Eric Smith has been on staff at Irvine Presbyterian Church for a while now. I never got to have him as a high school youth pastor, but I’ve heard good things. I first had the chance to get to know him a little better when  we documented Daniel and Heather Orduna’s wedding in March 2009… and progressively I’ve had more opportunities to spend time with him, his wife Jeanine, and their kids Zoe and Wilson. Wilson was born earlier this year and has been a super cute addition to the Smith family! When Eric and Jeanine asked me to document this short and fun time in their lives, I jumped at the opportunity to spend more time with them.

It had been a while since I’ve played at the park. I’ve forgotten what a different world that place can be… hills of grass… sand… playgrounds… so fun! When Jeanine suggested their neighborhood park as the place they wanted to do the shoot, I thought, “How fun! ” I arrived and we immediately got the family shot out of the way so we could get to the important part… play time.

Wilson is one cute baby! Eric and Jeanine were right to want to document this super cute time in his life…

Proud Father and Son moment…

Um… can anyone say Gerber Baby?

Jeanine is one proud Mama…

While Zoe was off chasing butterflies and Wilson chomped on his stuffed pig, we took a moment with the big kids…

What a beautiful woman… I love that smile!

After hanging with Wilson and the parents for a little…I finally caught up with Zoe. I snapped this right before she tossed me the ball…

Even though she’s a little camera shy… the camera loves her!

And she’s such a good big sister…

These are my absolute favorites of the whole afternoon…

Happy Holidays you guys!

There’s something to be said about trusting what God’s put in you. What does that mean? It kind of goes along the lines of finding what you’re gifted at and pursuing the betterment of those skills. It’s a ridiculously hard thing to come out of high school expected to know what you want to do with the rest of your life… so hard that sometimes we go straight into college, we do what we’re told would be a good idea, and then we emerge from college after four years with the same confusion and lack of purpose that we felt coming out of high school. It’s scary. What are we even here on earth for? Do we even have A PURPOSE? Am I even doing the right thing? There are so many “what-ifs” it can feel terrifying… terrifying enough to not do anything… to just go with the flow of society and try our best to not think about it.

There are many things in life that take my breath away…. beautiful sunsets… thanksgiving dinner…. the words “i do.” But when I experience someone doing something they can’t get enough of… something they’re ridiculously good at… it does more than take my breath away… it reminds me of our purpose and brings a huge stupid grin to my face. Purpose… it can be scary to think about because it’s hardly clear and can change… but finding it may be the difference between life and living. I hope you’re finding it… and I hope you share it with everyone.

Here’s some shots I took of Christopher and the Veritas band at Irvine Presbyterian Church. One of my favorite things about Christopher is his love for music…you can see it in his face….