Saturday, November 7, 2009

Priceless Gift

As you know, Steve was laid off almost 2 months ago. Well, several weeks after his lay-off, I got an email from a friend from church who happens to be a phenomenal photographer. I had been trying to convince Steve that hiring her for a photo session with our family would be something well worth the money.......something we would treasure forever and never regret. And I wanted to do it soon......before Gwen lost her chubby baby face (and while my P90X butt was still on the smallish side.....totally relative, I know). Anyway, I was still working on him until we got the news of the lay-off, at which point I realized it was totally out of the question. Then, this email........not only was Staci offering me a bunch of clothes that her eldest had outgrown, but she wanted to photograph our family.......FOR FREE!!!!! Including a disc with all the pictures! WOW! I was dumbfounded and really struggled with how to accept such a generous gift. Staci was so incredibly gracious, insisting that she wanted to do this for our family and wanting nothing in return. And so, she did. Unfortunately, I have totally fallen off the healthy eating/exercising bandwagon. It started with our vacation and continued with Steve's unemployment as I apparently decided to eat all my stress. Not pretty, but also not the point. Regardless of my growing butt and thighs, Staci took amazing photos and I couldn't be more grateful! This is a gal with a huge heart who definitely practices what she preaches. She is AMAZING! Check out her blog and some of the pics she took of our family here. What a priceless gift.

What to do when money IS an object and "Thank You" just isn't enough?

5 comments:

Sabrina said...

THe photos are precious! What a sweet gift of kindess and beauty!

Staci Landis said...

Julie--I didn't even know you had a blog & I was laughing so hard at the picture of the girls with the undies on their heads! Thanks for making me laugh at your cute little girlies expense! :-)

You are so welcome. Like I said to you before--we have been where you guys are & in the midst of the stress & trying to get through & stay positive--we were so blessed by others who we know God used to bring joy to our very heavy hearts. Sometimes we feel so ashamed to even want something when we have needs to be met...especially when we're uncertain of how to even meet those needs. I love the concept of paying it forward because it truly allows us to give wholeheartedly & unselfishly because we've been given something. Not that we do it because we've gotten something first or because we expect to receive something in return...but we do it because we know how it feels...to give & to receive.

I'm glad that you have a little joy admist some very difficult times. :-) Your family is such a blessing!

Betsy said...

I those are the family photos your dad posted on FB, they're AWESOME! Could a family BE more photogenic?!

Rachel said...

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Guess you're going to changing some framed pictures soon with these!

They are beyond beautiful! And priceless indeed!

gma pam said...

Beautiful family and beautiful pictures...and PS, I always look forward to your posts!