The Moments: My Vision

Vision

A friend once passed a quote along to me that said, “What if we woke up one morning and we only had the things we thanked God for the day before?” A huge lump formed in my throat because at the time, I couldn’t remember the last time I thanked God. I started to scramble to thank God for family, shelter, transportation, my health, helping me through my battle with PCOS, surviving moments I thought would break me, and I continued to thank Him until I grew tired. I imagine many of us would be like this. It’s not about scrambling to thank God so that we can keep our things and our people but thanking Him for being able to have them in the first place. If God appeared in our living room and said, “What you thank me for today is all you will have tomorrow!” -Thank God for grace because this would be a harsh reality - I’m sure after covering the basics of family, we would all start to remember to thank Him for our homes, that expensive camera or flat screen TV; and don’t forget the shiny cars in our driveway. These are all also things to be thankful for... BUT… what about the moments.

THE MOMENTS when, as a tired momma, the stress inside my home of clutter and disorganized belongings, finds me feeling overwhelmed? I carry that never-ending pile of laundry pass my living room wall and out the corner of my eyes I catch a portrait of my family. I start to thank God for the existence of those beautiful beings that fit inside the clothes in the pile and the portraits in the frames.

THE MOMENTS when the reception ends and the couple drives off into the night headed towards their honeymoon - I hope the father of the bride walks through the doors of his home, clicks on the light, and is greeted in the entry way by a portrait of his no longer little girl sitting on his shoulders during our family session years ago. I hope he remembers her saying “Daddy, daddy spin me around! Go Daddy Go!”

THE MOMENTS when military husbands and wives hold on during the deployment of their spouse. I hope every night as they lay in bed, they are able to look over at the framed portrait of their husband or wife staring into their eyes, with their arms wrapped around them, and it helps them hold on a little bit longer.

Through the daily things we should be thankful for, I hope we pause each day and take a moment to be thankful for the ‘things’ we can fit in a frame. The people we can fit into the frames.

Through LaVonda Downard Photography I hope to bring that vision to life. I hope to create timeless, recurring memories. Priceless conversational pieces that speak adventure, joy, heartfelt laughter, passion, and happiness into each of your homes. It is my goal to make each portrait a memorable, detailed moment in time. I hope to bring a spark back to time spent flipping through photo albums or scanning the walls of your home taking in the breath taking beautiful, adorable, silly, romantic, uniqueness of your loved ones. But, even on your average or not so average days I hope a glimpse of my portraits will bring thankfulness for what, more so WHO, we can fit into our frames.