Because She Sees Me: An MB Shaw Photography Givewaway! {31 Days: Day 28}

October 28, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

So this past weekend, I went to Allume.

It was incredible. So much so, that I can’t put it all into words right now. But while I was there one phrase I heard from Sarah Markley kept resonating in my mind.

And I knew I had to tell you why. She was talking about a writer’s voice and how we are all distinct and unique. She used photography as a metaphor to demonstrate this, and she talked about a photographer friend of hers who took her headshots and she said she loved those pictures because she felt like this woman really saw her.

That’s how I feel about my friend Merideth. She sees me.

She’s been at my house when there’s piles of laundry and shoes and dishes. We’ve shrugged our shoulders at one another in the parking lot when we unload our three year old daughters and acknowledge that both of them got the better of us in the wardrobe department that morning. I’ve sat and cried on her more this fall than anyone else and she’s built me up and torn me down in the most humbling and beautiful way because she’s told me the hard things I need to hear and acknowledge.

You’re doing too much.

It’s okay to admit that you can’t do something for someone else because you have to take care of your children.

You’re a mama, that has to come first.

It’s lonely at the top and leadership is hard, but God is standing with you and so am I.

It’s a privilege to have her photograph my family. (Even when we’re in a hurry to get to fall festival and no one is cooperating and all I want is one shot for the Christmas cards that likely will be January cards because I think that’s how we’re rolling this year.)

I tried to pay it forward this past weekend by participating in an Impact Opportunity at Allume. Help Portrait is a group that does professional portraits for those who may never have had the opportunity to have a really good picture of themselves taken. So on Saturday afternoon, I colored and folded origami with fifteen girls from an at-risk center in Greenville. When we weren’t getting crafty, Paul Mitchell salon artists were fixing their hair and brushing on just a bit of makeup so these girls would feel glamorous when their portraits were taken.

They were gorgeous and so excited because someone had taken the time to see them.

This is the beauty of using a local lifestyle photographer to capture your family’s milestones: it can be someone who sees you because they have the time to get to know you. A lot of people shy away from really good photography because it is more expensive than the static Olan Mills Studio, but it’s more than worth the cost to have pictures that tell your story.

So this week Merideth and I are partnering up to help capture someone’s milestone. She’s giving away a spring portrait session, and I’m raising that with an offer to help the winner tell their story through words.

Because another thing I learned this weekend is that everyone has a story for this moment, this place, this time.

And everyone’s story is worth capturing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway //d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js
You can enter everyday, so come back tomorrow!

For all my posts in this 31 Days series on Living Local click here.

On Expanding Your Local: Undivided Mom Launch! {31 Days: Day 7}

October 7, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

I’m writing all month about living local. About embracing where you are and living within your zipcode and finding new ways to just be present in your own corner of this world that God has fashioned just for you, for this time, for this season, for this moment in your life.

I love where I live; I love my locale. I love the mountains and the pastures and the cinema-style small town that is my real life. I love that the grocery clerks know mine and my children’s names and that my former students serve me at our favorite quick places to eat. I love that I’m a part of this community, its theater, its churches, its schools and volunteer organizations.

But sometimes, I have to reach out from here a bit to find a little more of what I need.

And when I do, I’m more content with where I am, and I’m less alone in this everyday chaos that is motherhood.

That’s how I found Kayse. She’s way over on the west coast, but she’s a former teacher, a writer, a mama, an encourager of women, and a friend to me.

No, she’s not local. She can’t bring me a casserole on a bad day or meet for a pumpkin spice latte to celebrate fall. But she can reassure me that I’m not alone.

I’m not the only one balancing how to make this writing gig a career while raising small children.

I’m not the only one who’s sometimes living for naptime.

I’m not the only one who wishes just getting laundry done was enough accomplishment for each day.

I’m not the only one who sometimes feels forgotten.

I’m not the only one who struggles to find Christ in the chaos of motherhood.

I know she shares these burdens because she bares her soul (and her unfolded laundry) to tell us about them in her new ebook The Undivided Mom.

It’s here, among these pages, that you’ll find wisdom from a mom who hasn’t just BEEN there; she IS there. And in a few weeks? She’s adding a precious baby boy to her motherhood mix.

But she took the time to share her heart with us mamas who feel so divided between motherhood and careers and home and marriage. She’s not giving us a formula to fix anything. Instead, she’s giving us a Savior to seek for all those moments when we feel pulled in a million directions, because she knows (and so do I) that seeking Him first will help us find margin in our busy everyday lives.

