2019 Year-End Review

Uhhhhh what?! Excuse me 2019 is over?! No way.

I’m writing this review after a few days of renewing my soul with lots of baking shows, cookies, coffee, and wine. It’s funny how in the small business world the end of the year is like this weird feeling of “I’m done!” and also “I have to get ready!”. So I’ve chosen to take the approach of collecting all the materials I need to start 2020 with a bang but leaving the planning for January 1. Well, really January 2nd because I’ve got a good staycation planned with my husband December 31st and January 1st.

Part of my “preparing to plan” was to collect some data from 2019, which is why I am here writing this blog post. Because, DANG Y’ALL! This year I did over 140 custom portraits for you.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY PAINTINGS.

So many reasons that number sparks pure joy. 1. that means over 100 of you have found my work worth spending your hard-earned money on. 2. It means many of you have chosen to come back to support me again and again. 3. It means my business is growing.

I could go on but what I want y’all to know is when I look back at the growth that occurred it isn’t the number of sales, the dollar amount, or followers/subscribers I gained. The most important lesson I learned in 2019 was in late November. It was a slow process but once it clicked, man was it a game-changer. I was hust-le-ling hard all year. I was trying to prove that I could do this, that my art degree wasn’t bogus, that I wasn’t unorganized, that I wasn’t “just a mom” (as if that isn’t hard enough on its own). So many things I wanted to prove that I could do, it was driving me to be constantly working, constantly hustling and when something didn’t go just right I felt awful. Finally after realizing all that hustle wasn’t bringing me joy I gave it up. I realized to be the person, wife, mom, artist, and business owner that God created me to be I needed to SLOW THE HECK DOWN!

Yep, right in the middle of my busy season, I decided to STOP HUSTLING. This moment was the defining moment of my year. It doesn’t mean I stopped working, I was still painting constantly and making sure I stayed on top of my social media, email list, finances, and all that jazz. But I started waking up 2 hours earlier than LJ to start my day with the Lord, the one who gave me all of this in the first place. So I slow my mind, empty all the to-dos, read and pray. Adding in this simple step has slowed me down and kept me renewed each remaining day of 2019.

I’m excited to carry this new practice in to 2020. The intentionality of starting my day this way spreads into other parts of my life and business. I’m now more intentional with the tasks I choose to accomplish for my business. I’m more intentional about the time and conversations had with friends and family. So I believe 2020 will be a huge year for me and this little business. I believe I will see undreamed of growth in sales, numbers and most importantly joy.

So maybe this is a little bit of an unconventional “year-end review”. But what I want you to know is hustle doesn’t mean better, busy doesn’t mean happy, and a full schedule doesn’t equal joy. Slow down. Be intentional with your time, laugh at your kids, snuggle your husband, enjoy the work you are doing. I know I plan to do all of those things all year long and every year hear on out!

Adoption Update Fall 2019

GUYS.

It has been nearly a year since I gave a true update on our adoption. If you have been following along since our announcement in 2016 then you know we started our adoption with an international adoption with Nicaragua. We heard all the reasons to not do it, that the country was unstable, that most agencies wouldn’t work with them because they did not have certain laws in place, but we chose to move forward anyway because if we didn’t then who would? Our family not only lived in Nicaragua but our hearts were there too. So we moved forward, God provided things SO quickly and used His people across this country to show us that He will provide beyond anything we could imagine. Then we made some drastic life changes at the end of 2016 that included Reed quitting his job, moving in with some friends, and moving to a new city with no house. It was pretty crazy and to be honest REALLY hard. But because we had seen God provide so dramatically with our adoption we knew we were going in the right direction.

So obviously things paused with our adoption as we moved and updated paperwork for our new life, we purchased a home that felt so perfect for a family, we both had jobs that supported us, it was all coming together! We finished our Homestudy and had our dossier ready to send to Nicaragua it was an exciting time for sure! Nicaragua was slowing adoptions with international people but still accepting applicants with a connection to the country, which thankfully we had, but the process was still paused on Nicaragua’s end.

In October of 2017, we announced that we were pregnant with Lanie Jo! This was literally a dream, not because we struggled with infertility but because we hoped our kids would be super close in age and this just seemed to be setting that up perfectly. Fast forward to April of 2018, LJ was born and that same week Nicaragua had unbelievable political unrest erupt across the country. It was terrifying and so sad to see our second home hurting and to be praying for the safety of the families and children in that country. As you can imagine when there is political unrest, adoption becomes almost nonexistent. In fact, the building that housed the adoption program for Nicaragua was burned in some of the riots. It really was devastating on so many levels. Nicaragua is still experiencing a lot of this unrest. Really nothing has been fixed in a year and a half but the violence has subsided some and because of this, all international adoption has been stopped. There is no way for Reed and I to move forward with adoption through Nicaragua.

So in February of 2019, we decided to reevaluate what we were going to do about adoption. We quickly reflected back on a question we were asked at the beginning of all of this in 2016 “are you called to Nicaragua or to adoption?”. We always felt it was both, but then we realized that our goal was to follow the command to love and care for widows and orphans, to act out the gospel and share it with anyone however we could. This question was asked by a dear friend who also works for Bethany Christian Services, once we had our answer we called her and set up a meeting to discuss what domestic adoption looked like with Bethany. In May we had our official informational meeting, had all of our paperwork done by July and are now waiting on our Homestudy to be written! This means soon we will be an official waiting family with Bethany Christian Services.

So, why the shift from international to domestic adoption? Because there are women and children that need help here. These babies may not be orphans and these women may not be widows, but they need a community to come alongside them, to love them and care for them. That is what Reed and I believe we were called to do. To be that option for a child to have a loving family that works hard to provide them with their daily needs and introduce them to a God who will always protect them. We felt like Bethany had the same mission and so we are partnering with them in adoption to care for mothers and children right here in our state!

Yep, writing all that out it looks like a major roller coaster. And living it out felt like one too. But right now we are confident in that roller coaster that brought us here. We have seen God provide on so many levels and we can’t wait to move forward as a waiting family, to partner with a birth mom in providing for a child and be the family that introduces them to a God who has adopted us all into His perfect family! We will be doing a few updates here on the blog, and also using the Coming Home Collection in my shop to raise funds to complete this adoption. I hope you come alongside us to support and encourage us, we know we can’t do this on our own and that we need friends and family to be right by our side with each next step!