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Every shade and design of red and pink paper was strewn across the table.  Oreos lined up like little sentinels waiting to be dressed in chocolate and sprinkles. My friend hosted a Valentine’s Day craft time and between us three ladies we laughed, swapped stories, and created to our hearts content.  Laurie created these Martha Stewart worthy love notes and Kiersta conquered the Pinterest oreo pops because life needs beauty. 

When it’s not what you expect
We were excited to share some handmade love with our friends. I’ve always enjoyed this holiday because I believe love should be celebrated all year long. Yet for some of you I know this holiday isn’t quite living up to your expectations. Maybe you’re even a little depressed (Okay a LOT depressed) because you don’t have a “special someone” to love on and return the sentiment. Maybe you won’t get a gorgeous bouquet of flowers or a note from a girl telling you how amazing she thinks you are but LIFE IS INCREDIBLE! TODAY! And you know what? You are loved. If you don’t feel like you are loved by the people you know then please know this, that God loves you. Not in a cliche type of a way but in a He-died-for-you type of way.

Revolutionize our thinking
When we truly embrace the fact that we are loved just as we are then we have the capacity to pour out love to others in a new way. While it’s exciting to receive things my parents always taught me to give.  When it would be easy to have this day be focused on how much people love us why not revolutionize it and make it about others? Let’s do things for others not because it makes us feel good but because we just want to bless the people around us.

Be the love
Consider giving a valentine to an elderly person who might not receive one. Make cookies and give them to your neighbor. Send a sweet text message to a friend who is single. Maybe even give $5 dollars to the orphans in India and join the #4love14 campaign! Happy Valentine’s Day!

(Photo credit: Kiersta Rhodes Photography) Thank you Kiersta for hosting such a delightful craft day and for taking these beautiful shots!

I love quotes.  They are little nuggets of truth and insight.  Sometimes a single bite of something can be more enjoyable than I whole piece because you savor it more.  I hope you enjoy these!

“A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” ― George Eliot

A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Love is a great beautifier.” ― Louisa May Alcott

When they said to you at graduation, “Follow your dream,” did anybody say you have to wake up first? – Bill Cosby

In other news it’s the day before Valentines Day! I really do like this holiday.  Love is an amazing thing and you don’t have to be married to experience it.  Want to spread some love? Please consider giving just $5 dollars today to orphans in India who need our help! You can donate by clicking on the Give Now button the right hand side of the blog.  Thank you so much! #4love14

The wind was twirling the dry flakes of snow around in circles on the street outside and for just a second I thought I saw the delicate hem of a dress swish just so.  Indeed I was not mistaken for this part of the country was getting ready for a winter wonder land ball.  Before I knew it the gown took form and began to spread itself out luxuriously.  Miss Winter was giddy with the excitement of it all and sent out a shiver of delight.  Once clothed in pure white and shimmering softness she reached for the last perfect accessory, slender icicles to adorn her little ears.

As she walked onto the stage there was a hush as the world watched in amazement.  While her presence was unexpected she was the loveliest sight to behold.  Life needs beauty.  Sometimes we have to be forced to stop and see it.

This past weekend as my city was cloaked in snow and ice I took the opportunity to create and explore.  My fingers turned bright red as I designed deconstructed flower art.  Time after time the wind was a tease and merrily wafted the petals askew but finally I was able to capture the designs for one moment before they were destroyed.

What I found interesting is how much joy I experienced doing something most would observe as meaningless.  Pulling petals off of stems and arranging them in the snow doesn’t sound quite that worthwhile yet creating beauty is valuable.  I believe that it points back to a beautiful God.  He designed beauty in so many shapes and forms and celebrating it and enjoying it is another way we can thank him.

It would be pointless to deny that this world is void of pain and suffering so how can we help change that?  We can be beauty creators and enhancers.  I don’t mean a Hollywood style of beauty.  Far from that what I’m talking about are things like imagination, life, and people.  When we draw out beauty and light and let it point us back to the Creator we assist in pushing back darkness and suffering.  So make sure to take some time to appreciate, encourage, and create beauty around you.

Also please don’t forget about the #4love14 campaign here!  Can we show love and encourage beauty and life for sweet children in India?  All it takes is giving a small gift of $5 dollars to do so!  Thanks everyone!