“Jesus lived by the Spirit. While he, of course, was following God’s plan for His life, He didn’t get caught up in busyness and law. Instead, He structured His life in such a way that He was able to pay attention to the people around Him, and minister to them as he saw a need.”

But I can step away from the things that can wait. I can invest fully in quality moments with my daughter. I can show her through my actions that she is completely loved and valued.

She [Martha] couldn’t see past her to-do list to realize that the Savior of the world was sitting in her living room.

~excerpts from The Undivided Mom by Kayse Pratt

Reading this short (14 days!) devotional has reminded me that no matter where I am, no matter what local I am calling home, my perfect home is in Christ and He alone will satisfy my soul.

I encourage you to click a link and check out this book (and Kayse’s other great products) on her site. Today she’s hosting a giveaway of the book and basket filled with DaySpring goodies! Buy anytime this week and use the coupon code UMLaunch20 for 20% your entire order!

If you’re on twitter, we’d love to have you join us tonight, October 7, at 9PM EST for a twitter party loaded with giveaways and excitement for the community we build as mothers who encourage one another to find our knees before we find the next lost sock.

Sometimes living local is about supporting those who surround you. Sometimes it’s about finding those who share your heart.

For all posts in my #31days series click here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links but the opinions are my own.

Friday Five · giveaways · MOPS

She {Five Minute Friday}

September 20, 2013 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

It’s Friday and that means it’s time to write for five minutes, no editing, no backtracking, no overthinking (I broke all these rules last week). Lisa-Jo provides a prompt and in this community, we write, and then we encourage one another. So link it up, friends, and share the love because “Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.” E.B White via Lisa Jo.

This week’s prompt is….

She’ll come in with her arms full of bags casseroles and sippy cups and the extra paci hanging from her pinky. She might have yelled this morning and rushed and fought her way out the door and wondered if the ends will justify the means.

She might come in alone, her few precious hours when they are all in school or at Nana’s chosen to spend with others who rock the night with babies in swings and the mornings with tall cups of hazelnut caffeine. She might be timid or just plain afraid or too overwhelmed to know if she belongs or not.

She might be cute in her chevron print. She might be secretly wearing the only pair of pants that zip. She might be hating the tall blonde who looks like a model and sighing in secret relief to see someone else who just is happy to have on a clean tshirt.

She might laugh. She might cry. She might connect. She might be glad she came.

I know I will be.

It’s MOPS Friday for my group and we’re filling our fellowship hall and every room in the preschool wing. Pray for us please?

Have you entered my giveaway? Speaking of she...Marcy’s book is for all of you who have struggled with infertility and felt alone or for those of us who have been on the outside of a friend’s struggle and wondered how to help. Click here to enter!

giveaways · motherhood · summer

Longing for Summer

August 26, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Sunshine is streaming through the fingerprints on my front door and spilling all over the streaky floor. The pool in the backyard is full of rain water, and the swings are stirring gently with the late August breeze that kindles memories of campfires and light sweaters.

Summer’s slowly sifting away bit by bit.

Two weeks ago I could hardly wait for it. For school and routine and structure and those few precious hours I can snatch between naptime and snacktime to work and enjoy the quiet.

But last night we stayed out a bit late and this morning the forecast is for mostly sunny and I wish more than I longed for routine that I could buckle them all into that van with its peeling paint and slip away on some hiking trail and emerge at a lakeside to dig our toes into the only sand they’ve seen all summer.

Why is it the longing never comes until I realize it’s over? Why is it that I can’t ever seem to wrap my mind and heart around the slow pace and embrace it for all it’s worth because it’s so simple?

Why do I let activities and camps and far too many other good things crowd out all my days that could be spent in the woods or by the pool or on the back deck with popsicles and the water hose?

Why do I let tantrums and whining and frustrations over lost library books dampen my spirit so much that I forget how much I enjoy just having them all home and under my roof?

I don’t want to forget how much we need each summer. How much we need lazy days and pajama days and ice cream for dinner. So I’ve writing this to remind me and to remind you–

Each summer there’s beauty laced between meltdowns and fights and your mama exploding temper.

Don’t wait until summer is over to find it.

Congratulations to Sheila Beck who won the Real Food for the Real Homemaker cookbook giveaway! I hope you enjoy it and use it to make me something yummy if I ever make it over for a visit! I wish everyone could win, but since that can’t happen, you can go here to order your own copy. You’ll get a PDF file, a Kindle version, the recipe cards, and the excel spreadsheet to help you plan a frugal grocery trip and a simply homemade menu. Enjoy!

Linking up today with Gracelaced Mondays and The Better Mom.