Gustafson Family

The Gustafsons help run both Shiphrah Birthing Home and the Little Children's Home. I offered to take their family photos and we set a date to do it. Then one of their kids was sick. So we set it for the next week. But a different kid was sick. So we set it for a few days later. Guess what? Now I was at a birth...

This happened over the course of several weeks until finally it was my very last week in the Philippines so I said, "We need to do this now!" Deborah said we could try for right after prenatals, so the moment prenatals were finished on Tuesday, I raced over to their house with my camera and we did their photos. That was the fastest I have ever processed photos afterward and they had their copy of the photos that night. It was a whirlwind of craziness! But it was fun. :-D

Here are (just a few) of my favorite photos from the shoot. Enjoy! (Also, if you want to schedule a photo shoot with me, please contact me! I'm  looking to expand my doula and photography business. For more information: http://risingdawnservices.weebly.com/)

Oh - one more thing - I just looked at the photos after Blogger posted them and Blogger puts some sort of distort on them so they are grainy and fuzzy...Not sure why/how that happened, but the photos are much nicer than Blogger shows! Sorry about that!

More Pictures!

This little lady was born via cesarean section because she was legitimately too big to be born vaginally (and trust me, we tried everything to get this kid to come down and out!) - she was a whopping 10lb!

the mother texted me after the baby was born and asked if I'd be the kiddo's godmother. How sweet!

me with Jennifer (the mom) and her baby

isn't this little dude adorable?! He's Jennifer's son

your daily dose of Mimi!

I saw Lloyd and his family again and of course had to take a picture of little David. Isn't he precious?

Lloyd with David

I went to church with Lloyd and his family and afterward he introduced me to everyone he knew. In this picture is a Filipino military commander (don't remember the rank...), a young soldier about to be deployed as a peacekeeper in Israel,  Lloyd, and the pastor.

balut! Balut is duck embryo which has been hardboiled and is considered a delicacy. It tastes like a regular hardboiled egg, but it's crunchy! We made a video of us interns trying it which I'll try to upload later. :-D

this is my fiftieth catch here at Shiphrah

getting dried off

isn't he adorable?

me and Mariel

the "gang" - we were goofing off tonight and ended up taking this picture. It was fun. :-D

Davao - a post in pictures

Here are pictures from my vacation to Davao. It was really peaceful and I had a ton of fun staying with the Bartels and their very energetic four kids. Their youngest, Katherine, is Joy Anna's age (younger by three days) and liked me immediately. In fact, she came into my room at 5am my first morning there, and was excited to clamber onto the bed and play with me, before I eagerly ushered her out. She was a definite hoot!

I really enjoyed my stay there and wish I didn't have to wait several more years to see them again. :-(

Enjoy the (tons of) pictures I took!

it's fun getting your picture taken with a half-naked statue at Crocodile Park! :-D

it was great getting to see Karissa again! - Sorry, I have no idea why the picture won't get any larger...

once again, getting my picture taken at a tourist spot

...I hate snakes...

Ryan and Grace demonstrate the proper way to ride a fake elephant

the monkeys stared at us as if we were the exhibit, not them!

Ryan was proud of the butterfly which landed on his shirt

this old man was designing beautiful beaded jewelry

a native house 

when we went to Paradise Island, Katherine wasn't too sure of the sand...

the ocean is beautiful in Davao!

mother and daughter

Maggie

Katherine decided she loved the beach - she'd go in and sit down and play. She was also very popular on the island - a Korean family fell in love with her and played with her while a Filipino family let her sip out of their drinks - much to Mrs. Bartel's chagrin... 

these two buried themselves in the sand then took a nap

sisters

"Look! I'm a mummy!"

I ordered a durian frappe, expecting them to make it as a durian shake but they added coffee to it. I didn't like it so much ...

...but Katherine loved it! She drank over half of it for me... I stole it back to drink the whipped cream, though!

the tall building on the island is Marco Polo hotel, where Dad and I stayed when we were in Davao, four months ago

Grace

this building looks like the Capital, from the Hunger Games

this boat was our transportation to and from the island

Maggie being silly :-D

the Bartel kids, looking so perfect

...lol...not really!

my little buddy!

Maggie and Winston

the Bartels family - I offered to take a family photo for their next prayer card so they all piled on one motorcycle for fun :)