New Lifestyle Sessions {Bellingham Photographer}

A few weeks ago I went to visit Ruth inventor and owner of Snap-EZ Diapers. I took photos of her morning of dressing, feeding and educating her smallest children, including two who happen to have Down Syndrome. I’ll let Ruth tell you the rest in her own words.

Daryl and I are blessed to be the parents of thirteen children.  Our oldest is 28 and married (and presented us with the most amazing grandchild recently!), and my youngest is 2 1/2 years old, a miracle baby born when I was 48 years old!  We have been unusually blessed with 12 biological children and one very special little girl, Christy, whom we recently adopted from Bulgaria. Ten or our children still live at home, but our oldest daughter is going to be married in January, reducing our family to “only 9 children living at home.”

I asked Renee to do her new Lifestyle  Session to capture an average morning in our crazy life right now.  With such a busy family (ten kids still living at home), I find it difficult to keep family traditions going, and find that most days are full of just keeping things running here at home. 

But sometimes the everyday day things are even more valuable to share and remember than those big events that we all remember easily.  I also wanted her to be able to share the daily care of children with special needs, and one with a feeding tube, in the context of a busy, large family, as well as homeschooling two children with mild to moderate dyslexia.

Reality for us is we need everyone to pitch in and not only help with chores and childcare, but also with self regulation (the older children are mostly self taught using a mix of computer curriculum and traditional text books, correcting their own work as I have very little time to do any teaching/correcting right now).

So many people ask me “how do you do it” and I have to honestly say “one day at a time, and by God’s grace.”  I don’t know how I do it.  I know that life is best when I am consistently spending time communing with God in the mornings and getting enough sleep.

 I have to keep my priorities straight and let unimportant things go…someday I’ll have time for things like gardening and knitting again, but those are luxuries I don’t have time for right now. And a clean, guest ready home?  Forget that…safe and tidy/clean enough to be healthy is what I shoot for…and the laundry is never done, but that’s OK!

A successful day for me is when I have kept my priorities straight, and made sure that my children were well cared for (even if not by me).  Most importantly I invest in my marriage.  We go out on dates often and take time to do things together that allow us time to talk…even if it’s putting together the crib or just hiding in my bedroom for a little while!  

{This winter I am offering Lifestyle Sessions during he colder months. I would love to come into you home and photograph what makes your family special. Digital images will be delivered on a custom flash drive and a professional photo book . Print options also available. Contact me about pricing. bergerondozen at yahoo dot com}