The post Party of five please… :) appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

If I don’t tell you ANYTHING about what I’ve done or what I’m doing, then you’ll just always be thinking “man, I bet there’s some amazing stuff going on over there. Like, probably some whole house renovations for $10 or less!” And then your imagination can just create better projects than I would really ever do, but I still get credit for doing the stuff in your head. It all works out.

So that’s why I’m not going to tell you about Weston’s little closet makeover that we did like 6 months ago. I think at some point I did show you this great tragedy:

That’s what we were dealing with: books everywhere, no organization or place for toys, and not even any closet doors to hide all that mess away so you can pretend like it’s not real.

So if I were telling you about this project, which I’m not, I’d show you how we cleared it out and unscrewed the old closet system.

Then we basically just took a ton of measurements and spent like 12 hours standing in Ikea, furiously scratching out math problems on paper, brainstorming, smoke coming out our ears, and then BUYING ALL THE THINGS! and hoping it would all work out when we got home.

It did.

We just used Ikea’s Algot closet storage system, but the real genius was Andy’s brilliant idea to use their Sortera recycling storage bins for toy storage!

Let me just tell you: LIFE CHANGING. These bins fit perfectly within the depth of the closet and hold ALL the awkwardly shaped toys you swore you’d never own before you had kids:

• giant Buzz Lightyear figurines
• Legos that would otherwise be embedding themselves firmly in the soft tissue of your foot
• tiny plastic things in shapes of animals that your kids are oddly emotionally attached to, and magically NEVER lose, despite the fact that they can’t even find their own shoes when you’re running late and their shoes are LITERALLY right on the floor in front of their face, and you’re impatiently standing there saying “They’re RIGHT THERE! No, RIGHT ON THE FLOOR. IN FRONT OF YOU.” While your kid looks confusedly up at the ceiling, where no shoe has ever, ever been found.

We used this opportunity to buy a label-maker (OMG.) and Weston had a great time being “in charge” of typing and printing out labels for each bin:

We had bins for legos, bins for costumes and dress-up clothes, bins for play kitchen toys, bins for stuffed animals, BINS FOR ALL THE BINS! It was amazing!

…for like a few months, and then we moved.

But seriously, I felt kind of like an awful mom, because I realized that all Weston needed to keep his room clean was a *system* and the tools. Once we created a system he could follow, he really got behind it and felt empowered in his room. Kinda like how I was with my closet makeover: once you have a system, it’s amazing how neat you can become. Should’ve done that YEARS ago – for BOTH of us.

Also can we talk about label-makers for a sec? Can we just give ourselves a moment to admit how having a label-maker in your hand transforms the messiest of us (me) into Sudden Organizing Fiends, who can find an excuse to label and organize EVERYTHING, kids included? It’s MY PRECIOUS – the One Ring to Rule Them All – and it turns me into Gollum, wanting to Label Everything In Sight, with no self-control. I have to leave mine stored out of sight or things start to get weird.

I have this one, if you’re looking for one. It’s legit – you can change the font and font style, add borders; it prints out in this smooth, satisfying way… Just thinking about it right now is making me get twitchy.

Anyway. The closet:

We made over the whole rest of his room too – that’s where all the other junk went. I’ll show you that, promise.

The moral of the story for us: don’t wait until a couple months before you’re going to move (even if you don’t know it’s coming) to finally figure out how to live in your house right. And: it’s amazing how much neater your kids will be if you actually give them somewhere to put their stuff, instead of just walking into their room, sighing helplessly and leaving.

Anyone else find good storage options for toys? Our toys seem to reproduce behind closed doors… I try not to ask questions.

The post Weston’s closet upgrade appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

I’ll tell you: tail between your legs, hand over your eyes in shame, tentatively and awkwardly. And a little clumsily, stretching those muscles you haven’t used in a while like you do after sitting on the floor doing puzzles with your kid for too long. (RIGHT? When did sitting on the floor become something that hurts?)

