Portrait of a Family

We got to celebrate part of our anniversary with the whole Dopp family, accomplishing something which has been years in the making:  family pictures.  With the grandchild count officially complete at 25, it was time to capture the moment.  Marlene has been wanting to do this for a long, long time.  The photographer started with the two people who began the journey that would take them through six children and 25 grandchildren, with no end to the adventure in sight.  It was fitting that the photos were taken at a train station, in that it reminded me of a quote from Gordon B. Hinkley:  

"Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

I don't want to speak for Bruce and Marlene, but when Marlene got all choked up as all her kids and grandkids were arranged around her, I knew that what she and Bruce have accomplished along their "railway journey" has brought them a lot of joy and satisfaction.  It's been worth all the dust and cinders.

And the pictures were worth it too, after all the work and preparation.  (Huge thanks to Jennie Gus for arranging all this.  It took hours of research and coordinating.)  I think the last "parents and children" picture taken was literally the one that hung over the piano for so long, where Nikki is about six years old.  So...a lot of pressure to look good for this one if the replacement picture is slated for 2035!  Marlene wanted a color scheme of purple, dark green, cream, tan and mustard, to match the decor in her house.  Don't they all look sharp?  I love the colors!  That's a good-lookin' family!

Tziporah and Jersey weren't huge fans of holding still for a long time.  At one point, Scott let Tziporah down while we were arranging.  The next thing we knew, she was telegraphing from the back of the room, "I pooping, Daddy, Mommy!"  Great.  But look how cute she is!  We made sure the kids got something for Christmas that they could wear in the pictures, like this darling dress, but we were still running over to Coco's to borrow accessories the day before pictures.  No amount of planning can guarantee that seven kids will all look good at the same time!  But with the boys in their shiny new penny loafers and the girls in their carefully chosen mustard and eggplant, I was tempted to get as choked up as Marlene.

Twenty-five kids, and all of them perfect.

Scott took the four Bigs to 25th Street after pictures where they discovered great pizza by the slice and a new bubble tea place.  I love how fun it is to hang out with these kids.  Later, we WERE the kids, hanging out with Bruce and Marlene and the siblings for dinner at Dragon Hill and late-night Christmas cookies at their place.

My friend Catherine sent me a quote, "May all who come behind us find us faithful."  I loved it and found out it came from a song by Steve Green.  We just want Bruce and Marlene to know that we have come behind them and found them faithful, and we feel really lucky to have a spot in their family portrait.