10 days from an answered prayer

Tomorrow we will be 10 days away from closing on our new home. 

10 days away from God fulfilling a promise He made us when we got married. 

10 days away from something prayed for for over a year. 

10 days away from moving out of our storage unit life style we had for 3 months. 

10 days. 

I want to remember the days that I prayed for this day to come. 

I want to remember how faithful God was even when I felt like He wasn't listening. 

I want to remember all the circles I made thinking I knew the right direction. 

I want to remember how God saw us through a time we had no idea which way to go. 

10 days from having a miracle home. 

I hope this home is filled with Gods love. 

I hope the beds are never empty, the table is always full & the living room is never silent. 

Reed and I prayed for this home. We asked God over a year ago to provide a home that was us. That would have enough space to host many friends, to allow us to pursue our passions and to help us bring home our Nica Nugget. 

10 days we can start that again. 

10 days we can pick up our journey towards our family. 

10 days a long almost 6 month journey of uncertainty will become a long journey of establishing roots and producing good fruit! 

Why It Is So Hard to Write a Thank You

Well dang y'all.
I had every intention of blogging my mind away through this adoption, but honestly it has been heavier than I thought. My mind is so full that trying to figure out what to share when was just another "thing" I didn't need to add to my life. BUT this morning I was sitting here for about the 30 millionth day in a row saying "tonight I'm going to write thank you notes", but spoiler alert I'm probably not going to write a single thank you tonight and here is why.

ADOPTION IS HARD.

That is the short of it. Adoption is hard, it seems like a beautiful God calling that shows you His provision (and it does) but it is also the heaviest thing we have ever done. We sit here thinking every day, morning in my quiet time, every free minute, about what life will be like when we bring our nugget home. We have been preparing for 6 months now, but there is still no "sign" of a little one, just more paperwork to put together, more questions to answer... more waiting.

So while we are unbelievably grateful for the gifts, the encouragement, the financial blessings, it is just a little hard to write a genuine thank you right now. And we believe whole heartedly that those that have been involved need a genuine thank you, not a "thank you for your gift, what a perfect blessing! Follow my blog for more updates!". We want to find the words to express how much it means that because of what they have given we are able to confidently follow a difficult path to a family that we are more certain of than anything in our lives. That each dollar, gift, encouraging word has been affirmation that we are going the right way.

Right now I don't want to sit at the kitchen table and craft a thank you note. I want to get our nugget home. I want to have a phone call that we are on the list, that we have been matched, and that they are ready for us to come meet this already unbelievably loved little one.


If you have given to our family and not heard a response, we are sorry. Our southern families are probably cringing that it has been 6 months with no thank you sent. But trust me, your gift means more than we can put in to words. We WILL write you a note, and it will be a note from the heart and most likely stained with tears of joy.

Christmas in Nicaragua!!

This year for Christmas Reed and I went to visit family in Nicaragua. 

Yes you read that right, Reed and I have family in Nicaragua. Here is a quick explanation why.  Reeds family are full time missionaries that own a pineapple farm (Piñas de Paz) right outside of Managua Nicaragua. They have been there for about 10 years and it has been a HUGE part of Reed and I's relationship. If you've read any of "our story" you know I've know him almost my entire life and that we started dating while I was visiting his family in Nicaragua. So this country has a special place in our heats, not just because of the people or family but because it has some fun history for Reed and I :) 

I thought I would share some of our trip with you. And maybe some of you will find this country as beautiful as I do and think about visiting my family and their ministry :) 

Basically we had an awesome trip. This was our 3rd visit for Christmas (and my 7th trip in general) but the first where we stayed at the farm for the entire trip. It is a stunning place and was such a delight to stay for the holidays. We didn't plan a lot other than spending time with family. Reeds siblings where all able to come down too so it made the holidays extra special!  

Our first day Reed and his dad got to go on 2 dove hunts and it was a dream come true for Reed. So much so that he came back and picked me up asking me to come along and document the day. This picture shows the field we were hunting and you can see one of the local volcanoes on the sky line. 