I’VE MISSED YOU GUYS!!!

And I’m so sorry for the crazy, excessive radio silence. I can explain.

WE MOVED TO FLORIDA!

I know. WHUT.

It kinda came out of nowhere and wasn’t on our radar. If you’d have told me last January we’d be living in a different state one year later, I would have smacked you in the face and walked away.

(Maybe not a smack… Maybe just a weird look and an awkward attempt to end the conversation, because who goes around predicting things like that?)

We kind of out-of-nowhere had a conversation with some friends about how we all work from home, and why the heck don’t we live near the beach? A month later, we went house-hunting on a whim, and a month after that, we closed on a new place near the water! Our friends joined us too and we spent the next months soaking up the sunshine and wondering why we hadn’t done that years before.

It completely changed our quality of life. We spent so much time together as a family and virtually eliminated all my “mom guilt” about how fast the years were flying by.

I thought the summer couldn’t get better, and then fall arrived and winter. We’ve literally had three days of real winter in Florida and I feel like I’m cheating at life. Are you really allowed to just skip winter like this? DO OTHER PEOPLE KNOW YOU’RE ALLOWED TO LIVE HERE?

You guys. They will allow ANYONE to live where’s it’s warm and near the ocean. There’s not even a screening process. You should probably move here too.

And what about our house in Georgia that we’d been working on and blogging about for so many years? Yall, don’t make me get emotional.

We’ve taken some time to finish the unfinished projects (the master bathroom!) and get it ready to sell. This week, we’re putting it on the market and I’m going to find a way to say goodbye to it like a grown-up who understands we still get to keep the memories even if we don’t have the walls they’re attached to. Ooorrrrr I’ll be a giant mess and will have to be pulled from it kicking and screaming.

I’ll be screening the buyers the way you do if you’re giving away a litter of kittens. “You’ll give it a good home, right? You’ll take good care of it and give it a good long life and LOVE IT JUST LIKE I WOULD?! PROVE IT TO ME.”

It’s going to be an open adoption – we’ll still keep in touch with the house and I’ll still be able to come back and visit and lovingly stroke the walls and cry about how I used to sit RIGHT IN THAT CORNER and nurse my babies and how we celebrated their first birthdays RIGHT ON THIS PATIO. It’s going to be totally normal and everyone will understand.

Our kids keep getting bigger too, even though we specifically asked them not to.

I started homeschooling them this year, even though I am NOT the endlessly patient, soft-spoken, organized and perfect mom I thought you had to be to homeschool. Turns out normal, impatient, real moms can do it too, and guys, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

I started reluctantly because it just seemed like we were being called to do it, but I found myself really loving it. We read a lot; we play a lot; we go on field trips and my kids have the freedom to explore what they’re interested in. And there’s nothing more amazing than the feeling I had when Mila learned to read and I realized that I was the one who taught her – ME! It felt like a real-life miracle, not even kidding.

Soooo that all felt like a LOT to say and I couldn’t figure out how to tell you, so I just… said nothing… Although now that I said it all, I don’t know why it seemed so hard?

I really have missed you guys and feel like there have been so many words bottled up. Things I wanted to say that I couldn’t get out because they were stopped up by the degree of change causing a distance between us. Hopefully you’ll forgive me and we can start fresh, with everything out in the open, yeah?

What about you? Tell me the story of your life the past year. I want to know all the details.

The post Update, 2017 edition! appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

Please tell me there’s some kind of cool minimalism about putting up a live Christmas tree and then just… not decorating it… for a long time. It’s probably hipster, like a tiny house or a precariously high man-bun.

Together we can make this a thing.

The naked tree is the extent of what I’ve contributed to my children’s Christmas experience this year. I call it “Parenting to Keep Their Expectations Low.” You know, that way it doesn’t take much to thrill them.

We did one real, responsible Christmas activity so far: get photos taken!

Soooo maybe I’m supermom after all?

(Just go with it.)

