Taking a couple days off to take a little road trip back to the homeland with my favorite guy. So. Very. Excited. In the meantime, I'll leave ya with a few of my favorite words while we celebrate Easter. 

watercolor via

visit her etsy shop, they are all gorgeous!

hasta la pasta.

love you all. 

I am so excited for you to hear from Jessi today! Throughout the past couple months I've had the chance to read about her journey through the adoption process and her faith in the Lord to provide for what he has laid on her and her husband's heart. She is just the sweetest so I've asked her to share a bit about her experience. 

Hey y'all! My name is Jessi and I blog over at Mom in Training. First of all, I would like to say a huge "THANKS!" to Erin for trusting me with her blog today! It is such an honor to be here and to be able to share with all of you readers.

So. A little bit about me. I am a lover of hot beverages, cold winters, and all things food. I'm married and have been for 3 years now. My husband is an actuary [[a fancy term for "he works with numbers"]] and I am a homemaker//handmade business owner. My shop is called Fāyán Knits, which I opened to raise funds for our adoption. I felt my calling to adoption in the summer of 2009. I was on a trip to Southeast Asia and one of the places we stopped at was an orphanage. God just really opened my eyes and placed this tremendous burden on my heart for the fatherless. I came home from that trip knowing exactly what my "career" was going to be. I was going to be a mother.

Here we are, about 3 1/2 years later. We're still not parents, but we are on our way. We have met with our new adoption agency, and have started the mountain of paper work. We have also [[sort of]] started the process of fundraising. For those of you who maybe don't know, adoption is expensive! We're talking between $15,000-$25,000 for a domestic adoption [[that means a kid from the States]] and an average of $40,000 for an international adoption [[a kid from anywhere outside of the States]] I don't know about you, but that's not money we have just laying around. Fundraising is sort of awkward. I'm not the type who likes to ask for help on things, so to ask someone to give me money? Ugh....But, it's a necessary part of our process, so I just have to buck up and deal with it. There is so much more that I would love to talk about, but at the risk of being too wordy, I will cut myself off here.

If you have any questions about adoption, please email me! I would love to [[try]] to answer any questions you have. You can find me at fayanknits {at} gmail {dot} com

Again, huge thanks to Erin!

Much love,

-jessi

it is okay

Lately I've been so very ambitious with my after 9 to 5 activities. Which, consequently, leads to less productivity somehow. Maybe I just need more coffee.

The fact of the matter is, this twenty something stage of life is so full of power, ambition and opportunity. We want to take advantage of everything. Do exactly what we're made to do. Be healthy, happy, fulfilled, spontaneous, full of joy and purposeful at every moment of every day. And I'm learning that sometimes it just doesn't happen. And that's okay. 

1. It is okay to rest. Take some time to physically rest -- rest your brain, your heart, your body. A break from the daily grind, from computer screens (!), from all the whimsical activities we've planned for our free time. I've been trying to help myself remember that free time does not need to be scheduled or used purposefully all the time. Some days it's just about sitting, resting, reading, watching, thinking, staring off into space.

2. It is okay to be mundane. There is great honor in getting up every day and working hard, being diligent and earning a living. It doesn't matter worth a nickel what you're doing, it's how you do it. Those of you who work full time -- high five! we belong to the same club. Finding purpose in a position that's not the Director of Saving the World is sometimes harder than one that is based on a very purposeful cause. (Those are also fantastic, we need people doing all sorts of things. All of it is to the glory of our Father.)

3. It is okay to fail at deciding what you want to be when you grow up. I went to school for something completely different than my job now, and completely different than all of my ever changing life ambitions. Luckily, I have been given grace upon grace from people in my life that encourage me to explore, navigate, fail, retry, and pursue new interests. We are not expected to have it all sorted out.

Got it? Good.
Which brings me to a proposal.
Not the marriage kind. Why would you think that, sillies?!

Here's what I'm thinking -----------

I've been experimenting a lot with graphic design, some new programs and blog design in particular. You may have noticed I've revamped some things on my own page and I don't hate it yet so that's a plus. Maybe it will stay that way for more than a week.
ANYWAY.

If any of you would like to experiment with some new design, I'd be happy to work with you FOR FREE. This is something I'm pretty excited about exploring and would love to work with you if you're interested. Email me at streetlightstostars@gmail.com. Seriously.

successfully reaching the mid-twenties

This weekend was full of birthday fun. I am again reminded of how blessed I am to have such wonderful, creative, loving, generous people in my life here. 

As a friend of mine gladly pointed out, I have officially reached my mid-twenties. Why does that sound so much older than early-twenties? I don't know. I'm sure turning thirty someday will be a way, way more traumatic dramatic event.

Some birthday highlights are as follows...

Flowers delivered to the office from that very thoughtful man of mine >>

Playing a few rounds of pool. I'll let you notice that creep-o in the background on your own. >>

So many beautiful and kind birthday cards from my oh-so-artistic friends >>

Night walks after a late dinner >>

Saturday shopping spree with the roommates >>

The most creative little gifts >>

more beautiful cards, I really can't tell ya'll how lucky I am to know such kind and flattering people >>

 A little out of town trip with this man to visit some good friends >>

 These fabulous roommates >>

So many people I love in one place >>

24 year resolutions are as follows:

Keeping the athletic sock wearing to just workout times.

Liking tea.

Reading more books.

Running longer.

Cleaning regularly.

Learning a bit of graphic design.

We'll see how that pans out.