April was a good month, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and I’ll share my good things with you! New Habits I’m a little ashamed to say that I have struggled with being distracted by the news (and social media in general) for a long time. A few weeks ago, I sensed that God was urging me stop checking the news. It was causing my anxiety to spike and making me more irritable, unfocused, and distracted. So...
This is my blog series where I recap good things I’ve enjoyed the last month, so here goes! I have been more intentional this month about making art a part of my work day routine. There’s always the business side of things that needs tending–bookkeeping, updating the website, checking inventory, sending orders–all the necessary things that help pay the bills, but making art is so life-giving. Here’s a little sneak peak of some florals I’m working on right now,...
Here are three things good things to share with you this week: 1. Bridge of Hope.☀️ Today I was preparing a few words to share at a fundraising event for an organization I volunteered with the past two years called Bridge of Hope. “Bridge of Hope trains and equips local Christian faith communities (churches, Bible study groups, house churches, etc.) from a wide variety of Christian traditions to respond to homelessness in practical, tangible, and neighboring ways.” Bridge of Hope...
Purely for pleasure, I have been reading through Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache murder mystery series. I just finished The Beautiful Mystery (#8 in the series). I love the way the characters in the books develop over the series. The focus of her books is not so much on the murder as the motivations and emotions of the characters involved. The Beautiful Mystery is set in an aging monastery hidden deep in the Québec woods, where a group of monks...
It’s been a long time since I wrote a “All Good Things” post, but today I’m reviving it! I have gotten back into the swing of reading and I thought I’d share a few books I’ve read recently and what you might learn from them. Everything Sad is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri* This is the best creative non-fiction I’ve read in such a long time. It’s a hard book to describe because it’s so good for...
I was having trouble focusing. I was worn out, feeling desperate. So last weekend I booked a hotel room and took myself on a retreat to the town of Winchester, VA, about an hour from here. I explored local thrift stores, watched some movies, and tried some small local restaurants (this Peruvian chicken place was the absolute best). I needed quiet. I needed rest. I needed to hear from the Lord. Does anyone else have a hard time admitting,...
Hello and welcome to my “all good things” post for March where I share some of the good things I’ve come across this month. WORKING ON I’m working on a fruit of the Spirit printable Bible verse set! Several of you have asked for this set over the years and I’m finally doing it. I’ve been googling fruits of the Middle East and researching Scriptures to go with each fruit of the Spirit. I may even include a sketch...
I was talking with a friend yesterday who is walking through some very hard things. I said, “I’ve always wondered how people survived things like pandemics and wars and, well, I guess now we know. You just keep living one day at a time.” Here are some pictures from January and February of living life in the middle of the hard. I hope they bring some joy! Sometimes we like the snow; sometimes we don’t. My son created this...
Well hello there to you and a new year! Because I was quite absent here on the blog in the blur of work and school activities, I wanted to do a recap of the end of last year. Just in time for the big Omicron surge, my whole family was able to get vaccinated (and I boosted), for which we are very grateful. We started reading through the Narnia books with the kids. I had the opportunity to display...
