Guest Blogger: January

The start of the new year is always filled with such interesting, exciting, and fresh things - why should a blog be any different? Instead of the regular guest blogs I post each month, this one varies a little from the norm. Looking for a new desktop background, I stumbled upon this girl’s tumblr page full of beautifully designed words. Interested in what she had done I contacted her and she was happy enough to share her story and reasons behind her words. 

                                           image

I’m Sara, an aspiring graphic designer from Budapest, Hungary. I started this journey 4 years ago, when I left my hotel management studies and started to pursue this dream that I believe God has put in my heart. Long story short, today I’m working as a freelance graphic designer.  
I love to create, design and use it as a tool to show the grace, love and the life that’s full of adventures and joy. A joy that’s not necessarily about being unrealistically happy all the time but a joy that comes from  within, no matter the circumstances.  
Being a creative person doesn’t mean you always find the right solution or always know how to create something that works design wise. You have to spend many many hours to make it work. But if you’re a 100% sure that you’re on the right path you’ll also get the strength and patience to finish and finish well.  
 
I always loved typography. Somehow the way letters are formed and how they connect to each other always had my interest. Lettering - hand-drawn words and letterforms -is something that I always enjoy doing. It simply makes me happy. So this past December I wanted to challenge myself to do a series. I decided to make one each day until Christmas day. About that time I was struggling with being content and believing that God is with me through everything. The reason this could’ve happened is because I kind of forgot His word. The promises that he said. So that gave me this idea of starting to collect the promises that he has made. This is how #theprmsprjct (The Promise Project) started.  
‘To encourage and remind in this advent season.” - That how I described this project on my website. I knew that this could help others as well as it would help me to remember.  
 
Sometimes life gets complicated. We forget, we can’t see clearly. We need to be reminded of what God said about us, and what he has promised for our lives. We face hundreds of lies each day. You’re not valuable. You’re not worth it. You don’t have a future. You’re a failure. You’re not enough.  
But that’s not what the Creator of the universe says about you. If we don’t spend time in the Word of God we can easily be deceived. We need to hear the truth, and remind ourselves of it.

 

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

 
2 Peter 1:4 
 
 
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_______________________________

I am all for creating, using your hands, taking full advantage of your mind, and then sharing that gift (through collaboration or exhibition) with others. That’s why this month I am more than excited to share Sara’s story and her work with you.

See more of her incredible work here: 

Reblog: Creative Team Night 101

    There are many teams that act as the gears to my church but I think the one I feel the strongest towards is the creative department. That probably has something to do with the fact that work in that department but whatevs.
    Recently I came across Hillsong's blog called Hillsong Collected. Being a creative myself, when I read this post I found it inspiring and down right awesome! So awesome I thought I would share it with you guys.

Happy Readings,    
Teniola

image

There’s something pretty unique about Thursday nights at Hillsong Church. It’s the night that our creative community gathers, first in Australia and then slowly as the clock moves, right across the globe. It’s one of my favourite nights of the week, and I look forward to it with great anticipation and excitement.

Our creative team has an incredible responsibility within our church to help create a picture of who God is through using the gifts and talents that we have been given. Within our church, the creative department encompasses many areas, not only worship music and singers, but spans production, TV, filmmakers, artists, writers, costumer designers, youth and kids worship teams, stage managers, designers, and regular people who choose to belong to this beautiful melding pot of people.

Often I get emails about why our team gather weekly from people outside of our context, and so I thought that I would share just a few of these reasons with you.

1. We gather to rehearse and prepare for the weekends.

It is our firm belief that God deserves our very best. We have a responsibility to lead the church in worship as best as we are able. As a result, there is a need to practice, to hone our crafts, to steward our gifts and to learn how to better work together in a team. Rehearsals allow us that opportunity. We make mistakes, modifications and then continue to rehearse until we know that what we will bring on Sunday, as people gather to seek God, is the best we are able to. Our aim is that we want to play a small part in helping people to encounter God, and by getting better hopefully people are helped by what we bring, not hindered by it. That’s what excellence is, a commitment to bringing your personal best to the table, and a commitment to ongoing improvement.

