A year later.... picking oranges and names | Central Florida Photographer

One year ago today, my life changed. Not just one of those bumps in the road, or small little changes. A forever kind of drastic change. It was the afternoon of November 17th, and my mom wasn’t feeling well and after seeing a few doctors that week, she ended up checking into the ER. As my dad and her left for the hospital, Luis and I left to take Greyson to get his first true haircut. As I buckled my seatbelt, my eyes filled with tears. Luis thought I was crying because we were going to chop off all of Greyson’s curls, which, let's be honest... under normal circumstances he would've been right. I hadn't wanted to part with those curls at all. But that wasn't why. I knew in my heart that my mom wasn’t okay. I knew it was serious. I believe she knew it was serious, even though she never actually said it. 

A couple hours later, my fears were confirmed and there it stood before us. The word you never want to hear. My dad said over the phone, “It’s CANCER.” 

It was in her lungs and it appeared to be in her liver. My world stopped. That night we sat at the dining room table and cried. My mom made it clear she didn’t want to do chemo. She wasn’t interested in treatments that couldn’t cure her and would only prolong a low quality of life. She had always said that would be her reaction but now her words were real and painful. We had no idea what to think but she agreed to see all of the doctors and get as many answers as she could, for us. Over the course of the next few days we found out what type of cancer it was and that it had spread throughout her entire body from her skull to her knees. There was no chance of survival. The doctors estimated that she had only had it for a few months because of testing she had done six months prior that would have caught it.

On Monday, November 25th, my 29th birthday, we met with an oncologist for the first time. He told her that if she wanted to  survive the next couple of weeks, she didn't have the luxury of waiting to start the chemo another week, and with their office being closed for Thanksgiving break he suggested a quick plan. He told her that with 6 rounds of chemo, spread over 18 weeks, we could expect to have another 8-24 months of good quality of life with her. After discussing it we all decided that time was something we all wanted. She made me promise that if she went through the chemo, she could name our next baby. We had been trying for baby number two for a while at this point.

So, 36 hours later she was admitted to the hospital to start her first round of chemo. I remember sitting in her room all day, just the two of us, waiting for the unknown to begin. She keep offering up the craziest baby names you’ve ever heard, while reminding me that I HAD promised to let her pick. It lightened the moment and took away the fear, even if only for a brief second. 

She finished her chemo treatments and passed away six weeks later. But it gave us a total of six months with her that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. She never wanted to do the chemo, but being the selfless wife and mother that she was, she chose to do it. It gave us time to grieve with her and time to say and do everything we wanted to do with her. Those were the most valuable six months of my life. No doubt the hardest six months, but I am so thankful to have had them. She taught me a lot. More importantly, the Lord has taught me a lot about who I am, who He is and, even, who my mother was. 

A few days before she passed away she handed me a tiny, tiny bracelet that I had seen thousands of times before. It hung on her dresser as far back as I can remember. But for the very first time she told me the story behind it. She said that after years of trying to conceive and experiencing her first miscarriage her grandmother found this bracelet on her property. She picked it up and noticed it had my dad’s initials (S. Johnson) surrounded by blue and pink beads. She gave it to my mom and the following month my mom was pregnant with me. As she handed it to me she smiled. I cried. I knew that whenever I saw those two pink lines I wouldn’t be sharing that news with her. We found out we were pregnant six weeks later. Although I couldn’t call her to tell her, it felt like she was a part of it.

It’s been a hard year; one I never believed I'd make it through. But here I am. Expecting our second baby and marveling at the goodness of the Lord. I still miss my mom more than words can describe, but she taught me to enjoy this journey called life. Well, Luis and I decided to uphold our end of the deal and let my mom name this little boy. She picked a name when we were pregnant with Greyson that she absolutely loved..... LIAM, which means “strong willed warrior or protector.” 

Liam’s middle name will be Thatcher, which means “one who mends.” This name seems incredibly fitting for the season of life we are in. When we picked Greyson’s middle name (Micah, which means, “who is like the Lord?”) we wanted it to be a name that we could always point him back to and remind him who God is. We hope to be able to do that with Liam as well- to point back to this season of life and talk about how the Lord upheld us and mended our broken hearts during our darkest hours. Finding out we were pregnant with him was only one of the ways the Lord has mended my broken heart. I know that Liam will face heartbreak for many different reasons and through different seasons but we will always be able to point back to this and remind him how good the Lord is, even in the ugliest parts of life. 

So instead of mourning through today I chose to celebrate Liam and my mom. I can't wait to meet this sweet boy and when he is old enough to understand we will tell him how he got his name. I'll also be sharing the story of how these pictures happened... the fact that we went to do them and ended up on an hour and a half monster truck tour instead. We went back the second day and set up a tripod with my camera... no one there to push the button for us! And even though the sun was almost down but we managed to capture a few pictures that we'll treasure forever. 

We were shocked at how well Greyson did looking at a camera with no one behind it!

Oh, and lets hope Greyson loves Liam as much as he loved these silly oranges!! 

Growing The Wright Family

Judd & Katy are adopting!

