On Monday we celebrate the birth of one of my two greatest inspirations for my work in photography. Our Llewelyn Garlough Johnson will be 20 years old and I am overwhelmed with love and emotion when I think about all she brings to my life. Her gentle loving ways and calm spirit so often helps bring me back to a place where I can move forward effectively. Her genuine love for all humanity and her willingness to be accepting is such a powerful reminder that we are so blessed to live a life so full of grace. I salute and thank you my Lulu for adding to this world gently and quietly.

I had the ultimate pleasure of working again with my friend Claire who turned one this week. She shares her birthday with another Soul child that was a special friend to me, Sydney. Claire brought her mom and grandma to my new studio and it was a time so precious, filled with laughter, tears and such joy in watching Claire show off her new clapping skills. She was sporting a nifty hat made by Grandma, which hid a lovely head of red hair. This little girl is so much fun to watch and to just drink up her smile is complete pleasure.

I had a marvelous evening with Sydney's mom and good friends Megan and Babs. It was so nice to hear about the amazing garage sale that netted $9000 to honor the life of dear Sydney. The money will find its way to helping in research and in providing other children with the costly message boards like the type that allowed Sydney to communicate after the tumor robbed her of the ability to speak. I am so thankful for the friendship of these 3 remarkable women and appreciate their input and encouragement. Sydney's parents have offered to speak as needed to tell their feelings about the work of Soulumination.

I was given the opportunity to speak to the nurses at the NICU at Tacoma General Hospital. It was an hour of much growth as the nurses always share so much knowledge while I try to guide them to ways of more effectively photographing the babies that are patients at this hospital. I hope to keep in touch and work through some issues around how to best capture images for the families.

Yesterday I was scheduled to work with a new Soul child at Children's here in Seattle but sadly the effects of the marrow transplant set in sooner that expected so we have to wait until this child is feeling better. While answering the many emails I receive daily and thinking I had until noon to complete my daily exercise regime, I got a call from Children's asking if I could come in for a family who minutes before had lost their precious son. Since my bags were packed anyway, I was changed and out the door in minutes and arrived to photograph a face of such beauty and peace that memory will forever be etched in my being, reminding me that life can flow into other dimensions at any time. The soft chanting and obvious love of the parents who were surrounded by a dozen caring nurses made the room one of peace and compassion. I feel blessed to have been a tiny part of the moment.

It was quite the week as I also had the most amazing "Science Tuesday" at Benaroya Research Institute. To say they are doing incredible work sounds trite when I think of what these people are accomplishing. I encourage you to read about this organization and to consider supporting their efforts. I was led to this institute through an amazing woman that I was honored to know clear back at good old Sequim High School, Brenda Handley. We recently reconnected through the loss of her sister in law, Krista, to ovarian cancer. Some of you know my heart is tied to the idea of someday leading a large fundraising effort to benefit breast and ovarian cancer research. With the recent loss of Krista and Mary, and the struggles with breast cancer that I have watched and sometimes recorded for my dear friends Donna, NoleAnn, Camary, Eileen, Lisa, Sheila and Jo, I am committed to finding a way to make a difference in this area.

I will post photos today of the beautiful boy, Conner who I met in the DC area as well and my almost 20 year old, Llewelyn. In love and peace, Lynette

As each new opportunity presents itself for me to share the story of the work of Soulumination, I find that I learn more than I share. In Cleveland I was driven to various locations by a most amazing and energetic 80 year old. Ralph volunteers to deliver for Meals on Wheels, he is a hospice volunteer that works with patients when their main care givers need a break and he has given over 80 pints of blood to his local blood bank. He drives a Prius, dreams of winning a lottery and building a totally 'green' home and has worked out how to donate his body to medical research when he dies. His personality and his joy in giving is truly inspiring. The tour of the hospice house run by Hospice of the Western Reserve was enlightening in many ways and was a great example of a group learning to watch the responses of their patients and improving and growing with that knowledge. It was so delightful to meet Celeste who had worked so hard to make sure my trip went well. Sharing time before my flight home to Seattle with her at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was special as we both were enamored with the fashion displays. The family of Katie Dolesh who sponsors the lecture series are obviously leaders in compassion in the Cleveland community. I will forever be thrilled that I spoke at their 10th anniversary evening.

When I returned home there was much to catch up on as there were numerous amazing emails. One from a new family, one from one of my brides who shared the fact that her dad is working with the Hole in the Wall Gang cancer camps and proposing I spend time with the kids once it opens, one from my contact Leslie setting up a time in May for a new child and her family, many from possible candidates for our adminstrative position, one from my friend Scott of the Palliative care unit at Children's asking about using the Soul photos in their new office and one from a midwest photographer who is overjoyed with the fact that she worked with her first family to start her efforts that are partly inspired by Soulumination. She has even had a second request and was asking for help in how to proceed effectively.