Also, check out that view! Thats what we woke up to each morning & yes, where I brushed my teeth :) 

One of the excursions we got to take was to see the Christmas lights in down town Managua. It was CRAAAZY like seriously that Christmas tree was massive! (if you look closely you can see people in the bottom left corner of the second picture.) Our nephew was so cute while checking out the lights! 

Reed and I took some time to recap some of our best memories in Nicaragua. It was really fun to go back and do a few things that we did when we first started dating 7 years ago. The photo on the left was where we had our "first date". We went on a boat tour around some of the islands in Lake Nicaragua. We toured it again this year with our family. The other two photos, with the water fall, are from where we had our first kiss! Reed and I took the tripod and hiked back to the water fall this trip and took some really fun photos. I could have easily overloaded you with cheesy not so great quality pictures but instead I picked two of my favorite :)

One of the things I had never done in all of my 7 visits was take a "real" hike through the jungle around my in-laws farm. Reed goes every year with Juan Carlos and hikes around looking for iguanas and doves. So this year I told Reed I wanted him to take me, just on a beginner level hike. Non of that scaling mountains type junk. As you can see Reed didn't hear my request other than I wanted to hike in the jungle. We hiked 2 hours in to the jungle and 2 hours back out. It doesn't seem like thats too far but just look at what I had to climb through.... The picture on the left doesn't look so bad but basically I'm walking up stairs constantly, thats how steep it was. Do you see the blue and white dot in front of me?? Thats Juan Carlos, he was a beast and I totally couldn't keep up...

To explain the other 3 "hiking" pictures. We came to a spot in the canyon that was nothing but a stone wall with some branches leaned up it. I thought for sure we would turn around... Nope those branches are there to function as a ladder!!! So inventive. The first picture shows that not only did we scale a rock wall with sticks for help, but we also had to make sure we didn't fall back in to that black hole of nasty, nasty, water. The second and third are of me being super unsure of myself while watching Juan Carlos scurry up in rubber boots. But I did it and Reed was so proud he documented it :) 

Basically our Christmas was spent sipping rum and coke, eating fresh pineapple, soaking up the sun, creating exciting memories, and enjoying the company of family in our favorite place! Those 10 days where so fun and relaxing, Reed and I are so grateful for the opportunity we have every other year to travel down to Nicaragua. Now that we are back in the States and trying to get back in the groove of "ever day life" writing this post was a good break. How was your holiday with the family, any new and fun memories made???

Bloom Where You Are Planted - year in review

WHEW! When did 2014 disappear? I mean for real I feel like we just moved here and started life in the boonies, but it's now been over a year and a half!!

2014 has been a year full of lessons.
Lessons on life, love, and laughter (cheese ball, sorry). In all seriousness looking back on the year I've realized that Reed and I (mostly me) have learned a lot about growing up and living life. I believe we truly have finally started to bloom where we were planted :)

To give you an idea of how much we have grown here is a quick review of some of my big lessons I've shared with y'all here in blog land!

 Learned to control my social media tendencies and challenged myself to be a Supportive Wife On and Off Line. 

 Realized that my pride was hurting me and talked about how that realization changed my life.

Started the Envelope Budget! It may not sound exciting but it has been a HUGE help, and exciting experience :) 

Went to New York City!!!

Had an amazing summer with so much fun I didn't post about it :) oops! 

Took part in my first ever craft festival and it was a hit!

Rebranded myself to help shake out some big ideas. 

OPENED UP A STORE! 

The biggest and most exciting part of my year. 

It's a seasonal shop and I plan on doing an update on it again in the new year. Who woulda thought that at 24 I would be business owner, complete with taxes :) 

If you look back at my "blog year" I didn't do much. But if you look back at my LIFE so much has happened! I'm excited for 2015 and all that we can learn and achieve with another years time! I hope each of you learned lots and enjoyed your 2014 year but I hope even more that you will learn to bloom where you have been planted in 2015! 