2. We gather because we love hanging out.

The truth is that our creative community actually likes each other. We find a sense of commonality in our quest to worship God with our gifts and talents. We find a commonality in our love for The Church, in our love for Jesus and in our love for the people of God. On Thursdays we are seeking to build a community that makes a big church seem smaller. That places value on each person who calls Hillsong Church their home, and that allows everyone to find a place to belong.

3. We gather to inspire each other and instil courage.

On Thursday nights we “have a go”. Sometimes we bring new songs, we try new ways of worshipping, watch our dancers let loose, or hear from artists endeavouring to capture beauty on canvas. We are inspired by pieces our writers craft, or moved by photos or music that our team is creating. Thursdays create a place where we can try things and fail, or try things and succeed, whatever way, we watch each other take steps toward becoming more and more creative. We find each other looking for words and ways to describe God differently to inspire worship and adoration from others. We want to find ways to help people see God is working amongst us and on the earth.

4. Gathering together shapes our culture.

On Thursdays we come together to worship. We are not performers on a platform, but people transformed by the love of God and living in response to this love. We listen to people within our team encourage us from the Bible and their own lives, which is causing leaders to rise up from within the ranks of our own team. We give to see the Kingdom of God advance, which is creating generous people. We serve so that others may encounter Jesus, which is allowing people to realise that life is bigger than themselves, and one of the greatest blessings in life is to give our lives away for the sake of others.

We attend master classes, coaching groups to refine our talents, unearth new gifts, and practice in preparation for what may be required of us. We laugh, we cry (some more than others), we share life and hopefully little by little become more Christ like. When we gather together we find ourselves united around a common goal, we are able to articulate why we do what we do and who we do it for.

If you ever find yourself at Hillsong Church, our creative community is open to you. Join us in Australia at our Hills, City, Southwest, Brisbane and Melbourne campuses at 7pm Thursdays. You’d be welcome!

Cass

To see the original post please click here

[gallery]

I love GQ. I love Levi’s. Equally inspired by both, I decided to remake my own GQ/Levi’s shoot. Scroll on through to see how my photo shoot with one rugged cowboy turned out. For more of my pictures from the same photo set and more, visit my website.

Disclaimer: The top three images were not taken by me but by contracted photographers of GQ Magazine and the Levi Strauss Brand.

[gallery]

I love GQ. I love Levi’s. Equally inspired by both, I decided to remake my own GQ/Levi’s shoot. Scroll on through to see how my photo shoot with one rugged cowboy turned out. For more of my pictures from the same photo set and more, visit my website.

Disclaimer: The top three images were not taken by me but by contracted photographers of GQ Magazine and the Levi Strauss Brand.

[gallery]

I love GQ. I love Levi’s. Equally inspired by both, I decided to remake my own GQ/Levi’s shoot. Scroll on through to see how my photo shoot with one rugged cowboy turned out. For more of my pictures from the same photo set and more, visit my website.

Disclaimer: The top three images were not taken by me but by contracted photographers of GQ Magazine and the Levi Strauss Brand.

23.

You wouldn’t know it from the looks on our faces but this is what joy and relief look like. The book, 20 Something to Life is now complete. It has been sent in to be printed. I just seriously can’t believe I am here in this current moment. I cannot really explain how this book came to be without comparing it to being pregnant. I have never been pregnant myself but I’ve heard enough stories to successfully compare it to the process of how this book was created.