This mentoring part of Soulumination has been on my mind a lot lately. Its amazing to think of how many people have started doing similar work. I have the media to thank for this as its often that the photographers mention that they either read about the project in People or saw the piece on the Today show. It continues to trouble me that I see from a distance and even first hand that some people are not welcomming to new talent in this area, or they are condescending about the talent and approach of others in this field. When speaking and mentoring, either to groups or to individuals I try to keep reminding people that we are here to serve the families to offer something from our hearts and not for ourselves. To keep the mission purely to serving a need is my main goal, without other agendas or personal issues attached. Its not about how many we can serve but how well we serve, its not about one approach to photography being better than another and its not about enhancing the looks of the children that are so clearly already beautiful unless we are specifically asked to do so by a parent. I feel it is up to each of us to record the joy of a life, the uniqueness of each child and to do it in a way that honors the wishes of each family. After much reflection I realize that doing compassionate work indeed is something that must be a gift with no strings attached. I promise to strive to encourage others to step forward to do similar work and have made the first steps to incorporating other local photographers into the work of Soulumination. I daydream that in the future I will have mentored to the point that I will rarely receive requests for shoots because I have been deligent in replacing myself with many others who are moved to the work. I know I will never be totally away from this project in my lifetime but it will make me so happy if the opportunity for such photos is so readily available that the work is spread out amongst the talent in Northwest and across the country.

I will soon post photos of the trip to Cleveland. The Hospice of the Western Reserve has kindly offered to share some with me. I am most pleased to say that while I was away we completed the editing and preparation for delivery of photos and albums to 4 families. In love and peace, Lynette

I had a lovely Easter in Sequim with my parents, Doug, Llewelyn, my brother Phil and his family. It has been a rough 2 weeks healthwise for my mom, so it was just so nice to be with her. I leave tomorrow morning bright and early for the trip to Cleveland to speak to the volunteers of Hospice of the Western Reserve. It is the longest speech yet, and I am so hoping that the power of the stories will come through yet again to move hearts to even greater heights. The people attending this event will obviously have their spirits in the right place as they already volunteer in hospice and that is such a wonderful gift.

Deb Hamby and I took the show down from the walls at Glazers and had stored them away here in my studio. We are hoping to keep them moving through wonderful venues and with that thought in mind I click my email button to find a request from my dear friends and mentors at Palliative Care here at our own Children's hospital. They would like a number of the photos for display in their new office meeting room. I am thrilled as this group of people and this hospital have been the backbone of this project.

We are thankful that the Pediatric Archives will again show one of the Soul children on their cover. This time it will feature the attached photo of Andrew and his family. This photo makes me smile each time I see it as it was such fun to work with this group.

For the third time I had the pleasure of working with my new friend Camari and her husband today. We are documenting her progress through her treatment for breast cancer. It turns out that our reporter, John Sharify from KOMO had recently done a piece on Camari and her fellow fightfighters, so I emailed him to see if he could link me to that piece. He responded with the most wonderful news: "The story I did with you won the "Regional Murrow" for feature reporting for this year, I just got word. Your story and the stores of the moms and babies, also won the 'writing' award for Pat McReynolds.... and it won a National Press photography award for Jon Knorr, (my photographer) placing honorable mention for feature reporting in the nation! Emmy nominations coming up this Friday night!!! I'll keep you posted. best to you Lynette, John Sharify"

My board has been working hard creating a newsletter and screening applicants for the new hire we are looking for to work here at Soulumination. I am so thankful for this and the fact that we are starting to get grant applications sent out. We received such a lovely donation today from a long time client and friend who had been thinking about Soulumination while recovering from triple by pass. I have photographed her with her daughter and husband many times, plus we shared the joy of her being on a wonderful calendar that documented people who are surviving transplant recepients --- this generous and amazing young woman had a double transplant. It seems sometimes that those most challenged can also be the most caring and inspiring people. Thank you so much for your donation and your example Muff. In love and peace, Lynette

