Austin's Family, Newborn, Baby, and Children Photographer | Magan's Lens » Austin's Family, Newborn, and Children Photographer

Why, hello blog followers! Hello to 2011!  I apologize for being away a bit from the blog, but lots of things have been happening around here. The end of the year is always the craziest time of year. Weddings are happening because we actually have cooler weather, and TONS of family sessions take place for the holidays. It’s the time of year that I disconnect from my personal life and really try to focus hard core on my clients. Needless to say, after I wrapped up the 2010 shooting season, it was crunch time for finishing our Christmas shopping. We were out of town at lots of family Christmases with our parents and grandparents. This year was wonderful! We were able to spend a little over a week – giving everyone a fair bit of time as we traveled around – with the people we love most.

However, as soon as we got home panic set in as we realized we had a WEEK to pack up our apartment and move.  The closing process was chaotic and many things happened in the eleventh hour, but on the 30th, we closed on our house. We moved beginning bright and early on the 31st.  I’m pretty sure we fell asleep before midnight even hit because exhaustion completely set in. The last ten days have been full of appointments to get things set up and running here in the new house. I’ve been trying to unpack, but I look at the boxes with disgust as I can’t help but think, “I just packed that.  Ugh, I don’t want to unpack it.”  I’m taking a slow approach to unpacking because I’d like to purge things from our life that we need to quit hoarding.

Anyway, here I am. Back and excited about 2011. Ready to share some of the sessions with you I’ve secretly gotten to smile over, but have anxiously been wanting to show you.

First up – the Flippen Family.   Read their adoption story at the end of the post.

Sometimes… this is how sessions start. Accidents happen.

Almost simultaneously, this was happening right behind where we were standing. A leaf fight broke out with Daddy.

Jessica and Christopher were such great older siblings – they jumped right in the middle of the leaf fight to play along. Anything for a great photo, right?

And then we had another quiet moment. Someone {Joshua} got shy again…

But I quickly got that gorgeous little smile back with Daddy’s help. He’s the KING of getting the best smiles and giggles.

My favorite family photo of the day is a little atypical – not everyone is perfectly smiling at the camera or even looking my way. I think this speaks much more to the dynamic of their family than the others do. This is who they are.

I thought the older siblings and Mom and Dad could use a little quality time in front of the camera too.

All their silly came out during a skittle break. I mean, I’d smile big for a skittle too.

Let’s take a moment to swoon over these awesome eyes…

Heather {aka: Mommy} contacted me about an adoption session. She found me via the talented photographer Sarah Giles in College Station and inquired about the adoption sessions. Joshua and Josiah were adopted by the Flippens from Ethiopia. When Heather had to send Christopher to school, she began to think about no longer having babies in their home. The idea of adopting was brought up, but the timing was not right for their family. Heather began praying that if this was something that they were called to do, they would know without a doubt. Several things happened over the next few years that really opened their eyes – and hearts – to adoption. They unknowingly downloaded podcasts that discussed adoption in great detail. The only station they were able to pick up on the radio during a long drive had a week long adoption awareness special. They were introduced to children that had been put through terrible circumstances in previous adoptions.  Over the course of many years, they learned more and began the process to adopt. Heather hand wrote on their application that they were open to sibling groups. They were given the opportunity to adopt twin brothers, Joshua and Josiah, from Ethiopia.  The boys are now three and a half years old.