I finally got around to uploading and editing our photos from Thanksgiving. I loved everything about this day. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I loved writing about it.

Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it; cooking and eating delicious food all day long until you can’t eat anymore, spending quality time with my family and friends, having my husband home for his short vacay. It’s all about family and I am so grateful for mine. Last year, we spent our Thanksgiving with Jason’s uncle’s family, but this year we decided to do something different. We celebrated this beautiful holiday just the four of us, at home. Our 1st Thanksgiving. As a family. Our family.

But before we even got to cook for ourselves, we also started a new tradition for our family. Jason found a great organization called, Operation Turkey, that help the homeless here in Austin. We all got up early and headed out to Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill in downtown to see what was in store for us.

We made it just in time (volunteers have to be there by 830AM at the latest) and got in line to help. The line was long and so was the wait.

We waited about 45 mins. The line kept getting longer and longer. It was so nice to see people of all ages come out to serve to those in need.

Of course, Jalen made some friends along the way. This is Hannah. She’s a student from Baylor.

She was there with her roommate and her family. Really sweet girls.

Hannah was nice enough to take a family photo for us.

My mom is really camera shy, but I convinced her to let me take one photo of her with Jalen and Jason.

As we came around the corner, we saw a huge pile of useful items that people have donated on this day.

But what stood out the most wasn’t the pile of clothes, shoes or socks… What really stood out in my eyes was this little boy. He stood in front of this pile looking for something… perhaps something he can take? Wanted? He captured me for a moment and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

I watched him carefully from a distance and within few minutes, his face lit up a little when he saw a pair of frog rain boots that appealed to him. I didn’t know if he was alone or if his parents were around also looking for something to take with them… All I could do at that moment was to hold back my tears in order to stay composed. Homelessness hits home especially hard for me when I see a young child like this boy. I wish we lived in a better world where kids didn’t have to suffer so much. They are too innocent and precious to live their lives this way.

By the time I finished photographing this boy, we were at the entrance to enter the venue to start our work.

We were given these To-Go containers to collect all the fixings. Many kids spent all morning writing their lovely message to go along with every meal for the homeless. Totally warmed my heart.

As we finished, we were walking back to our car and we came across this homeless guy with his companion. I asked if I could photograph him and his buddy and he was delighted to pose for me. He even had his friend sing for us.

The smile on his face was apparent that they really do love & need one another. He might be homeless, but he has a friend that gives him unconditional love. And with that, he is loved and content.

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” – Mother Teresa