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Dear Daddy,

Where do I even begin to say thank you and tell you how amazing I think you are?!  You are one of God’s greatest gifts to me.  I don’t know why he blessed me with a faithful and loving dad but oh how grateful I am that he did!  Father’s are so important in a child’s life and mine has been no exception.  Thank you for being the type of father that does a beautiful job of pointing me to my heavenly Father and drawing me to know him more by the example of your life.  That is a rare thing indeed in our world.  You are a servant and you have selflessly laid down your life to serve everyone around you and especially our family.  You work so SO hard and never give up.  You also don’t complain or get angry which is just more evidence of God’s grace in your life.  It’s pretty amazing.  You’ve taught me so much and I know I don’t tell you often enough just how much you mean to me.  Even now as I’m writing this it’s hard to see through my tears of thankfulness.  Daddy thank you for being a man of integrity.  Of truly living out what you believe.  For loving Jesus and being committed to knowing him.  Dad you’re not only a creative genius (everyone knows this and I’m NOT biased) but you’re a man who cares about people.  You take the time to listen to them and then you give the wisest counsel.  I can’t begin to count the ways that you are a gift to those that know you.  Daddy I respect you so much.  You may be quietly faithful but it speaks volumes to my heart.  Thank you for being a man I can look up to and who I can trust.  Thank you for challenging me to be all that I can be and investing in my life over and over and over.  Thank you for being a safe place for me.  I love you more than I can ever say.  Thanks for being my best friend.  I love you and I think you are the best daddy ever!  Happy Father’s day!

Your little girl,

Elaini

P.S. The second picture may be blurry but I just love it so much. <3

There are some very rare friendships that you know will be life long ones.  They have their ebbs and flows but you know that you’ll still be sharing life with them when you’re in your 30’s, 60’s, and yes 90’s (if you both live that long!).  Christa is one of those friends.  Yes, she may be my photographer for most of the pictures on my blog and you did see her here but to me she is my childhood chum.  We met when I was just 10 years old and she was 11.  Considering we’ve been friends for 15 years there is a lot of water that has gone under the bridge of time! There has been laughter (lots and lots of giggling fits!), and tears where we shared heart ripping moments that ultimately drew us closer.  Our friendship has been forged in the little moments as well as all the big ones.  From walking to the park while munching on popcorn from a huge brown paper bag between us (this takes skill people!), to matching clothing (oh yes we did! and I won’t tell you how long we did this…), to weddings and recitals and church planting adventures we have remained sisters.  For that is what our friendship has become.  That person that you can’t imagine not being in your life.  I’m so grateful.  Christa I love you dearly.  You’re a beautiful woman.  Not just on the outside (which you’d have to be blind to miss) but for all the other reasons like your fun personality, your talent, your love for Jesus, and your servant heart.

In honor of our birthdays (mine was the 5th and her’s was the 9th) I’m posting these pictures that we took for our 21st and 22nd birthday.  Here’s to celebrating dear friends!

(Photos by: Larissa Taylor)

P.S.  And I’m just OCD enough that I have to point out that it’s the 13th in 2013 and it’s Day 373. 😀  Happy number day!

It’s quote time! 🙂  Oh and wait.  What did you say?  Where’s the update?  Drum roll please…. $75,415.14!!!!  You all are so generous and amazing and I can’t say thank you enough! But THANK YOU!

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ~C.S.Lewis

“If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me; if I say, “Just what I expected,” if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” ~ Amy Carmichael

Thank you Michah for sharing your birthday for the kiddos! Does anyone else want to give up their June birthday to help the children in India?!  If you decide to join me in this venture you can ask your friends and family to donate the amount that matches your age for your birthday as their gift.   So if you want to join me would you leave a comment below?  It’s been so fun to see the total go up and know that the sweet darlings in India are being helped! Lives are being changed by you being willing to do something about their situation so thank you!

(Why this pic? Well it has some very special memories associated with it and it was for my 21st birthday.  And maybe it’s a teaser for a future post? And REALLY because posts with pictures are just better!)

