mallorykriegerphotography.com

I only have a few minutes before we have to leave for the orphanage, but I wanted to post a few pictures of the boy, named Yung Young, whose mother is dying.  She seems to be the same, not any better, not any worse.  We’ve made a little progress with the boy as he has been too scared to go downstairs with the other kids and we were able to get him to come with us today.  He played soccer till he was covered in sweat and stamped his handprints on a t-shirt.  But the moment he looked up and realized he wasn’t with an adult, or felt alone, he ran back upstairs to his mother’s room, where we would find him peeking around the doorway.  You can see his little face in this first picture, peering timidly around the corner….

He had never seen stickers before and he loved them, obviously.  He also had never had fruit snacks and after he took that first bite, I think he found a new favorite snack : )  Reminds me of someone else I know! The funny thing was, he gave one to me, one to another girl that was standing there, and then ran around to the other side of his mother’s bed, and offered one to her.  Of course, she declined.  We also found out that he is only five years old.  

So it’s crazy to think that I’m just a little over a month away from going to China. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has proved to me over and over throughout the past few weeks that I really am supposed to go on this trip.  He has ordained it and He has a purpose.  Things have not happened accidentally or coincidentally.  The thought of that makes me excited and also a little nervous.  I go back and forth between being ready to go tomorrow and being super anxious and sad about leaving my family for that long.  Gosh, it’s not even really that long–I guess it’s just the thought of being literally half a world away and the thought that if something were to happen, it would take me 24 hours to get home.  It seems like there is so much to get done between now and then and something going on every weekend.  I have felt very consumed the past week with trying to get stuff done and trying to get ‘caught up’ that it has caused me to become flustered, exhausted, and irritable.  I haven’t had the quite alone time that I so desperately want and need to just sit and hear from the Lord and allow Him to prepare my heart for this trip.  It is my prayer that my humanness (is that a word?)  doesn’t get in the way of what God wants to do through me and with me during this trip.  I feel so unqualified to be going, but also honored that I have this opportunity.  Sometimes I just want to ask, “Lord, what are you doing with me?….I know something is going on, I just don’t know what. ” I feel like things for some reason will make more sense after going to China.  That really doesn’t make sense at all when I say it.  My flesh sometimes just wants to be like, ‘why can’t I be normal? Normal people don’t just go to China on a whim like this….’  But I am quickly reminded that God doesn’t call us to a ’safe’ and ‘normal’ life necessarily.  Obviously He doesn’t call us all to China, but he calls us all to something….and a lot of the time it is something a little crazy, a little scary, and a little risky…..but with great risk comes great reward, right?  And that reward can only be revealed to us when we muster up all the strength we have and step out in faith knowing that God will be there to walk with us….or run with us into a deeper knowledge and love for Him…..that’s not so bad, huh?

OK, so I stumbled upon Show Hope.  This is a little bit of a side-story, but I’ll go ahead and post it.  Show Hope is a Christian organization that exists to “show hope” to orphans and to live out the biblical mandate in James 1:27 to take care of orphans in their distress. They do a number of things, but one of their main goals is to get into churches and help get a ministry started doing a number of things from sponsoring an orphan monthly to collecting change for orphans, raising awareness, and their main focus, adoption, and helping to raise money for families who desire to adopt, as it can be crazy expensive.  So, I felt the Lord really impressing this organization on my heart and really felt called to possibly start this up at my church, raise money on my own, etc.  I had received a random newsletter email from Show Hope among the tons of them that we receive from many adoption agencies and the like from when we started the international adoption process 4 years ago.  (before we found out I was pregnant!) But one day I stopped on this email from Show Hope and the Lord just broke me.  45 minutes later, I was still on their website, in tears.  When Jason got home I told him I thought God was calling me in this direction.  It was a really good feeling to finally have some direction.  So, this was super exciting, yes, but again, this is kind of a side-story.  What this awakened in me was this desire to experience this first-hand.  Everything that this organization does is awesome and I would so love to start this ministry at our church, but what I realized was that I felt called to go over there….to China.  It was a confusing thing to me because there really were no opportunities at all for me to go overseas. And even if there were, I would have to leave my boys behind, and my husband could probably not take off work long enough to make the trip worthwhile, and I hate to fly, and it’s a really really LONG way over there.  To me, it was something that could possibly be in my distant future, but not now.  Our church doesn’t have anything like this in place anyways.  So, I put the desire aside, but I couldn’t shake it.  I kept telling Jason the same thing….”I would love to get a ministry for orphans and adoption started at our church, but gosh, I just wish I could go over there now and have that experience to bring back here and share with our church and anyone else who wants to hear.  It just seems like it would be so much more impacting to hear it straight from someone who’s seen it, experienced it, photographed it.”  But again, I put it away.  So…..fast forward to about three weeks ago….the Providence Neighborhood Yard Sale.

