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I shot a session with my friend’s  family before her husband deployed recently. Her boys are friends with mine and just as full of energy. It was fun to give them a beach, baseballs and shovels and watch them leap into action. I was swept along with the sweet energy of their family, running from one game to the next. I saw it in her eyes though and I remembered. That soft sigh, holding each moment in, treasuring it, knowing you have to let go soon. Savoring each minute together to give you the strength to make it through the months apart.

The sun sank low and the images grew even more beautiful as the light fled. I thought about how it’s those times of adversity that bring the beauty, that show the real stuff of life, what holds a family together. The love is pictured clearer in the dusky moments. And the coming home, oh the coming home . . . It’s glorious and maybe even worth every second apart . . .

Thank you for letting me share this night with you, boys running and dad playing. Thank you for your sweet open spirit, it was a joy to sketch your family. And hello, does girlfriend have gorgeous eyes or what?!

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  • Angela Brinker - Sharon these are beautiful and brilliant. Such an amazing capture of this beautiful family, and you captured the moment perfectly. InspiringReplyCancel

  • Nicole - gorgeous!!! Beautiful moments of a beautiful family! Prayers for strength and a quick safe deployment!ReplyCancel

I love seeing his thoughts come out on paper. I love that he can ascribe letters to what’s on his mind now. Boiling it all down to words he can spell all by himself. More than the crudely formed symbols and charming pictures, I love that these words are written of his own initiative. He takes a moment from all important bug catching, bike riding, Lego building, soccer playing, brother wrestling, noise making mayhem, and sits down to write in his spare time. Of his own volition, letters build words, string together into sentences, and on to form paragraphs. Miracle of miracles, haltingly he reads and writes. Of caterpillars and Christopher Columbus, crab catching and shelter building, he muses prosaically.

This is why I tread lightly the dance. Not wanting to drill the joy and wonder from learning, still desiring to equip them with all the tools they will need. Let them play, lay before them a feast of knowledge, skills and reason, then when the time is right . . .

What use is a man with a mind full of facts if he has no desire to make his mark? What good is a man full of fire if he has not the tools to light a spark?

So many days I feel I am only stumbling along. And then there are the days when all systems are go, we are firing on all cylinders and I perceive that at the end of a long, beautiful journey we may just make it to the moon and back. Anything might be possible. The days when the school room is bathed in light, building blocks click, and phonics rings out a harmonious melody. Yesterday it was conference day, and there were murmurs that the steps to the dance are going well. IT in all it’s indescribable wonder is there and we will hang our hats on that immeasurable success as we run and trip, march slowly along and dance!

“The question is not, — how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education — but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”                             ― Charlotte Mason, School Education: Developing a Curriculum

It was a perfect afternoon.

David didn’t poop in the bushes like he did during a previous family picnic in an east coast garden. In fact no one even had to interrupt the event to dash to the restroom for  a poop break as is the usual custom. That in and of itself was miraculous and made for a lovely time.

Add to that a heavenly breeze tickling the giant windchime dangling from elderly branches, butterflies dancing and dappled light caressing. Pumpkin cookies and little boys spread on mismatched blankets with not a hint of a quarrel to subtract from the bliss. It was one of those fleeting moments where everything is perfectly right with the world. Not just God’s grace in the daily mess but a pure glimpse of paradise.

The daily trudge tries hard to hide them but really . . . how do I not stand always entranced by the miracles unfolding before my eyes? Little souls and smiles, hands and feet growing from mystical seed.

Precious, perfect picnic with no poop.

I photographed these two as they were taking a stroll through the garden.

I am really taken with these photos…

I love his shirt, and the succulents.

I love her openness and the bokeh.

Thank you guys!

I will be adding to this project each week and it will live on this here page, so swing by again soon!

If you would like to post a photo of yourself and what you are grateful for, or someone you meet and their shared gratitude, please add them to the Flickr group.

Everything is feeling like a bit much right now.

Scariness and sadness and nothing I can do to help, and trying not to worry. On top of that all the schoolwork comes crashing in and why is it always such a struggle to keep the demanding voices out? I hold the time close with my baby, but am I giving my boys all they need? My man’s embrace is firm and we are one but how do I help him blaze the trail we all will follow? There’s diapers and college all stacked sky high in a fearsome heap. And there’s sun and sky and beach, little boys running glorious through it all. What to do? How do I find the way?

just fly a plane, watch them smile, take one step, then another, hold them close, do my best . . .

less? more? now? then? . . . when? how?

They know the answer. Just stop. Listen. Still, they need me to tell them everything they need to know. And we dance this dance, stacking high, tumbling down, rolling round and round. When in doubt

just fly

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  • Angela Brinker - Sharon, I find myself inspired and in tears at the same time. Your words are art themselves. I admire the passion you possess. You are truly gifted and such a beautiful soul.ReplyCancel

    • admin - Thnx so much! It means A LOT to me to know people are connecting with what I put out there!
      xo SharonReplyCancel

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