A Very Blessed Event

It's that time of year when we celebrate many blessed events: the miracle of gratitude and abundance at Thanksgiving, the Festival of Lights at Hanukkah, the promise and hope of a brand new year, and the birth of baby Jesus, who grew up to teach us beautiful lessons about compassion, tolerance, and love.

I'd like to share a story about another blessed event that I recently learned about.

Two and a half years ago I was contacted by a young woman still in high school. She wanted to commission a Mother's Day portrait of her two "moms" with two of their cats, Squishy Carson and Xyla. She wondered if she might also be included in the painting. Here is the portrait of Camilla, Danielle and Shannon:

At that point in time, Camilla and Shannon were Danielle's legal guardians. It seems that back in Danielle's freshman year in high school, life at home with her birth mother and her mother's boyfriend had become unbearable and Danielle and her older sister needed to find new living situations.

Danielle tells us, "Shannon and Camilla, family of our neighbor, offered me a home. (my sister who is two years older than me went to live with Shannon's brother and his wife). They had legal guardianship of me all throughout high school and technically into college." Shannon and Camilla have been together in a domestic partnership since May of 2001, became Danielle's legal guardians in May of 2005, and were legally married in October of 2008.

Camilla and Shannon are animal lovers, and share their lives with a large menagerie of pets that includes both felines and canines in a wide range of sizes and ages. You can see the whole kit and caboodle here in their pet family album. Camilla is responsible for the fun and creative names; Shannon is responsible for the photography (she is a professional photographer AND dog trainer!). You can see her work at these links:

PawsitivePortraits.net
PetDegreeTraining.com

A few weeks ago Danielle, now a college student, contacted me and wanted to surprise her moms at Christmas with a special portrait that would commemorate a very special blessed event. Danielle explains that this past year "We started talking and decided before I turned 21 (on November 11, 2011) they should adopt me."

So they did--on October 21, 2011.

Congratulation to this "modern family" and thank you Danielle, Camilla, and Shannon for a great holiday story that so beautifully teaches us about compassion, tolerance, and most of all -- love!