Baby Shower - Celebrating Emily and Maryellis

To start, I'll tell you a bit about Emily. She's been one of the most influential and wonderful women in my life, to say the least. She began mentoring me almost four years ago, and has always been there to pray for me, and push me to seek the Lord more. Emily has such a loving heart; a huge love for Jesus that overflows into abundant love for anyone she comes into contact with. She has truly taught me what it means to be a strong woman of God.

Emily and her husband, Matt, recently began the process of adoption. I'm not 100% sure of the timeline of everything, but to me, being far away from them, it seemed like just a few months of preparation and prayer. I had visited them in April, and we chatted about what had been going on with the process, and while there had been a couple birth parents they had been shown to, there wasn't any solid news. Then, about a month later, Emily had posted something on Instagram that said they were coming to Seattle. I immediately texted her and asked what the reason for the trip was. She said they were coming up to meet with birth parents, and she was sorry it wasn't to come visit me. Honestly, I was praying that the reason they were coming had to do with the adoption process! :) Through tears of sadness, and I'm sure tears of joy, their adoption of baby Maryellis was finalized just over a month ago! 

If you would like to read the details and updates by Emily about the journey of their adoption, go here!

So, naturally when I first found out that they were adopting Maryellis, I went through Pinterest for some gift ideas. I started making an embroidered map of the USA on some pretty white linen fabric. I used lighter pastel colors to go with what I had seen of their nursery back in April. It took me quite a while to finish it because it gets a bit tiring after a while, plus I had to redo a couple states early on. 

I wanted to make a quilt as well, and actually quilt it as opposed to tying it. I opted for a trendy chevron pattern (of course) and a grey, white, and yellow color combination. The back side had a light yellow fabric that had tiny white polka dots. I quilted it along the chevron lines, about 1/4" on each side of them. It made a really cute chevron pattern on the yellow polka dot side as well (which I didn't really get a good picture of... oops). I also made a little tote bag to carry everything with a tiny white and grey chevron fabric, and a light yellow on the inside. On the drive there, I had to get out of the car and walk around, so I decided to go to Old Navy and get a couple more last-minute gifts ;) I got little leggings that were navy and white striped with ruffles on the bottom, a light pink onesie, with some super cute light pink shoes. So adorable! I couldn't help it. 

Emily had also asked me to snap some candid pictures during the shower. Unfortunately, only some of them turned out as the lighting was pretty harsh. But there were some great ones of her opening her gifts! Here are most of the best ones...

The setup was fabulous! Talk about delicious food and beautiful decorations. There were pictures of the Imlach family hung all around, and they were gorgeous!!

(I had some fun learning how to use my new wide-anlge lens alongside my new polarizing filter!)

Prayer over the afternoon and the meal - So glad I caught some laughter and smiles!

Did I mention the food was amazing? - Isn't Maryellis adorable?! Ah!

So many blessings in the form of gifts for Emily and Maryellis! They were truly showered with gifts and affection!

Emily was totally digging the blondies. I'm bummed I didn't snag one!

 There was seriously SO much pink and red! Everyone looked so beautiful.

 Winner winner chicken dinner! It was actually a candle, but that doesn't sound quite as good... ;)

Let the gift opening begin! 

Laura and Ezra, the helpers - Aliya's gorgeous quilt! 

I was so excited about giving her my gifts! My heart overflows when I get to give people things. I just love it! Emily also made me tear up a bit at this moment... But we won't talk about that. Mostly because I'll probably cry again.

 The bag and quilt that I made! I love creating things - I'm so grateful that God has given me these little talents and that He gives me opportunities to use my talents to bless others!

Precious romper much? - Precious baby much?

She was loving, and I mean LOVING this elephant finger puppet...

... And these jellies! So cute, but I always got blisters. I've heard beauty is pain, but why?!

Jill was feeding Ezra some Skittles, which gave her enough energy to carry over some hefty presents.

Lani's handmade mobile! Love it!

Isn't Em the cutest mom ever? She definitely wins the hot mom award. Plus, she's got some crazy buff arms.

So glad I caught even just a glimpse of this moment. Hugs!

My gift alongside Laura's gift of one of their family photos in a great frame. 

This is an accurate portrayal of Maryellis' journey from Seattle to Eugene, right?

