It's time to take a break!

I am very blessed to live a life surrounded by people and things that I love. A life so full in the joy of The Lord. Full of beauty and grace - it makes the struggles worth it. The day to day frustrations and overwhelming sorrows alike. I can say this in full confidence because I was dead in the world and I am now so alive in Christ! I'm not trying to preach to you or act all holier that thou, I hate that shit ("Why you acting so holy, can't you see I'm full of holes?"). It's just at sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I just want to shout it from the rooftops! I see what happened to Robin Williams and it breaks my heart. My newsfeed is full of overdoses, shootings, war and pain. If only I could find some way to share the freedom of life in Christ. To open the eyes of the skeptics and unbelievers. Not to force feed some prepackaged notion of "Christianity", the religion, but Christ, the son of God.

I am getting completely off track here, but sometimes it's difficult to stop myself. Why do I create? Because I was born to. I'm not bragging, I'm not some super talented famous artist. I'm not even comfortable calling myself an artist. I just love to make. I'm about to send my first scripture canvas overseas (to London!) and I am just so grateful for this platform I have been given. Just blown away that my work is now starting to spread across the world, sharing God's word!! Who knows who might see it and be moved, be encouraged? Think about the words on the canvas for a moment.

"As for me and my house, we will serve The Lord." Joshua 24:15

That is a declaration of faith, a dedication, a pledge. Now these words are across the globe. There is power in that, in art. It doesn't come from me, but from the Holy Spirit working through me. Some of the people I have met through my work have touched my life in ways they'll never even know. I see God at work and I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of it! So I've been going non stop - making, sharing, working, teaching. Putting my tool belt on and sweating it out all day; then coming home, making dinner, and setting up in the studio. It has been a long summer. Granted it has been one of those most amazing and exciting times in my life, but it has taken a toll on me. I've pushed as hard as I can and relied on His strength when I had none. I only have a few open orders right now and once I finish those up I'm going to put the shop on vacation and take a much needed break. I've come to this decision after much prayer and deliberation and I know that this is His will for me and my family. I have faith that he will carry us financially and I will return renewed, refreshed and ready to make you lovely people some beautiful art!

I want to focus on making art for myself, not for sale or show. A creative jump start, if you will. That said, I also plan on fleshing out my fall and holiday lines (I already have some super cute stuff in store for you guys!) and revamping my business model. I will still be available via email (thehipsterhousewife@gmail.com) and rest assured those of you who have open orders, they will be completed and shipped in the time frame promised.

I am so excited about what God has in store for the future of The Hipster Housewife and my family! I plan on relaxing with my husband, playing with my kids (and getting them ready to go back to school!), and just enjoying the gifts that God has given me. I will be returning in September. Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and general awesomeness!! Love you!

To be a step mom on Mother's Day

"An early Mother's Day present Mommy Chris!"

What does it feel like to be a step mom on Mother's Day? I would imagine it feels just like being a regular mom, only a bit sadder, and certainly more lonely. But the desire to be recognized is still there. To be rewarded,given the extra hugs and kisses and stacks of homemade cards (I already have a small pile). I do all the same unending, unrewarding, thankless mom stuff as the rest of you 'real' moms. I also get all the amazing, priceless, unspeakably beautiful things - the sweaty snuggles, the stolen flower, the breathless 'I love you'. I feel like a mom. I know I'm not their 'real' mother. I know I could not replace her, nor am I trying to. I'm their 'Mommy Chris', which is something different and special in its own right. I could not possibly love them anymore than I already do, regardless if they were "born of me" (their words) or not.

This year I'm blessed to have them with me on Mother's Day. I know it's just a Hallmark holiday, but I couldn't be happier, or more excited. My mom - Gramma Vicky - is making a big family dinner, we have church together in the morning, I get all the snuggles and sweet words that come with Mother's Day ON Mother's Day. Rarely in the life of a step mom does it work out that well. Christmas presents are opened later, birthday candles blown out early. We move things around. We make it work. But those special days are always a bit empty without them. There is always a bittersweetness when they are gone. I, we, have learned to live with it. But it's hard. On all of us.

So yeah,I'm excited I get to pretend we are a 'normal family' doing 'normal family things'. So much of the time I feel so glaringly not-normal, especially as a woman in the church (that's a topic for a whole other blog post - I'm not even going to touch it here), not having my own kids, my own family. Would I like to have babies of my own? Of course I would. But God has already given me three beautiful, healthy, talented, amazing - I could go on - children to call my own, and who am I to doubt his wisdom in the matter?

