Little surprises lie in the world just waiting for you to pick them up and discover them. So often, we miss them because we are soaked up into our own swirling busyness and we never know what joys we could have savored. So how do you find them? Giving. When we focus on others, we discover deep rewards of blessing as we pour out into other's lives. Last week I did a PR shoot for a wonderful non-profit organization in my neighborhood known as Sara's Garden. They serve those with brain injuries (often caused by traumas at birth) by offering hyperbaric oxygen treatment as well as those with motor disabilites through conductive education. In an effort to dispel the idea that they are a garden nursery selling peat moss, I went and did my first shoot of their young children's conductive ed class. There are just 3 children in this group, all with brain injuries that hold them back from joining the "normal world." They currently struggle with talking, crawling, walking, but as you will see they are still full of personality and have smiles to go around! In the short 2 hours I was with them, they deeply impacted my heart. I came home and edited pictures with tears streaming down my face. A few different choices and my own son, Oskar, might have been in this class. I will never know all the reasons why the Lord took my son, but I am thankful for the sensitivity that it brings to my heart and the outlook it provides me. What a true delight these children are...so close to not surviving, yet by a divine choice, they are here among us.
I pray you'll enjoy the spirit of these precious children. They are true gifts from God above!!
Meet Omira. She's 3 and she doesn't say much...but when the little mouse puppet emerged, she burst with her excitement, "Me mouse!! Me mouse!!!" One could not help but join in her delight!
Conductive education at Sara's Garden means one-on-one attention for the entire 2 hours!
Meet William. He's 2 and a bit of a flirt. He couldn't keep his eyes off my big black camera...or was it me? ;)
Some down time provided the chance for a tickle!
I was told he only began using this walker a few days before I came! WOW!
The entire 2 hour class is SUNG! The kids just loved it!
Meet Andrew. He is 7 years old and completely stole my heart!
He kinda liked the mouse puppet too!
Even simple crawling is a chore, but with great patience, he got from point A to point B. Way to go, buddy!
At the end of class, he used this ladder to hold onto as he put one foot in front of the other, heavily dependent upon his loving mother to help him do it.
I hope you'll stop by our website: www.silversandimages.com and see more of these special images as they become available.
With the advent of a much-longed for spring comes the joy of freshly hatched chicks! We got a dozen little peepers this week...golden comets for the sake of our daughter's 4H experience. Now I must admit to not really being a huge fan of chickens, but fresh eggs are a real luxury. This is how we invest in the future of happy breakfasts...so here we go with another fresh baby brood. Plus, they're stinkin cute when they're only a few days old!! :)