For my future projects, I WILL take photos of them prior to giving them. In good lighting. 

Look at that intense hair! She's got some natural ombre going on, too.

I'm rarely in front of the camera, but I needed a picture with Em! Honestly, words can't express my love and joy for her. I'm so excited about this new journey as a family, and can't wait to see what the Lord does in and through their lives! 

Lani said it best, we all love you already, Maryellis! 

We Want More, We Want More

Have you seen that commercial? I have no clue what it's about, but I love it. Are they scripted or are those kids just inherently hilarious? I wish I was that funny.

Well, I do want more. More of what, I don't know, but I want more. Definitely not more clothes or food or craft supplies. I want more adventure. More opportunities to help people.

I went to the Hillsong United concert the other night. While waiting in the line that wrapped all the way around the building about one and a half times, I wanted to cry. Partly because I was alone in line, and partly because it was s o  l o n g . I thought I might die in that line, honestly. I wanted to give up and spend the $20 in my pocket at the Starbucks down the street. I ended up staying in the line because I had already spent $35 on my ticket, and I deserved a good show.

Well, it was no Kim Walker-Smith, but there were a few tears shed and many smiles from me during the show. I really enjoyed the song "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" and another song talking about how Jesus is all I need.

I really want Jesus to be all I need, but He's definitely not. I need new shorts and tanks for summer, I need cute plants to decorate my sad apartment, I need chocolate to satisfy these lady-like cravings. And yeah, I need Jesus too. During this song, my heart wanted to pray that Jesus would make Himself be all I need, that I would be somehow put in a position where I actually realize He's all I need. My thoughts flew to Africa and India and the Middle East, and part of me wanted to be in their shoes, or, for the sake of this post, lack thereof. I want to just need Jesus because He's all I have, all I could ever even hope for. It feels like I could say more about this, but I'm just not sure what that is.

The other song, "Oceans", really got to me, as it did a lot of others I suspect. First off, the girl's voice is D Y N A M I T E and somehow belongs to a tiny person, so that's legit. Second, the lyrics just made me want to leave and be pushed to the end of my rope. I've been living off this high for the last couple days and can't get my mind away from the simple fact that I want my faith to be stretched so far, I want to be used to help/love/save/comfort, I want to GO.

I have no idea where this is, when, how, who. I got nothin'. But God is definitely stirring something in my heart and I know there's something out there that's going to be more satisfying than working at Starbucks or customer service or babysitting.

I'm thankful that God chooses to use us for His purpose and to draw people to Him.

a w e s o m e .

Controversial Topic #1: Abortion

Here's a good question that everyone should have an answer for: At what point does a person become a person?

There's a lot of debate around this topic, and I'm sure you know that unless you live on the moon. Though maybe, you might even know it then...

Some people say a woman's baby is a fetus until it's __ weeks old, some say it's always a baby, and some even go so far as to say you should be legally able to abort a... something (still fetus?) until it's up to a year old. What do you say?

My argument is strictly coming from someone who loves Jesus, believes that the Bible is the true, inspired word of God, and who believes that each baby is immensely wanted and loved by God. I have considered the thoughts and feelings of women who have had abortions, who are raging feminists, and those who have been physically violated and don't want a living reminder of that. But I still stand firm in my beliefs. I still believe babies who are unwanted by their mothers and fathers are wanted by the Father. I still believe that babies who are conceived through rape and incest are deeply loved by Jesus. I still believe that babies who are "scientifically proven" to have significant birth defects or mental issues are important and so greatly wanted by the God of the universe. 

I recently read a blog titled "What to Expect When You're Aborting" where a 23 year old woman writes (in rather vulgar language) about her abortion experience at Planned Parenthood. I copied a few things that struck my heart.

"It’s fantastic that abortion is legal and accessible in this country, but it’s the pro-life (I decided I can use the term pro-life because I recognize that at one point in a pregnancy there is a heartbeat. But I don’t care. This world doesn’t need more kids. I don’t care if the thing inside me can blink, move its fingers, feel pain, play the piano, or speak fluent french. If its inside of me, its my life, that’s what I’m concerned with, NOT with a potential life.) agenda [that] has permeated the entire process. The waiting period, the mandatory counseling, illegal third trimester abortions, etc."

