Capturing the Joy of Our Family

We first met William when he showed up at church one Sunday. He was enthusiastic, friendly, and we learned about him over lunch at our favorite after-church spot: Cali-Burger. He was doing the same study-abroad program Ryan did 10 years ago, and in a month would be transferring to the Minhang Campus of JiaoTong University - right across the street from where we live!

We soon had him over for supper, and later he invited a Chinese friend over for a meal and discussion. It was so great to hear the Scriptures being discussed around our table with a curious college student. William over a few more times, rode with us to church some Sundays, and connected us with some great people, including a babysitter! He definitely used his time well on campus, too, as he naturally got connected with many local students. The semester came to an end, though, and he said he before he left he wanted to thank us for all of our hospitality with a free family photo shoot. We felt like we were the ones that needed to thank him for connecting us to many and giving us great fellowship, but we weren't ones to turn down a photo shoot. After all, we were getting a little tired of selfies!

So last week on a late Wednesday afternoon, William met us on campus with a friend named Jane to capture some of our family's joy...

I had done some research on Pinterest, to get ideas for poses (almost none of these are originally mine) and other tips. We found some great matching outfits in our closet which really pulled things together!

With a toddler, I knew a lot of "sit still and smile at the camera" pictures weren't going to work. So I found creative ways to get Hadassah to smile!

This one was all her own, though... "Are you all done kissing yet??"

Dancing with daddy... melts my heart.

Wispy with the flowers

We even got some of just us while the little one played with the flowers. Until she started running toward the road, that is...
 

Capturing the wonder of her favorite books...

"Where did Dassah go?" (she refused to cover both her eyes - always had to have one eye on the camera!)

"Peekaboo!" (trick to this one? Have her stuffed animal play peekaboo behind the camera!)

So thankful for a husband who leads us in devotions each morning. "Shh shh time" as Hadassah calls it.

"Squeeze!" It's crazy to think that soon we'll have two little ones to hug!

A change to blue, that brings out our little one's eyes... 

There's always something to make her smile, even when she was getting tired of pictures!

Tippy-toes :)

Flying in a field...

This is our life... enjoying moments together while trying to wrangle a toddler trying to escape ;)

I love him.

He leads me so well.

And I still get lost in his eyes...

 When the little miss was all done with photos, her favorite "ni-night" cheered her up and kept her company as she danced in the field... Totally spontaneous to have pictures with the lamb, but they're some of my favorites!

Hand in hand, with a little one following.

Dancing as the light slowly fades...

Thank you again, William, for this incredible blessing to our family!