by Marsupial

Created on: October 29, 2008

The last time we got dressed up and submitted ourselves to be bent up like pretzels, the portrait included Mom, Dad, my sister, her husband, their son, my other sister, her daughter, my husband and me. We did not have children yet. And it's true: my husband barely made it through the sitting the way they had him kneeling and leaning behind us. Now that we've got our little family completed, I've been wanting to get a portrait taken in time for Christmas... but just us this time, the Yarbroughs. We usually just do it ourselves and they turn out pretty nice, but a professional photo is, well, professional. If it weren't for the scheduled Church photo directory shoot today, we may not have done it in a timely manner. And our church hasn't done a photo directory in 8 years!

I have been really excited about this day ever since I signed us up. I've had clothes laid out, thought about hair lengths on the boys and everything seemed just right. The only determining factor would be whether Cody would take his morning nap on cue as he does every single day. He had a pretty big window of time, too, since he got up at 7am; if I put him down anywhere between 9 and 10, he could sleep at least an hour. So, he got tired and I attempted to put him down around 10:15. Well, let's just say Satan knew what buttons of mine to push and he had me going pretty good for a while. Cody did not nap even after I prayed he would, and Satan was just dying to get me to believe that God had not heard my prayer nor did He care one way or the other about my little life. He's got bigger things to do after all. I refused to believe that, but it was tempting. Why did He want this day to turn out like this then?

My husband graciously held Cody (tired and irritated as babies get) while I got dressed and attempted to calm myself down behind the locked door of the bathroom (one of the sane places left in the house). I emerged, got the boys dressed and we headed off in our separate cars to church since Chad would have to leave for work shortly afterward. The timing of it all was very delicate and I was so certain I had it under control. Control was exactly the thing I needed to give up. And I hate giving that up.

When we arrived, there were two families to go before our turn. I had no idea how Cody would make it 5 hours awake and not have deep circles under his eyes for the photo. He gets that after me. I did not want him to have bloodshot eyes in the photo, staring straight ahead (since babies rarely smile on cue either). While we waited, Cody played with a toy an d I finally gave him a bottle. Those around us noticed his eyes starting to droop. He fell asleep... into a deep enough sleep that we were able to get our photo taken relatively quickly and it turned out really nice! So, that's what God had in mind. He does care (I refuse to believe otherwise) but it is so hard for me to understand sometimes why I can't have everything just the way I want it. Cody looks like a little cherub in his button-down banker-style shirt asleep in my arms and Nicholas said "cheese!" very plainly each time. That's us, the Yarbroughs. And if I hadn't been at least a little frazzled for the directory photo, no one would've recognized me right? Thank God for my loving, patient, helpful and understanding husband!

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