Welcome, friends!
I so appreciate you stopping by. I honestly wish we were sitting down in one of the comfy chairs in the corner at Starbucks, talking in person about all the hard and wonderful things we’re experiencing in this life at the moment. Conversations like that are my jam.
But since that’s not really possible with each of you, I’ll share a little bit about me and we’ll go from there.
I grew up homeschooled in a very small town riding my horse bareback and barefoot out in the middle of the country, but have since quickly adapted to the suburban life in the outskirts of Indianapolis, IN. Although I grew up wearing cowboy boots and playing in muddy ditches, I currently love all things fashion, interior design, and painted toenails at all times. So, moral of the story? People can CHANGE. Stick around here long enough and you’ll see that I’m all about that!
I’ve been married now nearly ten years to my college sweetheart, Cameron, and have had the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom for almost three years to my daughter Scarlett Faith. Before we had her I was a full-time family/wedding photographer, but it took three years and a crap ton of fertility treatments to get her here. Once she finally arrived, I dropped everything to be at home with her. Not a day goes by that I don’t see her for the miracle that she is. I still can’t believe she’s ours.
My heart for what you read here is to illuminate the power and beauty that comes when we face our pain head on, choosing to walk through hardship together with openness and honesty. The last 5-6 years have been some of the most painful I’ve ever experienced, and as much as I wouldn’t want to go through anything like that again…God used those things to change me. He didn’t remove them, he didn’t walk me around them, and he didn’t abandon me. He gently walked me THROUGH them. As a result, I didn’t just survive some of my biggest fears, but I began to thrive in the midst of them. I’m more whole than I have ever been. And I’m more in love with the One who rescued me.
I keep finding that there are also many of you experiencing some of the same things I am, but there’s a great amount of shame in talking about it. I hate that, because this isn’t the heart of our God–to keep these parts of ourselves secret. He has so much more for us than that. I want to encourage you that you’re not alone in these things. It’s okay to talk about it, to confess it, to bring others into it with you. We can’t heal what we don’t acknowledge.
Now I love writing/chatting about all the fun things like home decor and fashion, and you may see those things here occasionally, but my heart is really to spread light into those areas of our lives that are the most isolated. The places where shame is completely dominating. The places where I’ve personally experienced the most pain and with some of them–wonderful freedom. My husband’s infidelity, infertility, PCOS, miscarriage, food addiction, weight, marriage, motherhood, depression….and the list goes on. There might be a blog about potty training in there too, who knows 😉
So let me summarize:
God walked me through some dark, dark days in my life. Then he rescued me and changed my life. And then he asked me to tell you about it.