Our 2014 family photo shoot: Kai was still being punished for “acting girly”. There were SO MANY photos I didn’t keep or share because I just couldn’t edit the “femininity” out. I am thankful some of the photos were just too cute to delete.

Her outward appearance is a clear reflection of the person she is within the core of her being.

There is a snippet of Christian a song that I often think of when I look through photos of Kai before we understood who she is,

“From the inside out Lord my soul cries out…”

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again, Kai has always been Kai. I’m the one who needed to transition.

Early in social transition… It bothered her that her hair was still so short and we would pray together every time I brushed or washed it and every night for her hair to grow faster. All of these barrettes were her way of making sure she looked “girl enough”. Sweet baby. What a journey she’s had…

September 12, 2015

Kai is 4 years 9 months in this photo.

She put the outfit together herself and asked me to take her picture.

This was very early into her being allowed to choose her own clothes to wear and growing out her hair. Lord, I remember how fervently we prayed together for her hair to grow faster.

This beautiful smile hides the fact that she was being punished every single day for acting like a girl… I’m so thankful she was born fierce & knowing who she is and that God truly does not make mistakes.

Kai is about 3.5-4 years old in this picture.

hiraeth (n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home that maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past

The barn at my Mamaw & Papaw’s place in Higgin’s Settlement, Texas

I grew up in the house across the red dirt & gravel road from Momma Doshie’s (my great grandma) pond in Ticky Bend, Mississippi.

Almost Heaven… Manvel, Texas

Tell me, are you homesick for a place to which you cannot return?

This is Kai at 19 months. The baby had been a toy in the childcare at church.

Kai would fight the other kids for it and cry when I picked her up and they’d take it away. *we were in church 3-4 times a week*

Someone finally gave her the baby 😇