incomplete

Don’t expect your journey
to be over because you met me.
I’m just human, incomplete.
Don’t expect your worry
to leave and then regret me.
I will take you as I am.
But every step you take
you will wonder
will he leave me like he left me,
alone and then he’ll break me?
Will I shatter on the floor
like the last and the one before?
Don’t expect to trust me.
Take my words and actions, hush me.
I will challenge everything.
Don’t expect it easy
because love is answers slowly.
I will hold you when you ask me.
(J.McHenry 2016)

Until next time,
❤
Jamie

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happy three year blogiversary!

Happy Third Blogiversary, everyone! I can’t believe it’s that time again. This blog began as a sort of fashion/home decor blog and has morphed and settled into something quite beautiful—a positive, passionate, vulnerable place where we can grow and change together.

In the past year I have taken two photography classes, had my most prized possessions stolen and then replaced by the most generous work family on the planet, moved out of my sister’s into my own apartment, got back into yoga, experienced love and loss, and found a new church family where I can grow in Christ.  Let’s take a few to look back on the best-blog moments from this year.

Here are the top three most viewed posts from the year:

1. We were Grinched. The tale of a very classy and endearing individual breaking into our house and stealing all of our favorite things.
2. Where have I been.  Still topping the charts. Announcing a divorce will do that. Let’s move on.
3. What are you doing with your life?  If you’re anything like me, which you probably are, you get asked what you want to do with your life a lot.

Okay, those posts may have grabbed the most traffic, but what are my personal favorites?

1. the wedding // home part four. I flew home to Portland, Oregon for my high school best friend’s wedding. She was gorgeous, the wedding was phenomenal, and I really like the way I wrote this post.
2. october in the smoky mountains part III  Have you ever had a legitimate mountaintop experience? This was mine.
3. meet lola. The epic retelling of the biggest surprise of my life—when my work family got me Lola, my baby—my Canon camera.

What I love more than writing is photography. Here are my personal favorite photos I have shared with you this year.

october in the smoky mountains part ii

november randoms and favorites

a Dickens holiday

january randoms and favorites

but first, coffee || storm jonas

the lake house revisited // days one and two

Let’s finish up this celebration with some tokens of wisdom from yours truly. Here are my top three favorite quotes:

1. “Go climb a mountain. Conquer the part of yourself that says you can’t That says you aren’t good enough. That says people don’t choose you. You are everything you are meant to be.” –october in the smoke mountains part III
2. “I will always shoot for optimism, because I know that this year has been TERRIBLE, but I will not let it break me. I will not let awful things and awful people make me ignore the beauty and the smiles and the experiences the have also made this year WONDERFUL.” –We were Grinched
3. “Things are not always better somewhere else. Sometimes we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Nothing is permanent, so embrace what makes you happy, work on what doesn’t, and realize that this too shall pass—the good and the bad. You are valuable, you are loved, and you are worth it.” –goodbye 2015, hello 2016.

Alright, friends. That’s it for this trip down memory lane.

Until next time,
❤
Jamie

If you want to read last year’s blogiversary post, click here.

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take the risk–it’s worth it

Friends, this update is overdue. The past few months, my personal life became a lot more public than I was accustomed, and I pulled back to only share with my immediate circle.

I was also on an adventure. Not the kind that takes you to remote parts of the world, but the kind that stretches you and grows you and pops you out on the other side with battle scars and strength. I think that is an adventure worth sharing.

I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and that includes the people who come in and out of our lives. Some people have more impact on us than others. I recently had the privilege of getting to know someone who unexpectedly appeared in my life and was all kinds of wonderful. I was terrified of letting them in, because people like this get to know a you that no one else gets to see. They get to peel back the layers, past the nice, strong exterior to the mushy bits that are a little bit broken and a little worse for the wear. And the more they know about you, the more they can hurt you. But what I really want you to know is that taking that risk is worth it, no matter the outcome.

This time, this adventure, came to a close as quickly as it had started. So what do you do when that risk doesn’t pan out?
At first you don’t know what to do, because it’s an all new kind of broken. The heart you’ve stitched together comes undone and the bulldozer parks itself on your chest again. The broken glass in your stomach comes up your throat and out of your eyes and nose and mouth and ears. All the darkness looks alive and the quiet that fills your soul is the loudest noise you’ve ever heard. But you get up in the morning because you have to go to work. And you put on your brave face when everyone says you will be okay.
Then slowly, when you let them, little rays of light will peek through. You will feel the power of prayer.  You will slowly find your rhythm again, because you’ve been broken before and you know the routine. And you will begin to recognize the ways in which that person helped you to really live again, and wouldn’t it be a shame to let that go too?

It is a brave thing, to face your fears. After what I have been through, being afraid of getting hurt again, and really actually being afraid of losing loved ones is completely normal. But staring that fear down and pushing past the anxiety to do it anyways is something to be proud of, no matter the outcome.

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Please keep me in your prayers. I need peace and fast heart healing. God always has a purpose, and He has many more chapters to write. He will take us where it pleases Him. Trust.

Until next time,
❤
Jamie

“Whatever you’ve lost, if you choose to magnify it, you’re going to live in what you lost.” -Steven Furtick

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