To my dearest friend and the most amazing woman I’ve ever known:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

You’re incredible.  No, really.  When people ask you the question, “So…what do you DO?”  I just want to laugh out loud! And then tell them “What DOESN’T she do!”.  I know you’re amazing and I think I fully qualify to say that since I have lived with you day in and day out for 25 years.  Sure you may say I’m biased but not really…I’m just telling the truth.  You have not wasted your life.  You’ve taken the precious time you’ve been given and you are using it for the glory of God.  What a gift you are to everyone around you.  I only wish we could bless you as much as you have blessed all of us.  Oh that there were more women in the world like you!  You’re hard working, a servant, loving, faithful, passionate, beautiful, wise, devoted, fun, completely lovely, and above all godly.  Words will never be able to adequately express just how much you mean to me and how much I admire you and aspire to be like you.  I love you so SO much!

Will you just look at that!!! Without trying my 25th birthday post lands on Day 370.  And as you know if you’ve been reading this blog…those are my two favorite numbers.  It just makes my heart happy that Jesus worked that out in that manner. 🙂  Anyways today is my 25th birthday! I can’t really believe that I am this many years….young (aka I feel old).  I’m so grateful to be turning 25.  Thankful for this life I’ve been given.  What I’m really excited about is that this birthday isn’t about me.  I want it to be much more than that.  To start I want to say thank you to my sweet and amazing mother who went through great pain in natural childbirth to bring me into this world.  Thank you will never be enough for what you did and have done mom.  And even though “they” say that asking for presents for yourself is wrong I’m going to ask anyway.  Because while I still have my incredible mother and father in my life the darling orphans in India do not.  So today I boldly ask you to give to my kiddos who I love intensely.  Would you donate $25 dollars since this is my 25th year?  To soar right on past the $75K mark would MAKE MY DAY.  In fact I’ll thank you in advance. 😉  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people who have already so graciously and generously given.  It really delights my heart.  Let’s party!

Also to the woman who donated $333…I just want to bear hug you. Thank you!

Hello everyone! I’m switching up the blogging schedule this week because….I can! And because this is birthday week in our house. 🙂  And because three is my favorite number (with 7 as a close second…) I think that having three posts this week is appropriate.  Today I want to give a shout out to the three amazing women who left comments on my blog saying they wanted to give their birthdays for the orphans this year.  They are asking friends and family to donate this year on their behalf.  If you’re a June baby and want to join us then you still have time!  Since I’m turning 25 on Wednesday I’m asking people to donate $25 dollars for my children in India.  This will help them so much! It really is my birthday wish that we could blow past the $75K mark.  These children need our help!

Without further ado I want to give a HUGE thank you to:  Hannah, Haley, and Leah! Ladies thank you for sharing your birthday and being a gift to these children.  And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Stay tuned for Wednesday post! 😀

“Today when I got out of my car and ran for cover from the little water balloons falling from the sky I almost ran back out to dance in the rain.”  That was a text I sent to a friend last week.  As I lay in bed that night processing my day I started thinking about dancing.  I enjoy most types of dancing and as I contemplated ballroom dancing I began to think about the lessons that I could learn from it.  In order for a dance to go smoothly the man must lead and the woman must follow.  They do not fight against each other but work together.  It was right at that moment that I saw myself dancing with Jesus.  Him leading me and I…well I needing to trust him, something I keep learning.  Trust him to glide me around this dance floor called life.  A firm but gentle lead is always the best kind to dance with and Jesus is just that.  I don’t have to know the order of the steps to the dance because he does.  I can rest in his arms.  That is where I want to stay.  Pulled into the closeness of his heart and protected by him from the other dancers.  What matters is me being focused on him.  And when he steps into me and I need to step back and all I feel like is that I’m going backwards he reminds me that it is part of the process to complete the revolution.  Stepping back doesn’t always mean backward progress.  In and of myself I’m not good but guess what?! he makes me look good.  In fact he makes me lovely.  With him leading and me trusting I know that this life will be a beautiful dance.

IMPORTANT: it’s almost June! Which means my 25th birthday is almost here… Translation: will you please help me get to at least the $75K goal by the 5th?  I’d love it if everyone gave $25 dollars.   And if there are any June babies that want to share their birthdays that would be amazing.  So far there are four of us doing this!  If you decide to join me in this venture you can ask your friends and family to donate the amount that matches your age for your birthday as their gift.   So if you want to join me would you leave a comment below?  It would be fun to get a list of names (and places) from which people are going to share “their” day.  I think this is going to be fun!

