Lanie Jo & Nica Nugget update

Many of you have sent us sweet gifts and words of congratulations and encouragement as we welcomed home our little Langdon Jo on April 19th. We can't believe that we are parents!

The same week we welcomed home Lanie Jo we received more news about our Nica Nugget. Nicaragua slowed their adoption program back in 2017, the country actually declared that they no longer have an orphan problem. They changed all of the orphanages to daycares and were not matching children with waiting families unless they had special needs. While this was discouraging we continued to move forward knowing that with our in-country connections that we have a decent chance of being matched quickly.

The week we brought Lanie Jo home we found out that Nicaragua was struggling with more than a confusing decree in regards to adoption. In the middle of April Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, made a social security reform that led to political upheaval. We have known that Nicaragua struggles with political divides but this brought the divide to a new, and scary, level. We are thankful that the Nicaraguan people are stepping up for their rights, freedoms, and hope but are also saddened that it took violent protests and the loss of 63 lives. As the Nicaraguan people call for Ortega to leave office so they can move back towards democracy for the first time in years, many protests and demonstrations took a scary turn including burning buildings, violence towards student protestors, and tens of thousands of people in the streets.

Now as you can imagine, this upheaval has rocked this country and in turn, has completely stopped any movement for adoption. In fact, one of the buildings that has been burned housed, Mi Familia, the Nicaragua adoption program. We are still waiting for news and praying that this is resolved quickly and peacefully. We are ready for adoption to be open again. Our hearts break thinking about the orphans that are not getting matched with families because of political issues.

It hurts to think that our nugget could be caught in the middle of this. We have been praying that God protects the people of Nicaragua, our dear friends that live there, and that our future child and their birth family remain safe. We have no way of knowing what will happen or how long it will take for Nicaragua to see peace and open up adoption again. However, we are fully confident that we are meant to adopt from this country. That God called us here to wait on our nugget as long as it takes. We are grateful to have Lanie Jo home and healthy as we pray for her future sibling.

Gathering & Growing

If you are here, it is probably because you saw our social media post about growing our family.  We have been so excited to share this news but also savoring the time with just a select few knowing our little secret.

We knew that when we decided to share this news with "the world" that there were going to be lots of questions. It was no longer going to be whispered about among friends and so many people were going to immediately ask about our adoption. So, we knew when we found the right time to share that we needed to take that opportunity to speak and share about our wonderful and unique situation of being pregnant while in the midst of adoption.

To answer the big burning question everyone asks right off the bat, YES- our adoption is still happening and YES we are still right on track.

Now, the biggest thing I want everyone to know is that we are adopting because God called us to and we are growing a little baby because God called us to. He put the desire to adopt a little nugget from Nicaragua on our hearts and opened up door after door to make sure we knew adoption was His plan for our family. Then this summer, He called us to take another step of faith and to grow our family biologically. From the moment Reed and I decided to "talk" about growing our family we said our first priority was to follow God and let whatever we do be for HIS glory. We want our children, adopted or biological, to know that our "family plan" was to grow up children that know and feel the love of God each and every day no matter what their story.

Each of these children is a miracle. We can't wait to meet them both and have these two pictures of our faith be forever in our family. But they are a miracle because they were both knit together by our amazing Father. We are not adopting because we could not get pregnant and we did not get pregnant because we are adopting. We are pregnant and adopting because God wrote an amazing story that we get to live out and share with the world.

Adoption and pregnancy are both a journey that not every family has the joy of experiencing. We know that many families adopting may struggle to get pregnant. Or that adoption may come up later after biological children. We want to savor every moment of both of these journeys and remember that God has us on them, at the same time, so we can share His family story.

The Perfect Combination

Once upon a time I blogged on a daily basis, about every single change in my space.

Obvs that doesn't happen anymore! Maybe sometimes change is just too big to catalog as it is happening. that sounds good, lets go with that. 

So - no DIY tutorials today but I do want to share my most favorite room in our little Chapin Casa!

The living room. The first room our guests see. The room we cuddle in to watch TV. The room that is always the perfect balance of crazy outdoors man and artistic color lover. 

But seriously, we have never seen a room that felt like such a perfect combination between the two of us. 

