Tuesday, August 13, 2013

God Is In Control {Stout Family}

Hi everyone! I'm going to give you a little peak at my goal this past summer that I only revealed to my VIP clients. I appreciate every one of them and I love to return their gift of investment in this art I create by providing opportunities for them to pass on this gift. On Monday, May 20th, I sent the following email to my VIPs:

Hello, VIP Members! I am so excited to give your friends and family an opportunity to glean from your incredible photographer!

This summer, I have decided to run, not walk, towards God's purpose for my business and to continue to give Him the glory in all that all I do. I have thought about how blessed I am to have clients like you-clients that not only enjoy good portraiture as I do, but have truly invested in me and therefore in my ministry.

I wish you could see everything your investments have yielded. I truly am amazed at it all when I step back and take inventory-the people, pictures, stories, and glory have all been nothing short of inspiring.

In my focus, I am in search for stories. And that begins with you. I am giving every family a chance (or two-one for you and one for your husband or wife) to give someone you are inspired by the gift of forever photography and a chronicle of their story using me. I would like for you to think of someone whose story inspires you and give them this VIP gift certificate. Whether they've overcome odds, are still in turmoil, or need to see a light-it doesn't matter. I want you to take this to them and tell them your photographer wants to meet them. I do. I want to know what has happened. You are my vessel to finding these tremendous people! I don't care what they can pay for, what they look like, or what has happened in their life-I want to meet these heroes. With your help, I would even consider travel. I will allow God to take care of the financial toll this might bring; I'm making an investment in a world beyond this one in this effort. Please help me in this search and THANK YOU for the investment you have already made in me.

Here is a link to the certificate on this email if you'd like to print it out (and you can also forward this email). I will ask anyone who responds who sent it to them and verify it with you! :)

You have 2 WEEKS. GO!!

I was prepared to go monetarily unpaid all vacation long. That is so true. If you knew me or my heart, you would know it was true. I know it's hard to believe, but God has provided for me throughout this venture and I wasn't going to stop believing He would continue to do so. I was prepared for my payment to be in Spirit, and I was excited. God saw what I was prepared to do, and He responded with this amazing story and others I met on my own. Some of the VIP families didn't respond or understand, didn't get back with me or didn't book, but that's ok. It won't stop me from trying and widening my search for more. VIP client Macy McDaniel introduced me to this wonderful family, the Stout's. Thank you, Macy, for pointing me to them. Thank you, Stout family, for being an inspiration to Macy and countless others. My prayer was that I could chronicle your faith story for others to draw hope from and so I could be revived in Spirit as well. I know this is part of my calling! Thank you for being willing to do this! I know this is a long overdue post, but I pray it will give you strength as you go back to work ;)

Here's a guest blog from Shelley, the mother in this beautiful family. I hope her story and this testimony of wanting to see God's fingerprints in families everywhere will inspire you in amazing ways.


Shelley:
After what a person would call a “normal” pregnancy, our pediatrician informed my husband and I that our son, Logan, might have Down syndrome. She said I would not know for sure until the test results came back, which could take up to 6 weeks. I was pretty devastated, not really knowing much about DS at the time. Just feeling like I had done something wrong to cause my beautiful baby boy to not be “typical.” But all my husband kept saying was, “It does not change how we feel about him.”

One week after Logan was born, the pediatrician called us and told us the results had come back and showed us that Logan has Trisomy 21. I, once again, felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest and someone was stomping on it.

After reading a lot of information that first week after Logan’s birth, we were told he needed to get several tests run and go and see a cardiologist. Around 5-6 weeks we had our first appointment.  Our baby looked very healthy to us, eating (what I thought was normal), sleeping a decent amount, etc. At the cardiologist office the doctor did an echocardiogram (which took forever and he never said a word) and then said, “Let me find a room we can talk in.”

He then proceeded to tell us about Logan’s heart condition, a common one among children with Down syndrome, called Complete AV Canal. In layman’s terms, Logan was missing the wall that separates the chambers of the heart. He couldn’t breathe as well as he should have; he does not eat as much, and (normally children with this condition) sleep all the time.

He told us that Logan would have to have open-heart surgery. What!?!?!? Open-heart surgery is scary on the healthiest of middle-aged men, but on my baby. I was scared to death.

The surgery was scheduled for April 30th, which was about a week before he turned 6 months old. The weeks leading up to the surgery were scary for me. I was back at school teaching and I had days when I just couldn’t pull myself together. I would cry on the way to school, I would cry on the home from school.

About two weeks before the surgery, I was listening to KSBJ. There was a song that came on that made me realize that this was all in God’s control. Why was I worrying so much. I finally was able to be at peace with the fact that God would have his angels surrounding my little Logan in that hospital room. Of course this doesn’t mean I stopped crying (I am a big cry baby.) But I was just comforted in knowing that God is in control, He tells us not to worry about anything, the testing of our faith develops perseverance-this is what I learned.

The day of the surgery approached and I had not really slept much that night. I felt nauseous on the way to the hospital. We were able to wait in a room with Logan for about an hour. When the doctors came to get him, it was so hard to hand over my baby boy. Our family surrounded my husband and me that whole day.

We let Logan go with the doctors at 7:30 that morning and he was in ICU ready for us to see him at 3:30 in the afternoon. I knew in my mind what to expect in the NICU, but seeing your baby with so many chords, tubes, and monitors is never something you can be prepared for. I had such a hard time seeing him at first. The staff was extremely patient with me (and my tears).


Logan did really well after surgery. He was out of ICU in two days and into the step down unit. I was able to hold him about 48 hours after the surgery. Day by day we saw his reactions to us, then his smile, and then finally his laugh was back. Logan was eating crazy amounts of formula, compared to before the surgery.


It has been 5 weeks since the surgery and Logan is a new baby. He has gained almost 3 pounds in those 5 weeks, which is amazing for a 7-month-old baby. He brings us so much joy. Now that the surgery is behind us we look forward to each milestone in his life; all the ups and downs with a typical child, but also the joy that a child with Down syndrome can bring to any person’s life. He has changed the way I view other people and those with disabilities or special needs. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this little boy. We are so grateful that God chose us to be Logan’s parents.







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