Within moments the two little girls have slipped off their shoes and are giggling.

The little boy is scooting around on his bottom and attempting to find all the mischief that he can hold in his tiny hands.

Their mama and I we laugh the knowing laugh that two moms share over the joyous chaos of children.  We bring them all together and capture a gloriously real life image or two. Then decide to give them a moment to burn off their curiosity.

 

 

That mischievous little boy shares a special moment just with mama while the girls run barefoot and free to explore.

Littlest girl comes back to her mama, snuggling right into the safety and warm nest of her love.

 

 

Oldest girl is a spunky free spirit.  She comes back frequently to share her discoveries with me and mama.  She finds some camellias and tosses petals in the creek.  Little boy he makes his mama laugh.

I ask mama to sing and her little ones flock to her like ducklings, flitting about in the comfortable sound of her voice.

I whisper a secret to oldest girl and tell her what I need from her.  She brings her camellia and snuggles right into mama.

We try once more for that image with all her children.  Success.

This mama and these babies will only be in this season for the present.  This season: it is a present.  We gather together and capture it so that they might remember these stories, these moments, this childhood, and the mother that shapes and treasures it all.

 

 

Would you like to have a record of your present with your littles or even your grown up children?  Would you like to wrap your arms around this moment and hold it dear for years?  I’d love to photograph you for Mother’s Day.  Contact me today to book your Greenville SC Mother’s Day Photography Mini Session.

Would you love to have the experience, but you have some hesitations?  Click here to see your hesitations addressed.

 

 

A couple weeks ago I whispered my dreams for Greenville SC Mother’s Day Photography.  I shot my first practice session last weekend. 

I told you how I believed mothers could change the story for for women served by a Compassion Child Survival Program just by showing up in pictures of our own motherhood story. 

You can read all of those details by clicking here or just hop over to virtually visit the Compassion CSP in El Salvador that we’ll be partnering with.  My prayer is that together we will raise $500 to bless young moms and their babies.  It’s a crazy God-sized dream.

I can already hear your objections to getting in the photograph with your kids.  You’re whispering, “I’d love to be in the photos and helps moms/children in poverty, but…”

“Maybe next year, when I lose ten (or more) pounds.”

Your kids love you now.  They think you’re beautiful now.  Regularly, my girls cup their hands around my face and whisper “You’re beautiful, mama.”  Let them remember how you loved them.  Let them see you in the strong body that grew your babies inside and the even more beautiful heart that adopted them into your home.

“Do you know how stressful getting all these little kids in one picture is?”

I have three kiddos of my own.  I get it.  Mini sessions of just 20 minutes are short enough to keep the youngest baby or toddler engaged.

I have a whole post on preparing younger toddlers and preschoolers to have their pictures made which you can read here.  These tips will make sure they’re warmed up to me.  In addition, you can share with me over the phone some of your children’s favorite things (books, TV shows, movies, or toys) and I’ll make sure to mention it.

At the session start, I’ll pull your wild and crazy brood aside right before the images and ask them to help me make mama smile.  We’ll do a silly all ready cheer (that I’m sure your ‘tweens and teens will roll their eyes at).  On top of that, I’ll promise them a tasty treat if they cooperate (caramel corn, anyone?).

On top of that, dad can wrangle the others not in a picture… or you could bring your own mom to wrangle them and jump into an image with you!

“But my kids are all grown up…”

That doesn’t mean they don’t want you in the picture!  Your kids, whether just leaving the nest for college or beginning their own families, are beginning to realize your wisdom and just how hard they were to raise. Don’t let their only pictures of you with them be when they were little and when they were married.  They’ll treasure these images for their lifetime.

“We’re busy mother’s day weekend.”

That’s why the Mother’s Day Mini Sessions are occurring the Saturday after Mother’s Day: May 17th.  It also gives you time to make sure your husband knows exactly what gift you’d like for the holiday (wink wink).  If there are more requests than the 5 slots I have open, I’ll schedule a second date the first weekend in June.

