STACY!
I received numerous nominations of well deserving families fo my Christmas "Gift of Giving" ...and I wish I could post them all for you to read (it's so nice to know there is still so much goodness going on in the world)...but this particular one stuck in my head immediately! Since I still work in the medical community, I understand how difficult it is to take care of disabled children...on top of all of the other duties there are in life. This woman, Stacy, exemplifies the meaning of being a 'woman', a 'mother', a 'friend' and a true 'humanitarian'. I am honored to provide her and her family with a free photo session...and to give back to someone who is so giving!
Here is Stacy's story...graciously nominated by Laura...thank you Laura!
I am an adoption social worker for the state and have seen many remarkable people over the past 12 years but woman bring tears to my eyes every time I think of how much she does for our community. She is a woman that puts most of us to shame. She is a stay at home mother and her husband works two jobs (so that she can afford to be home full-time to care for their disabled children). If memory serves me right, they have one birth child, three adopted children, and one current foster child. I was the social worker who facilitated the latest adoption. That child was has an older birth sibling that they had previously adopted. When the birth mother was pregnant with the second child, she contacted this family and asked them to adopt the new baby, which they said yes. They participated in prenatal appointments as well as the birth for the baby. They have been caring for that little boy since. That little boy, now two years old and is disabled with an unknown diagnosis. She takes him to Children’s hospital several times per month for more and more testing, each time for something worse. In the midst of the testing, she decided to help out the 3 Day walk (see below string of emails). The day before the 3 Day walk, I called and said I needed to come by her home for a last minute visit, which she said no problem. She failed to mention that she was attempting to make thousands of cookies for the 3 Day walk. While I was there, she was caring for about five children, one with the flu, and had a steady stream of visitors dropping of cookies by the masses. The little boy I worked with was adopted the beginning of October and that is where my time with the family ended; however, I think of them often. The mother also volunteers helping out other foster parents, does foster care recruitment, volunteers for her church, and much, much, more. I wish I had a fraction of her energy. She is the most thankful person for the smallest things. It would be great to see her get something back in return.
I look forward to meeting you Stacy and God Bless you!
Merry Christmas!
Josh was pure joy, and so free with the camera! I love his eyes and his generous heart that you can see in them! Watch out ladies...better yet, watch out Mom and Dad!
These two were so playful and I just loved the interaction between them.
Cute tootsies!
How sweet...I can just imagine this same image at Rachel's wedding day!
Both of them love to read...Rachel is into the Vampire series.
Josh is into an eclectic group of books. Not only is Josh super intelligent, he can recite all 50 states in under 20 seconds!
Rachel's reading corner, and her fun, pink and girly bedroom. She loves Josh, Miley and...
...she really loves Patrick!
One of my personal favorites of the bunch!
Awww...I mean, he's just so sweet!
I got a fun series of shots with Josh's favorite hat...but I love this one.
Josh brought out some of his favorite things...including this cool dragon.
With the first major Colorado snow storm, we had to go outside to take some 'wintery' photos...and when there's snow...there's snowballs! Watch out!
Brotherly and sisterly love
We didn't have the frosting part down until later in the evening...hence the mess.
But, we finally got it down to make it look somewhat of a house.
Avery, the littlest Dyer, was such a joy to be around and I absolutely fell in love with her personality. I captured so many aspects of it...and here are a few: 
independent
curious
playful (I feel like she's about to start singing Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks)
Daring
Inquisitive: I love this photo...it's so fun, playful and of course, shows that mom and dad are still in love. What a better gift than that to give your child?
Happy
Giggly
Quiet and peaceful
Snuggly and shy
Gracious
Outgoing
The fall colors were amazing...and with so much to do, the photographing was endless. A huge 12 acre corn maze (in the shape of WA State)...
...the pumpkin patch...with lots of lil punkins...check out this cutie!
Activities of all sorts...playing in the sand, fishing ponds, streams to pan for gold in...
and the FOOD...oh, the food! Hot cinnamon buns, carmel apples, spiced cider donuts, kettle corn, BBQ sandwiches, corn on the cob...making me salivate thinking about it!
This kiddo clearly had everything I just mentioned...his sticky little face just cracks me up.
The petting zoo and animal shows were a huge hit with the kiddos. 
Love the little piglet tails. These guys did a fun '3 little pigs and the big bad wolf' skit.
This miniture pony could have fit in my back pocket...and had I not looked suspicious with a pony in my pocket...I would have taken him home!
One of the major hits with the kiddos were the jumping hay barn...literally piled with lose hay and bails piled around the edges so the kids could JUMP off the bails and land softly. It was a great place for some family photos too.
Someone's got a monkey on his back.
This family was a blast...you have to check out all their photos in the gallery...such fun!
I want to thank Carol, Beth and Ben Krause (the owners of 
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