Sharing my Story through Art.

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We live in a world that places so much attention on our outsides and whether or not they are pretty. Let's take a second to remember that it's your insides that make your outside pretty.. Because Jesus is in me, and you, we are beautiful. Because Jesus loves me, and you, we are never alone. Our joy does not come from any other source & Apart from him we can do nothing. You are enough because he is enough. It's time to be strong and believe that because God made us! He is the potter, we are the clay. The same God who created the earth formed you for a purpose. You are beautiful. You are worthy. You are adored... All because you are His. 


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FOUND: sometimes when the sun is rising just right and I’m driving Ollie to school I have flashbacks to when I would drive in my car, going nowhere, waiting for my parents to leave the house so I could go in and change clothes and then go to work. I would stay up all night doing drugs with my group of guy friends (who were ages 35-45 and I was 20 but that’s another post for another day to you young girls who think these people are your actual  friends) and then usually between 6-8am I would drive around everywhere just waiting. I was so lost. Sometimes literally but mostly just figuratively. When I was raped in 2008 and I was told by the police I was asking for it, all hope was lost. Everything went out the window at that point. Up until then I struggled with my eating disorder but I was a very functioning human who always tried to do the right thing. I’m not mad that things happened how they did although I was at the time. It took me getting so lost in addiction and sin that I was able to recognize when I was actually ‘found’ by God. I think sometimes sin is so surface level (if that’s even the right word), like gossip or being mean to people on the internet or wishing you had another life, that there’s no easy  way to see God rescue you from that. 

I haven’t seen the testimony yet of someone who says “I would always stir up anger by commenting on news stories posted on social media but then God saved me from being mean, making people feel dumb and causing anger.” If you’ve seen that be sure to tag me but I don’t think we will see it because most people don’t see themselves doing these small sins or even think it’s sin at all.

I was SO LOST in addiction that it was very easy to realize I was not the one who saved myself. I had tried for years with all the self help books and researching addiction but I couldn’t seem to pull myself out. But then God did and EVERYONE saw it. It was an unfolding miracle (and still is) on display for anyone who questioned God’s existence and grace. Is constantly giving your life and sin to God hard? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely. 

In addiction you will eventually come to a point where you want out. It might not be yet but when you do, you can’t do it by yourself. You have to have a support system and you have to have Jesus. 

‘I once was lost but now I’m found. Was blind but now i see’ 


REDEEMED-

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Every time I hear the word Redeemed I think of the book I read in Rehab called ‘Redeeming Love.’ It’s about the book of Hosea and how God  redeems a prostitute. Our world looks on and judges people in sin fairly easily because it’s easy to comment on a picture and join the crowd of people throwing stones. If you look at social media it’s almost a game to see how hurt you can make people feel for things they’ve done or got caught doing.  Thank God we didn’t have social media or camera phones when I was in my drug addiction because NO ONE would look to me as an inspiration. I always tell one of my friends when we share a mugshot of someone we knew that ‘this could have been me.’  Prostitute isn’t a good word to claim and tell everyone about but when you do anything for drugs, call it what you want, you’re a prostitute. When I was stuck in my sin of addiction I couldn’t see a way out. I did want to change but I was addicted to cocaine so I needed to do anything to get it. I wasted thousands of dollars a month on drugs and when I over drafted my bank cards I started stealing and when that didn’t work I used my body. But then I overdosed, went to Arizona and that’s when things changed. I met Jesus at a treatment facility and although I didn’t exactly know what I was signing up for I knew I was redeemed no matter what i would choose to do in the future. Once i accepted God unto my heart there wasn’t anything i could do for him to love me any less and that gave me hope. To go from feeing used up, addicted and hopeless to having hope and feeling new is something I can’t explain. It’s why I always say that I’m a recovered drug addict and I’m not recovering which is the label any recovery group will give you. When you’ve felt so gross and then you’re given a second chance, there’s nothing that could happen that would make you choose your previous life. I am redeemed. 