“Okay… but really, what do we all wear?”

Mom, pick out your outfit first.  Then pull colors from it and dress everyone else starting with your daughters and ending with the boys.

Or you could pick a color scheme.  How about khaki and grey neutrals with spring colors?  Or navy and grey neutrals with jewel tone colors?  Or black neutrals with bright colors?

And if you’re a visual person, hop right over and check out my Pinterest board on dressing for photos.

But please avoid all black or all white. If mom feels most comfortable in black then make sure she wears some fun colored accessories 🙂

Ready to Book Greenville SC Mother’s Day Photography?

Session Details are here and you can contact me here.

My family sits on the poverty line. Some months our account dwindles low or hovers momentarily over zero while we wait for a paycheck. Some months we’re able to save. Our children are clothed and fed… well, when they decide to dress and eat :-p We carry no debt outside the mortgage and sometimes that’s the only reason we can stay afloat. And even though we have little, the Lord has amply provided for our needs.

It makes me think of this Shaun Groves song Enough.

“Please don’t give to me 
wealth or poverty
God, I ask only for enough.”

It’s early in the morning when I read this post by Ann Voskamp. I read about this mama a short plane ride away with 10 children and no toilet.

The poverty line in North American can sometimes be an oxymoron. I have three toilets and three kids; I have more than enough.

I hear this faint intense whisper calling me to sit and write: “Now, Melissa! Tell this God-sized dream now.” I want to counter His timing. I know I don’t have images to whisper this story with, but I know obedience is His definition of success.

So I take this shaky breath and I invite you to dream with me about changing the life of another mama living in true poverty.

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Mothers are always serving.  We’re in the kitchen.  We’re changing diapers.  We’re rocking someone.  Or kissing a boo boo.  Or whispering “You are loved- no matter what,” into the ears of those we love. There’s no cultural ownership on motherhood.  We all just keep pouring out what we were given into the next generation.

Mothers here in the US pick up their cameras or cellphones and serve by capturing these images of her babies growing strong.  She captures her husband wrestling with her boys.  She captures the impromptu ballet performance on the stage at Barnes and Nobles.

She creates these memories in images that her children will treasure when she is gone, but every mother forgets that she is her children’s real treasure.

And by holding the camera, mothers forget to show up in this visual record of her family’s stories. And regardless of how a mother thinks she looks, her children just see her as grace poured out on them.  As the heartbeat of home. She sees arms strong enough to hold her tears/fears.  He sees the one woman who always believes in him.

What if I could put you in your family’s visual record? What if you let me spend 30 minutes documenting how you love your children for this Mother’s Day?  

What if you by letting me record you with your children, you could give a mother and baby in El Salvador the space, the food, and the support to begin creating her own Mother’s Day story?  

If you’ve hung around this little blog long enough, you know a piece of my heart lives in the dumps of El Salvador: her name is Delsys.  And in this same country, there is a place run by Compassion International called Ninos en Victoria Child Survival Program. Young mothers living on the poverty line in El Salvador don’t always see their children reach their 5th birthdays.  My girls, who made me a mama, turn 5 in just a few short months; they are my light and my hope. I can’t imagine my world without them and their special brand of crazy joy 🙂

I have this crazy God-sized dream that if I photograph you to record your motherhood story, that together we can raise $500 to help women in El Salavador have their own motherhood story changed.

Soon I’ll be announcing a series of Mother’s Day Mini Sessions, where that will be the exact goal.

Interested in being photographed with your babies?  Interested in helping mothers in El Salvador help their babies live to their 5th birthday? I’ll be booking 5 Mother’s Day Mini Session on dates to be announced in both April and May.  I may add another date in early June if there’s enough interest.  I’m shaky here… just saying this dream out loud to you is almost more than I can manage… but when I hear Him call… I’m learning to obey and watch Him work.

Please sign up for my newsletter if you’re interested in participating in this crazy God-sized dream and would like to be notified of the details as soon as they’re available.