OOOH GUESS WHAT ELSE!!!

We actually started and are going to finish a real-live home project. Actually a couple! Remember Weston’s room?

The one that had been on our “home goals” list pretty much every year? Except all we actually did in there was replace the crib with a mattress on the floor? Which doesn’t really count as doing anything, except maybe further training in keeping their expectations low?

That room.

I finally got inspired! And also sick of the lack of storage and function that regularly resulted in the searing pain of Legos drilling through the tender flesh on the bottom of my foot when I stepped on them!

Legend has it the most beautiful interior design results from your life flashing before your eyes as your bare foot closes down on the knife-sharp edges of a Lego Brick of Death.

We’re redoing everything! I’m going to tell you all about it, but probably in a couple weeks after all the Christmas craziness passes. It’s coming along really well (that is to say, I imagine it ending up well and so far it still has a chance of ending up like I’m picturing it in my head). Fingers crossed.

Tell me how you’ve been! I want to know everything! If we were together in real life, I’d be like your giant labrador when you get home from work: overeager, jumping all over you and staring into your eyes with intense lasers of emotion! (No crotch-sniffing though, promise.)

The post Christmas! appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

Allie: “I don’t paint anymore. I used to paint all the time and I really loved it.”
Lon: “So, paint.”

By some miracle I can’t explain or remember, somehow I got Andy to watch that movie with me back when it first came out, and ever since then, “I don’t paint” has become a line we use for when we’ve stopped doing something awesome that we love, and it’s often pulled out and quoted melodramatically. Like if Andy hasn’t gotten to eat a certain kind of cheese in a while – “It’s been months since I’ve had that brie! I don’t paint anymore!” or how we haven’t played volleyball together lately (“We DON’T PAINT ANYMORE!!”).

I got to spend a precious alone-time hour at Homegoods recently, and as I was wandering around looking at the decorations and thinking about how I haven’t done a single thing in our house in months, I turned melodramatic on myself and was all “I DON’T PAINT!” as I touched the curtains and considered the throw pillows tearfully. “I used to paint all the time and I really loved it!”

I MISS YOU GUYS. I get painful, incurable itches to write, and to decorate, and to write about decorating, and when I can’t, it makes me want to strip down to nothing but a blanket and paint a picture on the front porch of a Southern plantation. Metaphorically.

(If you haven’t seen that movie, I’m sorry for the unfamiliar references, but let’s be honest: this is a problem I can’t solve for you. It’s not me, it’s you. #FixIt.)

You guys are the sweetest and I can’t tell you how much it means to me to get your notes just checking in on us! It’s like a salve to my thirsty little not-painting soul.

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

1. (Primarily): Working and trying to keep our heads above water.

We started a company together a couple years ago, and it’s been the coolest thing to watch it grow beyond not only what we expected, but also anything that we even remotely envisioned when we brainstormed the business name while spoon-feeding liquefied peas into our infant at dinner.

If you’ve ever tried the entrepreneur thing, can I get an exhausted fist-pump over how amazing but crazy and needy it is?

Also, we have two kids. Who keep getting bigger.

2. Parenting.

Weston and Mila have turned 5 and 3 and UGHHH. I just can’t with this age. I JUST CAN’T.

Before I had kids, I thought 3 years old would probably be the cutest age, and 5 years old would be the second-cutest, and then after that, it’s all downhill and they get gross and have stinky armpits and hate you until they’re 21.

Right this second, I have one child at each peak-cuteness age and I WAS RIGHT. I can’t handle my children because they’re hilarious and still have tiny little voices and IT’S ALL GOING TO BE OVER SOON AND THEN THEY’LL HATE ME! The cuteness level is at its PEAK and I’m stressed out all the time because I know this is IT.

See? It is so STRESSFUL how cute they are. It makes me want to send them back. I wish I could just push pause and make them stay 3 and 5 for all time, or have 14 more of them so there’s always SOMEONE in our house who is 3 and/or 5.

