2012 Cutest Kid Contest 

* Become a fan of ours on Facebook at MELODY WHITE STUDIOS FACEBOOK for more details and to vote!

Let the voting begin Official Rules:

Click here (or copy link) to see the albums of all the cutest kids:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150842672009494.428022.333644049493&type=3

Once you have found your picture, click on the image – copy and paste the browser link it into an email and send it to all your friends to like your image. They must be a fan of Melody White Studios first before they can like the image. They can become a fan by clicking (or copy link into browser) here first, http:// www.facebook.com/melodywhitestudios
Voting will end on Monday, May 31rd at midnight – So good luck!

HOW PHOTOS WILL BE JUDGED

* All entries will be uploaded into an album by Melody White Studios no later than Saturday, May 26th 2012 on our facebook fan page.  Send me your Images Via facebook Message or e-mail melodywhitestudios@yahoo.com
* To vote for a photo you MUST be a ‘fan’ (or under the new facebook system ‘like’) Melody White Studios
* Click ‘like’ for the photo you are voting for in the Melody White Studios album labeled “2012 Cutest Kid Contest’
* Photo with the most ‘likes’ will be the winner. Comments permitted, but WILL NOT count towards the total number of votes.
* Melody White Studios will verify that all ‘likes’ of the winning photo come from Melody White Studios facebook fans, ‘likes’ from non-fans will not be counted
* Official winner will be notified and announced on Wednesday June 4th, 2012.
* Photo MUST be taken by you NOT another photographer

WHAT YOU WILL WIN

* The parent or legal guardian of the child in the photo that receives the most ‘likes’ will receive a complimentary FULL session with 20 beautiful Images on CD and a beautiful mounted 11×14 print, valued at over $800.
** Photo session must be booked within 30 days of winning and completed before August 31, 2012
No other promotions or discounts can be applied.
Good Luck and Happy “Liking”!

I am overdue for this post and it seems appropriate to write about this family now, as BIG changes are on the horizon for the Langley’s.  Similar to my first bigger picture session, this family has more courage, resilience, and hope than I could even dream to have a fraction of.  I say this with no exaggeration—this family is genuinely one of the kindest, giving, and loving families I have ever had the pleasure to be around.  Their story weighs on my heart often, and as they start a new chapter of their lives, they leave their warmth on me and on Sonoma County.  No one can tell their story better than Sara Langley herself.  So breathe in  her words of hope and enjoy some of the images from our session……

“On December 28, 2009 my worst nightmare came true.  I went into preterm labor at 27 weeks with our twin girls.  My history of premature birth with my son 3 years prior could not even prepare me for what was coming and I knew my body had failed me again.  The road to pregnancy did not come easy for us with all the infertility issues.   When I finally did get pregnant I miscarried three times.  It was a miracle when we became pregnant with twins!  After only 2 hours, an ambulance ride and an emergency c-section, our beautiful and tiny daughters were born.  Abigail Louise was 2 pounds 10 oz and 14 ½ in.  Olivia Mae was 2 pounds 6 oz and was 15 ½ in. They were rushed to the NICU and hooked up to all kinds of monitors. They had the typical preemie ups and downs, breathing issues and heart murmurs and we were preparing ourselves for a 3 month stay in the hospital.   Our 3 ½ year old son also needed us so the balancing act became very difficult.  The girls were showing progress until Olivia took a turn for the worse.

My husband had to go on a short business trip 3 weeks after the girls were born and I told him that I had help and we would be fine.  The morning he was flying home I got a call from the hospital to come in as soon as I could because Olivia needed to have a blood transfusion due to her low platelet count.  I rushed in and they had her out of her incubator and on a table in the middle of the room.  I knew it was serious because I had seen this before with other babies that were sick. There were 3 doctors and nurses surrounding her.  They informed me that they had called UCSF and the transport team was on their way to take her.  She had a few seizures and contracted a terrible disease that was spreading through her tiny body.  It happened that fast.  I was all alone, in complete shock.  I had just held Olivia for an hour the night before.  How did this happen?  I called my husband who had a layover and was getting on his last plane to come home.  Within an hour my parents were there, their pastor was there to baptize both girls and the transport team showed up.  I was sat down by the doctor in charge who looked me straight in the eye and said, “Your daughter is very sick.  The disease has gotten into her blood and urine stream and she has had a few seizures so we are not sure how her brain activity is.  We are going to take her to UCSF and assess her there but I want you to prepare yourself.  This is a very rare disease.  She could have gotten it by getting poked with a needle or any other line that was in her body. We don’t know but we are going to do everything we can.”  You can imagine the shock I was in, but this is what I took away from the conversation.

We prayed and tried to stay positive through the 5 days Olivia was fighting for her life.  Her body actually started to fight the disease and we had hope, but because of all of her seizures, she was brain dead.  Olivia Mae Langley passed away on January 19^th, 2010.  When she passed in our arms she left us the most beautiful rainbow in the sky.  Rainbows are God’s way of telling us that He keeps His promises.  In a time that we should have been angry, we felt God’s love and peace in that moment that He was now holding our baby in His arms and that she was His child.   We made a choice to choose to count our blessings and be thankful for the short 3 ½ weeks we did have with Olivia. We chose to live for our other two children, one of those who was still fighting to live.   We had to learn how to balance the despair of losing a child with the joy of having a newborn.  While we lost our daughter, our son lost his sister.  He had to say goodbye the first day he met Olivia.  We were given a choice to shelter him from ever meeting her, but we made the best decision to have him come to say goodbye.  He still remembers that day and we have the most beautiful pictures to document Olivia’s last day with us!  He lost a little innocence that day, but the maturity he gained from learning about hope and God’s love was priceless.

Abby was born a twin.  She always likes to have a buddy or her brother around to play with.  It is not easy to watch her play and not think about what it would have been like to watch the girls play together.  There isn’t an hour that goes by when we look at Abby and think about Olivia too.  We had lost our business and our home a few months before the twins arrived, but burying your own child was by far the hardest thing we have ever experienced.  In the Bible,  Job lost everything, yet he still never lost his faith in God.  We have to trust His plan for us even though we may not understand it.  I never realized how many people are watching you as you go through what life brings you, but I have learned to be grateful for what I do have instead of dwelling on what was taken from me.  I also have been told by many moms that when they are having a hard day with the kids they think of Olivia and it changes their perspective and makes their hard day a wonderful day because they can hug their children.  She touched so many lives in her short life and I know she has forever changed ours.”

“I have always felt that I was meant to be a mother of three and I am, with my angel in heaven.  God had a plan and has given us a miracle.  He has blessed with another baby on the way!  We are thrilled!  1 Corinthians 10:13 says it perfectly….And God is Faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted , he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

(well maybe not Annie!)

Here are some of my top favorites:

* Watching Annie eat handfuls of sand! She couldn’t seem to get enough of it….

* Seeing Cameran and Conan snorkeling in Queens bath

* Helicopter ride over Napali Coast w/Conan

* Watching my mom snorkel for the first time in her life

* Spending tons of time on the beach watching my girls splash in the waves

Aloha!

T