Our Family Portrait Frame
I have sweet memories of pulling my frame off the mantle, taking out all the photos and making a little timeline of me! I used to sit staring and comparing photos, noticing how from second to third grade my baby hairs around my forehead were at an all time high. I cringed at how much black eyeliner I wore in sixth grade and was amazed how my hair got a little darker each and every year (because growing up).
You see my mom would always get an eight by ten photo of my school portraits every year and put in this special frame. It lived on our mantle and had dozens of portraits stacked behind the one that was seen through the glass. Sometimes when I was feeling sentimental (which was probably more than most people), I would pull it off the mantle, take out all the photos and put them in order.
As I’m typing this, my special frame still lives at my mom’s house but now has a wedding portrait of Jacob and I in plain sight. And what you can’t see right away is the fact that behind that wedding portrait is my second grade photo with blue butterfly clips holding back my hair. And if you dig a little further, you’d see that sepia toned baby portrait of me in a white and pink dress with all the ruffles.
Before that wedding portrait was taken and we were planning our wedding, I bought a beautiful, gold ornate frame to showcase my bridal portrait at our wedding. When our wedding was over and marriage began, that gold frame made a permanent home in our living room. As Jacob and I began life together as husband and wife, I started to call that gold ornate frame our special family portrait frame.
It’s not sitting on the mantle, but I have dreams that maybe one day it will. It hangs on the wall in our living room to remind me of how important the family God gave me is. If you came over right now, you would spot it immediately. It’s hard to miss. You’d see a photo of Jacob and I in front of the beautiful Guadalupe river. You’d see us hugging one another with two genuine smiles on our faces - Jacob in a light brown sweater and me in a blue and green Noonday Collection scarf. You’d see my family. And that is a gift.
What you wouldn’t see is the many sixteen by twenty photos under that memory. You wouldn’t see my bridal portrait showcased at my wedding. My favorite of our engagement portraits where you get a glimpse of how much we laugh together. You wouldn’t see our favorite wedding photo with a black umbrella shielding us from the sprinkles.
I’m so thankful for what our family portrait frame stands for. I’m thankful that to show gratitude for the life the Lord has given us, I can take it down, take out all the photos and reminisce about how good God is. I have a sweet dream that one day one of our children (Lord willing) will also feel a little sentimental one day and grab their special portrait frame off the mantle. That they would line up their photos in a little timeline - starting as a newborn and then growing up. I pray that they would see God’s goodness, His love for us and how He has created them uniquely in His image. Ultimately my prayer is that as we look at our special family portrait frame, we would remember God’s goodness and His promise…
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
As excited as I feel for what photo might be in our frame ten, twenty, thirty years from now, I pray that we are mostly reminded that God has already done more than we could ever ask or imagine.
Photo Cred:
Bridal and Engagement Portraits by Allay Photography
Wedding Portraits by Kendall Hanna
December 2017 Portrait by my sweet sister in law, Erin
