Maple Grove Maternity || Knoxville, TN || Bailey & Connor

A Maple Grove Maternity Session

This Maple Grove maternity session was last week when there was a thunderstorm rolling in every single evening. This couple is from Nashville though and can’t just reschedule to the next day of no rain. Since Bailey is already 35 weeks, pushing it any longer would turn it into a newborn session instead of a maternity session. So, what is there to do when the forecast isn’t in your favor and rescheduling isn’t an option? Pray. You pray, my friends. I’m not kidding when I tell you the dark clouds were literally ALL around us. On every single side of us except when we looked straight up, and there was an opening with some sunlight coming through. We shot their entire session, and when we were heading in to say goodbye to the wonderful owners, it started to sprinkle. By the time we were heading back out to our cars, it was monsooning. I know having the rain hold off for a maternity session is not a big deal to anyone not involved in this maternity session. It’s not some “modern day miracle” or some life saving event. For most of the people reading this, they are probably rolling their eyes at me, and that is 100% fine. But for me, in this career, weather is both unpredictable and a massive contingency. I’m not going to say I never get rained out because I absolutely do. When it matters, however, the Lord ALWAYS parts the clouds for us. It’s honestly baffling at how many times this has happened in my 12 years of shooting. Countless times. Too many times for one to chalk it up to coincidence.

While we’re on this topic, I also want to mention our camping trip this past weekend. We went to the campground on Friday. Friday was supposed to be the only pretty day that weekend. Storms were coming in Friday evening and were supposed to stay pretty much all weekend. I was hoping East TN weather would do it’s thing and reverse to the opposite at the very last minute, but sure enough, the storms came in Friday evening so we ate dinner in our tent. Hot, muggy, sticky, and smelly inside our tiny little tent with all five of us huddled in there. Afterwards, we went ahead and put the kids to sleep at 7:30 because what else are we going to do in the tiny little tent? Dustin and I laid on our side with our eyes closed. I muttered a puny little prayer asking God to clear the skies tomorrow so we could enjoy this weekend to its fullest. I felt selfish for asking this. Our entire street has brown grass from all the hot, dry days we’ve had for so long. We needed rain. I just wanted to explore and adventure with our kiddos in the mountains, and the rain was really messing that up. So, maybe just right above us, Lord? An hour passed, and Dustin and I rigged up an umbrella/tarp situation so we could sit in our chairs and listen to the rain outside of the hot, sticky tent. I checked the radar again. Rain rain rain. I told Dustin I prayed about it but that God probably laughed and was like oh…yeah…I’ve already put this into motion. I was kind of joking, but also kind of not. Preparing myself to be huddled under a tarp all day Saturday. We woke up, and sure enough, it was raining. The kids slept in, and right before they walked out of the tent, it stopped. I’m not kidding when I tell you it didn’t rain again for the REST OF THE DAY. Dead serious, guys. We went into Cades Cove and explored for hours. Went to a playground, had tacos and margs, came back to the campground and tubed down the river not once, but two times. Swam in the river. Cooked dinner over the fire. Rode bikes. Did ALL the fun outdoor things. Dustin and I hung out under the stars processing the day and how crazy it is that it never rained again. We checked the radar, and a thunderstorm was rolling in at 2am and would bring rain for the rest of the time. We laid our heads down that night, and sure enough, right around 2 am, we woke up to thunder rolling. I said a little prayer again. Please don’t let it crack right over us. You know what I’m talking about. Thunder rolling off in the distance is one thing, but when it cracks and booms right over your head, it’s enough to shake your house and make you jump. It never cracked over us. Not one single time. All three kids slept through the thunderstorm like it was nothing. We got up Sunday morning, and it wasn’t raining. We packed up without having to fight the rain and headed home. Amazed. I have no idea why I’m sharing this story here on Bailey and Connor’s maternity session blog, but I knew I had to share it. As unimportant as it is to probably every single person out there. Even in the tiniest of things, most insignificant moments, God still hears our prayers. He still listens and answers us. So, if we can trust Him with even these small things, why is it so hard to trust Him with the big things?

I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel…I shoot anywhere! Click here to contact me with any questions you have about pricing or booking! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!

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Newborn Session at The Studio at Fountain City

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