Sometimes great days start with the simplest pleasures. This morning at 8:45 one of my clients arrived with her third-born, a lovely daughter for me to record in all her glory on her first birthday. This special time was followed by a soft knocking on my door by my wonderful friend and fellow photographer, Kurt Smith. He brought me the most beautiful brown and green freshly laid eggs from his wife's chickens. Each time he shares these treasures I remember to be thankful for the simple pleasures of life.
I left shortly after this delivery to visit a new Soul family in the Tukwila area. I was greeted at the door by two stunning little girls and their lovely mother. There happened to be a most appealing hospice volunteer with them and she ended up being the most helpful and appropriate assistant. The dad soon made an appearance and I was introduced to their beautiful son. We took many shots of this beautiful boy. His whole being is so angelic. From this stop I headed toward Ronald McDonald house to take a set of photos of our pal Barry with his 14-year-old sister. It was great to see Barry outside the hospital and I was so pleased to see him walking and looking so chipper. Following this shoot I drove across the way to Children's Hospital to work with yet another new Soul family. This young couple has the most delightful and lively little one-year-old boy. His parents proudly told me that he had been given at best a 15% chance of survival and now they are looking to take him home to a life that promises to be one filled with many triumphs. This baby wowed me with his vivacious ways and stunning demeanor.
I arrived home to find that we have been awarded a grant from the Bellevue Rotary Club that will help finance family shoots for parents from the Eastside. As you can tell, we need to keep our funding flowing, as we are being approached for many new families and I would hate to think we would ever have to turn anyone away due to money concerns.
I am posting new photos from DC taken by board member Kelley. They show me with Elise and her family, as well as her nurse, Linny and Timothy's lovely cousin Rebecca. To be pictured with these folks moves me so much as they are indeed such a strong unit and they honor me with such welcomming kindness. I am getting ready for the trip to Cleveland where I will speak to a volunteer appreciation gathering for the Hospice of the Western Reserve. In love and peace, Lynette

Arriving home to find requests waiting from 3 new families made me realize just how this project is expanding locally and nationally. The project in DC that I helped launch will be run through their Children's hospital under the guidance of one creative and brilliant woman named Tina and her staff. They will be joined by the lovely Sarah Mattingly, who saw the piece on the Today Show and responded with such vision that she actually approached the hospital and will be the photographer's coordinator for their project. This celebratory project promises to be something of incredible scope, value and integrity for families in the DC area. Our show currently hanging there is so beautifully hung, and I had the thrill of watching people walk into the exhibit totally unaware that it had been hung. Watching the faces and the loving responses, the tears and the smiles certainly made the trip one I will forever treasure. To have Timothy's aunt and uncle, Naomi, Robert and their two children present, along with Elise and her entire family and nurse was such a thrill. These two families know the reality of living with a child with Tay Sachs, and Elise's nurse graciously took the stage to give a wonderful account of my time in New Jersey when I came to photograph Elise. My heart is overflowing with the sense that something so dear to my heart now has the heart of the nation's capital.

The first day in DC found me being whisked to Maryland by Sarah to work with a new Soulumination child. Conner's mom Desiree had contacted me after seeing photos of Joey and meeting Elise. It was a rewarding shoot, as I got to share it with Sarah, and she graciously took photos for our use that I am posting today. We will print and mount a few shots of Conner to add to the show back East, as Conner is a patient at that hospital and I think it will be wonderful to add a local child to the display.

I am so thankful to all the photographers in the DC area, to Kelley for joining me on the trip even though she herself fell ill and then helped her sister through unexpected surgery, and to Sarah and Tina for making this something so incredibly special. The tours Sarah provided of the DC monuments was perfect and I returned to Seattle knowing that the spirit of Soulumination will be flying high in the East coast.

With all the current requests I realize that we must be careful to raise enough funds to serve all who inquire. We will be sending out a newsletter soon that will highlight the work from the past year. If you would like to receive one, please send your mailing address. The cost to provide Soulumination service to one family is approximately $350. We have had wonderful support so far and hope that it will continue if we continue to honor each family and request to the best of our ability. The mounting and transporting of each show and the hours it takes to set up such an event is very time-consuming and costly, but again the educational aspect of all this should prove itself worthy of support. In love and peace, Lynette

I am in the middle of packing for the trip to open in show in Washington DC, but thought I would take a minute to share my thoughts from today. I looked up early in the day to see a young couple that I hadn't seen since photographing their family in Chidren's in December. It brought tears to my eyes to see them again and to so clearly recall the grace that filled the room in which we worked that sunny winter day. They are parents to three lovely little girls, the youngest of which passed shortly after I finished working with them. It was a touching moment when I fastened the lovely Gotcharm bracelet on her wrist today. They are considering sharing the story of their daughter and if they decide to do so I will post photos immediately, as they show their love so movingly. As with each family, they teach me by example and lead the way to working with more of these special angel babies.

I am posting a couple of photos from Barry's birthday party, one with his social worker and another with the special person who so generously provided the laptop computer.

Must finish all the chores before departure, in love and peace, Lynette