Last year I applied for a study abroad trip to study at the University of Cambridge. Originally, my primary reason for studying in England was to listen to the accents all day long and to take in the sites. It was not until a week in the program that I realized how blessed I was to have this opportunity (Conception - Although the woman doesn’t know she is pregnant, just like my ideas, there is a baby growing inside). Not many people can say they did what I did, not many people will ever be able to say that. The culture there was just so intoxicating it made it all the more harder to adjust back to coming back. In the first months back I actually did become a little desolate. (I guess you could call this the morning sickness) However, it made me look around at my current setting and forced me to think: What about Oregon do I love.

I started to wonder, I’ve spent three years at the UO and what has it all amounted to? I remember that I used to get so jealous of my twin brother for attending the University of Southern California. He was making all these great connections with the children of celebrities and I was in Eugene. (More morning sickness) 

For some reason, the book, Roadtrip Nation popped up in all this. My Career teacher from 10th grade has first introduced me to the documentary but I didn’t read the book until I graduated from high school. Sidenote: no matter where you are in life, you MUST read this book. Anyway, the book made me realize that I do not need to meet famous people to be inspired. After all, before famous people were famous they were regular! (Morning sickness is steadily decreasing day by day)

My then, 3.5 years at the UO has not been achieved on my own. I definitely had A LOT of help getting to where I was. That’s where I started. Who were the people who helped me get to where I was? Then, what are those people doing right now?  How did they get to where they are right now? It slowly then morphed into a backwards timeline. With all these questions in mind it became all I thought about. It consumed me (Pregnancy glow). How did I become so blessed to have all these people in my life?!

BOOM! Find out the reason from the sources themselves! I then sent out emails to everyone who I could ever think of. Ranging from my educational adviser to the woman who helped me get accepted to the U of O. Then, it dawned on me, why stop there? Why not include ALL of the people who have inspired me in some way or another.  This list included my friend who just started her own jewelry line to professors I just met that day. If you allow yourself, everyone can inspire you.

It was through one of my interviewees that I found out this project of mine met the qualifications of a class I was going to take. (False contractions)

Roll forward about a few weeks - cuz I actually put off this project for a while. (This constitutes for the part of the pregnancy where it’s not really exciting, it’s just what it is)

(Finding out if it’s a girl or boy - it’s like, do I want to know or should I keep it a secret. Is the doc. going to find something wrong with the baby while they are determining the sex? ) I was a little apprehensive at first to tell my plans to my professor because I thought she would for some reason rip it to pieces and say she hated it. Luckily she did not and said that I can do whatever made me feel comfortable with it. (Everything is healthy)

(Are you taking your prenatal pill? Everyone hates take pills but it’s good for you) This is where Will Kanellos came aboard. I had been harboring this project for so long I did not want to share it. I thought no one else could love it, and execute it as well as I did. However, thanks to Doctor Deb Morrison, I came to realize that I cannot do this on my own. In order to let out greatness, you need to let great people in. Thank you Will for not proving Deb wrong. I don’t think I could have picked a better person to work with :)

(Telling friends and family the sex and the name of the baby) After we had worked on the project a little more we then told the class what our plans for all these interviews were. I don’t know if Will felt the same but I was definitely nervous (It’s like you tell your mom that you’re naming a the baby Jamie and wondering if she’s gonna say that name is too ambiguous or if she is going to accept it for its uniqueness) Luckily, it was more of the latter for Will and me. Catherine, our GTF accepted it but gave us more direction - she could probably tell that we had no REAL direction for this other than writing interviews into a book. Good thing her spidey senses were working that day.

(Feeling the kick for the first time) Once we had this advice and input, we really got to work. It was exciting to have something actually moving. (That’s not a pregnancy pun, I just could not find a better word). We decided for the sake of time and purpose that we would lessen the interviewees down to only college kids who are doing something with their lives. I would give you more information about this but I don’t want to divulge too much about the execution and somewhat new direction we decided on.

(Real Contractions) The book was slowly coming together. Writing pieces were put in a designs were working ever so seamlessly. Although, the fact that I knew it was coming down to the deadline made it even more uncomfortable.

