baby girl

i'm not sure who you think you are

 going from this

tiny little babychild

 

to an 11 year old...

overnight.

 

or from this little baby girl

to this happy 5th grader

in the blink of an eye.

i'm certain i took this image of you yesterday

or at least this one was yesterday. 

right?

meanwhile

this was a lot closer ...

 

happy birthday my little beach baby!

we have a little morning routine,

you & i.

i open your door & turn on your ipod,

it's usually on adele, maroon 5, or taylor swift.

i say something like " its time to wake up little bit"

& climb into bed with you for a quick snuggle.

brinkley licks your face & you hunker down a little deeper in your covers.

i tell you that you smell like a warm buttery biscuit

& that i could eat you up.

each year i tell you,

"the birdies are singing happy birthday to you"

as we listen to the sounds of spring outside your window.

you always wake up with a smile.

& each morning, get up on the right side of the bed, never the wrong.

you've always been such a happy girl.

this morning as you were putting on your new mint green top from Gap,

& using a flat iron like every other american teenage girl,

taylor swift's "never grow up" came on.

i usually equate that song with big sissy who left for college earlier this year,
yet the words are the same for you too.

"Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that"

& i thought it just keeps going...

 time

you girls keep growing up.

it's a good thing.

it really is.

daddy & i champion you as you enter each new stage

each new milestone accomplished

each new dream you dare to dream.

we're so proud of you caroline elizabeth.

lover of chocolate, harry potter, justin beiber, dance moms, 

crew cuts, & jo malone orange blossom.

you've accomplished many academic achievements this year

& have excelled in dance.

you've made new friends

& taught me how to use my iPhone.

i hope you know how very much you are loved!!

happy birthday little bit!!

~~

psalm 9.1

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;
         I will tell of all Your wonders

trust your story

one of my favorite stories of all time is The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.  surprisingly I loved the movie just as much.
for those of you unfamiliar with the story, it’s set in the 60’s during the time of the civil rights movement. a young white journalist name skeeter wants to write a book compiled of stories from the point of view of the black maids. for obvious reasons they didn’t want to share their stories. aibileen & minny carve out some courage & see the power in their stories. power to change the way things were. power to encourage others.  the turning point in the movie for me was when dozens of others, inspired by aibileen & minny , decide to be courageous and tell their own stories too. they join forces and while things were not easy, they were brave & things did begin to change, both in their community and in their lives.
the power of
ordinary people tapping into what is extraordinary about themselves.

I know each one of us can think of a book or a movie where we resonate with a character.  From Cinderella, to Elizabeth Bennett, Rose & Jack in titanic or even Elle Woods.   We love cheering on the underdog and the overcomer. Yet for many of us, our own stories are trapped inside. trapped maybe not due to cultural limitations as in The Help, but maybe it’s because we see ourselves as insignificant.

Like meg ryan in you’ve got mail:

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but circumscribed. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?

I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So goodnight, dear void."

We think our lives are small & somehow we equate small with insignificance.

YOU HAVE  A STORY TO TELL!

maybe you see your story as being defined by the moment he walked in & said I don’t love you anymore & I’m leaving you.

maybe you see your story as being defined by failure.

Or abuse.

maybe you know the dark secrets of your past & you think while you’ve been forgiven & set free, if anyone knew about the premarital sex, the affair, the abortion, the whatever, it would discount where you are now. You feel the scarlet letter is tattooed on your forehead for all to see.

guilt & shame sit on your shoulders holding you back from sharing the hope of where you are today.

or maybe the chapter you’re currently in is threatening to take you under. you’re on the front lines of a battle.  you aren’t afforded the perspective from the “end” yet.  maybe you’re in survival mode.  you can’t see how “it all worked together for good”.

the grief of your situation seems to overshadow a future that has a positive,dare I say happy ending.  you’re in the midst of a chronic illness or you’re watching a loved one slip from this world.  you’ve buried one of your babies or your husband and the thought of sharing that pain, is too big for you.

or maybe you look in the mirror & see a scarless face, one without battle wounds. you wonder how your story could ever inspire.

i want to encourage you to trust your story. not a chapter.