3. Celebrating 10 years

We’ve been married a whole decade! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we rented a big house on the beach and invited some of our best friends to meet us there for a long weekend. We had a dinner by the pool at sunset, and then had a DJ for a dance party, which by the way is SO MUCH BETTER if it’s just a small group of people who will still talk to you even if you look like a dying duck when you dance.

It was the PERFECT way to celebrate 10 years!

4. Inserting Foot in Mouth

My bud Chelsea from Two Twenty One asked me to do a podcast/interview thing with her for a new series she’s doing, and y’all? I should not be allowed to just SAY THINGS with no option for editing it.

I accidentally spewed all kinds of stuff, like my most embarrassing moment and the reason why Andy would never have married me if we’d met a few years earlier, plus some super honest thoughts on what NOT to do when decorating. You can listen here. It’s a bit silly. If I’m being real.

5. Getting started on some projects!

I have a few half-finished things I’ve been working on and so more things are coming! I miss you guys! Tell me how you are. Tell me everything you’re thinking!

The post I don’t paint anymore. appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

HAHAHA.

Kinda like how when you hear your friend needs help moving something heavy, you volunteer your spouse for the job. They have muscles! They are yours to donate on occasion, right?

Cassie from Primitive and Proper and Bliss Ranch are getting all the gossip from bloggy husbands today! They asked if I’d subject Andy to a grueling interview and, without even seeing what questions they wanted to ask, I signed Andy up! He loves this. It is his favorite thing to talk about decorating!

Here is my husband, raw and unfiltered… except for my own comments in italics, which I couldn’t resist adding on occasion. (Sorry.)

1. What is your favorite project Kelly has done, and why?

Styling our office bookshelves. It’s super classy and smells of rich mahogany.

You guys! He used the word “styling!” HE KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS. Brainwashing mission complete.

2. What is your least favorite, and why?

The plate wall, because it looks really, really bad.

I still love the plate wall. Andy loves it too, deep down. He’ll realize it someday.

3. What is the one creative item or tool that Kelly cannot live without?

Her DIY picture hanging tool.

I would’ve said Andy is the one tool I cannot live without.

4. Kelly finds $100. What does she do with it?

She puts it into the lost and found.

5. What is YOUR favorite room in your house and why?

Does the deck count? I like the deck in the summer.

Remember that one time we accidentally turned our deck purple? And then remember that other time when we just left it that way and it’s still purple? Yeah.

6. Creativity is messy, but for the most part blogs show the pretty picture. Can you tell us how Kelly is a secret slob?

We have 2 sinks in our bathroom and I only get to use the small space between one of the sinks and the wall. The rest of the bathroom is reserved for her many bathroom supplies. I have made this helpful diagram to illustrate.

That looks like precise 50-50 split to me. That’s what you guys see too, right?

7. Name a project or decorating adventure that you thought would be a flop but was fabulous?

This doesn’t exist. If I think it’s gonna be a flop then it’s a flop.

8. Blogging takes a lot of time. Do you ever pass by Kelly while she is on the computer and secretly feel neglected?

No, I just annoy her by looking over her shoulder and asking whatcha doooinnggg?

9. Before, during, and after photos are an important part of blogging, do you remember to do that while working on projects for Kelly?

Nope, I never remember. I’ve done several projects and then had to go back and recreate moments for pictures. On the plus side we have 2 of some things.

10. How often do you read Kelly’s blog and do you have a favorite post?

I read every post and they’re all my favorites.

11. Before changing a piece of furniture, hanging new curtains, or planning a whole room redo, does Kelly consult you or do you come home and it’s done?

She usually asks my opinion but both she and I know that my opinion isn’t really valid.

See question 2 above.

12. Does Kelly discuss her blog with you, stories from other blogs or friendships with other bloggers?

I’m really lucky because I actually get to work with most of her blog friends through my job, so they’re friends to both of us. We’ve had Kelly’s blog friends stay at our house before we’d ever met in person and they were all hilarious and fun. I was delighted to find that none were creepy serial killers! (Yet.)