(Contractions are 5 minutes apart) Let me tell you, grammatical errors are no joke. (As much as you want to push, you can’t. The OBGYN keeps on telling you to hold on and hold it in). Every time we though we were ready to send it out, there was always some sort of error in the fine print.

(Dialated) After all the nitty gritty corrections, we took one more look over it.

(Push) Everything is done and it is now ready to send off to the press!

Here is a little sneak peek of what is to come…

Partial book cover

(Although what I am about to say sounds like I am talking about babies, I’m not).

I can’t wait ‘til I can hold it in my arms. I pray that while it is getting printed out that nothing bad happens to it and no one on the printing side messes it up.

23.

You wouldn’t know it from the looks on our faces but this is what joy and relief look like. The book, 20 Something to Life is now complete. It has been sent in to be printed. I just seriously can’t believe I am here in this current moment. I cannot really explain how this book came to be without comparing it to being pregnant. I have never been pregnant myself but I’ve heard enough stories to successfully compare it to the process of how this book was created.

Last year I applied for a study abroad trip to study at the University of Cambridge. Originally, my primary reason for studying in England was to listen to the accents all day long and to take in the sites. It was not until a week in the program that I realized how blessed I was to have this opportunity (Conception - Although the woman doesn’t know she is pregnant, just like my ideas, there is a baby growing inside). Not many people can say they did what I did, not many people will ever be able to say that. The culture there was just so intoxicating it made it all the more harder to adjust back to coming back. In the first months back I actually did become a little desolate. (I guess you could call this the morning sickness) However, it made me look around at my current setting and forced me to think: What about Oregon do I love.

I started to wonder, I’ve spent three years at the UO and what has it all amounted to? I remember that I used to get so jealous of my twin brother for attending the University of Southern California. He was making all these great connections with the children of celebrities and I was in Eugene. (More morning sickness) 

For some reason, the book, Roadtrip Nation popped up in all this. My Career teacher from 10th grade has first introduced me to the documentary but I didn’t read the book until I graduated from high school. Sidenote: no matter where you are in life, you MUST read this book. Anyway, the book made me realize that I do not need to meet famous people to be inspired. After all, before famous people were famous they were regular! (Morning sickness is steadily decreasing day by day)

My then, 3.5 years at the UO has not been achieved on my own. I definitely had A LOT of help getting to where I was. That’s where I started. Who were the people who helped me get to where I was? Then, what are those people doing right now?  How did they get to where they are right now? It slowly then morphed into a backwards timeline. With all these questions in mind it became all I thought about. It consumed me (Pregnancy glow). How did I become so blessed to have all these people in my life?!

BOOM! Find out the reason from the sources themselves! I then sent out emails to everyone who I could ever think of. Ranging from my educational adviser to the woman who helped me get accepted to the U of O. Then, it dawned on me, why stop there? Why not include ALL of the people who have inspired me in some way or another.  This list included my friend who just started her own jewelry line to professors I just met that day. If you allow yourself, everyone can inspire you.

It was through one of my interviewees that I found out this project of mine met the qualifications of a class I was going to take. (False contractions)

Roll forward about a few weeks - cuz I actually put off this project for a while. (This constitutes for the part of the pregnancy where it’s not really exciting, it’s just what it is)

(Finding out if it’s a girl or boy - it’s like, do I want to know or should I keep it a secret. Is the doc. going to find something wrong with the baby while they are determining the sex? ) I was a little apprehensive at first to tell my plans to my professor because I thought she would for some reason rip it to pieces and say she hated it. Luckily she did not and said that I can do whatever made me feel comfortable with it. (Everything is healthy)

(Are you taking your prenatal pill? Everyone hates take pills but it’s good for you) This is where Will Kanellos came aboard. I had been harboring this project for so long I did not want to share it. I thought no one else could love it, and execute it as well as I did. However, thanks to Doctor Deb Morrison, I came to realize that I cannot do this on my own. In order to let out greatness, you need to let great people in. Thank you Will for not proving Deb wrong. I don’t think I could have picked a better person to work with :)