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TRANSFORMED

We often say things in our house like “you wouldn’t have known mommy then” or “that mommy wouldn’t have cared about you” and both things are true. 2008-2009 Valerie was very consumed with herself and manipulated every situation to get the outcome I wanted. I could create lies that anyone would believe  but eventually you forget what lies you tell and you start mixing up stories and then you’re ‘found out.’ If you’ve followed me for a while you know I’m always an open book and if you’re new here you probably are thinking to yourself ‘Why in the world would she just volunteer the fact that she had sex with people for drugs?!’ The answer is easy. That’s who I was, it’s not who I am. I’ve been transformed through Jesus. When you bring darkness to light it loses power. When you can understand how someone chose something you have more grace for them and others who are going down the same path. It’s easy to throw stones at the person you see on the street or the girl who shows way too much boob in her selfies on social media but that’s because you don’t know anything about them. You don’t know their real story. I had help getting out of my addiction. I had a mom who sold cars and charged credit  to get me into a treatment center that was christian (even though I was furious and thought God was stupid), I had counselors to walk me through trauma and met friends who didn’t expect anything from me in being a new Christian at 21 and they didn’t make faces or judge me when I’d share details of my self and little by little I shared more and more until it was all out there. Do I share everything on the internet? No. In recovery you’ll learn that in making amends and talking about things, you only do it when doing so won’t hurt you or others. It is freeing to tell your story and bring dark to light but you don’t want to hurt anyone in the process-even if they’ve hurt you. I have been made new. Transformed from a liar, manipulator, self seeking thief into a new creation put on the earth for a purpose. We all have a purpose and we all have darkness but if you’ll let yourself be transformed by the renewing of your mind through Jesus you’ll find out what that purpose is and the darkness loses power. 


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“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.” - Isaiah 38:17

——

The story behind the art:

It’s always hard to see how a trial or trauma is going to work itself out for good in your life, especially when the hurt is so deep. It’s no secret that sexual sin causes such deep trauma for the victim. You can look at all sorts of science that backs up this and how it effects the brain, even when it’s done during childhood and that person can’t remember. Trauma is trauma and at 32 the effects of being raped in 2008 are still with me (even though I’d say that I’m healed from it.) During my postpartum OCD and anxiety, the effects of being raped were very present. My greatest fear then and still to this day is that my kids will be molested or taken from me by another human and be sold. I was so scared after Hazel was born that I couldn’t leave the house or take the kids anywhere. I have worked through this with my counselor but I can still imagine scenarios involving my kids and start hyperventilating.

I have suffered anguish, we all have, but God is always working in the pain and the mess. Even when it’s hard to see.

If I wouldn’t have been raped I wouldn’t have started drinking.

If I didn’t start drinking then I wouldn’t have tried cocaine.

If I didn’t try cocaine then I wouldn’t have overdosed.

If I didn’t overdose then I wouldn’t have met Jesus.

In HIS love HE kept me from the pit of destruction. He put ALL MY SINS behind his back. He doesn’t keep track of sin or mark the slate every time we mess up. We could never do anything that would make Him love us less and there’s nothing we can do to make Him love us more. You’re just loved.

It ALL works out for the Glory of God if you’ll let it.


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‘I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you.’ This has become my life chant the past few years. Have you ever felt so out of control and nothing you do makes you feel any better? 

No? 

Have a kid. 😂


Control is like the water mirage. On the hot days when you drive in your car you can see water up ahead in the road and you keep seeing it and then when you get close it just disappears. That’s the struggle with control. You think you have it and then it just disappears.

I don’t know how your control struggle has played out, or if it’s even a struggle at all, but mine always chooses something to latch to. From ages 10-15 I chose to over eat, 16-20 I switched back and forth from anorexia to bulimia. When Brad and I got married I felt so out of control. I was so used to buying whatever I wanted when I wanted and then I married someone who never bought anything. Ever. 😳 This was rough for me. I chose to fall back to my eating disorder but then I got pregnant with Ollie and God, through Ollie, healed me from my eating disorder. I didn’t even think I could get pregnant and 2 months into marriage ON Birth control there was Ollie. 

Fast forward to finding out about Ollie’s autism at age 1. ‘I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you.’ 

He was nonverbal. 

He only played alone. 

He couldn’t eat solid food without throwing up. 

Our battle today is meltdowns, obsessive behavior (hello, Mario😂) and ‘non-compliance’-the fancy word from his therapy that means he won’t listen to anyone.  Since the start of COVID everything in his schedule has been messed up. He has school and then he doesn’t. He has a teacher and then he doesn’t. He can physically see kids at school but can’t talk to them. He has no idea what’s going on and his body is telling us. He has so much anxiety which makes for unusual behavior. It’s all a mess. ‘I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you.’ 

