{family&children}{newborn} praise

The Salvation Army Bethesda Centre of London Ontario provides accommodation, counseling and support to teenage girls during their pregnancy and after the birth of their babies.  The young mothers live in a supportive and positive environment where they are able to continue their education while also learning how to care for and nurture their babies*. It's a wonderful organization with a loving mission and it was a blessing to be able to photograph the girls who call it home.
This shoot had so much meaning for me.  First of all, two of my 'besties' were there with me. Jenica and Rachel organised the girls, helped get the babies to smile and let me boss them around a bit!  I'm so glad they both asked me if they could be a part of this, because they made my job so much easier and the day that much sweeter. 

The weather was also a huge factor. The session was scheduled for August 24th, a night a Tornado Watch was active in Southwestern Ontario.  I hummed and hawed all day, trying to decide whether to cancel the shoot or not. I so didn't want to, especially because most of the day was sunny and warm, and I was really looking forward to it.  Finally I made the call to go ahead, and I'm so glad I did;  when I called I was told that the girls had already started getting ready, deciding which outfits they and their children should wear, getting excited and pumping each other up!

As we entered the centre and looked around for our setup location, the clouds started to roll in.  I'll admit it, I started to panic! Haha, another good reason to have your closest friends come to shoots with you!  They kept me calm and we all swung into gear quickly.  That's when the song "Praise You in The Storm" started in my head.

The girls were ready (a miracle in itself!), all the babies were co-operative and happy right on cue (if you've ever tried to photograph even one baby, you know this is RARE and magical!) and we managed to get the very last photo done just as it started spitting and the clouds became too dark to continue.  We shared drinks at Starbucks and made it home minutes before the big storm hit!

Looking through the photos again , I know that God let me be part of something special.  The girls were so sweet and it felt good to be able to give them a professional photo shoot of them and their adorable babies.   This time goes so quickly and these babies are so precious.  I hope the photos are something that the girls and their children can look back on, and cherish for years to come.

Enjoy the preview girls!  And thanks again for trusting me with these moments!

*wording taken from the Bethesda Centre website: http://www.bethesdacentre.ca/home