"If I could have I would have ripped the f-ing thing our with my bear hands on the spot. It just freaked me out that it had a definitive shape. That maybe its size would make it harder to yank out. Or that my beautifully circular womb would get banged up in the process."

Unfortunately, I think this is the case with most women who choose abortion. They don't at all see the baby growing inside them as its own person, they see it as their possession, so they should be able to do whatever they want with it. If someone can feel pain, play the piano, speak ANY language, or move at all, don't you think it's alive? And if a human is alive, don't you think it's its own being? No one owns any other person's life, so no one should have a say in whether that person is allowed to live or if it should be killed. It's so sad too, that she seems to be so concerned about herself, her "perfect womb" and how much it will hurt her, rather than being concerned at all about the "womb squid" inside her.

"I scooted off the slab, with the paper still clinging to my ass and thighs and asked if I could see 'it'. I looked at a medical waste bucket by my feet and to be honest, my head was swirling so much that I could have been looking at bucket of baby bones, or Marie Antoinette’s severed head, or unicorns, or thumb tacks [and] I wouldn’t have known the difference."

Why would you want to see something you just paid upwards of $1,000 to kill? Unfortunately it seems as though many women are drugged, so they most likely can't realize the severity of the situation or what has just happened to them and their unborn baby. 

" 'And you’re all done.' The doctor says.

I couldn’t believe it.

I felt nothing.

I heard nothing.

I felt awesome.

Wanna talk about the question of life? Let me put it like this: the physical and psychological euphoria was so immense that moments after I stood up I felt resurrected. I felt very certain the life had indeed prevailed. My life."

Yeah, her life prevailed after her abortion operation, but someone's life was destroyed. The amount of morphine women are put under during abortions obviously gives them a desired, euphoric experience that I'm sure they don't mind having. How different, how completely opposite is the experience for the baby. 

"I sat back in the chair expecting all us sisters, we bloody, happy few, would make each other laugh and exhale out anxieties. I looked to my right and I saw the polish woman. I just reached out and grabbed her hand. I asked her, because I was zonked out of my f-ing head, why she had an abortion. Through a lot of tears she told me that she was 15 weeks pregnant, had three children, and she just found out her new child was going to be autistic. And decided she didn’t want to go through with it."

My roommate and a couple of my other friends all work and love people who have special needs. I've been around them many times and experienced the happiness and joy they bring to everyone they're around. Yes, I'm sure raising a child with autism is difficult, but that doesn't mean your life is going to be awful. Isn't it already hard to raise typical children? I also have heard a story from my roommate that one of the families she works with was told one of her children would be born with Down Syndrome, but she was born typical, then was told with her next child that she would be typical, but was born with Down Syndrome. How many babies have been killed because the doctors were wrong and the parents were terrified to have to work harder to raise their children? I can tell you one thing: It's just as easy, if not more so, to love someone who has special needs.

"By monday my hormones were a little wonky but in all I just felt like this parasitic creature that burrowed its way into me and fed of my energy, appetite, and joy was removed. And I had been restored."

It's unsettlingly obvious that she only saw her aborted child as a "parasitic creature", an alien inside her, and not a human being.

I hadn't heard a woman's story who had had an abortion before, at least not one in this amount of detail.  Honestly, it made me so sad and sick. Sad for the baby who was killed, sad for the women around her who had also had abortions, and so unbelievably sad for her. I believe that if women knew how much Jesus loved them, could feel His overwhelming love, and knew how much He wanted their baby to live, that not one of them would even consider aborting their child.

What also pains me so much is knowing there are so many families that cannot conceive that would be so completely ecstatic and overjoyed to have a child, even one with a mental or physical disability. One of my mentors has been trying to have a baby for years now, and unfortunately they can't. They are now spending thousands of dollars and trying so unbelievably hard to adopt a baby, and I pray so hard that some wonderful woman will feel called to give her baby to them. 

In regards to what the Bible says about abortion, Carm.org is a great resource and is what I used for the following few paragraphs:

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you..." God clearly has a plan for each person even before they were born. He knows every human being before they are conceived. 

Regarding the conception of Jesus, Matthew 1:20 says, “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’ ” The fact that the angel tells Joseph that “the Child who has been conceived” is “of the Holy Spirit” indicates that Jesus certainly was a person at the moment of conception.