We have no control over Ollie’s mind. Obviously. As a parent you’d like to think you sort of know how your child’s life will end up going. School, friends, college, marriage, kids. 

We don’t know if any of that will happen for Ollie and that’s heartbreaking. 

‘I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you.’

No matter what happens with Ollie’s life and our life, we are safe and He is safe. We never go through the day alone and we don’t have to worry about the future because we know God is in it. We can look at Ollie and see exactly how God was working in each detail. We can see the evidence and we can be secure in knowing that he’s not going to stop showing up now. 

2 chronicles 20:12

“We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”


Posted on July 27, 2020 .

My Postpartum Journey.

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hal·lu·ci·na·tion

noun

  1. an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present.

Before having Hazel I’d never experienced a hallucination outside of doing drugs but that’s another story for another day. Last month I had put Hazel on our bed and then took a quick shower. I heard a weird noise and walked around the corner and could see a man standing over her and instantly I began to panic. I saw all the things that were about to happen and none of them were good. I remember reading a news story where a man raped a 6 month old baby and that baby obviously died. That’s exactly where my mind went. I started to hyperventilate. I kept saying to myself “This is not real. This is not real.” My mind knew it wasn’t real but It also wasn’t convinced. After a few hours I was able to calm down and pull myself together enough to go get Ollie from school and come back home. Moments like these were happening every day and I wasn’t sure what to do or how to stop it. The thoughts were constant and irrational but they kept happening.

I had postpartum depression with Ollie but it just went away after a month or so and I figured the same thing would happen with Hazel but I never did. It just got worse and I didn’t tell a soul. I knew that what I was experiencing (and had through the entire pregnancy) was most likely postpartum depression but in my mind If I told anyone what was happening and explained all the awful and grotesque scenarios that I was hallucinating I’d for sure get put away with the other crazies and have my babies taken away.

My experience this time around was MUCH DIFFERENT than when I had Ollie. I never connected with Hazel when she was in utero because I just knew she was going to die and If i didn’t have a connection then It wouldn’t be as hard when I delivered my baby who was no longer alive. This was the beginning of my PPD. Some days I forgot I was pregnant because of my lack of thinking about her and I’d look in the mirror and be reminded. Days would pass and i would realize I hadn’t even thought about her. It was the weirdest thing. I knew I should have felt joy and excitement but I just wanted to forget about it.

Brad’s work gave him 8 weeks of Paternity leave (which i’m so thankful for) but eventually he went back. I had been fine up until that point with only a few OCD and anxious thought but once he wasn’t home all day to protect us, that’s when my mind went nuts. I’ve always had mild anxiety and am 100% OCD but the way my counselor described my Postpartum OCD and Anxiety is that your mind takes something that has a little bit of truth to it and then exaggerates it to the worst case scenario making me unable to function. We had a snake in our house a month or two ago. It was a tiny nonvenemous snake but my mind latched on to the fact that there was a snake in our house and it went crazy. I ordered a 100 pack of sticky traps and put them all over the house and outside the house and I mean everywhere. In the morning I would walk around and check all the traps and make sure I didn’t catch a snake. There were so many out that Ollie even got stuck on one. It was hilarious and also a visual that I was losing it. My mind knew that it was irrational but I wasn’t able to believe it.

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The day I finally broke was a Wednesday.

I heard a noise outside and I saw a man come over the fence and break into our house. He killed me and took Hazel so he could sell her for sex. The hyperventilating started and I couldn’t calm down. I was holding Hazel and crying and It wouldn’t stop and that’s when I picked up the phone to my friend who is a counselor and asked her If I could be a new patient. I explained That what I thought was happening was PPD and I apparently needed to work through something and I’m sure that it had to do with past trauma and being raped at 20 but I wasn’t able to fix this myself. I told her I need tools to get through my day. She said yes and we set that appointment.

The next day at dinner I told Brad what had been happening (through lots of snot and tears) and he said that he knew something was wrong and he felt bad that he didn’t ask more questions. There was no shame or taking my kids away like I had imagined. You don’t have to suffer in silence. It’s going to be so much better when you tell someone and the moment I told him I could feel the weight lift off of me.

I had heard about PPD after I had Ollie but what I didn’t know existed was PPD OCD and PPD anxiety.

Those are what I have and am working through.