the last thing my heart desires is to minimize a chapter or what seems like an epic portion of your story. that's not my desire at all.  last weekend i heard stories of heartbreak, abandonment, betrayal. stories that boggle my mind.

our heavenly father never wanted our lives to be filled with, much less defined by, cancer, divorce, abuse, anger, sickness.

his plan was not for approximately 160 million children to be orphans

or 27 million to be currently enslaved.

his original story was set in a beautiful perfect garden. free from shame. free from guilt. free from the filth that resonates with many.

so, what do i mean by trust your story?

the one he promises to complete. As promised in philipians 1.6 ~~

being CONFIDENT of this, 

that he who began a good work in you 

will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

personally,i learned more about my heavenly father during the hardest time in my life than in all the good chapters combined.  it was in those chapters and the chapters afterwards that i learned he loves me. that i needed him. that i was in the palm of his hand. that he wept with me. that i was never ever alone.

what I want to share with you is that you have a father that loves you. that no matter where you are in your own story, he hears every prayer and sees every tear. we have a father that is not distant from us.  it’s my prayer that if the chapters in your past include failure, or divorce, or sickness, or some sin that you think is unforgivable,  that he is writing a story that does define you.

one of wholeness in him. & that you can trust Him.

more important that trusting your story

is trusting the author.

i'll share about that soon!

 

i meant to share this at the pearl event & it just got away from me.

a couple weeks after sibi asked if i'd join her in the journey,

i stumbled upon this bracelet. i've been wearing it ever since as a confirmation

to trust where the lord is leading me.

many days that doesn't come easily but it is my hearts desire.

michelle verbeeck who created the cuff

has offered 20% off

if you'd like to purchase one this week.

