Brinley
Brinley's Mermaid Session was pure magic and over-the-top in all the best ways.
This month’s session starred Brinley, a sweet and spunky 7-year-old who is currently in maintenance for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She started with an hour of glam with the fabulous Tarah Cahalan and Katie Cusick. Hair, makeup, and nails have never looked so good!
The Mt. Hood Center in Boring was the perfect venue for setting up balloon arches and hay bales, and this session was full of all the princess cowgirl fun you could imagine - complete with her very own princess dress, cowgirl hat and boots, stick horses, bubbles, dancing and playing with her brother, and even real miniature horses to pet and ride!
Evy’s family has been so kind and appreciative, saying, “WOW...Amy and her team outdid themselves!! A few months ago, I was contacted that Evy had been nominated for this special photo session and it was amazing!! Complete with 2 mini horses and some special gifts custom for my girl. My heart is full and gave us a moment to not think about her disease...Thank you Amy and your team for today."
After changing into the most beautiful mermaid dress, Brinley was more than ready for pictures! She posed and played seamlessly with our mermaid sets, which included a large clam shell, balloon arches, a large lit letter B, bubbles, confetti poppers, and beach balls.
Angela Mooney from Wilma Jean Creations created and gifted the most darling crocheted mermaid doll and turtle for Brinley. It was such a special addition to the afternoon.
Brinley had an outfit change into a personalized t-shirt made and donated by Hood and Pine Boutique, and Katie Cusick changed her hair an additional two times!
Pretty Good Printing from Salem, OR created and donated the incredible backdrop with inspirational words so that every ROHP kid can get shots in front of it. We ended with pictures in front of these inspirational words while we listened to her theme song, "Fighter," by Rachel Platten.
Brinley’s family showed so much appreciation for our time with her. Her mom, Heather, shared with us, "This whole experience meant the world to us. We all felt so loved the whole time, and Brinley had so much fun. You went above and beyond our wildest dreams of what we thought this experience would be. These past two years have been pretty traumatic, but to have this opportunity to have Brinley be totally spoiled, and to have just the joy and happiness radiate through her in these pictures means so much to me."
Special thanks to…
We could not do these sessions without our incredible volunteers working behind the scenes before, during, and after the sessions!
Thank you to Tarah Cahalan and Katie Cusick for being the most amazing glam squad to our little mermaid.
Thank you to Sarah Christian, Allison Foxworthy, Jamie Gallagher, Kristina Gershom, Chelsea Hungate, Carol Thompson, and Ashley Warren - our set-up and tear-down crew - for your amazing skills at transforming a blank space into the most beautiful sets for Brinley (and for taking them all down again!) and for all the support and help you offered during the session.
I am so grateful to the people and businesses so generously donating their time and talents to these Ray of Hope Portraits Kids! Thank you to…
Hood and Pine Boutique for creating and gifting the personalized t-shirt for Brinley.
Winsome Parcel for making and gifting bath and body goods for Brinley’s mom.
Wilma Jean Creations for making and gifting the cutest crocheted mermaid doll.
Pretty Good Printing for creating and donating the inspirational words backdrop we get to use in all our sessions.
Thank you to those who generously donated items from Brinley’s Amazon wish list!
And a special thank you to Kari Timmerman for designing graphics and the personalized invitations we send to all ROHP kids before their sessions.