in action before, well, it doesn’t get much better than this! This is true love:
12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:12-14
What an honor it is to know both of them and walk along side of them in their journey! Happy early Mother’s Day to these two wonderful moms that I had the joy of working with this past week! If you don’t know Jesus, but, after reading their story, want to know what this crazy miraculous love is all about… email me, heck, call me if you’d like! I highly recommend Love Does by Bob Goff for anyone (Christian or not) seeking to know what Jesus is REALLY all about and learn how to live a more loving life. Jenna@JennaShriverPhotography.com or 443 398 6736.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Beautiful story & photos!!