Bring Joy to You

Today I planned on sharing another DIY project with you. I've never done so many DIY or project posts in a row but with all this time on my hands recently I've been able to make loads of little updates and have turned each in to a post to share with y'all! I love doing that, but I felt like I needed to swing back in to sharing something deeper than surface paint and my failing project was the perfect push back. 

Flying King Ranch, York SC (Reeds job)

I started this blog to share my endeavors as a young artist in art school. Then I moved in to sharing my crafty projects around the house and promoting my ETSY shop. I've used this space to share my life and I am so thankful that I have it! 

I hope this blog is a place you can come to find inspiration and joy.

For about a month now I've been singing this song constantly, Garden by NeedToBreath. The lyrics below have hit me hard as I've been out in the boondocks with nothing but time. I think about it almost daily. So sharing with you seemed right.

Let the songs I sing
Bring joy to you
Let the words I say profess my love
Let the notes I choose
Be your favorite tune
Father let my heart be after you

I'm not musical at all. I don't play an instrument and I don't sing unless the music is louder than my voice, (or i'm in the car by myself). So songs, notes, and tunes aren't words that I use on a normal everyday basis. But I realized that the things I do use on an everyday basis like paint, social media, my blog, and every imaginable craft supply are all pieces that God has placed in my life for a reason.
He gave me the creativity that I use everyday and has given me the passion to pursue art so that I can bring joy to you.

I really think when they wrote bring joy to you they meant more than bringing joy to God. Yes that is huge and I want to give Him all the glory for what He has given me the ability to do. Not only has He given me a bit of creativity but He has blessed Reed and I with every dream we could have come up with. I have a studio in the back yard, and all the time I could want to create whatever I want because Reed was able to land his dream job right after graduation.

Who does this happen to? Why are we so lucky?? I don't know and I ask those questions so often. I don't understand Gods grace, mercy, or generosity. But I do know that I want people to be sure of where my joy comes from. I find my joy in creativity and using my hands to build, paint and cook but the ability to find that joy is only here because God has given me the ability and opportunity.

I hope that I can give YOU ALL joy with my gifts. I try to make my projects things that other people find interesting and maybe do for yourselves. My artwork is something that I try and price reasonably and my sculpture is something I want people to be drawn to and linger on the concepts each piece depicts.

All in all, I hope this blog is a place you can come to find inspiration and joy.
I want to give all the glory to God who has given me the chance to pursue my dreams. I hope that with each project and post people can see my joy and know that it's from The Lord!

Flying King Ranch

New Chapters

Long time no see! I've been thinking about yall for a long time now I've just needed to figure a little bit of life out before I got back to my regular posts :) 

I've been going non stop for the last 3 months. 

This busyness was expected and welcomed, but boy was it harder than I thought! 

Over the past few weeks not only have Reed and I made some big decisions but we have also had some major events happening around the house. I've had my senior show in Lee Gallery and had a sculpture be selected to be part of the Contemporaries Artist of the Year gala. Then Reed and I BOTH just took a walk across the stage of Little John and are now Clemson graduates! 

It was hectic and crazy but so amazing to share my graduation day with the man I share my life with. 

Even though I always wanted to get married in school it never crossed my mind that I would be sharing another mile stone celebration with the man I love. I still can't get over how cool it is that in less than a year and a half we will have gotten engaged, married, and graduated together! 

I love it!

I thought I would share some of the pictures as the beginning of all of my updating posts :)

Trust me I have a lot to catch you up on! 

It is so unreal to not be a student any longer. I mean seriously I've been nothing but a student for 17 years of my life, that means only FIVE years of not being a student and I wasn't even old enough to really remember those! WEIRD. 

But Reed and I are starting this new phase together, so it isn't as scary as I thought. God has blessed us beyond measure with support from friends and family and is pouring his blessings on us daily. 

I'm so proud of how we have sat down to discuss our plans with everything from budgeting to dreams. It is weird to be an official adult. I don't feel old enough at all. But I know the Lord is with us always. And one thing that is giving me the most comfort are the lyrics from a song we sing at church

"I know who goes before me

I know who stands behind

the God of angel armies

Is always by my side!" 

