Timing

God's timing is awesome. The post a few weeks ago where I divulge my reasons for avoiding blogging and some upcoming exciting news was a scheduled blog. I wrote it on a Wednesday and set it to post on a Friday morning at 10:37 am. That same Friday morning around 8:45 am I received a meeting request from my boss for a 4:00 pm meeting.

Anyone in the professional world knows that a meeting at 4:00 on a Friday is rarely good news and this particular meeting was no different. I was laid off from my job.

Most people we panic about such dramatic life changes and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit dizzy for a few hours after such a tense day/meeting. However, once my head cleared and I was able to hug Josh and talk to my mom, i realized this was just the push I needed to really pursue the creative side of Katherine that I had been bottling-up for a rainy day that never came.

Voyage Creatives (as I introduced to you here) was already in motion and had been since early 2012 when God helped me dream. Being released from my season in a cubicle has allowed me to fully pour myself into these new ventures and I'm loving it! Not to mention, this new set up should allow me more time to get back into blogging - so we all have that to look forward to! Here are a few items from my store - I would love it if you went on over and checked it out. :)

Blue Parka with Faux Fur

 Missoni Style Southwest Kit Short Sleeved Sweater

Yellow Spanish Flavor Embroidered Dress

Owl Salt and Pepper Shakers

Plaid Tan and Teal Men's Button Down

ALSO about 2 weeks before I heard my news Josh started interviewing for  new job. There was nothing horribly wrong with where he was working, but he was ready for the next step in his career and really wanted to work from an office closer to home. Well...God's timing again was hilarious and amazing...on my last day of work at IRON, Josh received an amazing job offer at a new company that came complete with closer location and a nice promotion!

I know I keep saying this, but I can't help myself - God is so good! I want to shout it from the rooftops! All of these shifts have made our home, relationships, health, attitudes and even income - though for now it's much smaller for me ;) - covered in blessing and favor. I feel so incredibly rich and I feel my soul stretching on a daily basis. Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!

A Voyage

For weeks I had been letting God be the captain of my imagination. I was a close first mate and apprentice as he showed me how to dream again. I’m still learning what it looks like, but I know that every bit of it is bigger than I could have first devised. Creativity felt like it was oozing out of me in every quiet moment. I would cherish these times and at first I would ponder ways to capture the creativity and put it to good use. Eventually, that effort became futile because it was more fun to soak in the moment of inspiration and let it flow through me into words or ideas on a piece of paper than it was to try and tame something out of raw unbridled vision.

Something as simple as walking my dog out late at night and through the hazy city night sky allowing the lights above to capture my eye. Causing an ache for the moon to speak to me! Tell me stories of the things she has seen! Even better, put it into a song, Moon! Oh, bright and beautiful Moon!

From this creative awakening I wound up with a handful of small plans. Seedlings, if you will. These plans did not come about by force, but they came purely from dreaming. Plans that have so smoothly and naturally fallen into place that no one BUT the creator of the world himself could be the author of (more on that later) They are tiny seeds for now, but I know God has Oak or Redwood paths for them to grow into.

Voyage Creatives is the name.  A personal business comprised of:

• Vintage Resale on Etsy – Voyage Vintage
• Semi Pro Photography – Voyage Photos
• Graphic Design – Voyage Studios
• And of course, music and worship…

We will see what sticks. What adventure God breathes upon and which one makes my heart sing. Praise Him.

I've been avoiding you...

I'll be honest, in case you didn't notice....I've been avoiding you. Up till about a month ago life hasn't been dealing me the greatest hand and I've been wallowing in it. You know what I mean? Sometimes you just want to sit around and cry or space out. And you find yourself self-medicating on netflix, eating out and shopping. Accumulating things around you that you don't need. Living the so-called american-freaking-dream. Wasting $25/ month on a gym membership and lacking any real motivation to do anything but make it to work on time and try to be a nominal participant in society. In those conditions I didn't have much to offer the world creatively, so I disappeared. I know that sounds really dramatic and it wasn't always "the pit of despair", but it came in waves....about once a month actually...

You see in February of 2011, Josh and I decided we wanted to take our little family of 2 + one fur-baby to 3 + one fur-baby and try for a real life human baby. We had been married nearly 4 years and by the time the little one came it would be almost 5 good years of career building, financial responsibility, travel, and an unattached relatively free lifestyle...a reasonable amount of "us" time before we took on parenting.

Our approach to getting pregnant was pretty laid back..."We're not NOT trying..." is what we told friends. Somewhere around June it morphed into - "We're ready for kids" and eventually by Fall it was "We are trying for a baby". Fall passed and ushered in a mild Winter that came and went...countless tests with a negative result - one horizontal line and one vertical line.

Throughout all of this time, I really wanted to write about what was happening, but felt somewhat crippled to share. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and stress myself out, but deep down I was already incredibly stressed and DYING because I wasn't processing what I was going through. (I wrote in my journal a total of 5 times during this time.)

By January, I was in a wasteland. It seemed like my life had no purpose and all I did was sit around waiting...Hubby and I looked at each other and knew we needed vision. We needed new life, baby or no baby, we needed to create something 'cause the path we were on was headed quickly towards destruction.

Both of us prayed.

Both of us came to the same answer. We want God to give us a baby in as much of a natural way as possible...(no in vitro or stimulates at this point). We are still young and have plenty of time for children. Also, we asked God to help us dream again. It had been so long since we even tried and needed the Dreamer of all dreamers to spark our imaginations.

And boy did He...

So much is happening right now! I can't wait to share it with everyone! Stay tuned...

Hey Moon

Hey Moon - would you sing me a song?
A song about the loved one
who pulls me along

Hey Moon -  would you sing me a song?
A song that takes the place of
This space that's left alone

Hey Sky - would you paint me a picture?
of every single journey
I've wandered to get here

Hey Sun - would you dance me a dance?
That tells of love and happiness
And is full of Romance

Hey Sea - would you light up my path?
For a voyage of lovers
and a season of dreams

New things are coming/here. Hopefully announcing more in the days to come!

Release

Write something
Anything

It's better than swirling ideas
for a thousand years
and never facing the fears
of a pen on a page.

Be someone.
Anyone.

It's better than grasping for status
and needing compass
to guide you to oneness
with a version that's fake.

Go somewhere.
Anywhere.

it's better than living life static
with hope that's sporadic
wishing that magic
will change up your scene.

Create something.
Anything.

It's better than trapping the dreams
hardly letting them free

when you cut off their wings
just as they take flight.
Just do something.
Anything

Because this is your story.
and each moment you tarry
steals the treasure you carry
that the world needs to see.