(Telling friends and family the sex and the name of the baby) After we had worked on the project a little more we then told the class what our plans for all these interviews were. I don’t know if Will felt the same but I was definitely nervous (It’s like you tell your mom that you’re naming a the baby Jamie and wondering if she’s gonna say that name is too ambiguous or if she is going to accept it for its uniqueness) Luckily, it was more of the latter for Will and me. Catherine, our GTF accepted it but gave us more direction - she could probably tell that we had no REAL direction for this other than writing interviews into a book. Good thing her spidey senses were working that day.

(Feeling the kick for the first time) Once we had this advice and input, we really got to work. It was exciting to have something actually moving. (That’s not a pregnancy pun, I just could not find a better word). We decided for the sake of time and purpose that we would lessen the interviewees down to only college kids who are doing something with their lives. I would give you more information about this but I don’t want to divulge too much about the execution and somewhat new direction we decided on.

(Real Contractions) The book was slowly coming together. Writing pieces were put in a designs were working ever so seamlessly. Although, the fact that I knew it was coming down to the deadline made it even more uncomfortable.

(Contractions are 5 minutes apart) Let me tell you, grammatical errors are no joke. (As much as you want to push, you can’t. The OBGYN keeps on telling you to hold on and hold it in). Every time we though we were ready to send it out, there was always some sort of error in the fine print.

(Dialated) After all the nitty gritty corrections, we took one more look over it.

(Push) Everything is done and it is now ready to send off to the press!

Here is a little sneak peek of what is to come…

Partial book cover

(Although what I am about to say sounds like I am talking about babies, I’m not).

I can’t wait ‘til I can hold it in my arms. I pray that while it is getting printed out that nothing bad happens to it and no one on the printing side messes it up.

23.

You wouldn’t know it from the looks on our faces but this is what joy and relief look like. The book, 20 Something to Life is now complete. It has been sent in to be printed. I just seriously can’t believe I am here in this current moment. I cannot really explain how this book came to be without comparing it to being pregnant. I have never been pregnant myself but I’ve heard enough stories to successfully compare it to the process of how this book was created.

Last year I applied for a study abroad trip to study at the University of Cambridge. Originally, my primary reason for studying in England was to listen to the accents all day long and to take in the sites. It was not until a week in the program that I realized how blessed I was to have this opportunity (Conception - Although the woman doesn’t know she is pregnant, just like my ideas, there is a baby growing inside). Not many people can say they did what I did, not many people will ever be able to say that. The culture there was just so intoxicating it made it all the more harder to adjust back to coming back. In the first months back I actually did become a little desolate. (I guess you could call this the morning sickness) However, it made me look around at my current setting and forced me to think: What about Oregon do I love.

I started to wonder, I’ve spent three years at the UO and what has it all amounted to? I remember that I used to get so jealous of my twin brother for attending the University of Southern California. He was making all these great connections with the children of celebrities and I was in Eugene. (More morning sickness) 

For some reason, the book, Roadtrip Nation popped up in all this. My Career teacher from 10th grade has first introduced me to the documentary but I didn’t read the book until I graduated from high school. Sidenote: no matter where you are in life, you MUST read this book. Anyway, the book made me realize that I do not need to meet famous people to be inspired. After all, before famous people were famous they were regular! (Morning sickness is steadily decreasing day by day)

My then, 3.5 years at the UO has not been achieved on my own. I definitely had A LOT of help getting to where I was. That’s where I started. Who were the people who helped me get to where I was? Then, what are those people doing right now?  How did they get to where they are right now? It slowly then morphed into a backwards timeline. With all these questions in mind it became all I thought about. It consumed me (Pregnancy glow). How did I become so blessed to have all these people in my life?!

