Our Road Trip: Part 4

 Many people have asked me how on earth did I {a midwest girl} attain an Amish friend?! Well, that Amish friend of ours started as a business partner of Life Verse Design. He is a framer and contacted me to see if I would partner with him to frame my art & sell it to Christian bookstores, gift shops & furniture shops.

 I love the above 2 photos of the frame shop, Beechdale Frames, as it shows the heart of the business: family. It is run by the Millers and is definitely a family affair! They work hard together & play together.

 The showroom is filled with my art and the reason we went was that they had an open house to meet the artist and allow buyers into their showroom.

 Meet Mr. Miller! He has a heart of gold: wanting to encourage others with the beauty of art, the truth of the Word of God, and always keep family first.

 Our work is currently featured in the Christianbook.com catalog that arrived in the mailbox the other day! {Funny God story: I normally flip through the first few pages to see what's "hot" in the book industry since I design books for Tyndale House Publishers, but this day I kept flipping & ta-da! I got to see my artwork! What a blessing to see my little nephew's feet featured in a catalog}

 At the open house, they offered free lunch & fresh lemonade! Their oldest son {who is all of 14} manned the grill all by himself!!!! He is also able to create a frame & plaque from start to finish all by himself!!!! What a mature & responsible young man. And so humble also.

 If you are ever in Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania during the summer & meander down Beechdale Road, you will come upon the sweetest bunch of kids selling THE BEST fresh squeezed lemonade you have ever sipped. Trust me, you'll go back for more.

 The other fun little surprise I got while at the Beechdale Frames open house was that I got to meet author Ira Wagler who drove a half hour just to see me! Turns out Mr. Miller is friends with Ira! Ira wrote his memoir "Growing Up Amish" a few years back and Tyndale published it!

My best friend at Tyndale designed the book and he claims she has "sold him many copies" {as he knows people pick up books often due to their covers... music to a designer's ears!}

I JUST finished the memoir the other night & I highly recommend it. If you love auto biographies as I do, you will love to get a glimpse into Ira's world as he grows up Amish & struggles with the desire for freedom in the "outside" world, yet constantly feels pulls back to the safe & secure world he knows. It is a story of identity struggle, yearning for freedom, and finding the truth that alone can set our hearts free.

Grace & Peace,
Julie
p.s. Only store retailers can buy directly from Beechdale Frames {not individual customers} If you want to buy our beautifully framed art, go to www.christianbooks.com

Our Roadtrip: Part 3

 This may be one of my favorite photography posts ever! Oh, how we love this family. Part 3 of our road trip brought us to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania {Bird in Hand, in fact} to see our Amish friends in person.

 We went to church with them {3.5 hours of singing, preaching, devotional, prayer, testimonies, & do it all over again; sweet little toddlers passed out on their mama's laps all around us, large families coming together into real community}. After church, I drove "B" & their 5 kiddos in our minivan to their home while "A" drove Sam & our 3 kiddos in the horse & buggy!
{btw: can you imagine a family of SEVEN fitting into that buggy?! well, they do!}

 meet the youngest son, a 4.5 yr old sweetie. quiet & kind.

 meet the only girl, a 6 yr old darling with spark in her eyes.

 meet the 10 yr old son, who instantly bonded with our 10 yr old!

 meet the 12 yr old son, i cannot get over his freckles... so cute!

 meet the 14 yr old eldest brother, who is the sweetest most respectable teen i have probably ever met who has a hunger for knowledge and a heart of gold, selflessly serving & quietly leading his siblings.

 we came at a good time: 

the mama cat just had kittens about 3 weeks ago!

 and the bulldog mama had puppies about 6 weeks ago {i think}.

my kids were in animal HEAVEN at their home: my favorite little mister caught bugs & toads all day {the boys said, "they had never seen anyone go crazy for bugs before" ... my poor city boy} & the girls chased kitties & puppies for about 5 hours straight! {I am allergic to both, so the fact that they were free to play with animals in the barn was the best part of vacation for pumpkin-poos. it was a hot day & of course, no air conditioning in the barn, so they would periodically emerge red-faced & sweaty, with big smiles on their faces.}

 I was THRILLED to do their family portraits!!! 

