(2019 series) Fine art print on 1.5” gallery wrap canvas, black border edges.

Nellie’s story:

Never will I forget the words we exchanged.

Her great-grandson had been on the verge of death when Mwana met them months before. Nellie was the sole caretaker, yet crippling arthritis, nearly-gone vision, and borrowing days now over 25 years past the expected life expectancy for a Congolese woman meant it would be impossible for her raise this child. This would be to date Mwana’s first and only family relinquishment so that her great-grandson could be adopted.

I showed her pictures of my children, well enfolded into our family, glowing and thriving. I told her that her great-grandson would be dearly loved, forever cared for, cherished as a beloved son. And he would be told of his great-grandmother. She cried. She prayed. She praised. She mourned.

One day…that which made this moment of beauty also so very breaking will be no more. The hope holds in the midst of the broken.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,

neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,

for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4