All in the Life of a Family

There are certain times in our life when we need to tell our children…trust us…we know best. This is the case regarding the taking of one of our family pictures. I’m not sure I know any family whose children just love to take family pictures….ours being no exception. So this year I had a plan. Our family picture taking would not be planned. We would just see if there was a day where everyone was available and the weather was good. For those of you who know me, this way of doing things is extremely contrary to my very being. I usually have in my mind what the kids will wear, the location of our pictures, and who will take them weeks ahead of time.

Last Monday was a beautiful day. By midafternoon the wheels of my mind began to turn. This would be a great day for pictures!! I called each of the kids and they could all make it work. Next we needed a photographer. This took some thinking. I tried 2 people who were mentally on our list of photographers but it wouldn’t work out for either one. Maybe, I thought, this new plan wasn’t going to work….until we thought of a very good friend who loves photography, and after a brief phone call things were in place again. Finally, what would we all wear? Normally in my perfectionistic way of thinking everyone had to be exactly color coordinated. (No wonder this usually stresses me out.) But this time I said, “Ok kids pick out your own clothes.” After some fine tuning I thought we all looked presentable.

After arriving to Woodstock our ‘session’ began. We tried several poses and things were going well. Finally one of the kids said, “Can’t we just take a picture of who we are?” So we agreed and they kind of arranged themselves. The result of that picture is the reason for my first statement….trust us…we know best. This picture (of course) turned out to be the best shot out of the approximately 200 that we took. So right now in our house there is a little mini war going on. “Why,” is the resounding question, “can’t we use this picture for our annual holiday card which goes to family, friends, and congregation?”  And our answer once again is, “Trust us…..” Maybe it’s over cautiousness…maybe it’s because I can’t tell the story that it happening…or maybe it’s just plain wisdom. Here then is my compromise…I’ll post it on my blog and if you want this picture for your holiday greeting card, maybe we can take private orders. J

So, the story behind this picture? Jeremy and Adriana were really texting each other….Micah was really taking a picture of them. Nathan was…‘taking a phone call’…Rachael a text….we were looking at our phone and the two little kids were in total disgust over the fact that they don’t have a phone…..yes all in the life of a family in the 21^st century.