13. Where do you think Kelly gets most of her creative inspiration; tv, magazines, online, you, or was she just born that way?

I think she just has really good taste so I’d say she was just born with it.

*eyeroll.* Lies!

14. Do you know what Pantone’s color of the year is and how do you feel about so called “girly” colors for your walls?

Color of the year? Who thinks they get to decide a whole color for an entire year? What is this?!

Andy has been feeling indignant about this whole concept of ‘color of the year’ ever since he saw this question. He did not know that was “a thing,” and has been ranting about the injustice of one person getting to dictate such a thing for the whole world.

15. What is your biggest pet peeve about Kelly in the real world or the project and decorating realm?

In the real world she’s perfect! In the decorating realm it’s a whole different story. I just don’t understand why she thinks my Star Wars posters don’t match.

Andy is starting a campaign to make Star Wars posters the next Pantone color of the year.

16. If you could change one room or area of your home with no decorating advice from Kelly, what area would you choose and why?

When I first started answering this question I thought I would like to decorate my office by myself. But really, she’s so good at it that I think she could do a better job making something that I like than I could.

Plate walls EVERYWHERE!

17. Are you ever worried Kelly will share too much personal information or that blogging might invade your private life?

She’s always talking about my sensitive feet and they’re very self conscious about it! The only time it’s ever been a problem was when I was showing something on her blog for my job, and accidentally showed a photoshopped pic of myself as a superhero. A little embarrassing.

He’s lying. That’s not photoshopped.

18. Have you ever helped Kelly style photos for her blog or offer input on how you think a vignette should look?

Sometimes she calls me in and asks for some input when something just doesn’t quite look right. I usually help by posing in the picture for her. I think it’s very inspiring.

He’s a serial photobomber. I think it’s slightly less inspiring than HE thinks it is.

19. There is a saying “If walls could talk…”, what would yours say about the decorating in your bedroom?

“I can’t see,” said the wall. He had been painted too many times.

Guilty.

Andy’s decorating blog will be launching soon! It’ll be all about creative ways to incorporate Star Wars posters in your decor.

You can check out how other bloggy husbands answered these hard-hitting questions by visiting the links below.

Bliss Ranch | Primitive & Proper | It All Started With Paint | Cuckoo4Design | Design Post Interiors | Bliss at Home | SG Style | Sarah M. Dorsey Designs | Kirb Appeal | The Gathered Home | Refresh Restyle | Debbie Doos | Top This Top That | Fox Hollow Cottage | The Space Between | For My Love of | The Chronicles of Home

Andy’s REAL pet peeve is that I never put the lids on anything. I consider it a huge waste of your life to have to put lids on anything, only to later take them back off. Totally curious: what do you think your spouse would say is their biggest pet peeve about you?

The post So I Married a Creative…. Andy’s hard-hitting interview. appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

So sorry for the long, unexplained absence, and THANK YOU for all the sweet emails checking in on my little fam. We are all perfect, happy and nothing is wrong – except that I just can barely do two things at once, you know what I mean?

We went to Costa Rica right before Christmas, then we came home and I felt like I just couldn’t get my act together and the whole Christmas season flew by. I mean, we put up our Christmas tree on December 15. Then about five days later, we put lights on it. I didn’t do a single thing to celebrate advent; I listened to one Christmas CD once, and suddenly the whole season ended and it was 2015!

TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN.

WHAT. We are living in the future.

Then suddenly I had let my blog sit empty for a few weeks and I felt like my first post back needed to be EPIC! Groundbreaking! Earth-shattering! And I didn’t have that post, so I didn’t write anything, and thus began an endless cycle of not-posting, increasing pressure and unhappiness, because I love blogging and I WANT to be blogging, not weighed-down by my own dumb invented pressures.

