giveaway!

Introducing the Holloway tote!

This is my newest bag design, and there are more coming soon.

Want to win this bag, or any bag from our etsy shop? Head over to the Lightnest Collective facebook page, click 'like', and leave a comment telling my which bag you love the most.

I'll choose a winner on Monday through random.org . 

Just a little thank-you to my sweet customers and readers!

xo

dinner with friends

We had a lovely dinner with friends at Tyler's house last night. She lives with her roomate, Olga, close to downtown. I love her house; it is so perfectly eclectic and bohemian. We ate outside on the porch-- I should have taken some shots of the food, because everything was so good. But the light leaves so much earlier now that winter is approaching. 

The giveaway I promised in my last post will be announced by the end of the week on the Lightnest Collective facebook page. I want to finish the new bag styles before the giveaway commences. I'm really excited to share some new work :)

Oh, and I am over on Erin's blog today. I love reading about her adventures with her boys in Alaska. I told her in our email correspondence that I am totally jealous she lives in such a beautiful place, and it's true. I miss living in the Pacific Northwest because of its grand-scale beauty. It really is breathtaking. I remembered what that was like to be surrounded by that during our trip to Colorado. But for some reason, coming back to the south has always felt comfortable, like home, even though I wasn't born here and didn't move here until age twelve. (I am originally from the Midwest-- born in Indiana, and lived in Wisconsin before moving to South Carolina). Anyway, I bring all this up because Trevor is at the point in school where he is starting to look for jobs-- he's graduating in May! In some ways we feel like we could go anywhere. I'll write more in depth about what he wants to do and why, and where we plan to apply. But I will at least say that the thought of moving to Colorado is a big part of our thinking right now. They have an awesome public defender program in their state. It would mean fewer cases, thus more time to spend with clients, and lower-stakes cases at first... which would be a great way to start out, we think. The state of Georgia is so overloaded with people who need a public defender, and even though that is a good reason to stay, one of the big issues is that PD's get burnt out. There is simply too much work, and they can't possibly give enough attention to each client's case. We're weighing all of these things and trying to think about what would be best. It's a process of prayer and lots of dreaming. More on that to come.

Hope you all have a wonderful week--

xoxo

26 weeks, and growth

It became suddenly cold here, and Piper has a bit of a cold.... so I guess that explains the PJ's and cozies and crazy hair. But really my hair is always this crazy. Seriously, it was 57 at the highest yesterday. It has been nice.

We're 26 weeks pregnant today!! I still can't believe how long 40 weeks really takes. It feels like I have been pregnant for such a long time... and I have, over six months. The first half was super difficult, but I have to say that the second half has been easier. Right now the main preparations for Larken's arrival have to do with getting the nursery together. I half-heartedly began the arduous task of sorting through the closet in Piper's room (which is the nursery, fyi) and gathering things to give away. Lots of works needs to be done in there. Ahem. 

We decided when we found out about Larken that we would go with the nurse-midwifery clinic at one of our local hospitals, and I have been super pleased with them. My appointments are warm, friendly and brief (but I think that is a good thing now-- of course they are open to me spending as much time with them as I need to). I don't have any complications, I have been through this before, and these midwives are operating on the principle that pregnancy is (usually) a normal and healthy function of a woman's body. They are in their element when the birth process starts. I can't wait to see them shine in labor & delivery.

October is a significant month in my life. I finally surrendered to God's work in my life around six years ago... I finally was tired of the life of addiction I was living and was broken. I went to a residential program called U-Turn for Christ in Greenville, Tennessee and God met me while I was there, big time. This place was like a Christian boot camp, and a very flawed ministry. But God worked in my life in some major ways through it, and there were some important things about it that were right, especially at that time in my life. I'll have to write more in depth about my experience there because it really was remarkable. And crazy. Anyway, I ended up leaving on bad terms with the leaders of the ministry because they were far too controlling. When I left, they told me I would never be effective in God's plan for me, that I would "fall away", and I wouldn't stay married (I was engaged to Trevor at the time). I remember leaving thinking that they were right and being so afraid that I would go right back where I came from because I wasn't under their rule anymore. But God had so much more in store for me. Mine is a story of God leading me away from a place of rules, legalism, and fear, and leading me to a place of freedom, growth, and fullness. I couldn't have dreamed of the beauty God had planned for me. Sometimes (actually really frequently) I look around me and am overwhelmed by how amazing it is that I have this life, this family, this relationship with God. It's all so right. This is God's work. 

