McGill Family Photos

The best part about living as an expatriate is that so many great people come into your life and become sweet friends, but the worst part is when those great friends leave. It is a bittersweet reality that people to whom I come to know and love, I must also say goodbye.

The McGills moved to Uganda a couple of years ago, anxious to establish a community of friends in this place far away from what they knew. I've been privileged to be a part of this community of theirs and to know them during this season. They recently moved back to Michigan, not so far from my family's home in Indiana, a fact that brings me gladness with the hope of seeing them state-side. Before they left, I had the opportunity to photograph their family and capture memories of this season in their lives, living in Uganda with a beautiful backyard full of home-raised food and enough space for their energetic girls to tumble and climb around. 

Snippets of NYC

We had no agenda for our time in New York City, except to visit people we don't get to see enough. Living in Uganda brings friends into our lives who live all over the world and coming to a city like New York lets us reconnect with so many.

We arrived just in time for the Snowstorm of the Century that wasn't, but we still had to bundle up walking the chilly streets of the city. We walked through Prospect Park to see all the families playing in the newly-fallen snow and I visited the Museum of Modern Art, thanks to the hook-up from a friend who works there. But mostly, we ate food and took time with people, not bothering to explore much. This time, New York gave us rest and friendship, and we are grateful.

View fullsize

Enarson Family Photos

The week before we left Uganda, our friends, the Enarsons, asked me to photograph their small and growing family.  The Enarsons have become special friends of ours during our time together, living in Kampala; we've been able to see each others' families grow in the last 4 years, so it was an honor to capture this sweet period in their lives, with one spunky, adorable tike trotting around and another bundle of cuteness on the way.

I've since declared that capturing families with kids in their own environment is my favorite kind of family photography, but then, the Enarsons made it easy.  Sami was a photographer's dream come true, with his laugh-on-demand, almost as if you were pushing a button on a toy.  Overall, the session was really playful and there were no shortage of smiles!  It warmed my heart to hear that Sami even asked his mom the next morning if I was coming back!

A Day with Snow

We came from the hot, dry season in Uganda and landed in Philadelphia in the dead of winter.  This morning, I woke up and the trees were powdered with snow.  I'll be in the US for the rest of winter and I'm sure it will soon get old, but today there was so much beauty in the snow - my first snow of the year - that I had to capture it.  I was directed to a nature center nearby my hosts' home and I reveled in the crisp air as I walked by the stream, snow slowly melting from the sprawling limbs above me.

The End of Life as I Know It

View fullsize

Today is the end of my life as I know it in our cozy house in a Kampala suburb.  We depart in a few hours for America and when I come back in about 5 months, our lives will have changed in a major way with a little new addition to our family.

The last few weeks, between our return from India and our departure for the US, have been full of logistical planning, home improvements, and preparing for our leave at work.  But it's also been full of confronting my fears about motherhood and having those fears comforted by the gentle kicks and waves inside my tummy that surprise me throughout the day.  I leave Uganda feeling full of support from the incredible women in my life.  Amongst all I have to pack in one suitcase for the next 5 months, I've found room for the beads these women gave me at my birthing blessingway to cling to during labor and room for their notes of love and affirmation, wanting to keep them with me and, in times of doubt, refer to the encouragement of those who know me well.

View fullsize

The last few days have been full of anxiety as I try to think through every detail of our travels - 5 weeks around the East Coast until I land at home in Indiana to await the birth.  Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC, Annapolis, Portsmouth, and Boston are all around the corner.  I have list upon list in a small notebook, reminding me of all that must be done, bought, and packed, all I must prepare for in those travels, for the cold weather, for the weeks after the birth.  My mind has been racing with these plans and I find myself waking in the middle of the night, thinking of another detail I must remember.

But today is different.  I truly feel ready.  I'm ready to step onto the plane, into my third trimester, and onwards toward a huge life change.  I've prepared well and I know deeply that all will be perfect, so now it's time to enjoy the present moment, to soak up these last few hours in my home.  Even with no power and no water at my house, in this moment I stare in appreciation at the tropical birds outside my window and listen to the chickens cluck beside the garden.  The planning is in the past and big changes are in the future.  The Now is perfect, as it moves slowly toward the end of life as I know it.

View fullsize

For a New Beginning
By John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety,
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.