But here I am, ripping off the bandaid. I have nothing epic for you. Not even any projects. We haven’t done a thing to our house in the last couple months, you guys. I mean it’s vacuumed – barely – but I figure that How To Vacuum tutorial is probably not going to intrigue anyone.

I can’t even make the fancy vacuum-carpet lines, you know?

The truth is that we’ve been super busy working on our other business, the one that Andy runs, and I’ve been pinch-hitting a lot to help as it grows. But is anything more boring than listening to someone talk about how busy they are? I know.

Anyway, I wanted to just be real with you and let you know what’s going on and what to expect from here.

This is the real truth: you couldn’t rip this blog from my cold dead fingers. It’s my happy place and it’s what I want to be doing, all the time. But we’re just in a season of me-not-getting-to-do-what-I-want-all-the-time. (I know: WHAT THE HECK.) And the house projects are on the back-burner for the short-term. Hopefully the very short term.

So I’ll still be posting, but not as regularly as before – just for a season! – and maybe the topics might change a little, maybe there’ll be other stuff that’s not DIY just so I have an excuse to chit-chat with you. I hope that’s okay. I hope you’ll stick around. I really like you being here. If you’d like to be notified when there are new posts, you can submit your email address here and you’ll get the new posts via email! Isn’t that fancy?

I’ve missed you! Tell me what’s up! What have you been up to? What have you been reading? How is it 2015 already – explain that please.

The post Hiiiii! (sorry!) appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

That’s the closest I can get to a valid reason why it’s taken me so long to post the chandelier tutorial after the before-and-after reveal for the safe house. We flew off to Costa Rica just hours before the first wintry cold-front hit Atlanta, and spent three once-in-a-lifetime weeks living in a villa on the beach.

I’m sorry, but I’m also totally not, know what I mean?

Anyway: it hit me like a mack truck that while we were lazing away, Christmas season hit. Full-on, enjoy-every-second, slips-away-too-quickly Advent season!

THE TIME HAS COME.

Haul out the greenery! Cover every surface in impossible-to-remove glitter! Pop in the Christmas tunes! IT’S HEEEE-ERE!

Can you tell I love this season? Do you love it?!!

I thought today we could dust off last year’s budget-friendly Christmas ideas in case you weren’t around for these. Let the holidays commence! *Pulls the trigger of official starting pistol*

*Glitter flies everywhere.*

Simple, budget-friendly Christmas Decorations:

This is one of my favorite projects from last year! Whip up your own free little wreaths in five minutes with materials you probably already have on hand.

little wintry village!

Deck the Walls with DIY Holiday Art!

One of my favorite little holiday traditions is to make a new little art piece every year. I haven’t started one yet for this year but the wheels they are a-turnin’. Click on the photo to see how to make these pieces. You can totally do this!

Inspiration for your Christmas Mantel:

You’ll want to stop by and read this post! Click on any of these photos for more details about any of these mantels.

Little Christmassy Tips to Enjoy the season:

If you have little ones…

Check out this holiday home tour for even more inspiration!

Have you started your holiday decorating yet? Do you go all-out? Can we make this year’s Christmas season last two more months? Okay, three. Four. I can be flexible.

PS: Advent season begins tomorrow! Check out this post for easy, beautiful advent ideas!

The post Post of Christmas Past: no excuses edition appeared first on * View Along the Way *.

Reveals are my favorite thing as a blogger, and also my least favorite because NO ONE IS EVEN READING THESE WORDS RIGHT NOW. You’re all cheating by skipping ahead. You oughta be ashamed.

Alright, alright! Here’s the before:

And the after:


I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO TELL YOU. I’m trying to sit still.

We’ve been making over this room, which will be a temporary home to victims of sex trafficking — their first stop after being rescued off the streets. The first thing we did was consider their specific needs. I partnered with a ministry called Out of Darkness, who requested something cozy and comfortable, nothing too pristine or hotel-like.