I started Lightnest in October 2009. I feel like I have grown so much in these two years as a seamstress and photographer. In honor of this anniversary, I'll be coming out with some new bag designs and hosting a giveaway on the Lightnest Collective facebook page. Be sure to like the page to hear that announcement and enter the giveaway. 

Thanks so much for reading the things that I write and seeing our family grow and change. My blog has changed a lot too over these years, and it is really such a gift to have this space. 

xo

shops I love

image by Erin Flett

Hi there! As I have been thinking through and planning for the nursery, I have been coming across so many lovely shops and things that I love, so I'll share.

The photo above is from Erin Flett's etsy shop. There is so much there to look at that I love. It really is too much. Really.

PataPri has stolen my heart and I like everything that she makes. Those baby blankets are beautiful. 

I love Leah Duncan's shop, and especially this print.

Lotta Jansdotter's line of fabric, Echo, will be out in November, and I am thinking of making a crib bumper and some pillows for the nursery from these two: large scale and small scale. Thoughts? The crib will be white, so I am thinking it will work nicely with the mobile that I bought from Royal Buffet at Indie Craft Parade.

Also at Indie Craft Parade, I bought the sweetest painting of a little girl's face from Jordan Grace Owens to add to the art wall in the nursery. It's perfect.

And you guys, Sara Lee Parker blows me away every time with her awesomeness. She hand screen prints her art onto organic textiles and papers, and does it all right here in Georgia. She recently moved to Athens. She's incredibly sweet, on top of being an awesome artist. I really really like this fabric. Maybe it will be the crib fabric. Can't decide.

AND... I scored this sweet little vintage rocker, in near-perfect condition, with wooden peg legs, at Goodwill for $12. Thank you Lord.

This is one of the reasons I love thrifting.

Let me know what shops you love! And if you're on Pinterest and have a nursery board you think I would like, send the link my way :)

Oh, and visit my etsy favorites for even more goodness.

xoxo

she has a name

We thought for sure that we would be having a boy.

Neither of us wanted a boy more, or a girl more, but the thought 

that we would have another girl never crossed our mind until the morning of our first ultrasound. We kind of had the sense before we went that there was a very real possibility she could be a girl. We saw her that day

and were so excited to have another little girl.

Piper will have a sister, and Daddy will be softened even more

by his family of little women.

I love this.

Later that night we picked her name... Larken for her first name,

because it is beautiful and it will match her personality. (Someone asked me how we can name our kids before meeting them... I have always thought that I already knew them.) I love how it sounds with Piper's name. For her middle name, we chose Winter. This one has so much depth for us.

Our family has been through a winter season this year... it seemed like there was so much evidence of brokenness. But even in our winter, we found Jesus right beside us the whole time, never turning away, and the Spirit brought spring and new growth. The promise of new life lies within each winter. Jesus enters into our death to bring us life. This winter season has been a beautiful time in the life of our family, despite the hardship and heartache. We wanted to remember what this time was like for us, and God's closeness to us in our time of need, never turning away, never forsaking, always reconciling and bringing peace.

I am so excited to meet this little person.

xo

paige

colorado

Just a couple of shots from my trip to Colorado. I got back last night around two in the morning. I am 23 weeks pregnant, traveled with a 2 year old and three carry-on bags from Denver through two connections to finally land in Atlanta, and it was all completely worth it. 

We stayed in a massive house in Winter Park, Colorado, elevation 8500 feet. (I didn't realize how much the thinner air would affect me, but it did.) We heard four people teach, who also stayed in the house with us and shared meals/conversations/life with us. We reunited with John, Bryce and Emily, and Andrew and Gretchen, amazing people and beautiful friends from Portland. I was astounded by how God met me there, and spoke to me about things for which I had been longing and crying out for healing. God was life-giving and intimately personal, as he has always been, and I left with renewed hope and a softened heart. I left affirmed, loved, and dreaming of things to come. 

The aspens are at the peak of their golden color in Winter Park. I wanted so much to take our family out in the woods with camera in hand, but it didn't work out this time... I have a feeling we'll be back :)

 I think the things that we talked and thought about on this trip will be seeping out of me for the rest of my life. I know that they were already in the works long before I got there... part of the story that God is telling in me and our family. I have a renewed longing to create and be a wife/mother/daughter/friend, and a renewed sense of who I am. 

I will be back soon with our soon-to-come little one's name and why we chose it.

love

paige