awe, we couldn’t help ourselves. after returning from a wonderful morning with the Neff family, we just had to share this sweet sneak peek of the adorable Laiken. i wanted to keep her all for myself, but mom and dad weren’t having it. more to come in a few weeks.
As parents of a child with Down syndrome (Ds) it captivated us to look into familiar eyes, for our Ds Appreciation Portrait Event, doing our best to capture the true beauty of each person for who they are. After we finished our long but thrilling day, we rushed home to review the photographs. Warmth filled our hearts to see how amazing these special Gifts truly are. It allowed us to reflect on how much one extra chromosome has changed our lives, entirely…for the better!
We have been so privileged to go on this exhilarating roller coaster ride of emotions and self reflections to end-up in a new world almost everyday. What an adventure she has taken us on so far!!! We know that it’s only the beginning and we can’t wait to see how else she will help us evolve in this short life that we live. Only a few are chosen to be a part of this special adventure. We are the LUCKY ones!
We have never seen as much beauty in life and the pureness of a moment until our daughter “rocked our world”. She has opened our eyes and hearts to a whole new existence that is filled with more joy and love which can never be expressed in words or actions to its fullness. FickleZeal was born because of Lana and all her glory. To be honest my favorite subjects are people with Down syndrome. It’s photographing their incredible beauty and going on the journey of awe and wonder with them. Each shoot is new and each person is unique. More than that each one of them brings out an inner part of me that I didn’t know existed. They awaken a better me!
Andre decided to get some video clips with our point and shoot camera just “cause”. And that just “cause” has turned into this lovely behind the scenes tribute to our day and every lovely person we photographed.
Thank you all for coming out and allowing us to capture your beauty! Photographing you gave us such joy and excitement. You are all dear to us!
In honor of World Down Syndrome Day (Mar 21), we wanted to spend time capturing the beauty of people with an additional 21st chromosome. So last weekend we were so excited and LUCKY to spend our day with 12 remarkably unique, gracious and lovely people, our daughter included. I can’t express the joy we had getting to know and photograph each person that came out.
We’ve often said that even though people with Ds may be categorized together because they were born with an extra copy of chromosome 21 in their DNA structure, it does not define them… and this was more than evident throughout our day of shooting.
Here are our FAVS from the day:
Meet Miss A, energetic and spunky! Perfect start of the day.
Meet Mr Josh, caring, strong, and filled with personality.
Meet Miss E, on the go & free spirited.
Meet Miss M, too cool for words.
Meet Mr M, giving & mischievous. great combo!
Meet Miss E, pure sweetness.
Meet Miss C, knows what she wants!
Meet Mr H, cuteness overflows him. It was crazy how much he reminded us of our Lil’ Dez.
Meet Miss K, shy but SO lovable.
Meet Miss J, talk about wit and charm.
Meet Mr M, such a flirt and conversationalist.
Meet our Little Miss Lana, all that and a bag-o-chips!
October is National (America) Down Syndrome Awareness Month. We look forward to hosting another portrait event then, so if anyone is interested please let us know by commenting below.
Yesterday we celebrated World Down Syndrome Day with Lana. We’re so thankful for our daughter and the many MANY blessings we’ve experienced because of her. Since Lana came into our lives we have learned so much about Down syndrome. The most important being that people who happen to have Down syndrome are just that, people first! We hope that Lana’s life and ours with her will bring positive awareness and understanding to the world about life with Down syndrome.
i find myself in this silent hour as dez now sleeps soundly with a full tummy. i’m left here wide awake with my mind going a thousand miles per hour as the snow strangely flickers about in the crisp Keller air.
here is where I find purpose. leaving all the worries of the things that I must do for tomorrow and enjoying the little subtleties of the now. my life has been busy as this blog has laid here untouched. i felt guilt.
the snow reminds me of just how precious the now is. snow in texas will surely melt and be a distant memory. the snow awakens my purpose. and melts away the useless feelings of guilt that plagues me.