Postpartum OCD is a type of postpartum anxiety disorder. It is characterized by intrusive thoughts and behaviors that are in response to a perceived danger toward their baby. These thoughts and behaviors are constant and repetitive, and they can severely disrupt daily life. Postpartum OCD is a severe condition that requires treatment in order to manage and control symptoms.

Women with postpartum OCD are aware of their intrusive thoughts but they cannot control them. Instead, the thoughts cause counteractive behaviors and other symptoms as well.

Postpartum Anxiety symptoms include racing thoughts that you have difficulty controlling, constant worry, impending fear that something bad will happen, trouble sitting still and focusing, and dizziness and nausea.

Basically the two are a cocktail for living in misery and feeling like a prisoner in your own body and house.

It was awful.

I never knew these two things existed because I’d never heard anyone talk about them. But the fact of the matter is that I’m not alone in the PPD fight. 10% of postpartum women will experience Postpartum anxiety and 3-5% will experience Postpartum OCD…. That’s a lot of people and you don’t have to suffer through it.

With the help of my counselor (and some OTC medicine) we have worked through several scenarios using Cognitive Behavior Therapy. This has been life changing for me. Before I was constantly checking locks and the alarm and didn’t leave the house and now i’m able to leave more freely and don’t always have to have the alarm on. I’m not where I want to be mentally but I’m not where I was. You still won’t find me going to the grocery store alone but I also won’t be looking out the windows for rapists for hours on end.

The PostPartum time needs to be talked about more frequently. If you have a friend who had a baby and she doesn’t seem ok. Ask her. She may or may not tell you but It’s so hard being a new mom and if you’ve been a mom you know that. Maybe share this blog with her in hopes that she will realize she’s not crazy.

One thing I was having the hardest time with was Breastfeeding. It’s so hard and it’s even harder when you don’t produce enough milk so you sit on the couch for 18 hours a day trying to feed your kid. Everyone likes to give their opinion about what you should do with your body and for your kid but finally my counselor told me that I needed to stop breastfeeding because it wasn’t healthy. Formula is fine. Breastmilk is fine. It’s all fine.

Breastfeeding wasn’t healthy for my mind or for the people around me and I was so discouraged and sad but I had convinced myself that I could keep going the way I was for the sake of Hazel. I had decided that parenting is all about sacrifice and this was just my cup to drink. Finally I did what my counselor had said and I stopped. I can’t believe the difference in myself just after a few weeks.

At the end of the day you have to do what’s best for you.

Don’t listen to anyone’s opinion, your mental health matters. Brad has to remind me of this.

Everything about PPD is darkness and chaos and since i’m a Christian I tried praying the crazy away but that wasn’t doing anything in the moment. I was still scared and still anxious and was still having panic attacks no matter how hard I prayed. I was so defeated and dark but with the help of counseling, medicine and sharing my feelings daily with Brad I finally experienced my Isaiah 9:2. I realize some people will read this who don’t believe in Jesus so I want you to know that being a Christian doesn’t mean we don’t have struggles and it doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen. What it means is that there is a hope for the future and from experience I can say that there is a different hope that things will get better even when they suck in the now.

Isaiah 9:2 says:

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.


My PreJesus life (0-21) was darkness but once I started to fully trust in Him (around age 23) my life was turned into light. My Postpartum journey has also been darkness but once I learned what tools and medicine could help me, I’m back in the light.

Being in the light is a journey, it’s not a destination.

If you or someone you know is struggling through the Postpartum Phase or the pregnancy phase, feel free to reach out to me via email at ValerieWienersArt@gmail.com and I will give you the details and some of the Homework i’ve had from my counselor that has really helped.

**If you’re on the other side of PPD and found something helpful please send me an email so I can share the helpful tips with other readers.

It’s ok to not be ok but it’s not ok to stay that way.


-Photos by Karri Wieners Photography

-Photos by Karri Wieners Photography



Posted on October 17, 2019 .

"And If not, He is still good."

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I'm not knowledgeable about much. In fact, i'd venture to say that i'm not knowledgeable about anything. I know a lot about a lot but there isn't one subject where i'm like, "Man, I could school you on this."

Autism and Special needs is a subject that I knew Literally zero about before Ollie. I had seen one kid with autism (that I knew was autistic) but that was it. I have quickly learned more than I ever wanted to know the past 9 months. Autism wasn't talked about in the circles I was in. Since sharing Ollie's story though I've learned that hundreds and hundreds of you have similar struggles with your kids-The spectrum is so big and so diverse. I've gotten so many encouraging messages and emails and texts that have helped us through this. There have also been the non encouraging messages but I won't talk about those Yahoos.