This little 1940s charm filled house has elements that just begged us to put our stamp on. The light in this room makes my art collection pop. Painting the brick gauntlet grey by Sherwin Williams gave contrast to our 1800s original chippy paint mantel that we brought from York. Oh and that entry wall in that smooth grey made Reeds european mounts seem straight out of a western decor magazine. 

Cozy texture and meaningful pieces has this room feeling like it has always been home.
Vintage chairs - recovered by fabric picked out by my mom and aunt.
Kerosene can lamp- made with an old can found in our previous back yard.
Animal mounts from Reeds many adventures.
Art from my grandma and me.
childhood trunk turned coffee table.

I can't tell you how to replicate this room, or link to the sources for you to get your own treasure. But I can tell you that decorating should be done with pieces you love. When a home is filled with love and pieces picked by people you love then you can't go wrong! Collect memories not things and your house will be a home. 

So We Called

Doesn't it feel good when things start to slow down? When you feel like you are starting to get your footing and that maybe just maybe you can relax soon? Well, Reed and I are getting there. We are in our new home - amazed at the way God provided us with this dream of a place to call our own.
We are breathing again.

As we get comfortable in our new home, new jobs, new church - NEW LIFE,  God reminded us that we are not called to be comfortable.

Friday we received an email from our adoption agency stating that there were two little girls, 2 1/2 and 1, that needed to be matched immediately due to medical needs.
I about had a heart attack. I wanted to get sick, cry and jump up and down all at one time.
I couldn't believe that we got this email, I mean we aren't event done with all of the paperwork!
I called Reed in a panicked frenzy unable to make any rational decision at that point.
We discussed if we felt like we could event ask for more information. What if we asked to move forward to learn more about these precious babies and then got scared, if there needs were something we couldn't meet. Would we have the wisdom to know that and to make the right decision for us and them?? Of course Reed reminded me of what we said as we started this entire process over a year ago. We are pursing this adoption until God says to wait.

So we called.

I cried in my office as I tried to figure out what todo. All I could think about was if I was about to become a mom. Was I ready for this? Would I be able to handle this? We just moved in - would our home be ready for this little one? My heart was racing and I was totally not functioning at full speed for remainder of the work day (sorry boss man!). So we prayed, prayed, prayed and prayed.

We received the medical records of both little girls. My heart sank but I could breath. These precious little ones had already had a hard life with many issues that would take many many many visits to specialists. I knew immediately that neither of these girls where our little nugget.

My heart hurt. I wanted it to be our baby. I wanted to see them and the records and know that we were nearing the finish line. But instead God showed us clearly that these babies needed a different family. I was scared that I wouldn't know what to do- that I wouldn't know how to say no to a baby that needs a home. And as I write this I still feel like that sounds so heartless- our home is better than an orphanage right? Yes, but if we had continued to move forward with these girls it would have been for selfish reasons. We would have done it because WE wanted a baby, because WE wanted the process to be over, because WE wanted to celebrate with all of you.

Those are not the reasons to adopt a baby.

So God once again showed us that He is in control. That we are not to get comfortable and feel like we know whats happening. We need to lean on Him. Look to Him in every situation. He is going to build our family when it is time. He IS building our family! These girls may not have been ours, but we are trusting and believing that our little Nugget is out there waiting on us.

So thats the day I almost became a mom.
That God gave us wisdom beyond what we could have done on our own.
That God reminded us that this thing we call life is all in his hands.


So we didn't get matched with our Nugget. But we saw a real baby at the end of all this paperwork - God gave us a glimpse of the day that we will become parents. I'm thankful for Him and His wisdom, and how He works to forever show us His mighty loving hand.

YouCaring Fundraising Page

Chapin Casa

Well hello!
Welcome to our Chapin Casa :)

Yep, we have been in our new house for 1 week today.
We have prayed about this house for over a year. Well, maybe not this house but the house we would call home and begin to build our family in. We prayed that each room would be filled with joy and love, that the dining room would be large so we could host many and that the bedrooms would be cozy and welcoming.

We thought we knew the home we prayed for. I even walked countless circles as I prayed over each room around that home we thought God was giving us. God just kept closing doors. First it was the ranch, then it was York, then it was one house after another in Chapin. I just couldn't understand what was "wrong" with those homes, those plans we made. They were good!