(Photo by: Christa Taylor)

(Dress-sewn by me, shoes-gifted, purse-my Yia yia’s, belt-thrifted)

So this dress has been a long time in coming.  My dear friend that made my little black dress gifted me this beautiful fabric and it has been sitting in a box for the past two years.  That is partly due to the fact that my sewing machine was broken and also because I hadn’t been bit by the sewing bug.  But when it does bite it bites me hard.  So I borrowed my sisters’ sewing machine and worked away.  I’m a bit irritated since I made it to the right measurements on the instructions and it still doesn’t fit right but I’m not ready to do any more alterations at this point so this will just have to do!  I used this pattern in case you were wondering. 🙂  Now if only it would stop raining so I can wear it out in the sun! Oh, and that’s my Yia yia’s purse.  It’s so special to have things that were hers.

Also it’s almost June! Which means my 25th birthday is almost here… Translation: will you please help me get to at least the $75K goal by the 5th?  I’d love it if everyone gave $25 dollars. 🙂  And if there are any June babies that want to share their birthdays that would be amazing.  If you decide to join me in this venture you can ask your friends and family to donate the amount that matches your age for your birthday as their gift.   So if you want to join me would you leave a comment below?  It would be fun to get a list of names (and places) from which people are going to share “their” day.  I think this is going to be fun!

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)

Honestly I can’t remember how it happened, but you crept right into my heart.  You with your beautiful smile and cheery laugh.  It wasn’t hard to love you right away.  Maybe it’s that your words are so encouraging, genuine, funny, and well just adorable.  It’s that but it’s just YOU.  You loving Jesus and that sweet hubby and those 8 wonderful dears.  I have no idea why you let me into your life but oh how thankful I am that you did!  When you wrote that too cute for words note caring about me I had to ask you to go to tea.  Friend, it was delightful.  And I added a few new reasons to love you to an already long list.  Because you listen so well and treat me like a woman and not the silly girl that I am.  The fact that you ordered that m&m cookie and wondered if you could also get a glass of milk made me just want to hug you!  But then when I saw that we were both wearing silly socks and converse (‘cept your feet are so much tinier) then I knew that I wanted to end up like you.  Not that I needed that extra assurance but it DID make me smile.  Thank you for investing in my life and for praying for me even though you have enough things to keep you busy.  I love you Darcie.

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” ― Linda Grayson

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Go give a friend a hug today or send a note to someone you care about!

Also any of you June babies want to join me and “give up” your birthday for the kiddos in India?  If you decide to join me in this venture you can ask your friends and families to donate the amount that matches your age for your birthday.   So if you want to join me would you leave a comment below?  It would be fun to get a list of names (and places) from which people are going to share “their” day.  I think this is going to be fun!

Please tell me I’m not the only one that looks back on baby pictures and asks my mom, “What were you thinking putting me in THAT?!”? As a little girl my mom used to put bows in my hair.  These were not any bows…these were “is there a child under that bow?” type of hair accessories.  Needless to say I was terrified of bows for a longgggg time after.  Let’s just say that my mom’s rule of the bigger the better on hair wear didn’t thrill me.  But somewhere along the line as you become an adult and grow up you realize that all those things your mom told you were true.  In my case I’ve just tweaked that idea.  Enter this skirt.  My sweet friend Hannah who makes these lovely skirts sent me this beauty as a surprise.  It.made.my.week.  She custom makes these fabulous skirts and every time I wear mine out I get compliments.  Ladies you should get one of these!  Even my dad commented on it and a gal that I passed at the gas station let me know the bow was just perfect.  And I agree!  Hannah thank you so much for blessing me with this well made skirt that is so bright and cheery.  It was so encouraging that you were willing to invest in my life and blog like that.  Whenever I wear my skirt it brings a smile to my face.  Hannah you are beautiful inside and out and I’m honored to know you.

Soooo since my birthday is next month would you do me the honor of reading this post please? 🙂

(Skirt:  Hannah Everly Designs)

(Photos by: Christa Taylor)