BOOM! Find out the reason from the sources themselves! I then sent out emails to everyone who I could ever think of. Ranging from my educational adviser to the woman who helped me get accepted to the U of O. Then, it dawned on me, why stop there? Why not include ALL of the people who have inspired me in some way or another.  This list included my friend who just started her own jewelry line to professors I just met that day. If you allow yourself, everyone can inspire you.

It was through one of my interviewees that I found out this project of mine met the qualifications of a class I was going to take. (False contractions)

Roll forward about a few weeks - cuz I actually put off this project for a while. (This constitutes for the part of the pregnancy where it’s not really exciting, it’s just what it is)

(Finding out if it’s a girl or boy - it’s like, do I want to know or should I keep it a secret. Is the doc. going to find something wrong with the baby while they are determining the sex? ) I was a little apprehensive at first to tell my plans to my professor because I thought she would for some reason rip it to pieces and say she hated it. Luckily she did not and said that I can do whatever made me feel comfortable with it. (Everything is healthy)

(Are you taking your prenatal pill? Everyone hates take pills but it’s good for you) This is where Will Kanellos came aboard. I had been harboring this project for so long I did not want to share it. I thought no one else could love it, and execute it as well as I did. However, thanks to Doctor Deb Morrison, I came to realize that I cannot do this on my own. In order to let out greatness, you need to let great people in. Thank you Will for not proving Deb wrong. I don’t think I could have picked a better person to work with :)

(Telling friends and family the sex and the name of the baby) After we had worked on the project a little more we then told the class what our plans for all these interviews were. I don’t know if Will felt the same but I was definitely nervous (It’s like you tell your mom that you’re naming a the baby Jamie and wondering if she’s gonna say that name is too ambiguous or if she is going to accept it for its uniqueness) Luckily, it was more of the latter for Will and me. Catherine, our GTF accepted it but gave us more direction - she could probably tell that we had no REAL direction for this other than writing interviews into a book. Good thing her spidey senses were working that day.

(Feeling the kick for the first time) Once we had this advice and input, we really got to work. It was exciting to have something actually moving. (That’s not a pregnancy pun, I just could not find a better word). We decided for the sake of time and purpose that we would lessen the interviewees down to only college kids who are doing something with their lives. I would give you more information about this but I don’t want to divulge too much about the execution and somewhat new direction we decided on.

(Real Contractions) The book was slowly coming together. Writing pieces were put in a designs were working ever so seamlessly. Although, the fact that I knew it was coming down to the deadline made it even more uncomfortable.

(Contractions are 5 minutes apart) Let me tell you, grammatical errors are no joke. (As much as you want to push, you can’t. The OBGYN keeps on telling you to hold on and hold it in). Every time we though we were ready to send it out, there was always some sort of error in the fine print.

(Dialated) After all the nitty gritty corrections, we took one more look over it.

(Push) Everything is done and it is now ready to send off to the press!

Here is a little sneak peek of what is to come…

Partial book cover

(Although what I am about to say sounds like I am talking about babies, I’m not).

I can’t wait ‘til I can hold it in my arms. I pray that while it is getting printed out that nothing bad happens to it and no one on the printing side messes it up.

23.

You wouldn’t know it from the looks on our faces but this is what joy and relief look like. The book, 20 Something to Life is now complete. It has been sent in to be printed. I just seriously can’t believe I am here in this current moment. I cannot really explain how this book came to be without comparing it to being pregnant. I have never been pregnant myself but I’ve heard enough stories to successfully compare it to the process of how this book was created.

Last year I applied for a study abroad trip to study at the University of Cambridge. Originally, my primary reason for studying in England was to listen to the accents all day long and to take in the sites. It was not until a week in the program that I realized how blessed I was to have this opportunity (Conception - Although the woman doesn’t know she is pregnant, just like my ideas, there is a baby growing inside). Not many people can say they did what I did, not many people will ever be able to say that. The culture there was just so intoxicating it made it all the more harder to adjust back to coming back. In the first months back I actually did become a little desolate. (I guess you could call this the morning sickness) However, it made me look around at my current setting and forced me to think: What about Oregon do I love.