enter the code TRUSTYOURSTORYFCP

{{please note, you MUST enter your wrist size!!
michelle is getting loads of orders without size}}

~~~

 oh , i almost forgot...

jessica , from grace & gratitude,

you are the winner of the Sparrow & Blossom pillow!!

congratulations!

Sparrow & Blossom giveaway and a Noonday winner

 my sweet & oh so talented friend Jen Rizzo

has just released her new spring line

appropriately titled

Sparrow & Blossom

( i love saying that....sparrow & blossom)

i think for an artist, each time they introduce their art

it's like debuting their heart & soul

for all to see.

jen has done just that

& has created a beautiful line

wrapped together and packaged 

in all the loveliness of spring.

 

 

jen would love to give one of you a well-traveled aviary pillow

& she's also doing her own

$500 giveaway on her blog.

so leave me a comment to enter for the aviary pillow.

& then you might just want to scoot on over to jen's

& put your name in the hat for her generous offer too!

 

 

i have so many things to share with ya'll

not the least of which is the new spring line from Noonday

soon to release

& several other super great offers and giveaways so

i'll be writing much more about the event

inbetween some fun introductions too.

i'm super tickled to announce that #41, 3 peanuts

my sweet friend Kim won my Noonday giveaway!

Kim was one of the very first blogs i began reading years ago.

her heart for adoption has been an inspiration to me and so many others.

raising awareness of the orphan crisis is the heartbeat of Noonday.

so kim,

i have a voucher for $50 for you!!

 

~~

"No more tears, no more shame

No more sin and sorrow ever known again

No more fears, no more pain

We will see You face to face

See You face to face

And we will worship, worship

Forever in Your presence we will sing

We will worship, worship You

An endless hallelujah to the King"

matt redman

she calls me minny & she's my skeeter

 i know for me, when something seems monumental

i'm a little intimidated to tackle it or break it down.

i sure don't want to overwhelm ya'll with what the lord's been doing in my heart

& what He did over the last several months

& then brought to fruition the past weekend,

but i'm still struggling with just how to verbalize everything.

well, that & i don't want to saturate you with multiple posts.

i have 33 posts in my drafts & yesterday i sat down to write about my friends

& the pearl event

& walked away thinking that i should just slap one of those up instead.

so...my disclaimer in advance,

there'll be more than one post.

ok, now that i've got that out the way let me start at the beginning...

sibi sees the good in people.

she loves on 'em, makes a fuss over them & verbally affirms them.

she dreams big. with chandeliers and gigantic roses.

despite a past that i only know a fraction of

with stories of abuse and abandonment,

she longs to share the story of her savior

& how he filled her years & years of brokeness with wholeness.

she shares about the pearl:

  formed inside the shell of certain mollusks as a defense mechanism against a potentially threatening irritant, or an attack from outside.

& longs to tell women that we are His pearl

a metaphor to describe how priceless & valuable we are.

i love this friend of mine. we've been url friends

that became real life friends.

when she asked me months ago to come & speak at her event

i had no idea that, once i said yes, the lord would do such a work in my own heart

while i prepared to share with 200+ women!

i was running one day & thinking about how on earth i was going to turn down sibi's request

(with all my sweetest southern manners possible.of course)

when he put a reminder in my heart,

to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone 

who asks me to give the reason for the hope that i have.

(1 peter 3.15)

 i knew i had to share my story ( not just "the sad" chapter)

but the story of how i learned my God would come through always.

that when i lift my eyes up, my help comes from the lord.

not from a self help book or positive thinking,

not from anything i did myself or from sucking it up & just doing it.

the part of my story where despite living such an easy and blessed life early on

that i truly learned more about the lord's love and provision

 during the saddest darkest time of my life.

thank you sibi for seeing something in me

that i didn't know was there.

thank you for being a woman that not only has a gentle & quiet spirit

that listens for him and to him,

but then acts on those words.

thank you for covering this event in prayer and fasting.

for showing me what living a life sold out to him 

looks like in real time.

thank you for sacrificing so much to make the pearl event a reality.

i considered it one of the highest honors 

to stand beside you last weekend.

i love you pearl...

i spent a long time looking for a video that i thought would be a great intro for my talk.

my theme was trust your story, trust your author 

& find your voice.

being a lover of so many stories, i spent some time looking at you tube videos

for my one of my favorites.

originally thinking i would share the trailor, i 'bout did a standing back handspring

when i saw the following.

perfect!

(maybe you'll see why she calls me minny...
& i call her skeeter, "the person helping bring about change")

alrighty, for all you fans of "The Help", enjoy....

trying to unpack an amazing event....

the girls are getting ready this morning to head back to school.

i have no idea what they're gonna wear because i'm certain

all of our clothes are in a pile waiting on me in my laundry room.

yesterday was a holiday for them

& today is back to reality.

i'll be honest ya'll, i hope we'll still be friends

& ya'll will stick around with me because it's gonna

take me a few posts 

or atleast a few days

to unpack what occured in my little world this past weekend.

(& because i captured the entire weekend on my iphone

not my wonderful camera...so i apologize in advance for any blurry shots!)

my friend sibi...

i'm having a hard time coming up with words for how much i love & respect this woman.

so that'll be one post.

that edie?

ya'll. she's the real deal.

if i could pick only 3 blogs to read, actually 2 blogs,

she'd be on that list...& has been.

that'll be another post.

the powerful stories of jane & sarah blew me away.

the worship was beautiful.

the stories of the women i met,

& the online friends that i'm now real life friends with

were amazing.

the list goes on.

since talking about shopping doesn't require much mental effort

i'll start with that!

we headed out early friday morning & drove to Franklin Tennessee.

i've wanted to visit Franklin for years.

i lived in Nashville as a little girl, but since that was 428 years ago,

i don't remember much.

the music city is home to many famous musicians

& so is the charming town of Franklin.

we were on the look out for Keith Urban & Taylor Swift

and during lunch, we were certain there were several music talks, things, intereviews

whatever they're called, going on around us.

we didn't have long to shop but found a couple shops that i fell in love with.

could you die?

in the immortal words of sibi, rapture me up right now!

 savannah was out of town & sadly couldn't join us.

we took our sweet abby & warned her that we were kinda boring

& that someone may or may not snore friday night

crammed her in the suburban

& then proceeded to feed her fast food all weekend.

i'm sure she had the time of her life.

the town was so darn cute

& driving by pastures with gorgeous southern homes 

& fields of horses....

i've officially added Franklin to my list of possible future hometowns!

it was priceless to have my girls & my sweet man with me 

this weekend. 

sibi & i have a handful of phone calls planned to catch up

& relive the weekend.

so i promise i'll be back with some details & stories

of how great our God is!!

~~~