Well it turns out that God had a better plan. I know - I "knew" that. We believed it, which is why we were willing to move from a place we loved for the unknown. But I don't think I really  understood what that could mean. What did better than what I wanted look like.

Well let me tell you! Better than my plans looks like a home built in 1944, remodeled in 2013 but kept the original floors, doors and all the fabulous molding. Oh yeah and did I mention it also sits on an acre of land less than 10 minutes from the highway?

So basically, I was settling for what I thought was "doable" and "good". But thankfully we have a father that works MIRACLES and expects GREAT! This home is better than we could have hoped for. Which makes me now truly understand Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine...

Photo credit to the wonderful Lydia McCaulley Photography

PS. You are about to see lots of house related posts!

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! 

Blessings

Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed!
Isaiah 40:4-5

My heart and mind has been heavy with words recently. Weighed down with things I'm not too sure how to share, or if I even want to share. For most of December I was in denial that our life was being changed forever. I had prayed really hard for things that were good, for us to remain in a community that was an obvious blessing from God. Reed and I had also prayed that we would live a life so full of faith that no one could deny the Lords work. 

Well, you know that saying "Be careful what you pray for"? Well it's true :) haha 

God answers prayers, and boy did he answer our prayers, just not how we thought he would. 

God is showing us the truth in his promises. The verse above, Isaiah 40:4-5, talks about how God will make the valleys and mountains flat and the path smooth. He hasn't taken out all of the obstacles but we are seeing how the valleys and mountains we had to go through are becoming an answer that we had been looking for. 

Settling in Columbia, both of us have new jobs. Jobs that are bringing us more income. Income that is allowing us to purchase a home that we can grow our family in. God is good and is making the rough ground even for us to carry home our little Nugget. 

We can not wait to see the next steps. To get in our next home, to find a rhythm again. To finish our paperwork, get on the match list, and meet our little precious nugget! We can see how God answered our prayer of living a life of faith and our quest to find a home for our family, we just didn't know it would be in a different city. We hope he continues to reveal himself to us, to give us wisdom as we move forward and to guide our steps on this crazy journey of faith!

I did a quick little update on our fundraising page. Feel free to check it out! 

https://www.youcaring.com/baby-lathrop-594503

I was living an "it's all gonna be okay" gospel

Yesterday was hard. I was angry, hurt, confused, and just flat out annoyed that we still don't have answers to some pretty big issues. I was on my way home from work feeling sorry for myself, wondering why the heck is this all happening, why hasn't it started to get better yet?! Honestly, I felt like Reed and I had taken some big steps of faith. We have listened well and been bold in our faith, so like we passed the test! We already checked those boxes. It is now time for things to start falling in to place.

I basically thought I understood God, that I knew if I did A B and C that He would respond with D E and F. Nope. Thankfully I am surrounded with friends, that don't just let me wallow in my own thoughts. When I voiced these feelings I got this response back:
"Living by faith does not automatically mean we get what we want. The true test of faith, is living it even when we can't see an end in site". 
Dang it.

Why does that have to be true, wouldn't it just be easy to live an "it's all gonna be okay" gospel? Thats what we preach isn't it! Live by faith, then God will make it all better again!

This isn't totally true.

This morning I read the story of the false prophet Hananiah, the people of Judah had just experienced ruin, their homes, everything they knew was destroyed they were in exile. Hananiah declared, "two years! Everything will be fine in two years, God told me!" Meanwhile, the people are hurting and homeless and everything is not okay.
The people had a problem that needed to be addressed, they had work to do, and they needed to LIVE OUT not merely proclaim their faith.

This is us.
The Lathrop family does not need a truthless pep talk to get through this difficult time. We need to live a life that calls peoples hearts to the gospel, that reveals a God who listens, pursues, engages and rescues. Our God isn't going to simply replace what we have lost, He is pursing our hearts, drawing us closer to him, revealing himself to us and promising restoration in His time.

Reed and I will continue to live a life of faith, to call out to our God and search for Him with all our heart, to know that restoration will come, and when it comes it will come in a way we can not deny it is from our God.

There is faith to be lived out not merely proclaimed.

November: a time for change.

This November we are finally seeing the seasons change to cooler temperatures and beautiful leaves change color, we are also electing a new President, but the biggest change happening in our family doesn't involve politicians or the weather.
Reed and I made the decision back in the Spring to pursue adoption. With this new pursuit to grow our family we sought out wise counsel and decided we needed to make a few changes to prepare our family and home for our new addition. Those changes involved Reed job hunting and us house hunting all at the same time, and taking one giant leap of faith that God will provide exactly what we need.