Have you ever heard the real story of Valentine?  The one about a person and not just the day?  It’s pretty amazing.  No, it’s not romantic in the way most of us think of the word but it is beautiful.  Back during the 3rd century there lived a priest named St. Valentine.  When Claudius, the ruling emperor of that time, issued a law that instructed that soldiers were not allowed to marry it caused some issues.

Love finds a way
Claudius assumed that single soldiers would fight better if they weren’t concerned about what would happen to a wife or children in their absence.  Of course this didn’t stop the soldiers from wanting to get married and St. Valentine risked his life to secretly perform the forbidden vows.  Young couple after young couple came to him for assistance but eventually he was discovered, thrown in prison, and tortured.

Eyes that truly see
Legend has it that while St. Valentine was imprisoned he prayed for the jailers daughter, who was blind, and she was healed. Due to this the jailer, Asterius, became a Christian.  Unfortunately, though Asterius tried to get him released St. Valentine was still condemned to death.  St. Valentine was martyred sometime on or around February 14th.  Before he went to his execution he wrote a letter to the lovely young woman who had been healed from her blindness and signed it “Your Valentine” thus giving us the popular phrase we now use on February 14th.

Love lives on
The myths surrounding St. Valentine teach us something incredibly valuable.  Love is sacrificial.  It gives of itself regardless of the consequences even to death.  Love isn’t always a pretty flowery thing but a crimson tide of life.  True love gives, true love does.  I hope you get a lot of valentines cards this year but I also hope you give a lot too.  Would you consider helping me spread a little love by giving just five dollars for the beautiful orphans in India?  You can read more here about joining in the delight of spreading love and the #4love14 campaign!

“That’s because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.” Bob Goff

UPDATE!!! $86,627.19  How fast can we get it to the $87K mark? 🙂  Also I got new pics of my 545 kiddos (the one seen here is from January) and I cried again.  My kiddos are just so beautiful and amazing….sorry not sorry for the momma brag.

Unless you live under a rock you’re probably aware that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner because every store is filled with garish displays of red, pink, and heart shaped everything.

You may find it strange that I actually enjoy this day even though I am single but I do! I think love should be celebrated every day and in lots of different ways. True, commercialism has tried to lure us into seeing this one day in a particular way but we don’t have to conform.

Show a little love for big change
In case you were looking for a way to spread a little L.O.V.E. this season then I have just the thing for you! So here’s my idea. I’m donating just four dollars to spread some love to orphaned children who need to know that they are valuable. I think everyone has $4 dollars to spare right? If not go hunt down the loose change in your house/couch/dryer. Let’s show some L.O.V.E. (little offerings, very effective) this month! If we all gave just a little, we can make big changes in the lives of those in need. And Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to do just that!

Let’s do this together
To make it extra fun, and hopefully inspire others to join us, please tweet, fb, or instagram a picture of your four dollars or a picture of a heart with the hashtag #4love14 so that we can do this together. It’s really that easy! Just donate to help the sweet orphaned kiddos in India by clicking on the red Give Now button on the sidebar or here and then let’s see the L.O.V.E (little offerings, very effective) spread!

Getting your friends to join you will make this month that much sweeter! Who said Valentine’s Day is just for couples?! We can always spread love and hope wherever we go and the simple acts are often times the most profound. Here are some love quotes to inspire you!

 “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do…but how much love we put in that action.” Mother Teresa

 “Love is always bestowed as a gift-freely, willingly, and without expectation. We don’t love to be loved; we love to love.” Leo Buscaglia

Our lives are a story that wraps us up and ties us in close to earth.  Maybe that is why the weaving words of others creating narrative can capture me.  I love literature and I’m enthralled by an excellent tale.  Every now and then one comes along that especially grips me.  That’s how I felt about Middlemarch by George Elliot (her pen name).  Rarely does a novel have me pulling out my dictionary or looking up operas, plays, statues, and art references like this one did. Throughout the pages I discovered such an array of characters. The story follows many people but touches most deeply on Dorothea Brooke, a young woman who allows herself to be imprisoned in a miserable marriage, and Lydgate, an aspiring doctor whose wife pushes him to be socially elite.  While I always appreciate a complex and developed character, these two were especially transfixing.  Elliot delves into the anthropology of the town of Middlemarch characters and by the end of the 800 some pages has helped you to see that people you thought you understood at the beginning may be quite different by the end of the book.  This book is laden with insightful quotes like a basket of lush, nourishing, and sweet fruit.  It was one of those books that had me pressing through some of the more tedious parts because I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see how Elliot would tie everything back together.  You may be sure that I was not disappointed.  Set in the nineteenth century this book will give you a intent look into a bygone time yet still allow you to find bits of yourself among the pages. My only regret in finishing the book is that the story had to end.  Made me ponder how this earth is just the beginning of the story for our lives.  We shall have eternity to watch and enjoy the greatest story unfold.

