Giving Back :: Joni & Friends Family Retreat 2009

This will definitely be my longest blog/image post e-v-e-r....this past week I spent three amazing days at the Joni & Friends Family Retreat at Spruce Lake Retreat in the Poconos trying to capture the spirit of this event in images. This retreat is a week-long, jam-packed amazingly fun vacation for families with special needs members. Volunteers, a.k.a. short term missionaries, are matched with a family member affected by a disability and spend the week helping them with activities and creating a friendship that often lasts many years. Parents and siblings also have special activities, meetings and worship times. This year the retreat theme was "Down on the Farm" and along with the popular annual events, like the talent show and water slide, there were wagon rides, a country fair, a hoedown and other farm related activities.

Some things are difficult to describe, and 'Joni Camp', as it is affectionately known, is really impossible to describe properly so about the best way to say it is "you just have to be there to understand." But knowing that many people will never get the chance to attend Joni Camp, the best way I can think to explain it is this: once you are there, you experience this other-worldly, overwhelming sense of peace, comraderie, patience, love and kindness that makes you forget about the rest of the world (and all its issues) and just relish in the fun activities and events planned by the Joni Camp staff, enjoy the wonderful food and simply spend time getting to know people. I was able to take our youngest and oldest kids with me, and was informed by the elder that we simply MUST attend the entire week next year, because this was the best vacation of her entire 10-year-old life!

So that is my text portion of this post~ now onto the images! Due to the passing thunderstorms last week, many of the events were moved indoors, so I was definitely feeling challenged in learning my equipment quickly in different settings and poor lighting conditions. I was pleased with how the images came out despite very little post-processing and came away with some images I will cherish because of the wonderful personalities that I can connect with them. I will post more images on the Circle of Life Photography page on Facebook since this series on the blog just barely touches the surface of what all goes on over the course of several days at camp. Please feel free to post a comment on what you think, or if you have been to Joni Camp, add a note about your experience to share with others just how special this time really is~ thanks!

The day starts off with some relay games for the teens


The water slide is always a huge hit...sometimes literally






Professional services, such as hair cuts, massages and painting nails are provided, and appreciated










Painting pots and planting herbs


Getting her turn on the "power swing"~ very popular with the young adults along with a rock climbing wall

Everyone looks forward to talent show night






Special friends






Adult morning worship


Doing the marshmallow prep for a mass making of s'mores...yummm

Children's Portrait Session :: A+DORABLE

Last evening my good friend Jen and her almost 3-1/2 year old daughter joined me to scout out a new location and little did we know we'd end up on a hike in the process. I have been excited about photographing this little munchkin for many months for a number of reasons as she is a very special little girl to our family~ she happens to be Goddaughter to me and my husband. She loves dressing up in princess costumes (and has quite a collection, as every princess should!) but we decided to add the fairie wings for some fun images. I don't think I am being biased in thinking she is absolutely gorgeous and thank goodness her mom has the same curly hair, so she will know what to with it when she gets older! I hope you enjoy these pics of this little one who brings joy and laughter to so many people in her life.

Newborn Portrait Session :: Pure & Beloved

This month has been just chock full of birthday celebrations, day trips, baseball games...the only thing missing are days of swimming, because lately the cold and rain have put a damper on that! A very special birthday celebration happened just seven days ago, when this cute little bundle arrived into the world. She is a darling little thing, with hardly a complaint or whimper except when it's time to eat...then she'll be heard loud and clear! Sweet baby K is the daughter of Matt & Kristy, and cousin to another baby I photographed in January: see Sugar & Spice. Our family is overjoyed with the arrival of these little ones and their older girl cousins are even more delighted to have some new playmates. I found myself getting a bit sentimental today, hardly believing that it has already been 10 years since the birth of our oldest daughter and reminiscing what it was like to be a brand new family as I watched Kristy & Matt just be in awe of their baby girl. Here are a few of my favorites from today~ thankfully the sunshine started peeking through the clouds near the end of our session, giving us just the right lighting for these special family portraits.

Extended Family Portraits :: The Bordner's

Yesterday turned out to be a much-needed gorgeous day after the many days of rain that left most of us feeling like we just stepped off the ark. But, what wonderful green color everywhere as a result! I met the Bordners at Nissley Winery near Elizabethtown for an extended family portrait session that was organized by granddaughter, Tara. At Christmas this past year the family had decided that the last family portrait had been taken nearly 18 years ago, so it was time for an update! We enjoyed walking around the lovely grounds and I had fun getting to know this wonderful family a bit better as we also took time for some mini portrait sessions with individual families. They were very forgiving with me mixing up names (and occasionally children) and were quick to joke and sometimes tease one another, all in good fun. When we were finished they all headed back to Elizabethtown for a picnic. There are more pics than usual in this post~ it was hard to narrow down; a few are from the main session and then some of my favorites from the mini sessions. Enjoy!

Bits of Life :: The McGough Kids

This past weekend my husband and I took our annual trek out to Pittsburgh to visit with our friends, Rich & Tricia and their three children, who happen to be the same ages as our three kids (each within a few weeks or months of one another.) This tradition got started four years ago when we attended our youngest son's adoption agency reunion, held at the Pittsburgh zoo each year, and now it has become our family's favorite weekend of the entire year. The McGough kids are anxiously waiting by the curb and the van is barely in park before the Weidler kids tumble out, everyone gives hugs and tears up the stairs of the McGough's lovely home. Normally they all disappear and we hardly hear from them for the evening, giving us a chance to catch up on the past year, but this year they were LOUD and had some wild game going on that had them whooping and hollering all around the house. Needless to say, we parents still got to catch up over dinner and had a fabulous time together. This year we also got to meet their newest family member, Goliath, who at four months old weighs in at more than 50 lbs.(!) He is as sweet as a lamb, but thankfully with a lot less energy. Here are a few pics of the kids from a mini session we did at their nearby church grounds and the last one, of course, with Goliath- while they can still hold him. Enjoy!

And this post wouldn't be complete without a pic of the whole, crazy crew,
who amazingly will do just about anything for 30 seconds if it involves the promise of a lollipop:

Family Portrait Session :: Sisters Make The Best Friends

Getting amazing images of these girls was the easy part~ trying to make arrangements between their school, sports, work schedules and social lives to make it happen has been many months in the making! So today we headed to Lancaster and were blessed with some amazing mid-morning light on this perfect spring day. These two belong to a family that is very special to me and they have such an awesome relationship it makes me kind of wish I had a sister too (even though being the only girl does have its perks!) Liz has a natural talent with a camera, and plans to add photography classes to her social work courses in college this fall~ it has been fun for us to talk photography. Meghan just finished up the soccer season is headed away this summer on her second international missions trip before starting her senior year in high school. It was wonderfully fun hanging out with them today~ hmmm maybe it helped that they are both gorgeous and needed very little direction? ~ but in any case they certainly turned my work into play and I hope you enjoy these images as much as I have!