The other day, my best friend and I visited a jewelry shop in the mall because she wanted to show me the engagement ring her boyfriend and she had picked out when he was in town last week. We scurried to the counter like excited children on Christmas morning, and she grinned as she pointed it out. “That one!” I ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the ring. It was gorgeous. :) As I was driving home, I thought about how weird… Read more »

A while back I had an idea of asking those apart of the Joy Because Grace newsletter to submit any questions they had for me to be addressed in a Q&A format blog post. I love Q&A style posts, and I think this could be a fun way for y’all to get to know me better. At the end of the post I’ll tell you how you can submit questions if you’d like :) Let’s get started… How old are… Read more »

When I think of Mary the mother of Jesus in light of the Christmas story, I typically can’t help but think of Imogene Herdman’s portrayal of Mary in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbra Robinson. And then I can’t help but smile to myself. Imogene Herdman is not who you would have thought would be chosen to represent Mary in the Christmas pageant. She was a bully, always dirty, and not Mary-like at all. Regardless of whether or not Imogene Herdman is representing… Read more »

Shortly after I became a Christian at age seven, the children’s minister at my church discipled me for a while. Honestly, I don’t remember hardly anything I learned during that time since I was so young. However, the one thing I do remember is the “stop light” illustration to how God answers prayers. During that time of discipleship, I learned that there are three ways God answers prayers: Yes = Green Light Yes, but not right now = Yellow Light… Read more »

I met Tracy Levinson, the author of Unashamed: Candid Conversations about Dating, Love, Nakedness and Faith, at Declare this past July. We just happened to be sitting around the same table at dinner one night, and we were all sharing goals for our blogs/ministries. Tracy mentioned how she had a heart for young singles and wanted to encourage them. She mentioned that she had in fact just written a book about dating. Well, that caught my attention, so after dinner, I walked… Read more »

The day has come where I share the raw truth about why I deleted my Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone and took a social media fast. I’d like to think of us as two friends who were grabbing coffee (or hot chocolate) and catching up on life. As the coffee cups warmed our chilly hands, I’d lean forward and make a confession: “So National Boyfriend Day happened in October, and it kinda sorta wrecked havoc in my heart.”… Read more »

Chatbooks are pretty much my most favorite thing ever, so I decided it was I time I wrote a Chatbooks review! I discovered Chatbooks through the families I babysat for this past summer. The moms used this simple way of scrapbooking as a way to record their kids’ lives. Well, I don’t have kids, but I am a busy college student who wants to physically record my adventures without breaking the bank. And Chatbooks is a great way to do… Read more »

Antes de empezar este artículo, quiero decir que este es mi primero artículo que he escrito en Español en este blog. Entonces, por favor perdona algunos errores. :) ¡Gracias!  You can read this post in English here.  Ahora empezamos… Quiero estar valiente. Quiero vivir mi vida con la confianza y la gracia. Pero, muchas veces es muy difícil hacer eso, especialmente cuando estoy estresada o me preocupo. Típicamente tengo miedo porque no sé el futuro y temo que algo horrible… Read more »

Hey y’all! The past two years I’ve written a post on Thanksgiving, listing who I’m thankful for. I wrote these posts while sitting on the couch watching Miracle on 34th Street with my mom. Well, that didn’t happen this year. The past two years, Thanksgiving day was pretty chill, and we would then have our big extended family Thanksgiving that Saturday. This year, we had our big extended family Thanksgiving today. So I had no time to watch Miracle on 34th Street, nor did… Read more »

Want to know something I think is pretty bizarre? I write a blog about singleness.  The fact that I have this space to voice my frustrations with this season and write down encouraging thoughts that others- that you!- can relate to completely amazes and humbles me. Because I don’t have this singleness thing figured out. No. Way. José. I’m constantly struggling with discontentment and jealousy- down to the point I even deleted my Facebook and Instagram apps for a while…. Read more »