When a Tennessee photographer’s daughter, aged 6, reached a meaningful milestone at school, the loving mother organized a touching photoshoot to ring in the occasion.
Stephanie Mullowney has long championed children with special needs through her company, Paperdolls Photography, and on the occasion of her daughter Hannah Grace’s kindergarten graduation, the little girl was the star of the shoot.
“You all know how important these pictures of my precious girl are,” Stephanie wrote, “because you know how far she’s come to be able to wear this cap and gown.”
In Hannah Grace’s beautiful photos, the excitable kindergarten graduate is pictured with a glittering balloon and confetti in the air. In one photo, she raises her fists to the sky in triumph; and in another, she prays sweetly, with her head bowed and hands clasped.
In the heartwarming post, Stephanie regaled living in Maui, Hawaii, while pregnant with Hannah Grace. Her doctor, she said, gave her the option to abort her baby based on the possibility of her having Down syndrome. Stephanie refused all testing and gave her doctor “a resounding ‘No.’”
Hannah Grace was born in the spring of 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. Stephanie, suddenly a single mom, struggled in the days and weeks following her baby’s birth, as her husband left them when Hannah Grace was just 5 days old.
Stephanie knew she disagreed with her husband, seeing joy and value in her daughter from the very beginning. The besotted mom has watched her daughter go from strength to strength ever since, and kindergarten graduation was an added affirmation for both mom and daughter that Hannah Grace can do whatever she sets her mind to.
Bit by bit, Stephanie says, her daughter is overcoming “incredible shyness” and showing the world what she truly is.
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