10/21/2026
My biggest prayer for my life is “yet not I, but Christ through me.”
When Chloe reached out to me to document her son’s arrival, I explained to her that I had never been in a delivery room in this kind of situation. Shep had been diagnosed with trisomy, and I knew this birth would be unlike anything I had ever photographed.
I’ve been in a few rooms that I didn’t want to be in, solely because the situation just wasn’t fair. You may be able to relate. A loss of a loved one…a diagnosis that felt beyond hopeless. There’s just some rooms that you want to run out of, but yet, there you are. And yet, there I knew I needed to be.
As I was headed to Shep’s birth, I met two friends to pray over his birth. I told them I didn’t think I could do it anymore.. would it be possible to just turn around? They encouraged me that God would give me the strength. So, as I drove to North Austin with worship blaring, I asked God to give me a new strength that only He could give. I wanted to be there, I just didn’t know if I was strong enough.
The weight of documenting a life that was expected to be short felt like the biggest responsibility… and I felt ill equipped. To be the one to document all the photos this mama (and dad and grandparents!!!) will have of her baby boy for a lifetime. What if I miss something—A moment, or a photo!?
It’s moments like this that I realize just how desperately I need God. In my weakness, he’s made strong.
And even still, this room felt so full of hope. The joy was abounding as each family member came to meet their Shep. It’s beyond me how joy and pain can coexist, but I sure am thankful they can and they did on this day.
Being in this room was a gift I can’t quite articulate… and I’ll forever have it etched on my heart. Heaven is our home, and I am thankful for that.
Shepherd Alan 9/2/26-9/3/26🕊️
