The Human Hand

When I saw the call for entries for theme of the human hand for the TerrabellaMedia photo contest, I knew I had to enter this photo of my girls' hands.

Count the fingers!

My youngest was born without a thumb on her left hand. A few months before I shot this photo, in October 2010, surgeons at Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia gave her a thumb by moving her index finger to be her new thumb. She spent much of 2011 in occupational therapy, or "pinch-pinch" learning how to use it and was finished therapy in just 10 months rather than the expected 12-18!

My photo won third place in the contest!

Take a look at all the winners here

Beautiful and poignant photos!

praying hands

365--a photo a day of ordinary life

Photographer folks over on Facebook and in the blogosphere are participating in the 365 photography challenge: taking a photo a day on a theme of ordinary life.

My theme is "hands." Since Natalie had her hand surgery in October to give her a new thumb, I've been photographing her hands and progress, and thought this would be a good way to continue, but I will involve the rest of the family.

here are my first four entries:

Olivia playing her guitar

Natalie playing HER guitar

Olivia and the slinky

Natalie, playing with play-doh for therapy

You can follow along for the year over on my family blog