a gift.

It is a gift for me to get to spend time with Saylor and Audrey.  Every time I get to see them and hear about the amazing, blessed, strong, and difficult but happy life they've led I'm inspired.  Everything that happens for them is a miracle...and often on a daily basis they see miracles and see life for the first time again. 

We had planned to go up to Snowbird and get pictures of Saylor in her skiing lessons (she loves the snow)...but Snowbird classes were cancelled.  Plus when I got to the foot of the mountain they wouldn't let my mom mini van up with out chains or four wheel drive.  That's when Audrey and I decided to go for the unplanned for plan 'B'.  I met them at Saylor's school hoping that we'd get to do a shoot of Saylor at school only to find out we had to make sure that the other parents were okay with their children being photographed (totally understandable and we're hoping that it will work out in the future...).  I've been wanting to photograph Saylor at home...so we headed home.  I loved the downtime of being with Saylor and Audrey and hearing about the stories of the life of their family. (I can't wait to meet them all.)

Saylor showed me her room and all of the ways it's been customized for her in ways none of us would consider.  I talked with Audrey about the rare amount of couples who are given the news that the baby growing inside the hopeful mom will have challenges similar to Saylor's.  To those couples, the doctors recommend talking with Audrey and meeting Saylor.  They discuss the hardships and challenges as well as the joys and triumphs of bringing their child into the world.  It's not an easy life for anyone.  There are so many emotions wrapped up in the surgeries, healing, hope for change, travelling to doctors, remaining close as a family and as a couple, the daily frustrations of mundane tasks, and the joy of great news, hope on the horizon, and science catching up with the miracle of the body.  So often, the couples that Audrey and Saylor talk to decide not to bring the baby to full term; making the difficult decision of opting out of the challenges and joys ahead of them.  When Saylor picked up the Newsweek magazine, right when we were talking about the trips that Saylor and Audrey make, it moved me.  The journey of her little life, the surgeries before she was ever born, and the steps forward and backward since those early days that life hung in the balance before she breathed her own breath...all of them sped through my mind to the moment now as she sat in front of me.

I love the sweet relationship between Audrey and Saylor.  They remind me of slowing my life down, of appreciating life on the simplest and most real level, and of being moved by the miracle of life and the warmth of the person sitting next to me.

miracle. LIFE.