let me explain this picture...

We have have so many events this season at City Mission.

To name a few...

-tutoring Christmas party

-mentoring Christmas party

-holiday sponsorships

-Ward Christmas appreciation lunch

-family Christmas pictures

-college basketball game

-Urban Arts Christmas fundraiser show

-CMA Christmas party

-Santa Claus picture field trip

-staff Christmas party

-Cooking with Miss J.

-fabulous feast

-CHRISTMAS DELIVERY

-and probably some other red and green celebration...it seems so never ending (just imagine the state of my house, and contents of my fridge considering the last few weeks- not my best showing!)

So amidst this all we are trying to teach the children the importance of Christmas- the truth of the greatest gift of all and why the glitz and glamour exists in the first place. Sometimes, I think we often forget ourselves.

But in the middle of all this hustle and bustle we had the most beauitful of events on Saturday. It was the first time we've ever done this and to be honest I thought to myself wow, just another Saturday event (like the past 6.5 million Saturdays). But, once it got going and families started rolling in I saw the beauty of family and how closely so many of these people feel like my family.

There was an event called HelpPortrait held all over the world on December 12th. Jeremy Coward (i think), a Nashville photographer put out a call to all photographers to do just that- help those in that woudln't normally have family Christas pictures taken. So there was two professional photographers that took family and sibling pictures. Then two professional editors put them on the computer and families got to pick out the pictures they wanted and edit them to their liking- shave off a few pounds (jk...kinda), fix all those dang shirt collars- it was so cool. Many of these families had never done this before and the joy and excitement of doing something new- even from an adult was so fun to be a part of. And, to see these precious families together and recognizing and experiencing this true gift was great. Not to mention these are some of the best looking families EVER. These professional gave something so simple in their eyes that was huge to our families. All ABSOLUTELY FREE. They even got to order prints for FREE. How cool, so very cool. Another Saturday event that I thought would be just another Saturday event that turned out to be a fabulous time to celebrate such deserving people.

This is them editing with Mr. Chris- he was so awesome...so patient...and so did this the ENTIRE DAY.

Just four more days with four more events and then i'll be on a plane straight home (in time for Joy's birthday celebration, I am so lucky)