Perhaps the strongest argument against abortion from Scripture is the fact that the same punishment is applicable to someone who kills or injures an unborn child as for one who kills or injures an adult.  Exodus 21:22-23 states, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.  But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life . . . .”  This strongly indicates that the Mosaic Law viewed the unborn as persons worthy of the same protection and rights as adults.

Psalm 139:15-16 says, “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written; the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”  Pretty self explanatory, I think...

In these verses, God indicates that the unborn, no matter how far along the pregnancy is, are human beings. I'm going to assume that everyone knows that the Bible says murder is wrong (For just a small sample of the Biblical passages forbidding murder, see Gen. 9:6; Mt. 15:19; 19:18; Mk. 10:19; Lk. 18:20; Jn. 8:44; Acts 3:14; and Rom. 1:28-29; 13:9.), therefore, murdering the unborn is the same as murdering a 36 year old, is the same as murdering a 12 year old, is the same as murdering an 87 year old. 

It's wrong.

New is the New Vintage

I've decided to spice things up a bit and just create a new blog. I want to write more, and perhaps this will entice me to do so. Here's to hoping...


I love old things, antique malls are a big hit with me. I'll seriously spend hours in those places, and I usually only leave because they're closing or I have someone dragging me out. But has anyone else noticed that so many "vintage" things are actually, well, not vintage? What a sneaky little joke. The sad thing? I like those wannabe vintage knick-knacks.

And one of those not-so-new-but-new things is my blog!

I want to write more about my life. I have a lot of thoughts, weird things that happen to me on a daily basis, things I'm learning, crap I'm struggling with, and questions I can't seem to find answers to. And I wondered to myself, "Where can I share all this without bugging all my friends on Facebook?" Then I turned on my brain and got smert again. (Yes, I know I spelled smart wrong, all you spelling/grammar crazies can breathe. I'm not that dum.)


I'm calling it quits for tonight, unfortunately, but I will be sure to post about my exciting adventures at the dentist tomorrow...

P.S. Anyone wanna trade lives for the next 12 hours?

Live It, Live It Good

Okay blogging world, here I am once more.

I haven't written anything in quite a while, and though I've thought about various things to post here, I'm just too afraid they're not... Right? I don't know. But I guess they don't have to be, right?

Maybe I wanted this to be some interesting look into certain parts of my life, only show the good and fun things.

But you know what? Screw that. I'll write what I want to write. Boom.


Now I bet you're wondering what cool thing comes next. Well, I hate to disappoint you, so maybe you should go read Justin Bieber's blog instead.

My life as of late has been hectic, to say the least. After I moved to Bellevue, WA, I felt like life was super slow, I had nothing to do but watch 3 little boys everyday, and I kind of felt useless. Now, everything is different. My days seem to be jam-packed with work at Evolution Fresh, nannying those 3 boys after school, leading Young Life, and sleeping. The days go by so quickly, and frankly it's sort of depressing.

Look, I know some people thrive on busyness, they want to feel important or wanted or whatever, and I get that. It's nice to be needed in different places all the time. I definitely used to feel that way, like everyone wanted a piece of me and I'm sure my pride was just bubbling over. But now, I feel like God is giggling, saying something like, "Told you so," and waiting for me to ask for ways to slow down.

Sometimes it feels like you can't really live when you're living. Does that make sense? I want to enjoy things, but it feels like I'm so busy that I only get to watch people enjoy God's creation.

I don't want to live like that.


There's been talk from one of my friends up here about moving about an hour south of Bellevue recently, and it's led me to think about what I might do if she were to move. The thought of moving there with her definitely crossed my mind; and so did moving back to Springfield, maybe to Portland, staying in Bellevue, or swapping clean streets for smelly ones and heading over to Seattle. The only ones that sparked my interest were either to stay here, or move along with her.

So naturally, I've been thinking about this non-stop. And you know what conclusion I've come to?

I need to stop.

Let GOD take control, cause guess what? It's not up to me.

Since that's occurred in my little brain, I've thought that if I make steps both ways, He's bound to shut down some opportunities and open others.

I would love your prayers in this matter, and any words of encouragement in either direction (or just in general) are absolutely welcome.


Well, it's not the most boring thing that's been on the internet, but it's my life.

And I'm gonna live it.