Cast Your Vote

Oh my. We certainly did not anticipate such a positive response for the Capturing the Everyday Photo Contest. Thanks to each of you for your thoughtful, creative, funny, touching submissions. Really, thank you. I wish we could post them all. I wish everyone could win. It was really hard to choose five finalists. . .

but we did it. And now that we've chosen five, we'd like you to help us select a winner. Please cast a vote (it will be anonymous) for your favorite photo in the poll on the sidebar.
We'll announce the winner Wednesday morning, so please do your voting by Tuesday evening.

1. Heather

"this is a recent picture of myself and my son Max, one of our twins. They were born at 32 weeks and 3 days (just 3 weeks ago!) and this was the first time I was able to hold him, more than a week after he was born. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe and weighed 3 pounds 10 ounces. His sister Kate was just 3 pounds. We have yet to hold them together and they have been apart since birth. They are still in the NICU learning how to eat but doing well!"

2. Mandi

"I like to follow my boys around the backyard with my camera-- most of the time I'm deleting the pictures because they're all the same. And then sometimes, I get some favorites. This is one of them, and it also happened to be one of those family moments where everything seemed just perfect in life."

3. Sally

"I wasn't going to enter your contest because I have been so busy, but this morning I suddenly felt like I should...

I took this picture with the idea that it captured the true essence of having small children. Dirty table and spilled juice. Then my dear friend came by after her first OB visit to deliver the news that there was no heartbeat. Now the grape juice stain reminds me what a miraculous gift my three children are."

4. Catherine

"I may not have beautiful children to photograph but I still have things that fill my everyday life. I take care of my house, my husband and my garden. That's it, my life, everyday. This picture shows the abundance of my life. The beauty and variety that is my garden."

5. Joan

"This photograph represents a monumental leap for me into the realm of Motherhood. It captures a day, an hour, when I let go of concern for all things seemingly "important" to me: control, cleanliness, and order. It was one of our happiest hours."

And for fun, here are a couple more of our favorites:

"Eliza and Her Apple" from Christina



from another Christina :)

"Two months ago my husband was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and we started an aggressive chemotherapy treatment. I haven't taken many pictures of these last couple months-I haven't really WANTED to remember this time in our lives. After reading your posts it really hit me that while this is a scary time, we will come out of it stronger. By recording this time in our life through pictures and journaling, maybe we'll remember how hard it was and be more grateful for what we have in the future: health, our faith and each other. This week I took a picture of Danny and Lucy. It isn't particually a great picture-it is simply a wonderful moment in our week. Danny is usually too sick to do much with us, but this week he put in a little vegetable garden with Lucy. Only two year olds think its okay to wear a tu tu while gardening!"



from Honey

"This photo makes me laugh because it IS everyday. Never thought I'd be taking a picture of breakfast. So, here it is, breakfast for my 5 chickadees."



"Caught Red Crayon-did" from Danielle

"Avery's creative exploits are keeping my magic eraser busy, but I love those little visual reminders that she is here...her own little independent self...part of our family."

Oh, you guys, there were literally fifteen other photos that we loved, that we want to share. Maybe we'll just post a random "Everyday Shot" now and then so you can all see how wonderful the entries were. Hmmm, I'm really liking that idea...

Thank you so much for participating. Your contributions reminded me that life - the hard, and the funny, and the messy, and the beautiful - it's all worth capturing.

And treasuring.