It is funny to look back and see how much our life has changed in less than 12 months. Change is hard, but it is necessary. God tells us to not worry about the change that is ahead of us, because if we are seeking Him then He will provide all of our needs. During this time of change Reed and I have clung to the promises of God. The promise to provide for our family, the affirmation we received that we are called to adoption. These are things that God has promised us, we know that with out a doubt.

Doesn't matter what I feel
Doesn't matter what I see
My hope will always be
In Your promises to me
Now I'm casting out all fear
For Your love has set me free
My hope will always be
In Your promises to me 

As I walk into the days to come
I will not forget what You have done
For you have supplied my every need
And Your presence is enough for me

- Your Promises, Elevation Worship

This song by Elevation Worship has been my anthem. It doesn't matter what I feel or what I see because God has promised us he will provide, we will have a job and a house and bring home our baby. We have constantly prayed for wisdom, discernment, peace and clarity. God has given us great clarity and peace in the decisions we have made.

We have taken a step of faith. We can not see what lies ahead of us, but we are confident that God has called us to move forward. Our time at Flying King Ranch was a blessing and something we will forever be grateful for. I'm going to miss being married to a "rancher", checking cows, watching the sunset over the pastures. When we get a new house for our growing family I am going to miss the days I could sit in bed and talk to Reed no matter what other room he was in, I am going to miss our magical backyard paradise, and our precious neighbors.

But I could not be more excited about what lies ahead of us. A new home with room to grow, a new job to grow and stretch us.This attitude of excitement has not come easy, we have lived lives in constant prayer, we have become closer in our walk with Jesus and our marriage has strengthened as we learned to support one another with steadfast faith.

That second verse of the song "As I walk in to the days to come I will not forget what you have done" this is our daily prayer. That each day, if we wake up excited for the future or worried because we don't know what that looks like, we will not forget what has already been done for us. This will continue to be our anthem, something we remind each other of constantly. And when we finally know the answer to our job and house search, that we will count it as another blessing from our ever present and all powerful God!

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.

Headbands & Happy Hearts

So, by now you know that adoption costs a lot, and not just dollars. Adoption costs a lot of time, tears, and tedious nights doing paper work. BUT! God blessed me with the best partner to go through all the costs with. 

Reed and I have thoroughly enjoyed every piece of the adoption process. We are officially HALF WAY through our home study! We still have certificates to send in, background checks, doctors visits, and so many more pieces to read, sign and read and sign again. Our signatures are getting pretty good, almost rockstar status actually :)

So, as we continue to move forward I am amazed at how much fun we are having. Reed is such a trooper. I mean I have forced him to take more pictures with me than we have in a really long time, and most of them involve self timer, lots of back and forth, stand real still, don't move, look here, smile, make a funny face ect. Last night I called him on my way home and said I needed to get some pictures for our new fundraiser, that he was gonna think I was crazy but to trust me it would be a good thing. He agreed he would help after he worked on the AC in his truck. So after 2 hours of working on his truck he came in put the head band on with no question and let me snap away. 

I am so grateful for this dude and his ability to be goofy for the sake of our family. He is one of the hardest working people I have ever met and so not afraid to get dirty and take care of what needs to get done. But he is also the kindest, most loving, and fun person I know. I can't wait to see all the fun times ahead with our little Nica Nugget! 

Now, back to fundraising! If you are interested in purchasing a headband or cowl you can check out our Gathering Impossible page through ETSY. Everything in this series will have a percentage of the sales going directly to Gathering Baby Lathrop. We have partnered with East of These out of Lakeland FL, each cowl and headband is handmade by them and a percentage of the sale goes to us! Our goal is to sell 100 head bands and 50 cowls, so please share the link and ask your friends to purchase a super awesome product and help us bring our baby home :) 

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/gracelangdon?ref=hdr_shop_menu&section_id=19490724

Gathering Baby Lathrop

Holy Moly I can't believe all the love Reed and I have received since sharing the news about our adoption! I don't just mean on social media, but from dear friends and family that will be a part of our little Faraway babies life forever! Reed and I knew that we would have community interested in hearing our story and why we decided to move forward on something so many say is nothing but hard. We also know that this journey is going to be long and that not everyone is going to be thinking about it constantly like we are. 