“Scenes which make vital changes in our neighbours’ lot are but the background or our own, yet, like a particular aspect of the fields and trees they become associated for us with the epochs of our own history and make a part of that unity which lies in the selection of our keenest consciousness.”

When we head out on that highway there’s no telling what we might discover.  Sunday drives turn into adventures.  The sea got into the sky and made it all azure which made the day that much better.  “Daddy can we stop at the park?”  So he pulls over and we scramble out to breath in all that fresh air and soak up some vitamin D.  I practically skip along the winding paths through towering trees because I’m so enthralled.  The wind is chasing itself in circles around me playing tag and laughing my cheeks rosy.  Maybe that’s what’s making me skip… Somewhere along the walk my nose and fingers go numb so that when I climb back into the car it feels cozy warm.  We make a wrong turn that gives us a clue to the place we should go.  Turning right around we seek it out among the concrete Legos rising up from city blocks.  This time we have success and find something yummy to sip on.  At first our taste buds tingle and wonder at the smokey chai tea blended with creamy coconut milk and honey but by the bottom of the glass I’m doing my best to inhale every last drop through my straw.  Sitting with my two best friends I feel inexplicably happy.  Our conversation turns from this to that as we just enjoy one another.  The sun is getting sleepy and crawling into bed but we head off to Powell’s books to hunt down a certain one.  Looking through the pages our faces stare back at the ones printed there, these humans of New York, and I whisper the inscriptions and we try not to chuckle too loudly at some.  Because it was a perfect day I insist we stop and take a picture like tourists in our own city.  Mom and dad oblige but we laugh at the results…  Without a doubt these two people are my favorites in a love-you-like-it-might-make-me-burst kinda way.  I’m half of him and half of her and I couldn’t imagine wanting any other genes but these.  They’re like a good pair of jeans that fit me just right and hug me perfectly.  The type where they’ve been through the wash so many times that the fibers are soft yet more comfortable for it and where the wear and tear gives them that undeniable character.  We’re the three musketeers.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into our escapades.  I hope there are many more!  What adventures have you been on recently and who would you take with you?

P.S.  Picture taken as we went over the bridge on our way back to home…mom wouldn’t let me post the selfie we took. 😉

Do you ever have those days, weeks, months, years where your brain is trying to process so many things that you don’t even know where to start.  It’s times like that when I just try to put all the open browser windows of my mind to rest and just choose one thing to focus on.  This week one of the beautiful women that I follow on Instagram said goodbye to her amazing mother this side of heaven.  While I’ve only met this incredible person once at my brother’s wedding I wept for her and her family.  Their love for one another was so real and tangible.  Once when I opened up my Instagram I almost lost it because there was a stunning picture of her younger sister in a wedding gown embracing their mother.  Since they knew she didn’t have long till she would be dancing with Jesus they took the opportunity to make special moments right now.  That had a huge impact on me.  Several years ago I had many people die whom I loved dearly.  From that point on I’ve been aware that the time we are given here is precious but that tender moment into the lives of these woman through social media struck me to my core again. It is so incredibly easy to take the people in our lives for granted when really we should be embracing these times.  Yes, the hard ones too.  Have you been up all night with a fussy baby or sick child? That must be unbelievably hard but what a gift that you get to comfort them and be there for their little hearts.  Have you had to cook dinner for the 10,000^th time?  I know it seems mundane but you get to feed people who have eternal souls.  Have you gone to work one more day at a difficult job?  Amazing, that you have the ability to provide for your needs and possibly the needs of others.  Perspective changes things doesn’t it?  Please go hug someone you love and tell them what you appreciate about them.  Take time to create memories with the ones you care about.  They are a gift.

“Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.” Emily Dickinson

Change is necessary to progress.  It doesn’t have to be something massive. In fact a little change faithfully made can have a big impact.

You see I’ve been challenged about why I blog. This is a good thing. I do need to always be asking good questions about why I do the things I do. So why do I blog? Well first and foremost I hope that Jesus will be honored here in this space. Specifically though I blog for some other reasons too.