{maybe their first, in fact?!}

 I did all my typical poses.

 I think it is safe to say we all had a great time.

 There are so many fun out-takes of these progressions... 

maybe I will post another night.

I plan to make a little Life Verse Design custom art with this piece! 

{to be continued...}

It was a true joy to spend time with their family, learn more about their culture, and just see how God has given us all instant friendships. What a blessing.

Grace & Peace,
Julie

Our Roadtrip: Part 2

 Our next stop on our road trip was Niagra Falls. We arrived early in the morning (there were literally 2 other people at the USA Horseshoe Falls lookout & as we walk up, it takes my breath away & Pumpkin-Poos response to the beauty is, "Mommy, can we go to a hotel now?!"

 At least the 2 big kids appreciated the beauty!

 We went on our 16th wedding anniversary. Sunshine Girl took the photo above.

 The wind was AMAZING. We had so much fun & laughed so hard.

 I love this shot cuz Sunshine Girl looks like a super-hero... maybe Storm from X-Men?! The WIND!!!!

After spending the day on the American side hiking the falls, going on the boat ride (which I could NOT believe how close we were taken to the falls), the historical movie, & the aquarium, we decided to walk Rainbow Bridge to Canada for dinner. I was freaking out a bit, as I have discovered I have a slight phobia of walking across large bridges. (I blame my father who "faked" picking me up to "throw" me over a bridge into the Rock River while I was young.)

Anyways, we made it & while entering a restaurant a crazy storm came out of nowhere. We were stuck in Canada a little longer than expected, walked back in the rain & camped that night in a torrential downpour & wind that felt like we were in a hurricane.

My hubby (& hero) literally held up our tent for part of the night the wind was so strong.

Nothing like making fun memories for the kids!

More to come...

Grace & Peace,
Julie

Sunshine Girl & Her Golden Birthday

 My Sunshine Girl recently had her golden birthday: she turned 8 on June 8th. I love her to pieces and she continually amazes me as to who she is & who she is becoming. She continues to be my model extraordinaire and looking back over these years I cannot believe how time has flown. I will never forget bringing her home from the hospital on a beautiful June day to see my first roses blooming. So every year it's our tradition to look in the backyard to see when the roses are alive. She is such a beautiful little girl both inside and out, just one reason she is my sunshine.

 Her birthday also landed on our soccer team's last game for the season so I surprised her with 8 yellow balloons.

 One fun thing about my Sunshine Girl is to observe what a combo she is of me & her daddy: she LOVES soccer & art. All she wanted for her birthday was a REAL easel so she could draw & paint.
{That & a pair of roller skates!}

 Her first sketch was titled: Lonely Dandelion.

 Like her Daddy, she loves to eat & LOVES comic books. {note the batgirl shirt she is wearing} I love her random dinner questions about Wolverine or Thor or Batman, etc... as if she's been thinking about them all day long. This year she carried an Avengers lunchbox to school & had no problem at all with some of the girls scoffing at her. She is confident in her own unique self.

Below is some of my art of which she is the star, 

most of these are when she was 4 years old!

{art available here}

Happy Birthday my Sunshine Girl! I love you so much!

Grace & Peace,
Julie

Behind the Scenes: Count Your Blessings

 {art available here}

I created this art a few years ago now & it has spoken to my heart many times this year. Since I have 3 little ones, I chose to photograph 3 {fake} eggs in a real robin's nest {it had fallen out of a tree & is now one of my treasures}. It is simply symbolic of what a blessing family is in my life, what my personal little nest is filled with. Or it could be symbolic of any treasure in your nest that you can count daily.

 {photo by Ann Voskamp}

While at the Atlanta Gift Show in January of 2011, I was showing my art to a DaySpring buyer & he pulled out this book in response to my nest art! Wow, do I wish I created that cover! I love it.

In any case, I finally read the book along with my bible study this year & as usual, God's timing is perfect.