I know, without a doubt, that every human is made on purpose and for a specific purpose. No child was made on mistake and no child is a surprise to God (Even if He was a surprise to us.) There are no surprises where God is concerned. I've heard some people say crazy things that hurt, even though some of them are trying to be helpful. I've heard and read messages that say things like Like shots cause autism and wifi causes autism and if we feed him a special juice he will speak  and that you can believe something out of a kid. Like if we believe in God enough that Ollie will be healed (I've literally heard that.) Here's where that gets crusty... While I 100% believe in Miracles, I also believe that God allows struggles in our lives and that the hardships we endure will also help us to see His Grace. 

"There are times that difficulties aren't there to be Solved, But are there as a measure of God's Grace.'' - Matt Chandler

Um, can I get an amen?! 

Ollie isn't a case to be solved. He's a human to be loved.

Do I wish that one day he would wake up and talk and eat perfectly? I can say I have been guilty of wishing things like that. But I'm not going to sit around and wait for that to happen and miss the amazing kid sitting right in front of me. My boy is brave. Almost too brave. He's so strong. I like to think he gets that from me. He also doesn't know one stranger. He gets that from his extrovert dad. He is a mixture of all things beautiful and different and he is ours. That is my kid and I take so much pride in him. There has never been another human that has made me cry and smile and break as much as Ollie does. He is Perfectly imperfect. Just like all of us.

God doesn't love the future version of ourselves. He doesn't love future Ollie. He loves us now. I'm not going to be the parent who wishes and prays away the things that God has put inside my son. Is it hard seeing your kid delayed and struggle with everyday things? Absolutely. Will we get past it? Yes. How do I know that? Because I can literally look back into every aspect of my life and see how far he has carried me. It may be hard now but I know it's going to get better. Ollie may always be delayed and He might never eat a full meal... but he might.  He may amaze us all and become a Chef one day. We just don't know what the future holds for anyone. But God has a plan and If he doesn't miraculously make Ollie speak and eat, that's ok because we know God is still good.  Ollie was stitched together by God. Every inch was made on purpose for a purpose.

"I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." -Psalm 139

2 things I know are true:

1) God promises to never leave us or forsake us.

2) Parenting is Hard...really hard.

God loves Ollie more than I love Ollie and I've got to think about that a lot of times a day. Whatever challenges we face on this road i know that he is going to be there with me.  I would love if you would share this blog with a friend who you thinks needs it. Together, we can accomplish so much. 

God, Help us to see the beauty in all the things. Even the hard stuff. -Amen

Photos by Karri Wieners Photography

Photos by Karri Wieners Photography

 

 

Posted on May 10, 2018 .

"The Art of Words" My new Book!

This Book teaches my different lettering styles, Projects to do, and has a ton of coloring and lettering pages with cut and paste pages too. I explain different tools, different papers, markers and more. This is for the beginner who wants to create a style and can be used by anyone for all the fun stuff in the back pages. See amazon for their description.

Posted on May 10, 2017 .

Bible Journaling Workshop Videos

You guys told me that you wanted some videos and I tried really hard to figure this out AND I did it! Hours OF VIDEO... I can't believe it. Once your Purchase the listing "Bible Journaling Workshop Videos" You will get an email with the password to each video. These are go at your own pace and work through videos. Each one has supplies that I use, steps I take, and explanation. There are some lettering videos, HOW TOs, and different types of pages to create. I hope you guys enjoy these!

The Videos work Best on an ipad or computer but can be viewed on your phones as well.

PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THE PASSWORD WITH YOUR FRIENDS. I make my money by the things I create, like your occupations, I don't get paid if everyone is getting things for free.

 

Rose Petal Mixed Media Page

How To paint a rose (Easy Step Tutorial!)

How I lay out lettering. How I mix Capital letters and lowercase

Lettering Warm Up

Floral Page with Dark Background

Create your own Acrylic Tabs and A floral Isaiah Page

Step by Step Floral Vase and Creating a double sided tab. (2 Corinthians 5)

Making a Stencil and A mixed Media Page

if you have any questions email vwieners88@aol.com

Posted on April 22, 2017 .