I started this blog as a means to raise money for orphans and that purpose still stands. If you’ve been frustrated by the goal amount always being raised after we meet the previous goal then I’m sorry you feel that way. My main reason for continually raising the goal is that there is always a need and I’m crazy in love with my kiddos. These children just don’t stop living and needing help because we reached a goal so I keep raising funds. I can’t say what will happen down the road when I reach $100K but I will reevaluate then. Right now I know that I’m supposed to get to that goal. Thank you for partnering with me in that!

Another reason I blog is for the discipline of writing. Knowing that I’ve set out to blog twice a week forces me to pause during my week and consider thoughts and words. This is good for my brain and soul. Often times I process things I would have never processed otherwise. It’s also enjoyable to hear your thoughts on different topics.

Frankly I blog because I want to and I think it’s fun! Also I dearly hope that my paltry but sincere words will encourage and challenge you. 

One of my favorite reasons for blogging is the people I have the opportunity to connect with from all over. There are some pretty amazing people I would never have even known about had it not been for this little place here.

As many of you know this blog started out as a project. While that project is still going this space has become more than that. Unfortunately when you take one thing and try to change it there isn’t always a smooth transition. Let me explain. My blog posts started out using fashion to raise money for orphans. When the main project came to an end I continued to do outfit posts since it appeared that people enjoyed them. Also it has been a creative outlet and challenge for me figuring out how to style new outfits without purchasing clothing for the past three years. Since I want to have original content on here that worked out great to have those pictures for my posts. Yet while I completely enjoy fashion I don’t enjoy writing about it all the time.  So while my posts morphed into writing about life, joy, struggles, and what not my pictures stayed the same. This caused a disconnect for me as well I’m sure as for you and seemed odd. So I have a question for you. Do you like the outfit posts? If so please let me know in the comments below and I will consider keeping it as one of the many things featured on here.  If you do want me to continue with outfit posts then I will do my best to have that happen but I will have the writing go along with those posts as the change.

If you’ve read this far bravo! Thank you dear readers who have encouraged and supported me. Thank you for bearing with me as I figure out this blogging thing. I’m desperately in need of grace since I will make mistakes. I’m looking forward to exploring what is going to come next and see where this road leads.  Happy Tuesday! xxx

He was an inspiration to me even before I knew it.  My older brother was always drawing people out.  It didn’t matter who they were or what they were like he had a knack for that sort of thing.  So while I don’t remember when I started picking up on this beautiful trait of his there was a moment when it clicked in my head.  There I was standing under the shelter at the private camp area with a whole field of people playing and talking and when I looked over there was one person all by herself.  I knew she must feel lonely even amongst all these people and so even though I felt unbelievably awkward I walked up to her and started a conversation.  No, it wasn’t the easiest conversation but from that point on I knew something had shifted.  Ever since then I’ve been trying to learn about people by just striking up a conversation with them hopefully letting them know that I genuinely care.  While my brother, Drew, has the ability to seamlessly engage people, I on the other hand have been making awkward conversation ever since that day at the camp but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Learning takes practice.  One of the best things about this blog has been the opportunity to extend that ability of meeting people.  There have been some crazy connections that have made my heart smile.  Several years ago while doing my 100 day dress project I had the privilege of meeting some lovely ladies from Urbaca Salon and they have generously pampered me ever since.  Then when the 12 days of Christmas project came around in 2012 my cousin’s friend found a photographer in Utah who graciously shot their pictures in Colorado.  How does this all intersect?  Well the beautiful Kiersta who took those pictures for the fundraiser moved to Portland this summer! We met up and had a wonderful time talking and sharing lives.  She’s an amazing woman!  So when when Urbaca Salon asked me to model for hair and makeup I knew just the person to take the pictures!  So today’s post is in honor of collaboration and learning to care about people from all walks of life from all over.  You never know what beauty might just catch your eye.  It may range from a dusty camp out to a lovely salon but you might miss it if you don’t take the chance of meeting someone new.

A huge thank you to the amazingly generous and talented Kiersta from Kiersta Rhodes Photography for taking these images.  Kiersta, you are a beautiful woman and I feel so blessed to know you.  Thank you so much for being an incredible fundraiser last year for my kiddos as well.  Can’t thank you enough for that!  Check out her lovely blog here!
Also thank you so much to Urbaca Salon for asking me to model!  I don’t normally wear this much makeup or get my hair done so it was fun to play around with something new.  🙂