GRADUATION DAY!

WHAT AN EPIC MORNING.

I got to take pictures of all these incredible people just hours before they graduated from high school and wow, what a sweet, sweet opportunity. They kept saying "thank you" (angels) and each time, I kept feeling like, "Wait what - I should be thanking you!"

Seeing this group of friends love each other so deeply, remain connected despite being at different schools, and value each other so much that they decided to do a Graduation Day photo shoot flooded me with sweet memories of my own high school crew, a tight-knit group that felt so much like family from spending 4 years together in HSM -- years filled with Wednesday nights at small group, 4-service weekends, student leadership meetings, band practices, mission trips, hard conversations, deep losses, and overwhelming victories. (It's crazy to think that our graduation was EIGHT years ago. What the heck!)

Getting to capture this magical, sentimental, sacred season for these students today was nothing short of wonderful. How sweet it is to get to capture their friendships, their inside jokes, their love for one another and all the funny poses characteristic of 2016 that they'll look back on and laugh at.

I got to watch many of these students spend their high school years pouring so much of their time and energy into various ministries, friendships, small groups, creative endeavors, and mentorships, and I am so thankful for the ways they've inspired me; they're such a loving, passionate, creative, sacrificial group of high schoolers and I get so excited thinking about them heading off to their respective colleges and blessing the heck out of everyone there.

You go, class of 2016. I love you guys dearly.