The whole design sprung from this inspiration photo…

…which turned into the amazing quilts made by a friend of mine (see more on the quilts here).

We painted the room Valspar Ballet Slipper (mixed at half-strength) and hung the quilts using copper piping and brackets from the plumbing department.

The Out of Darkness team challenged us to create a visual depiction of “freedom” in the room. They suggested butterflies or doves. I teamed up with some of my favorite people – 163 Design Co – to create this epic bird wall, where the birds are flying away to freedom:

(163 Design Co is the same family-owned shop that created these letters for me. They can do anything, and they are a delight. Highly recommended.)

I know it’s hard to tell in the photos (argh!) but we hung the birds at different distances out from the wall, so some of the birds seem to be flying off the wall in 3D.

I love how that turned out.

Those “hello love” pillows are from Society6 . The sheets are from target and the duvet and comforter are from ikea. They are way more tactile than they look here. Photography is hard.

A super-sweet lady who doesn’t know me from adam donated that adorable dresser. We didn’t even know it came with a mirror until we arrived at the Safe House to put everything together on the very last day – but isn’t it perfect there? I love its sweet little shape, and we thought the natural wood from the dresser really warmed everything up and made it feel more homey.

Will ya please stop and check this bad boy out.


#WeMadeThat.

The chandelier was a giant experiment and we had no idea whether it’d turn out crazy or not. I think it’s crazy-in-a-good-way, totally different, kinda geometric and unexpected.

I’ll tell you ALLLL about it in the next post. Don’t touch that dial!

This is what’s going on opposite the beds:

That’s just a little shelfy-thing I got from ikea so the ladies would have somewhere to hang their purses, but what I really want to show you are these AHH-MAZING hand-lettered prints!

Erin’s friend Lauren is an incredibly talented artist, and she created these for the safe house. Here’s a better view:

These are so good it makes me need to pass out a little bit.

First — that verse. When I think of what it might feel like to have lived a life as a victim of sex trafficking, I think it might be easy to fall into the trap of fear and shame. How perfect is this verse? He delivers me from my fear. There is no shame.

And also: how stinkin’ GORGEOUS is that design? Lauren is taking orders for them here, and 20 percent of every sale will go to Out of Darkness! Go get yours. Right here.

But I think my favorite thing in the whole room is this right here.

That book contains all the letters YOU sent in, written to the women who will come through the Safe House. I have to just be real with you: when I wrote that post and asked you guys to join in this with me, I thought you might send about five letters. I was hoping for three to five.

That was just the first batch.

You guys mailed in so many letters that I had to put two to a page in most cases, and the book barely closed.

What’s not captured in those photos is the power of the words you wrote. Life-giving words. I noticed a common thread: reminders to these women of their worth and value, as daughters of God, made in His image. How their worth is inherent; how they can rest their hope in Jesus; how you are praying and you care. Putting together the book made me ugly-cry.

Totally your fault.

By the way? Those words apply to you too — your value, your worth. Not based on how thin, beautiful, put-together or well-spoken you are. God sees you differently. He loves you in the right-now, the not-cleaned-up version of you. He meets you right here.

See? This project turned me into a MESS.

THANK YOU for coming through on this, you guys. Those words aren’t heavy enough for how thankful I am, and how much it will mean to these women.

I left a note at the beginning of the book letting them know that if they find one of the letters to be especially encouraging to them, they can keep that note, and carry it with them on their journey. I also left the left side of each page blank, so they can write letters to the women who will come behind them.

This room was such an honor to do, and I feel like we did it together! Here are a few people who are using their gifts to fight sex trafficking by donating to this room. Make sure you support the companies who donated!

• 163 Design Co
• Hark at Home
• Society6
• EG Allis Photography (this is Erin)
• YOU. This project was paid for by the ads on the blog; every time you view my site, a teeny bit gets earned and lets us do fun stuff like this. So thank you!

Whew! See? I had much to say. Tell me things! What are you thinkin’?

