There are eight children in the Privette family, five boys and three girls, with 14 grandchildren and counting. I'd list out all of them for you, but you'd feel like you were reading a passage from the Old Testament, "Eleazar begat Phinehas, Phinehas begat Abishua, Abishua begat Bukki... "
The oldest brother is Robert and he is 40 years old, while the youngest is Joshua who is 24. (think about it... Dee spent almost 20 years either being pregnant or nursing!) Robert married Allison and they have four children, Coley, Kate, Elizabeth and Charlotte (Charlie).
Paul reached out to Robert and told him he had an idea. He explained that he wanted Robert to write out a Blessing for their youngest daughter Charlie. Then, Paul asked if he could photograph Charlie. He wanted to photograph just Charlie and he wanted no one else in the room but Charlie's mom, Allison. Paul wanted a fun and light-hearted environment so that he could pull out all the dynamics of Charlie's precious little personality. He hoped he could somehow capture in his photographs the gifts that are seen in Charlie and would soon be spoken in her Blessing.
Robert, Allison and the kids came over for dinner one night. We had tacos and chips and salsa so everyone was very happy. After dinner, the plan was that Paul would video each of them reading the Blessings they had written for Charlie. We snuck down to the office a few at a time. It was a team effort because we had to have constant "entertainment" for baby August upstairs.
What happened was even more beautiful than I could've imagined. They not only read their Blessing, even the children, but they went on to share organically why Charlotte is special. I was standing behind the door listening to the words that came pouring out of their mouths and it hit me, Charlie is turning five years old and her father and mother are telling her out loud that God made her different. Her life will be forever changed. Isn't this something every one of us want, and need, to hear?
Before you watch this video, I want to make sure you know that I realize these words are not normal. For most, including myself, these words would be impossible to think of, let alone speak out loud. For the past 40 years, Malcolm and Dee Privette have taught their children how to do this. My greatest hope is that through this blog YOU will learn how to give a Blessing in your own words. Starting in my next post, I will begin to share the elements that make up a Blessing. I will give you the knowledge that Malcolm Privette read about so many years ago in The Blessing book. Hang with me, it will be a journey, but I promise it's one worth taking.
Here is Charlie's Blessing.