stephenomenal designs

I opened an etsy store!

With me scaling down to part time, just two days a week, I realized I'd have time to do what I love do to-- CREATE!

I've been cranking these mugs out and loving every single second of it. I've got countless ideas in my head of what I want to do and where I see this going.

Just from putting it on facebook/instagram, I got several requests for totally customized mugs and that's been really fun. I love being able to create something that's hopefully even better than what they'd imagined!

Let me know if there's something specific you have in mind for a mug and I'd love to make it for you!

Go check out my shop and look around!

transition

This last month, followed by the next couple of weeks, has been and will continue to be full of transition.


Dual parenting.
To single parenting 5/7 days a week.
Back to living under one roof.

Working full time.
To knowing I'm leaving in 2 weeks and trying to wrap everything up.
To staying at home for a little while and then working part time.

Living in chaos (housekeeping isn't my strong suit).
To living in a perfect show home I don't want to leave.
To living in a townhome we'll rent.

Reuben sleeping through the night for months.
To not.
To hopefully doing it again once we're all together.


It's a bizarre feeling. Trying to live life in Nashville, knowing I'll be in Knoxville at the end of the month. I'm trying not to pull away from friends here yet, but I'm working on establishing friendships over there at the same time.

I sort of feel like I'm just going on a really long vacation to Knoxville. I'm not entirely sure it's clicked in my head yet that I will LIVE there. When we come to Nashville from now on, we'll be visiting. We won't be coming home. That's weird.

The good news is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has planned for us to go to Knoxville and we're simply following where he's leading us. That gives me a crazy amount of peace. I love Sevier Heights already. I love the people we've met. I love where we're going to live. I love that I'll get so much more time with Reuben. I love that we'll be near mountains. I love that we'll be closer to friends in Chattanooga. I love a lot of it.

I just don't love transition.

hope: our next chapter

A few weeks after Reuben was born, Clint and I both had a strong feeling that God was calling us away from Long Hollow-our church, workplace, and family. We've both been here since we were kids and our whole world kind of revolves around it. Both of our families go here, we both work here, and just about every single one of our friends either goes or works here. We felt like God was wanting us to go somewhere new and stretch ourselves to grow, both as an adult and as a Christ follower.

To make a year long journey a short-ish story, over a year's time, Clint's had close to 10 opportunities present themselves to him. He hasn't looked for a single one. When the first one presented itself about a month after we felt the nudge from God, we were sure it was it. We even flew out to San Antonio to interview with their staff. We loved the people, the church, and the city, but found out it wasn't what God had planned for us. We were so disappointed, but then another opportunity arose in south Florida (who doesn't want to live there?!) and we figured THIS was it-why God shut the door to Texas.

But it wasn't.

And neither were the 5-6 things that followed that.

Most of them were just talks. "We may be having a position open soon. We'd love to talk to you about it" and then nothing more would come of it.

But every single time, we'd get our hopes up.

It's hard even thinking back on it. It's easily been the most frustrating year of my life. I've been so mad at and irritated with God. I felt abandoned. He had given us this sense of moving on and here we were, stuck where we've been for the last 12 years.

I had lost hope.

Then a friend called Clint and said he was going to throw his name out there for a position if it was alright with him. Clint said sure and then told me about it. I just chuckled and said whatever. I hardly thought anything of it.

And then when our friend called back and said they were interested, a little spark lit up in my heart. I wanted to think this could be it, but I was terrified to get my hopes up. They'd been let down and stepped on so many times. This scenario was too perfect. There was no way God would make us wait for a year just to hand us something so perfect, right?  (My spirit was clearly in the wrong here, because scriptures tell us over and over again that that's exactly what He does!)

The next morning, I read this verse:

God is the God of HOPE! He desires that we overflow with hope. But not in our own power- in the power of the Holy Spirit.

At that point, the spark grew to a small flame and I started to really hope in the Lord-that he was faithful to fulfill our desires from him and that his timing was perfect. I asked some friends to pray with me and for me because I knew if this didn't work out, it was going to be really hard on me.

One thing led to another and...

It's exciting and scary all at the same time. We know without a shadow of a doubt this is where God wants us, but the unknowns are creeping up on us and it's hard to not let them get to you.

If you pray, pray with us that the Lord will continue to guide us through this process. We've got to sell our house and find another one-something neither of us has ever done. We'll also be separated for a while as I stay here with Reuben and continue to work until our house sells or until August, whichever comes first (definitely pray it doesn't take that long to sell our house!!!).

We will miss our friends and family here much more than I could ever convey over a blog post, but guess what? We're only 2.5 hours away! That's a day trip. So come and visit us!

9/30: Influenced

List 10 people who've influenced you and describe how they have done so.

 1. Clint. He's my best friend in the entire world. He is the most supportive and caring man I've ever met. He's taught me to just try things. If you never try, you never know what the outcome will be. Failure isn't the worst thing that can happen to me.

2. My parents. Kind of a no-brainer. God's used them to majorly shape me into the person I am today. They're giving and kind and selfless and fun and all around great people. I can see both of them in me today.

3. My In-Laws. Mike and Shelly's story would bring you to tears. Seriously. They're incredible people and God's used their story to teach me that He can heal people in bigger and better ways than I could even imagine. They got a divorce when we were in college and 4 years later, less than a week after we got back from our honeymoon, they got remarried. It's a beautiful picture of God's grace!

4. Miriam. Miriam has taught me so much about friendship. We're real, honest, and simple. She's the first friend I've ever had who has come to me when I've done something to upset her and talked through it instead of talking to everyone else. I'm incredibly thankful to have such a great example of friendship.

5. John and Debbie. John and Debbie led a Bible study for high schoolers that Clint and I were a part of for years. They taught me how to study my Bible and really search for answers. When I'd ask them what to do in a situation, John's first response was always, "Well, what does the Bible say about it?" and he wouldn't take "I don't know" as an answer.

6. Angie. Angie and her husband, Mike, used to open up their house to 10 or more 20-somethings every Monday night. Every. Monday. Night. Those are a lot of mouths to feed. She's got the sweetest heart and is the queen of hospitality and has taught me a lot about serving and the heart behind it.

7. Staff of The Gallery Church in NYC. In my summer up there, they taught me to love the people of the city, and not just the city itself. Yes, the city is incredible, but it is full of lost people in darkness. The cool thing is that the surrounding darkness makes the pinpricks of light that much brighter.

8. Anna. Anna's taught me to love hard and to love well. Love through the mess and struggles. It's easy to love put together people. It's the broken ones that need your love.

9. Gretchen. Gretchen is one of those "Why not?" people in life. Want to clean out the room that's been destroyed by your dogs and is in complete disarray? Why not? Want to run a 5k? Why not? Want to start a craft business? Why not. I need more of those people in my life. :)

10. Terry. I don't think I could ask for a better boss. He's understanding and supportive of what Clint and I feel called to do in life. He and his incredible wife, Melinda, care more about us as people than me as an employee. He's quick to take the blame from and pass on the glory to his staff. He's a great example of a leader and I'm thankful to know him and Melinda!