Favorite Bible Journaling Supplies ((WITH LINKS))

Curious as to what some of my other favorite Bible Journaling Supplies are? Click any of the Blue Words and Go straight to Amazon to purchase...the best part, once you spend $49 you get FREE SHIPPING!!!

My Journaling Bible is an ESV Single Column Bible

I love Faber Castell Pitt Pens"Artist Loft" Watercolors and if you have a little more to spend, I LOVE my PH Watercolors , Paper Mate "Clear Point" 0.07 Pencils, Cheap acrylic Paints like Apple Barrel and Stamps of All Sorts found everywhere. I love the Ranger Ink Pad and Acrylic Blocks for all of my Peel and Use Stamps.

My Favorite Brushes are Water Brushes. There are a ton of Brands available to purchase but Pentel are my favorite water brushes. I have a TAB punch that I love and use it daily... Need extra TAB STICKERS, Get them by clicking the word!

For my White Pens I love using the Uniball Signo with white ink, they will write over any kind of paint magically and show up while being vibrant. I  love my huge pack of twistables and highlight everything I need to with them. They don't bleed though and come in so many different colors.

I love my Faber Castell Big Pitt Set so I can Highlight and Color all the things without it bleeding through. This set of Washi is one of my favorites that I have bought time and time again---I love the patterns on it and it's cheaper than most sets.

Want to learn Lettering from me? You can purchase my Download and Print Lettering guides to help you along your journey. Volume 1 and Volume 2 are great starting spots and when you want to keep going and try different Projects, Volume 3 is here for you...

Thanks for viewing this Blog, Enjoy a Free Printable- You can save this, resize and Print it :)

Posted on March 9, 2016 and filed under bible journaling, stamps.

Painting Houses...

I started painting houses this week with my little Art Students because we are memorizing the Verse "As for me and My House, We will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

They were painting their houses so I decided I wanted to paint mine and I LOVE how it turned out...

Our house was first but then I wanted to try another one because it was kind of fun. I asked the moms to send a picture of their houses with their Little people The next day and I tried another one...

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Want me to draw your house? Email me a picture of your homeland send it with your Family name and verse. Base price is $70 shipped.

This was a fun Custom Church done as an anniversary Gift...

You can order a house or church painting any time by emailing your pictures to VWieners88@aol.com ---

Most paintings are $80 and all are 8"x10" Original Water Colored Paintings.

Posted on September 18, 2015 .

Beautiful Just as I am...

Some days I feel like a failure but i'm not. I'm moving forward--

PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION.

I know what life is like without addiction and it's good, really good. You smile, you laugh, and you don't have to fake it. You can have a conversation...When I put God first, above me, above Brad, I live a healthier life and i'm able to love better. Not just my husband, Not just others, but myself... 

Posted on September 13, 2015 .

2014 Year In Review..

.I had wasted my life and i felt such shame. i didn't know Jesus yet so i had no hope...i parked in the parking lot, looked at my 3 rolled up $1 bills and the small rock of cocaine i had left, crushed it, snorted it, and then went inside. walking first, then running, then screaming. ..

Posted on December 31, 2014 .

Birthday Collaborations: Bailey & Addison

Birthdays are one of my favorite things and birthday parties that involve painting are by far one of the best ways to spend my day. Bailey and Addison are two of my favorite girls. They are so kind, graceful, they love art, and they love Jesus. They invited me to their birthday party to teach some of their friends how to paint so we did just that!

Posted on September 22, 2014 .

Happy Birthday Jessica!!

The Blog Post Ann Voskamp Blogged About--

I recently got asked by a friend to create a Birthday Piece using all the highlights made in Ann Voskamp's book "1000 gifts" -- I got Jessica's book from her and began reading through every highlighted page, there were a lot of great....

Posted on September 12, 2014 .

Journaling Bible- FAQ

Recently I came across a hashtag on Instagram that was #journalingbible -- after I clicked on it I immediately had to go get one of these neat things. Apparently they've been around for a long time but I had no idea such a cool thing existed.....

Posted on August 29, 2014 .

A year in the Making((Learning to Love well))

"That's when i found new friends and a new idol in drugs. this is when the fun stopped and life got bad real fast. On my quest to feel loved i broke up multiple marriages, stole a lot of things, got into a lot of fights, and embarrassed myself more often than not. I didn't have a home and would sleep wherever and with whoever i needed  to."

Posted on August 2, 2014 .