Lubbock Birth Photographer Adopts
This family has been an abundant gift to me.
Not only is Britney a fellow birth photographer here in Lubbock, but she has also become a dear friend to me and a sweet sister in Christ. I have longed for a sister or a friend with a deep sense of connection, and Britney and I were practically smashed in to one another’s life the moment I decided to move back to America and start birth photography again. I have had more fun, conflict, laughter, hard conversations, and deep connection with Britney than any other colleague I have ever met. I undoubtedly know it is because we have resolved more conflict with each other, celebrated each other big several times, and cried through many hardships in a very short concentrated time. Vulnerability like that reaps a deeper friendship, and I am forever thankful for it.
Britney truly has become a sister to me, and it helps that I love her husband, Joe, and her children just as much. I took pictures of the Looney family for them to have more recent updated pictures for their adoption portfolio. I honestly wasn’t even going to edit any, because I had already handed over the RAW images for Brit to edit herself for this urgent update. Well, I ended up taking a look at session, and I immediately got teary eyed.
You see, I photographed this session exactly 1 day shy of the day Britney and Joe were contacted that a birth mom was thinking about selecting them to adopt her unborn child. And then I edited this session the same day the birth mom and the Looneys got to have a video call with her. The next day they were chosen.
Editing this session knowing that it was most likely their last family session as a family of 4 before they welcome their next little love through adoption made me emotional, but what the Lord revealed to me next made me weep.
The Looney family has experience a massive amount of loss, disappointment, heartache, and waiting as they’ve said “goodbye” to several babies through miscarriage and several babies that were placed in different adoptive families. It is not lost on me that the Looney found out that they were finally chosen to be the adoptive family of this sweet baby just before Ash Wednesday, a day marked to remind us of human mortality and the brokenness of this world. It is the start of the lenten season - the waiting season. Lent is a solemn time to deeply understand, feel, and become aware of the magnitude of grief and loss while practicing patience, peace and hope knowing that better things are coming - that Christ has come, He is risen, He ascended to Heaven and He will come again.
The Looney family will meet their baby just after Easter, the celebration Christ conquering humanity and rising from the dead after experiencing so much suffering- the ultimate redemption story. Though Britney, Joe, and their children too have suffered so much the past couple of years, I see their redemption story. I see God’s love woven through their journey drawing them closer to Him and preparing them to welcome this specific baby from this specific mom in to their lives.
Congratulations Britney and Joe! I cannot wait to weave more of your story together in the seasons ahead.
May we always see the Hope through our hardships as you have! ♥