So when trying to find a way to tell our nearest and dearest about our decision to grow our family we wanted to give them a physical object that would remind them to pray along with us ever chance they get. As I was trying to use my creative juices to come up with something special to us I realized a promise that God had given us and that it applied to so much more than we thought. 

At the very beginning of our adoption journey, like before we took our first step, God laid this verse on our hearts. It seemed fitting for our family that is spread out across the countries, so it ended up on our fridge as a reminder that though we see Reeds family very little God has promised to bring us all together. Then as our adoption progressed we realized the true reason this verse was put in our lives; a promise from God that He is going to bring our Faraway baby home!

We read through Nehemiah back in January when our church did a series called "Difference Makers". This series broke down the journey that God took Nehemiah on to restore His people.  This was the series that broke our hearts, that made us realize we didn't have any reason to wait. God called us to make moves and He would take care of the rest.

At the time of this series, we knew our hearts had been broken but I don't think we realized the significance of the promise God gave us.

God gave us a promise that was written thousands of years ago, but it could have been written just for us. It fit so perfectly, and became something I prayed over and over again. A promise that truly has taken away my anxiety because I know God will make good on His promise to me.

"Even if your people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name." 
Nehemiah 1:9

So when it came time for us to share with our family and friends it only seemed fitting to share with them the promise we were given. These little globes may  not be the nicest things, but they are a physical reminder and promise from God. He IS going to gather up our little Nica baby! 

If you are interested in helping us bring home this little faraway baby feel free to check out our funding page. We will be sharing many opportunities of how you can get involved, so stay tuned :)  

God Broke Our Hearts and We Decided to do Something About it.

Have you ever used the saying "How heart breaking?" or "That just breaks my heart?", I know I have about a million times. But I realized this year that I don't think my heart had ever truly felt heart break, I had never been so emotionally and spiritually broken to actually DO anything about it. But this past January (Jan. 31st 2016) I heard a sermon and realized God had broken my heart completely and I HAD to do something about it.

You are pobably preparing for a post that is gonna touch your heart strings and maybe bring some tears so you are grabbing the tissues. But I want you to know that when your heart breaks it isn't always because of struggle or a hard time. God uses heart break to bring about action, He can use heart ache in ways we never imagined and right now I have a broken heart that has solidified a calling from God, and I couldn't be more excited!

So Reed and I have decided to step in to what God has for us, to make moves on a something God wrecked us with and now we can officially share with  YOU!

We know you now have about a million questions just ready to jump out of your mouth, don't worry we are going to be filling you in every step of the way! We fully intend to use this God given adventure to educate people on the adoption process, and how God breaks hearts to create difference makers that lean on Him to carry out great things. 

Now to answer a few quick questions!

Where are you adopting?

-Nicaragua

How far along in the process are you? 

-We just got accepted by our agency and have started our 6 months worth of paperwork. Our next step is to prepare for a home study!

How Long does it take?

-No one really knows, the variation in wait time with Nicaragua is what deters many people from adopting there. We have 6 months worth of paper work, then we send it to Nicaragua to wait on acceptance and a match. We have seen people matched within 6 months and others having to wait 4 years. We are praying that God will bring us our faraway baby quickly, but also that he will be preparing our hearts through the wait, no matter how long!

Do you have an age range you are looking at?

-We want to remember that adoption is not about getting us a baby, but rather about finding a child a home. So we have selected to stay very open. We are currently signed up for a boy or girl in the 0-5 age range.

Do you still want biological children?

-Yes, but we feel that right now God has broken our hearts for orphans in Nicaragua. We have decided that we want to be the people that do something about it. So we are beginning our adoption journey now and trusting that God is going to build us the perfect family!

How much does adoption cost?

-Well, this is a long answer and I plan to share a LOT more about this in the future. But I will share this for now. It costs a lot more than we have, and we do not want to go in to debt. God has broken our hearts for adoption, and He knows our financial situation better than anyone else. If He feels like it is time for us to adopt then I have no doubt that He will help us in the financial department.

