Thank You, Emily

It has been 4 weeks since our family met, fell in love with, and then said goodbye to our precious Baby Sophia. Words cannot explain the loss and sadness that we feel. We were told that our grieving process will not be day to day, but moment to moment. They were right.

One moment we are so, so sad that Jack never had the chance to grow up with his sweet baby sister. And that Sophia wasn't given the opportunity to play with all of her cousins or know what amazing aunts and uncles she has. Her brief time did not allow her to take a nap with Bapa Voigt or sing along while Grandpa Robert played Johnny Cash on his guitar. Grandma Joanne, Nana Mary Jean, and Great Grandma Lorraine were never given the chance to spoil their sweet grandaughter with adorable dresses or bows or books or cookies.

But then the next moment we try so hard to focus on how blessed we are to have been given the gift of meeting our beautiful baby girl...even if it was for one brief day.

One special gift that we were given that helps us smile each day is our photographer, Emily Griffith. Emily was referred to us by a friend when Jack was born and has taken Jack's pictures several times since then. She has always done a fabulous job of capturing how cute we think he is and also capturing his sweet little personality! We called Emily the night that Sophia died. Emily left her house in Rochester just minutes later and drove to Children's Hospital to photograph our family once again, but under very different circumstances.

Emily graciously volunteers her time and talent for an organization called "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep." I remember reading about it when I was first looking at her photography blog and thinking how special it is that she volunteers for NILMDTS...but never, ever thought that I would personally use this service.

Emily is truly amazing. This was obviously a very special, sad and intimate time for Dan, Jack and I as it was the first time we were able to hold Sophia. It was also the time that we had to say good-bye. Emily was so unobtrusive, gentle, compassionate and professional. I cannot imagine anyone else being there with our family. Emily - you gave us a gift that we will forever cherish. I know as time goes by it will become more and more difficult to remember exactly what her sweet little fingers and toes looked like. Your work touched our hearts and although this is a very sad and difficult time, we find peace and comfort knowing that we will always remember her beautiful face, her darling button nose and her sweet little fingers and toes because of you and your beautiful photography. Thank you with all of our hearts :)

Emily posted several of her pictures on her blog, which is below:

http://lemonlimestudios.blogspot.com/search?q=sophia

She also put these pictures into a beautiful video slideshow:

http://animoto.com/play/zhpxq561H5UftPq0Zux5WQ?utm_campaign=share_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_email