Family pictures taken in fall have always been super important to me. We always take the time to book a photographer, or if worse comes to worse, I set up the tripod and we take our own pictures on the timer. Last year I tried various avenues of getting a photographer, but we just didn’t know anyone in the area, so my search didn’t go far. We happened to be at a beautiful park one evening, and I set my camera up on picnic tables, because my tripods were still all somewhere in the dark depths of our moving trailer. The pictures didn’t turn out the greatest at all…they worked perfectly for our photo Christmas cards, but I am unable to enlarge them for framing purposes. Breaks my heart. The last family photos we took are forever stuck in a blurry 4×6:

Yet, I treasure it so much.

We found a fantastic photographer this year. She knows grief intimately too and that alone helped us to take another ‘first’ step without Mikail.

She did an amazing job photographing the three of us, and went far beyond for us, and created a photo where she was able to include Mikail in a photo with us (see photo below).This is such a meaningful photo for us and such a huge part of my healing journey. Our family photos will always have a huge hole in them from now on, yet this photo includes Mikail in such a powerful way, depicting our family the way it should be this fall.

I have always enjoyed photography and photos have always been an important part of who I am, so I sit here and hope and pray that you take the time to take pictures of you and your loved ones. Get your family together and take that ‘dreaded’ family picture. One day you will be beyond glad that you did.