So, the night before the yard sale, Jason is complaining because, like most husbands, he’s not a fan.  He doesn’t like having to haul a bunch of junk onto our front porch and sit out there while people walk by and skim through it, and then offer you half of what you’re asking which is already half of half of what it cost you! However, what I enjoy, and what I kept reminding him, is that it’s a great time to get to know our neighbors better.  And he agreed.  So, that morning, our neighbor from across the street came over to help Jason carry my old computer desk down our front steps because I had embarrassed him by looking like a wuss and not being able to help him with it.   He casually mentioned he had a flat screen TV that he was trying to sell for a really good deal and we were looking for one for our bedroom.  So, I said I’d go over and take a look at it.  I know I’m giving way too many details, but I like details ; )     So, I walk across the street with Eli to talk to his new wife who I have only met once (back in September) and there are a crazy amount of geraniums in her garage.  I said hi to her and casually asked if she was planning to plant all of the geraniums to which she continued to inform me that she was selling them to raise money for her trip to……China.  Side note—have you ever had one of those moments where you knew God was speaking to you—straight to you—or that He was placing something right in front of your face that you knew to be true or knew you were supposed to do?—without a doubt—the kind that gives you chills and leaves you speechless but you know you have to say something, or else you’ll risk missing something great that the Lord has in store for you?  This was one of those moments.  I immediately got chills and started shaking.  I immediately asked her why she was going to China, and as I asked the question, I already knew the answer….”to visit orphans and work at an orphanage.”  If the words would have come out, I would have yelled, “I’m supposed to come with you!!! God just told me!!!” However, as I heard those words in my head, I was also a bit freaked out.  I honestly knew at that moment, that I was going to go to China, but I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it…

Just thought I’d throw this out there last-minute! : )  I’m taking a small number of family mini sessions this Friday.  I thought it would be a good day to do family shoots since everyone will be off work!  These will be 20-minute sessions and you will get 10 final images and will be able to choose 5 to keep as high-res files to print from. (All of them you can use for online purposes and probably will be able to print up to 5×7, but only 5 will be for printing large format).  All 10 of these images will be fully edited as well.  Cost is $100; bring a friend and you get $25 off!  These will all take place Friday morning between 8 and noon.  When  you email, let me know a range of time that would work for you and I’ll do my best.  I’m going to let you guys nominate the location depending on where everyone is from….possibly will be out in Providence, Frisco, or McKinney….

Please email me at: info@mallorykrieger.com

Spaces fill up fast and there are a limited number of sessions available so please let me know asap!
Couldn’t make another post without a picture, so here you go…..enjoy this face ; )

Life has been a blur for the past few weeks to say the least. Our good friend and pastor passed away about a week and a half ago and life has, in a way,  seemed to stand still as we process his death and what that means for his wife and their two kids, ages 3 and 1.  We have known this family for the past 6 or 7 years and absolutely love them like family.  This was so blindsiding and shocking and I have had a lot of questions for God, to say the least.  One thing I do know is that we are not without hope.  Without hope life’s tragedies would be unbearable and the pain of living each day under the weight of it all would be excruciating.  It’s only because of Jesus and the fact that He died for us and rose again to eternal life that we have hope and we know that God works all things, whether good, bad, painful, or joyous, together for our good because we love Him and He loves us.  I am holding onto those truths in moments like these as I pray for this sweet family and trust that God is holding them tight and protecting them and being a Daddy to those precious kids.  His wife gave the most beautiful eulogy with such grace and strength that only come from someone who’s been with the Lord.  She spoke on Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”  She also read this commentary by Charles Spurgeon that better explains it:
Saints will not die prematurely; they will be immortal until their work is done. When their time comes to die, their deaths will be precious. The Lord watches over their death beds, smoothes their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls. Those who are redeemed with the priceless blood are so cherished by God that even their deaths are precious to him. The death beds of saints are precious to the church, and she often learns much from them. They are precious to believers who treasure the last words of the departed. But they are most precious to the LORD Jehovah. He views the triumphant deaths of His gracious ones with sacred delight. If we have walked before Him in the land of the living, we need not fear to die before him when the hour of our departure is at hand. –Charles Spurgeon

********** continue to pray for Matt Chandler and family **********

I had the privilege to shoot some precious families while we were in Abilene for Thanksgiving.  One of these families happens to be Jason’s sister’s family….I’m sure you can guess which one it is…they look a lot alike : )  I also got to take some fun pictures out in the pasture with the “big horns” as Malakai calls them.  To be honest, I am not completely comfortable being so close to these animals as I have no idea what they will do.  I was completely expecting one of them to charge me for pointing that big black thing in their faces…..

I love her sweet face : )

ohhhh precious!

Beautiful Mommy!!

The Rileys…..

precious.

those eyes!!!

My favorite..

just fyi…that’s his real eye color!! (nothing done to them in photoshop!)

Kelby and Hayley (and soon-to be baby)

oops….how’d he get in there?

one of the Big Horns that didn’t like me too much.

Eli in the feed sack : ) (It was Cowboy’s idea!)

This is Cowboy Bill….Malakai just calls him Cowboy.

Cowboy.

Malakai not too sure about the Big Horns.

This is his favorite one…..”Little Horns”

Walking to see the pinwheel (windmill) with Cowboy.

Chasing Daddy on the John Deere with Cowboy.

Daddy’s on the John Deere in the trees….

Oh! Got brave and decided to hop on with Daddy!

Still a little nervous Cowboy’s going to start up that blue tractor.  He told Cowboy, ” Don’t turn it on, Cowboy!”  As much as he loves them, he’s still not sure about the loud noise they make.

I had some incredibly fun families come out last weekend for portraits! Everyone looked so beautiful and I enjoyed hanging out with everyone during our brief sessions.  The day went super smooth and seemed to fly by so fast! We had some awesome kiddos and a couple of precious babies…one that was only 4 days old!  Thanks everyone for the opportunity to take these pictures of your sweet families! I absolutely loved it and I truly feel honored. Here are a few sneak peaks from the day….