Too Many Words. WAY Too Many Pictures.

 

When Millie graduated, I spent literally ten minutes snapping a few hasty shots of her in our backyard so that we would have something to fill the frames on the table.  I told her I would take proper senior pictures of her another time, and she told me not to bother.

Annika, on the other hand, started talking about her senior pictures a full year ahead of time, and I knew I wasn't going to get away with a measly ten minutes. Even with fair warning, it was excruciating to fit her pictures in. We had the busiest summer I think we've ever had as a family, it rained constantly, and the girls got jobs in August the same week that we'd made plans to take her pictures. On top of that, my broken camera kept getting crankier, first needed to be manually focused, and then freezing right in the middle of any attempt to take pictures. I started shooting exclusively with manual focus, and half the time the shutter still refused to close when I tried to take pictures.

All this to say, the Lord was good to us. Like a father giving a lollipop to a child who doesn't need one but who still longs for one, He gave Annika a slew of lovely pictures to mark her transition out of formal education. Looking back from here, far removed from the bustle of last summer, these pictures are so special, serving as a stone to mark the end of one thing and the beginning of another.  Annika has gone through a lot in the last couple of years as she's grown and matured, and we are proud of who she is and grateful that God continues to grow her in good ways. 

*P.s. I've told Millie (nay, demanded!) that I'm going to take pictures of her now.  She's not as enthusiastic as Annika was, for some reason. ;)