The Williams Family Christmas Session

Wow.

This girl, Dana! How incredible I truly think she is. She’s been through a lot of life…sometimes its been hard to her and sometimes good. To say I admire her is an understatement…her strength, resilience and love to pursue exactly what God has put in her heart amazes me, daily!

Her husband, Shaun, works a lot of hours…he is gotta be one of the hardest working men I know. I really have no idea how he does it all! This leaves Dana doing and carrying a lot more than other woman. She often pulls a double load of mom and dad, works, runs a business with an incredible vision to help and build strong and healthy relationships, writes phenomenal books and some how manages to keep good friendships rocking. And now that I think about it, she never complains about any of it. Never!!! She smiles and rejoices in the fact that she gets to invest in her children and be a part of the vision of what God put in her heart. Um, help me Lord! And this has to be one thing that I love so much about her. I never hear her complain about her life…ever! It is actually refreshing.

One night, I sat at her house watching her pray for her sweet boys just before bed. I inwardly smiled and I thought wow what an example she is to them. To see her love and guidance for them really touched my heart. I’ve never actually shared with her how this really impacted me. I rarely get those special times with my children because I am often working in the evenings and Jake does a lot of the night time routine, but a night later I decided to take the extra time to pray and speak blessings over my 2 sweet children because I wanted to experience that same thing I saw. It was such a joy to be able to do this.

After this photo-shoot, I watched how her 4 kids stood around her and they all laughed and chatted together. I smiled again at the beauty and strength of this incredible woman. Her kids all felt comfortable with her and bonded with her; I could see that. I knew it was behind closed doors that this was built and inwardly hoped that one day my much older children would find that same safety and bond in me.

I haven’t really known Dana for a very long time, but it has been a joy to be able to know her so far. One of my favorite things is hearing her speak…the wealth and wisdom that comes out of her mouth causes all the good things in me to leap. Her love for healthy relationships inspires me and man can she write a mean fictional book. I mean I was turning all the pages…like really fast! She is incredible…like truly!

I am not necessarily sure how long I will get to be a part of her and this really cool families lives, but I trust God that He knows what He is doing in all things.

So Dana, thank you for allowing me to know you this far. Thank you for the beauty and strength that you shine forth and the incredible example you set for so many. Thank you for all the good things that you remind me of and as of recent to love when I don’t want to. That’s the good love, right?!

Thank you for allowing me to take these photos of you and your very special family. This day will always me remind of so many things. <3 Praying this family will continue to grow in such a tight bond and love for each other and that God would continue to bless all that they put their hands to. <3