it’s ok that i have been consumed with the sweet new little grins, coos, hums, and cries of this little one.
its ok that i have been wrapped up in my children and spending time fostering the new bonds that are shared between them. my 3 beautiful children.
tonight we all guiltlessly lounged snuggly on the sofa watching american idol as i twirled lana’s hair. i got lost in her perfection and somehow forget about the toy that i tripped over to get to my spot of the sofa. I forgot about the mound of papers that is waiting to be accounted for, for taxes. i let go of the worries of the bills that must be paid. and i forgot about that nagging to-do list. as i embraced the now with complete surrender. i studied her laugh. it is loud and fluent.
i realized how she has eagerly matured and taken on her important roll as big sister flawlessly. she tenderly studied her little brother with utter love and attentiveness. and nate studied them… and i caught Andre studying us as i studied them. we all sat on our family sofa and love abounded us.
i guiltlessly love the snow!
We’re feeling the spirit! With October being Down syndrome (Ds) Awareness month I felt lead to create a special to promote the incredible beauty and awareness for the over 350,000 individuals living with Ds, including my daughter Lana.
In honor of Ds Awareness Month we’d love to give back and photograph as many people with Ds as possible, so spread the word! We’re giving away a beautiful 8×8 custom hardcover album ($440 value) with a paid session to the lucky “Spread the Word” winner.
To enter the contest simply blog, tweet, facebook, myspace, email,… you get it, spread the word! Here’s how you get your name entered into the contest for a chance… ahem, many chances to win.
3 chances: contact us right away to reserve your session
1 chance: follow us on twitter @ficklezeal then tweet the following
Win a Custom 8×8 Album from your Down Syndrome Awareness Portrait Session @ficklezeal for details visit www.fzphotography.com/blog
1 chance: become a fan of FickleZeal Photography on Facebook and post some Ds Awareness Portrait Session love
1 chance: leave a comment on my blog with why you’d like to win this beautiful memento with your session
3 chances: email us a sweet photo for us to share on our blog of your loved one(s) with Ds
5 chances: for each referred session that is completed
We’ve had something come up with our little one, Lana, that has taken me away from FickleZeal for a bit… well I hope it’s just for a bit. Please if you pray, pray for Lana, if you think, keep your thoughts on her, if you meditate, please meditate on Lana’s good health. Please all of you keep her in your thoughts and/or prayers. At this time, I don’t wish to share details as my emotions are ALL whacked out. I hope by this time tomorrow I will be able to say false alarm, but if not then our faith will remain in tacked while we get our battle gear on and face what we are intended to face.
If you are client of ours and are waiting on anything from us, I beg your forgiveness and will get to it all once I get my feet on the ground again, hopefully Wednesday!!! If you need something urgently feel free to send an email to me at jenna at ficklezeal.com titled urgent.
A post without a photo would be a shame, so here’s a share of our precious baby girl Lana.
Along, the journey of parenthood we are blessed with many things, but amongst one of the many blessing of being a parent of a child with Down syndrome (Ds) are the deep connections and bonds that we create with other parents of children with Ds. I’m so fortunate to have made wonderful friends in this community, if you will, that I could not live without. One being my friend Kristi. She recently also became the “nanny” of my children for several days a week. WHAT A BLESSING!!! Her children are all adorable, but Matty, OH MATTY has stolen way more than a few pieces of my heart. Seeing him and Lana play together in the mirror or doing wherever, being mischievously CUTE, warms me to the core.
Ok-ok, to the photos!
Meet Matty! Isn’t he just scrumptious!!! & his buddy, ahem, dad Brian.
His adorably-spunky sister Ashlyn!
Kristi (and Ashlyn), my friend and Nate’s “best-friend”, as he says.
Note: Check back in September for part two of this beautiful family, when their oldest son Damian returns from his summer activities.
Kristi- thank you so much for taking care of my kiddos and loving them as your own. I am so thankful for all that you do, but most of all I’m thankful for your friendship!