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GROANNNNNN. I KNOW. That’s so cruel!

Okay fine. Just one tiny sneak peek. You know I can’t resist it when you make that face.

We made this crazy chandelier too! I can’t wait for you to see! (Sorry.)

If you’ve been following along, we’ve been making over a bedroom in a Safe House where victims of sex trafficking will go, straight from the streets, immediately after they’re rescued. (See the project unfold here.)

While I was doing this project, I met a friend who is a photographer, who has gone to the streets in the U.S. and around the world where the trafficking is taking place, and photographed what she’s found. She’s using her photography to bring awareness and change laws, and change lives.

Tanya told me a devastating story I can’t shake and I don’t want to confront. She has gone to Hindu temples where little girls are dedicated as temple prostitutes. People there try to appease a goddess called Yellamma by dedicating their daughters to a lifetime of service as temple prostitutes. “A wealthy man can pay extra for the right to deflower her, and afterward she becomes public property, duty-bound to satisfy the lust of any man who pays.”

Tanya told me this was happening – that she has seen it with her own eyes – and then when she sent me the photos of the girls… As young as five years old…

I couldn’t understand it. I made her tell me again. Not the girls in the picture, right Tanya? That didn’t really happen to these girls?

Tell me it’s not really happening, not that way.

It’s hard to know. It’s hard to grapple with. You want to shut your brain off to it, to go back to the safety of your world and un-know what you’ve learned.

But now you know, and there are things you can do to help.

1. First, learn and understand.

From Tanya’s words (read more on her blog here):

The term “justice” has become a trendy topic. Justice is a restoration of the broken; not an end goal but a response to choose love.

There is no simple solution to poverty or injustice. It’s messy. It’s complex. It’s multifaceted. I don’t have the answers, yet I know the first step in bringing lasting solutions is by understanding the problem.

I experienced life in the slums in the Philippines for 4 days with one of my trafficked girls that was reunited with her family. It was challenging. I laughed. I cried. I empathized. I left empowered; not to jump into solutions but to dive into greater understanding to one day bring holistic freedom. Most of all, I left honored to get a brief glimpse into the lives of their joyous community.

I wonder if more justice and love would be spread if we focused more of our attention on understanding than quick solutions?

Phew. First, take responsibility to know, even when it hurts to know and you’d rather go back.

What is your gift? Your talent?

Are you an epic couponer? Collect items for a local safe house, or donate them to a trafficking ministry near you.

Are you a teacher? Educate your students. Spread the word and encourage them to get involved.

Are you a paper-pusher at a desk job? Give your co-workers resources on how to spot trafficking in airports and hotels.

Are you a stay-at-home-mom? Invite some friends to do a clothing swap to raise money for a local ministry. Spread the word through your church and get your friends involved.

Are you a social media maven? Invite your friends to action through Facebook or twitter.

Are you a grammar geek? Donate your time to a local ministry to help victims write resumes to start a new life.

Decorate a room. Design a website. Take photos. Bake cookies. Spread the word. Find your gifts and use them. Reach out to your local trafficking ministry and ask them what they need.

If you’re local to Atlanta: Out of Darkness, the ministry I partnered with for this project, can use your donations! They create laundry basket gift-baskets for each girl, with all the necessities a woman might need right off the streets. Click here to view their needs list, then get in touch with Out of Darkness to make your donation.

I’m not asking for a huge amount: just $10. Can you do that? You can make a check out to “Atlanta Dream Center, Inc.” with “Out of Darkness” written in the memo line, and mail it to Out of Darkness, P.O. Box 54537, Atlanta, GA 30308 — or donate online here.

It doesn’t have to be Out of Darkness – find your local ministry and donate there. Just ten measly dollars.

5. Pray
…And keep praying. For the victims, for the perpetrators, for the culture that doesn’t see the worth of people, that objectifies and is blind to value of human life. For change, for action, for freedom. Put this on your prayer list and don’t take it off.

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