I love those children with a fierceness I didn't know I had, and I was pretty fierce to begin with. All those things my mom told me about being a mom? I feel them, I own them. I am a mother. So I'm claiming Mother's Day. For the rest of the step moms out there feeling like, is this my day too? It is if you want it to be. My family may not be biologically mine, but they are mine nonetheless. A tribe of love that God himself built. That's as beautiful a picture of motherhood as any other.

Things I want to tell my daughters

Things I want to tell my daughters (when they are old enough to understand). In no particular order.

1. People are going to stare at you. You are beautiful, so don't let it bother you. Even when you think they're staring because you're too tall or your ears are weird or no one gets your fashion sense. It's all irrelevant. You. Are. Beautiful. Let them stare.
2. Write it down. All of it. Keep pretty (or not so pretty) journals and notebooks filled with scribbles and ticket stubs and bad poetry. Decorate them. Store every happy, sad, mad, sublime scrap of your life between those covers. You will treasure it someday. And then your daughter will treasure it someday.
3. Read amazing books. I have a list for you (seriously, they line the shelves of our home). Read them. They will shape the way you see your world, they will be the screen through which you experience your movie. Francesca Lia Block will change your life. Don't worry, I have every single one of her books, just waiting for you to be of an age when you can read them.
4. Listen to awesome music. And by awesome music I mean the stuff they don't play on the radio. Get recommendations from your grandfather, your father (I fell in love with your father through music. No lie.) Lyrics are everything. It should light your soul on fire. It should make you feel something.
5. Love God. Passionately. You can love boys (and you will love boys), but only He can teach you what it really is. Your daddy might come close, but God is Love. Period. Don't believe in him because I tell you to, or because it's just something you've always believed, and never really thought about it. Chase after Him, discover him for yourself. Don't let anyone stand in the way of that. Especially not Religion. Christ is not religion, he's love.
6. Eat lots of chocolate. Or sushi. Or delicious chunks of aged cheddar on crispy baguettes. Point is, never feel guilty for what you love to eat, don't be scared of food. Your body is your body. Big, small, slender, curvy, spotted, tailed, whatever. It's yours. Treat it with love. Feed it yummy things. Take it for runs just to feel how far you can push it, to feel the earth moving beneath your feet. Don't let ANYONE tell you what your body is supposed to look like.
7. Barbie is not a real woman. There is plenty of documentation stating that she simply couldn't function or even exist given her measurements. I don't care if you play with barbies. But never, ever, ever compare yourself to one. That goes for models and airbrushed advertisements as well. It's not real daughter. It's illusion.
8. You will get over the guy you think you'll never get over. I promise. Write lots of bad poetry (refer to point 2) and listen to some Ani Difranco (point 3). It'll get better.
9. Never stop playing dress up.
10. Know that I'll love you, fight for you, protect you, cheer for you, cry with you, and support you with my dying breath. You are not my daughters by blood, but by God, by love. You are mine, and I am yours. Always.

I wish my mother had written a list like this for me, though she imparted her wisdom in her own ways, and I wouldn't be the woman I am today without her guidance. What would you say to your daughters ladies? If you could write a list and give it to their 10, 16, 20 year old selves?

Let's face it, they'd probably roll their eyes and turn the music up (I know that's what I did anytime I even heard the word advice). It's only now that I can even half appreciate what my mother taught me over the years. Thanks mom.

Christmas on the Hipster Homestead

As you can tell from my youngest's (that's Maddie, she's four and pretty fabulous) face, we had a pretty successful Christmas over here on the hipster homestead.

We had presents, French toast with strawberries, family, and we watched A Christmas story (like we have every single year since, well, since forever). Cadence, who is seven and quite the independent woman, if you get my meaning, became a ballerina, a horseback rider, and the proud owner of one easy bake oven. I was definitely just as excited as her about that one. I mean, I had one when I was her age, so that makes it retro. And wicked cool.

We also got her a rainbow loom, which neither her father nor I could figure out how to do without becoming completely frustrated and kind of (ok a lot of) losing our cool. Fellow parents, don't buy your kids one of these unless you are very ambitious and have very nimble fingers.

Jaxon, my sweetest (I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but damn it that boy has my heart!), built plamobiles until his little five year old fingers could take no more. Then he proceeded to smash on his drum pad for about an hour. Thanks for that Santa.

All, in all, it was the perfect day. I got tons of new art goodies that I can't wait to start playing around with and showing off to you guys because that's just how I get down, including a gorgeous calligraphy set from the hipster husband. We got to spend time with both of our families, eat way too much food, and basically just love eachother all day long. It doesn't get any better than that, well, except maybe for this blanket.

Yup, it's covered in our instagram pics. Can't out hipster this family.

 

Merry Christmas and much love!!

The HipsterHousewife xx

 

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