In the mean time check out our Fundraising Page . This is going to be the place that has all the information on our financial goals and timeline, along with ways you can be apart of bringing our faraway baby home! We are going to be doing a bunch of different things ranging from BBQ Dinners, silent auctions, to selling my art work, and other crafts!

These are the questions we have found to be asked the most. There are plenty more details and things I am sure some of you may be interested in. But for now that is our basic story, timeline, and thoughts on the process. We are believing God to do BIG things and to bring us our faraway baby in the perfect time.

God has already done things in perfect time and is blowing our minds every day as we walk with Him through this. We are so excited to be sharing our adventure with you and can't wait to introduce you to our faraway baby sometime soon!

Finding Yourself In The Paint

Have you ever struggled to find yourself? Like to feel confident in your decisions about life? Not that you aren't happy, but just feeling a little awkward teenager-ish??

I was just walking through that stage. I was feelin real awkward, like one day I was a prep, the next day I was country, next day I was goth. Ya know one of those girls that tries out a million different styles because she can't quite figure out where she fits in. Except I wasn't doing it with clothes. I was struggling to find how to express myself through art.

As I have said here MANY many times, I am extremely blessed to have a creative family, my grandmother paints, my aunt is an artist, my mom and other aunt can make junk from the side of the road look like a million bucks. Basically, I was born to be creative. So I tried out a lot. I tried painting furniture, making furniture, water color, acrylic, oil and on and on. I liked them all. I just didn't feel like I was expressing "ME".

Art is a form of expression. Just like some people express themselves through music, writing or speaking. Creating is a gift from God that allows you to express yourself and your story in a unique way, and I don't want to waist that! I want to find how to express myself and my God story through creating. Gah it was such a struggle. Was I doing certain things because I saw other artists be successful with them, or was I doing that because that truly felt natural to me? Did I feel like it was MY story or was I just trying to tell a story someone was interested in...

STRUGGLE BUS!

After talking to an artist I have learned to really love and admired, she told me to put challenges in place. Put restrictions on my paintings. It could be certain sizes, or colors, but these restrictions would allow me to see similarities that are unique to me that I may have missed in the chaos of creating. And ya know, what I did.

I found that I love vibrant colors, buttery strokes, and southern subject matter. When I stepped back and saw how all of these things ran through each piece I created I realized I truly did find myself in the paint!

(find these paintings and more on my website www.gracelangdonart.com)

Not Losing Your Dreams

So, long time no blog right?! OOPs :)

Well, I have made a goal for myself to start blogging, just writing once a week. I am not sure what I will be sharing, just life. For me that means sharing my faith, things I am learning in my marriage, and of course my creative dreams.

There are plenty of DIY blogs, cooking blogs, and even artists teaching their skills. I don't want to be "competitive" with them. I just want to get back to writing because I always feel better after "talking it out".

I hope you find my ramblings to be something that inspires you to follow your dreams and share your faith.

First up, I will just give ya a little recap of my life since about a year ago.


April 2015 I started as gallery manager for Sozo Gallery in Charlotte, NC.

June 2015 Reed and I started to help build NewSpring Church in Rockhill, SC. We LOVE the community we have gained and can't believe we did life for so long with out it! We started meeting in a living room, then moved to 2 houses, took a big leap to meet in a CrossFit gym, and are now meeting in a local school with the average attendance hovering around 300 people and growing! Our minds are completely blown at how God has shown up!

August 2015 I rebranded myself and got a fabo new logo. I mean I love it like times a million.

October 2015 Reed and I finally took a step of faith and lead a group of 8 friends to Nicaragua for a missions trip to our parents pineapple farm. It was a HUGE learning experience and something that we both want to continue to do in the future. Sharing our faith, and love of Nicaragua is something God has put on our hearts and we don't plan to ignore it :)

March 2016 I decided I wanted to take another step towards my dream of selling my artwork. I did a lot of soul searching, spoke with mentors, and finally, started to find myself in the paint. I then created a few pieces that my heart skipped a beat for and launched my online studio www.gracelangdonart.com and had my first sale in less than two days!

Now I am about to celebrate 1 year at Sozo, start our 2nd year in NewSpring RockHill, and start our 4th year in York, SC! To say that God has been a good good father is an understatement. He brought Reed and I to a place of overflowing joy in every aspect of our lives and I couldn't be happier for how we got here. GOD IS GOOD!