I love pictures.
I love to capture life’s little split-second moments that leave my mind so quickly.
I need evidence on days that are tough that they aren’t always that way.
I need reminders of where we were and hope for where we are going.
So, yesterday I charged the camera.
And started taking pictures…I did some practice while Adam and Asher were getting clean…
Adam looked more like a bubble-monster in one of them.
Then I started looking at the pictures I never deleted.
And I found this one…
This is a picture I took of the kids before we adopted our two teeny boys.
Before we knew Auggie was not available.
This was when we were getting one new boy.
This picture shows only one tuxedo shirt meant for Auggie…
This empty shirt was a place holder for our boy that wasn’t home yet.
What makes me smile is that in my paperwork-induced stupor, while preparing for Auggie…
I accidentally ordered TWO of these tuxedo shirts.
I was feeling inspired.
And sentimental.
So we did this:
It seemed like everyone was in a quasi-acceptable-for-pictures mood…
And the teeny boys had handled tuxedo pictures rather well.
So I told ALL the kids to get their “family” shirts on and we would try and get pictures of everyone.
Let’s just say it went downhill from there.
I wanted to get a picture of the teeny boys being held like potato sacks by TC…
Adam was not amused.
Asher was.
Sigh.
So then we decided to try and get the biggest boys and the smallest boys…
Asher (who is not affectionate) for some reason, for the first time ever, was determined to give Adam a hug…while on Judsen’s shoulders.
Adam, who wants to hug everyone all the time, did NOT want to be hugged.
That didn’t work so well either…and the teeny boys were getting annoyed, so we gave them a break and moved on to the middle boys…Joseph and Corban.
Now, keep in mind, Joseph and Corban are silly boys.
So silly, in fact, that I could not get a normal face out of either of them.
Not. ONE. Not one single one.
So…moving on…to the girls.
Who are just so obedient.
I tried to sneak in a couple of shots of Adam wearing a hat while the bigger kids were getting set up for our next round of pictures…He was not interested.
I quickly gave that idea up.
Now to attempt a picture with everyone in it…
Please be advised that my standards have dropped.
When Judsen was our one and only, I took him to a place and paid a photographer to make funny faces and take perfect pictures of my clean child with ironed clothes and slicked-back hair.
How times have changed.
Here is the craziness that followed…
Not pretty pictures…but we are getting there.
I could feel it in my bones.
Good kid picture…here we come.
And then Asher barfed on TC’s head.
Poor TC.
And everyone laughed.
Even TC.
And lucky for all of us, TC is not a sympathetic barfer.
Nigel cleaned them up…
And my hope for a non-barfy, slightly-clean picture with everyone looking in the same direction died.
Right there.
I gave up.
And got a little cranky.
Why can’t these silly kids just look in one direction (of MY choosing), with eyeballs OPEN,
and not puke on your brother’s head.
I just put the camera away.
Get some perspective.
This morning, the kids went and pulled out the camera and started looking at the pictures…and all I heard was “Ohhh, I looove this one!” and “This one is so funny!” followed by hysterical laughter.
And that’s when I realized, I have trouble with perspective.
I am a perfectionist. I am Type A. In the extreme.
I wanted perfect pictures.
With 8 children.
Feel free to laugh.
My kids’ picture comments reminded me that I might have been wrong.
Maybe.
Because what was captured on camera yesterday was not just wild children looking in the wrong direction and puking on one another…
It was silly.
Or maybe just completely ridiculous.
It was sweet.
It wasn’t perfect…it was better.
It was real.
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the sometimes 8 irons 
Love this so much! You are inspiring me to pull out my camerea and get some shots around here.
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You are a very courageous woman and your family is beautiful!
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You are a very courageous woman and you family is beautiful!
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