I briefly met Judd & Katy a few years ago when they first moved down here. Somehow I came across Katy's blog that shared some of their story and struggles in conceiving a child. My heart instantly broke for her. I began to pray that God would give them the desire of their hearts.

Fast forward a few years... and they are only a few steps away from growing their family! (To read more of their story go to The Wright's Story)

Are you wondering what that has to do with Katie Zamot Photography? A LOT! March 11th will officially be 1 year of business for Katie Zamot Photography and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than by blessing someone else.

My family believes the bible is clear that we are to look after orphans (James 1:27). We also know that the entire bible is a reflection of adoption as we, ourselves, have been adopted into God's family. Although we are not in the process of adoption we know that we can still come alongside those that are..... So, we are committed to partnering with Judd & Katy to help them overcome some of the financial hurdles that will come as God places a child into their family. So, we asked ourselves- How exactly can we help? I have decided to offer "Help Grow the Wright Family Sessions." The money raised will go directly to their adoption. When I came to Judd & Katy with the idea they were humbled by the idea that people would want to help. They will be joining us for the day and will take a picture with each family that we will put together for Baby Wright to see how loved he/she was before they were even born.

This is an opportunity to grow their family while capturing pictures of your own. We are asking for a minimum donation of $125 but encourage you to give as much as you want! These sessions, due to the time restraints, are for immediate family only. You will receive five to ten images and print rights. Details are below. The location and further instructions will be given to those who reserve a spot. To reserve a spot simply comment on this blog post with your name, email address and the time spot you want. By looking through comments you will be able to see what times are still available. Within 48 hours of commenting below you will receive a Paypal invoice for the $25 deposit. The remainder of payment can be paid when you arrive to your session. If you have any questions please email me at katie@katiezamot.com.

I'm excited to partner with YOU all as WE help to grow the Wright family!

Here are a few peeks of their adoption announcement session. I had a blast with these two!

 

Happy New Year.... Love, The Zamots

My Nephew Aiden {...and a little sprinkler fun}

I have to take a minute and brag about my nephew, Aiden. Our family spent two afternoons and evenings at his house this weekend, which gave him and Greyson a ton of time to play together. He is three {and a half} and Greyson just turned one... which are usually hard ages to share. But watching them play together absolutely melted my heart. Aiden couldn't have been any sweeter to Greyson. He is so young and yet you can already see that he has a kind heart. Greyson wanted to be close to Aiden, playing with the same toy and at times trying to sit on his lap. I'm thankful that Greyson will grow up with a cousin that is close enough in age to be friends with. A lot of my favorite memories as a child involve my cousins. We took the boys outside for a little bit to play with a water toy from Target clearance I picked up this week.... these pictures are priceless to me.

{Easter} was amazing!

I can not tell you what a great holiday weekend we had! We were so sad to not be at Summit for the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services, but enjoyed every second with our family. We stayed at my parents beach house in New Smyrna and celebrated with both sides of my family up there. I love having Greyson up there surrounded by family. It's how I grew up and its all I know. I am thankful that he doesn't know what he is missing out on yet... and I hope that by the time he does know we are closer.
My cousin had twins that were due the same time I was due with Greyson, but they came a month early. Since they are almost the same age... and definitely the same size, the Grandmothers decided they should wear matching outfits. We had an egg hunt {aka let them play with eggs}, ate lunch and went down to the beach. We found out that Greyson is an absolute lover of the beach! He loved the sand and even the cold water. He is a lot like his dad, but not when it comes to the beach. Greyson and I now officially have three things in commons: we love the beach, babies and pictures.
On Sunday we gave him his Easter baskets and all of his goodies. Since he obviously cant have candy we filled the eggs with puffs, melt aways, and pacis. His basket was full of PJ's, shoes, books and sippy cups. He loved it all and loved wearing his bunny ears. At first when we set him down by the baskets he instantly reached into the basket my mom made for Luis and I, grabbed a handful of candy (wrapped in foil) and threw it in his mouth. He wanted the good stuff, forget the puffs! That afternoon went to my aunt and uncles beach house right on the inter coastal where you are sure to see dolphin playing around and Greyson got to meet one of his new cousin, Laylee. He loved her!
We really had a great weekend! Anyways, here is a brief glimpse of the fun we had.

Happy {belated} St. Patrick's Day

Well, happy {belated} St. Patrick's Day. It has been a whirlwind few weeks for my family. We spent part of St. Patrick's Day and the following morning in the ER with our little guy. After three weeks of being sick he is finally doing better.... which means all three of us are doing much better! My family has always taken St. Patricks Day pretty seriously. It was my cousin Sara's birthday so we were always together celebrating. Every year since she was born she had a leprechaun on her cake and my grandparents wore shirts that said "Kiss me. I'm Irish." along with green pants. Thats right, green pants. This was the first St. Patrick's Day without both of my grandparents so I decided that Greyson would carry on the Irish shirt tradition. Luckily, earlier in the week we went on a walk around our neighborhood and captured a few pictures of him sporting his shirt. This picture is one of my favorites because it captures his fun, contagious belly laugh.