Knowing that no matter what Reed and I choose as our next step that God has already been there, and that he is going behind us, and standing beside us is SO unbelievably comforting. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us! 

My heart overflows

This morning my heart is overflowing with joy. 

I am able to sit and linger in this knowing that come this afternoon I will be diving head first in to a week full of all nighters and plenty of break downs in preparation for my first ever art show. 

Last night Reed and I got to celebrate a sweet friends new life as Man and Wife.

It was so fun to enjoy the beauty of marriage and the joy that good friends and music creates. 

So this morning after a long night I got to sleep in.

(not real late and not with Reed but still it was so refreshing!)

Waking up with the birds chirping outside was fabulous. I know I need to be working on my projects and getting ready for the show but I just wanted to take a minute and make a list of things telling yall why life is so worth living and that we should linger in the joy as often as we can!

1. Sitting with my warm puppy on the sofa as I type. She still is always touching and just sitting leaning against my legs.

2. It is nice enough to leave all of the doors and windows open in the house. I love spring!

3. I'm working towards something that I love and can't wait to continue making. Art is great!

4. In less than a month I get to celebrate another milestone with my man. 

Graduating college on the same day is going to be long but perfect!

5. The quite ability to sit and praise the one who makes this all possible. 

If you know me at all, you probably are extremely surprised that 5 days until my show goes up and I'm sitting here blabbing on about how much I love life. I know I'm surprised and I can't believe how calm I am!! If I was myself right now I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. 

BUT I am not myself because the Lord tells us not to worry. 

that everything has its time and that he takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field so just imagine how much more he will take care of us! 

Because I know these things in my heart, I can linger in the small moments of my life being fully confident that this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing :)

How we do "preppy"

So around our house we don't really do preppy. 

Its not that we don't like it, its just we are a little "different", my mom always described my style as classic with a twist. But a few weeks ago Reed and I went to the Carolina Cup. If you aren't from around here it is a horse race that has become an event that requires a certain southern dress code. The girls go traditional southern with bright colored sundresses (mostly Lilly Pulitzer) and large sun hats while the boys wear bow-ties, seersucker  and any other range of bright spring fashion. 

Of course Reed and I decided to be different and put our own swing on the Cup/Easter fashion. 

(This is a picture from the beginning of The Cup. Reed and I are on the right I'm in the crazy pants and Reed has on his homemade bow-tie). 

So, all that to say about a classically twisted style I thought I would share how we decided to dress Reed for the occasion. He doesn't own a bow-tie and we didn't want to go buy one because we didn't think he would ever wear it again. Obviously the only other solution was to make one :) 

First things first, I got some old bow-ties from my mom. And yes these are "not real" cause you don't actually tie them. But I took the bow off and used the strap to attach Reeds new bow. 

And here is the twist!

We didn't use fabric but decided to go with turkey feathers instead :)

So we laid them all out and found 6 that fit together relatively well and looked semi symmetrical. 

Then it was easy. We just hot glued three feathers together, one set for each side of the bow. 

And then hot glued them to the strap that was left over from the old bow ties. 

Then all that was left was to choose what to wrap around the center to make it look more finished. 

I was thinking that embroidery thread would be pretty to add a pop of color, or even twine to play with the rustic look. But we also saved the center from the old bow tie, which is what we ended up using. 

Here is my hansom man with his new completely custom bow tie! 

Its a little more old fashion than the others because of how straight it is but it totally fits him and he was so proud of himself. (PS. Reed made this one and I made the one below it)

This is the one I made wich was the same process just a little different in how I arranged the feathers. 

I also mixed feathers, Reed wasn't a fan he thought it should stay in the same bird family. But this one has turkey feathers that are fanned out a little more to make it a little wider and the light feathers in the center are duck feathers. I just thought the contrast was nice. 

Annnnnnnd finally I just wanted to share the family photo we took for Easter. 

First of all notice all the bow ties. It kills me, when did my family go preppy!! 

But I think we look fabulous and I'm glad that mom and I have stayed a little more "twisted" than the others :)