Amy and I have talked numerous times about where our friendship started, and how, but to describe how it has grown and developed and gone to great depths would probably take forever to write, and I would be a blubbering mess by the end. What I do know is that in the last two years, my friendship with Amy has become something I will treasure forever. She has been an emotional rock, a cheerleader, a supporter and encourager. She has prayed with me, cried with me, shared dreams and goals and plans, challenges and struggles (and just a glass or two of wine).
Along the way, I got to know Jeff too….for the thoughtful, caring considerate man he is. Together, they just make perfect sense. They really do. They compliment each other in the way you WANT to see in a relationship. They love each other deeply, and watching their relationship unfold has been nothing short of a miracle.
And enter the OTHER miracle…..their son….who will join this already beautiful family soon.
But I need to back up first. When Amy and I were in Mexico this summer, basking in the sun, (having left the guys behind), we started a plan to take an epic trip together – all four of us. We decided that Europe would be great, and since I have family in the Netherlands and it is somewhere she’s always wanted to go….and it was close to Beergium, I mean Belgium, it was the perfect trip to plan! Little did we know that when we started that conversation, we would be going not just with our husbands….but with our future children! The conversations about where we would go on a beer tour turned into conversations about a maternity session in the Netherlands, where Amy’s family is originally from – the Island of Texel, in the North Sea.
Since it would be an entire day trip, and we lost a few days of travel, we kept when we were going flexible, so that we would have the best weather available to be able to do a session in Texel.
Yeah, about those plans.
When we got in to DenBurg, we had time to walk around and visit a few shops and check out the beautiful wool products that are native to Texel, and had a lovely lunch. After lunch, we stepped outside. To rain.
Cold, grey rain.
Still, we had a mission. Maternity photos WOULD take place in the land where Amy’s family was from. They would. So we hopped a bus and went to DeKoog, which is on the western edge of the island, with lovely beaches that extend for what seems like endless miles. With the rain coming down and the cool wind blowing, we managed to hold a mini-maternity session before we had to go find a big mug of lovely Dutch hot chocolate to warm our insides.
The weather may not have worked for us, so we improvised – we threw in a few pictures here and there in Belgium, and we made the most of it. Because it was a little like life. Things don’t always go according to our plans…or on our timelines.
Love blooms when and where we don’t expect it.
Babies change our schedules, our life plans, and mostly….our hearts.
For two people whose hearts were already a treasure, being with them through this journey into parenthood has meant we’ve seen big hearts become bigger. Amy & Jeff, thank you not just for allowing us the pleasure of doing maternity photos in a magical place….but for being our friends…and for being on this “peach & peachlet” journey together.
We love you. All three of you.
