we are family

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jeffs sister: summer, our brother in law: jason, and our neices and nephew: kailey, sammy, and doug. summer turned thirty this year (shhhhh) and her present from me was a family shoot at the beach. i loved doing this for them-they have always been so supportive of me and have my images hung up all over their home. ive been able to do mini shoots of the kids at least once a year, but never have we gotten everyone together for a family session.

we love getting together with summer and jason because jason likes to fix things around our house and summer likes to cook for us. (we need to live on a compound together-i will be the family photographer/DJ, summer will cook, jason will fix and build things, and we will make jeff take care of all the kids and make all the money) but thats not the only reason we love them. (just a big one-summer is a really, really amazing cook) i love them most because i feel such a connection with them. and those kids. and we laugh a LOT when we are together.

so needless to say, this was a fun one.

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summer is saying “is THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HAPPEN?!” and im laughing my ass off, my dry ass, and saying “YES!”
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thank you

thank you for writing such lovely comments to my post about my kenners.
the kindness of strangers continues to amaze me-random people all over that have so much kindness in their hearts-enough to share with me.

so thank you.

her

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we’ve had a rough summer with this one.
its hormones or its something else, but whatever it is we need help.
she is mostly unhappy, whiney, and cantankerous. cantankerous is actually the most perfect word for her this summer.

cantankerous.

so we are going to see a neurologist, which we should have done 2 years ago, but other stuff came up and it was put on the back burner. (her burn injury and physical healing that was more important) i am hoping to learn more about what makes her brain work the way it does. we have no diagnosis for her, only the symptom of mental retardation. and that has been okay for a long time. but im wondering if there is more information out there for us now. seven years later.

if there is, awesome. bring it. something to fill the questions in my head. questions i dont let myself dwell on very often. just sometimes…ill see an 11 year old girl. and realize that this pre-teen gangly thing could have been my daughter. and it makes my heart ache. its the most empty feeling. we will never know her like most people know their children. most of her mind is locked up somewhere high on a shelf in a closet in the back room of her head. someplace we cant get to.

if there isnt a new answer, we will be okay. nothing will have changed. and as they are, things are pretty good. right where they need to be.