The 4th of July is upon us. So many of you have been intently watching Abigail’s story progress as she seeks her independence from these Venous Malformations. Some of you have been watching from the “I’m pregnant!” announcement from her mother to “Come meet our beautiful new baby girl!” and the “God, why is this happening to my baby girl?” to the “God is just incredible! I couldn’t have imagined all the pieces He has brought, and is bringing, together to heal my Smiley Bug.” You’ve seen the pictures from her One Year Photo Shoot (and thank you so much for all the Oh’s and Ah’s, they mean so much to me). But what you really want to see now are the photos taken just a couple weeks after her first surgery.
I chose to make this a family shoot because, really, this is not merely Abigail’s story but the story of her whole family. We each traveled to the beautiful SC Botanical Gardens located in Pendelton, SC at Clemson University. Three families (with several young’uns each) converged upon this aromatic, ALL creatures friendly, dreamland like location! Being there was amazing. All of the children wanted nothing more than to wonder off into the woods to explore! Wrangling them all was not the easiest thing in the world and their frustration with not being allowed to pursue their immediate interests made the photo session an interesting one indeed! We met all kinds of creatures as we moved along from one spot to the next. We found frogs, about the size of a dime, in droves. We discovered hatched vulture eggs, woodpeckers, and swarms of bees. There were all kinds of ducks and geese and beautiful fish in the ponds. I saw a chipmunk for the first time! But, for me, the best part was the smell of some parts of the gardens. They took me straight back to my Aunt Barbara’s “Fire Tower” house (some of my fondest memories have this home of her’s at their hub) where she had gardenia’s growing. She is where I learned to love gardenia’s myself, not that it was hard (and learned to love the Clemson Tigers, too). If you are a lover of all things outdoors, plan to visit the Botanical Gardens with your family this summer. Some nearby locations you may want to check out include: The Smokin’ Pig for lunch and, for the fun of it, Palmetto Moonshine.
Despite the shadows cast from the large puffy clouds floating above us, it was a hot day. Not unexpectedly, this led to Abigail tiring fairly quickly. But not before we got her beautiful, smiling face in several photos. So, without further adieu, here are some of the best. Just click on the image below!
