Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Being photographers means many things to me and Desiree. First, we have a great blessing, being able to do what we both love and spending our entire day together. In the almost ten years we have been together, we have spent more time with each other than a lot of couples married 3 times longer. We also get to work everyday with amazing people, sharing parts of their lives - that a lot of people don't get to see.
Being a photographer also brings a great responsibility. We have a gift to be able to share memories with generations. We have the ability to capture times in people's life that are both overwhelmingly joyous and overwhelmingly tragic. We are there with the joining of two lives, we are there at the birth of new life, and we are now there at the loss of new life. For some time now Desiree and I (mostly Desiree) have been a part an amazing organization. NILMDTS, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, is a fairly new charity started by a beautifully talented and compassionate photographer from the Denver, CO area. As part of this charity we offer our photography 24 hours a day, seven days a week to parents in the hospital who are about to or who have just lost their new baby. Often these precious lives come with just enough time to look into their parents eyes before God brings them home again. The memories of these few minutes often fade in time and the emotions are dampened. Which is a good thing - time heals the deepest wounds. It can, however, take the memories away that we want to treasure.
We get a call from the hospital and with in a few minutes Desiree is there with a camera, documenting the precious moments shared as a family. We hold onto these images until the family is ready to view them. The photography and the images are given to them at no charge. Often these things happen unexpectedly and can cause a great financial problem.
We have been blessed with a great ability and this is the least we can do. There is now an overwhelming need for this service and it keeps the few photographers here in NM that are members, very busy. Please visit http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/
find out what you can do to help us with this truly great thing.
The greatest gift that Desiree and I can give is a way to remember triumph and tragedy, success and sadness, love and loss. We give this with both humility and pride. we are proud to have worked so hard to develop our talents, and humble to have been given stewardship over these talents.

Everyone has a gift whether immediately recognized or not. Everyone has the ability to lift the hands of those who may hang. It is our responsibility, as part of humanity, to do what we can, regardless of how little or great, to help others find the joy in life that we are all meant to feel.