At the end of 2012, my 2 licensing contracts ended: one with Demdaco (my plaques & crosses) & one with Avalanche Publishing (the sister company of Lang who produced my calendars). I knew those licenses would not last forever, but I have noticed this year more doubt in my heart and feelings of not being "good enough" in response to those "successes" ending. It drives me crazy, as for one, those business deals were TOTALLY God's grace in the first place! (I did not even seek out to be licensed with Demdaco & would have never even dreamt that big!) And, I began this entire art form as a personal act of worship & to encourage others, not to gain worldly success (& yet my heart battles with this now).

Recently I was having "one of those days" in which I was bummed about lack of sales all the while comparing myself to other artists who are much bigger than I & at bed time one of my kiddos shared how they did not feel like they were good enough at something at school. I in turn told them how I felt the same way about myself & felt that I was not a good enough artist, to which the older 2 stopped, gasped, and yelled, "WHAT?! MOMMY, YOU ARE THE BEST ARTIST IN THE WORLD! THE BEST ONE I HAVE EVER KNOWN!"

Be still my beating heart.

I mean, seriously folks, what is better than being the best in the eyes of your children who exclaimed those words with such sincerity of heart!

I got out my gratitude journal & started the list. God has used Ann's book in my life to show me so many things: about finding joy through thanksgiving, be grateful for what you DO have & not dwelling on what you don't have, seeing Him work in the midst of your days even in your ugly beautiful moments, and most of all living fully in His grace.

I am so blessed in so many ways & so humbled that God would choose this life for me. I hope all of you grow in gratitude so that you can be full of joy.

Grace & Peace,
Julie

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends & Family,

As many of you know, 2012 was a nutty year for us. We wanted to give you a visual snapshot of our life this year.

Sam worked 2 full time jobs: as teacher & nurse. Add to that hubby & daddy & wow... let’s just take a nap. Sugar became a night nurse’s friend & the doughnut holes got him through the 3 a.m. low. God graciously kept us pressing on  & we made it through!  

Julie held down the fort as well as grew Life Verse Design, designed books for Tyndale, led bible studies, did more family photography, & coached soccer. 

My Favorite Little Mister is as passionate as his parents & this year the passions were botany, owls, reading, piano, & cello. 

Sunshine Girl's passions include art, soccer, comic books, homework, piano & reading.

Pumpkin Poo's passions include art, puppies, dolls, ballet, & books. 

{Can you tell reading is a theme in our family?!} 

We wish you a very MERRY Christmas & a RESTFUL New Year.

 {here is an out-take}

{& here is Sunshine Girl 

after my good friend called it a wrap, 

she stood there enthralled in her Spiderman book 

until we had to pry it out of her hands! That's my girl!}

Grace & Peace, the Chens  

Christmas Worship

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the music. I LOVE traditional Christmas songs & it is a joy to sing along.

This year, the biggest gift I am giving my 3 children is my time. All of me. Fully present {you know, not multi-tasking in your head your to-do list while you are spending time playing on the floor with your child, which is soooo typical of me, the do-er}.

We started an advent devotional which the kids are totally digging. I am sure it's partly due to their love of art, but each night as I read to them out of the Scriptures, they color their ornament to hang on their own special tree. Even my 5 year old has made comments about reading about Jesus & connecting it with what she is learning in preschool. Blesses my heart {the devos I am using are a little over her head.}

I am trying to savor the moments & truly worship this Christmas, instead of being caught up in the busyness of the season. I hope you will slow down and do the same.

The magic is all around us! He is in us. He is with us. Emmanuel!

OH & I almost forgot: I am giving free shipping this week & even combining it with my buy 3 8x10 prints & receive the 4th FREE offer! I am hoping you buy meaningful Christmas gifts to bless others with beauty and truth for their lives.

If you are purchasing the 3 8x10's to get the 4th FREE, simply write in that 4th print in the NOTES TO SELLER when you check out of my shop. {ie: please do not put it in your cart}

And the THANKFUL coupon code is in the checkout area also.

Grace & Peace,
Julie