The Real Life :: Family in Uganda

When we traveled to Uganda, I didn’t really know what to expect.  I knew that we would do a gorilla trek (and that was amazing!).  I knew that we would be scouting some areas for a future workshop.  But I didn’t know we’d be making some amazing new friends.  I didn’t know that we would be spending our days laughing and playing and enjoying drinks together at night as we watched reruns of Friends together.  The week we spent in Jinja, Uganda was so special…so much so that I shed quite a few tears when we said goodbye to our new and dear friends, the Cheneys (aka Grace & Salt).  They spent 15 months in Uganda, waiting to complete the adoption of their precious children, all while living with Type 1 Diabetes (mom and daughter) in a country that provides little support for such a diagnosis.  They’ve fought hard for their family, and I watched a mother and father love their two children with everything they had, and even more than that.  It was a beautiful thing to witness, and I’m so thankful we got to be a tiny part in their big story.  When Keary asked us to do a family session for them, I agreed immediately, and I immediately asked if we could document their everyday lives without any direction.  So one morning, as Justin (dad) started his daily ritual of making breakfast for the family, and the kids watched and wondered, I got to document a beautiful unfolding of life and love in this family.  I said very little, and simply captured the raw and real and unedited, beautiful life of the Cheneys.  Thank you, Cheney Family, for loving hard, and pushing through even when it felt like you had no more push left in you.  We love you dearly.