The Little Miracles

Have you ever heard of the Marian apparitions in Garabandal Spain? My mom had a devotion to Garabandal when I was growing up and passed that on to my siblings and I. When I was 20 I went to Spain on a pilgrimage and ended up staying there for a while discerning my vocation with a religious order that has a devotion to Garabandal and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

When the Blessed Mother appeared to the girls in Garabandal she made a point of expressing that God cares about everything in the girls and villagers lives- even their cows! That has always stood out in my mind as just how concerned God is with the details in our lives. As we read in Luke 12:7 (Douay-Rheims), "Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows."

I am always amazed at how God answers the silly request I hold in my heart. He gives me find a parking spot when the entire lot is full and I'm too tired to walk, He blesses me with a call from a friend when I need to hear a loved one's voice and He gives me gifts I know I don't really deserve.

Since before I was pregnant I've looked at pictures online of maternity photo shoots and thought that someday it would be special to have beautiful pictures as a reminder of how amazing it is that God has allowed me to be blessed with the gift of carrying a child- a child I wasn't even sure I'd ever have!

Professional pictures are far from necessary, but I love photography and couldn't help but want to have some nice pictures. I have a brother-in-law, cousin and two uncles who are all photographers, but they all live so far away that it is impossible to have any of them take pictures for us. There was also no way we could afford to have pictures done by a local photographer. But, as I said, God knows the desires of our heart and, sometimes, He allows us to be a little spoiled.

One night I was having really bad heartburn, so I tried to distract myself by looking up baby things on craigslist (I recently freaked out realizing that I'm much less prepared for this baby's arrival than I thought I was!) and I noticed a posting for FREE maternity and newborn packages!!! A young, local photographer was trying to build her portfolio and was offering the first three people to respond to her posting a free maternity photo shoot and, once baby arrived, a free newborn shoot with discs and copyrights (to be able to print at Wal-Mart) of the pictures! My late night heartburn payed off because she emailed me the next day to tell me I had been one of the first to respond!

Last Saturday she drove out to camp and took pictures of Paul, Lil' Man and I around camp. Yesterday we received a package with two discs of pictures. I was so excited to see that the pictures had turned out even better than I had hoped they would.

 Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Isn't God good??? No request is ever too small for Him! I didn't even pray for the pictures, but like a loving spouse God already knew. 

Enjoy a blessed Sunday, friends!