I started to wonder, I’ve spent three years at the UO and what has it all amounted to? I remember that I used to get so jealous of my twin brother for attending the University of Southern California. He was making all these great connections with the children of celebrities and I was in Eugene. (More morning sickness) 

For some reason, the book, Roadtrip Nation popped up in all this. My Career teacher from 10th grade has first introduced me to the documentary but I didn’t read the book until I graduated from high school. Sidenote: no matter where you are in life, you MUST read this book. Anyway, the book made me realize that I do not need to meet famous people to be inspired. After all, before famous people were famous they were regular! (Morning sickness is steadily decreasing day by day)

My then, 3.5 years at the UO has not been achieved on my own. I definitely had A LOT of help getting to where I was. That’s where I started. Who were the people who helped me get to where I was? Then, what are those people doing right now?  How did they get to where they are right now? It slowly then morphed into a backwards timeline. With all these questions in mind it became all I thought about. It consumed me (Pregnancy glow). How did I become so blessed to have all these people in my life?!

BOOM! Find out the reason from the sources themselves! I then sent out emails to everyone who I could ever think of. Ranging from my educational adviser to the woman who helped me get accepted to the U of O. Then, it dawned on me, why stop there? Why not include ALL of the people who have inspired me in some way or another.  This list included my friend who just started her own jewelry line to professors I just met that day. If you allow yourself, everyone can inspire you.

It was through one of my interviewees that I found out this project of mine met the qualifications of a class I was going to take. (False contractions)

Roll forward about a few weeks - cuz I actually put off this project for a while. (This constitutes for the part of the pregnancy where it’s not really exciting, it’s just what it is)

(Finding out if it’s a girl or boy - it’s like, do I want to know or should I keep it a secret. Is the doc. going to find something wrong with the baby while they are determining the sex? ) I was a little apprehensive at first to tell my plans to my professor because I thought she would for some reason rip it to pieces and say she hated it. Luckily she did not and said that I can do whatever made me feel comfortable with it. (Everything is healthy)

(Are you taking your prenatal pill? Everyone hates take pills but it’s good for you) This is where Will Kanellos came aboard. I had been harboring this project for so long I did not want to share it. I thought no one else could love it, and execute it as well as I did. However, thanks to Doctor Deb Morrison, I came to realize that I cannot do this on my own. In order to let out greatness, you need to let great people in. Thank you Will for not proving Deb wrong. I don’t think I could have picked a better person to work with :)

(Telling friends and family the sex and the name of the baby) After we had worked on the project a little more we then told the class what our plans for all these interviews were. I don’t know if Will felt the same but I was definitely nervous (It’s like you tell your mom that you’re naming a the baby Jamie and wondering if she’s gonna say that name is too ambiguous or if she is going to accept it for its uniqueness) Luckily, it was more of the latter for Will and me. Catherine, our GTF accepted it but gave us more direction - she could probably tell that we had no REAL direction for this other than writing interviews into a book. Good thing her spidey senses were working that day.

(Feeling the kick for the first time) Once we had this advice and input, we really got to work. It was exciting to have something actually moving. (That’s not a pregnancy pun, I just could not find a better word). We decided for the sake of time and purpose that we would lessen the interviewees down to only college kids who are doing something with their lives. I would give you more information about this but I don’t want to divulge too much about the execution and somewhat new direction we decided on.

(Real Contractions) The book was slowly coming together. Writing pieces were put in a designs were working ever so seamlessly. Although, the fact that I knew it was coming down to the deadline made it even more uncomfortable.

(Contractions are 5 minutes apart) Let me tell you, grammatical errors are no joke. (As much as you want to push, you can’t. The OBGYN keeps on telling you to hold on and hold it in). Every time we though we were ready to send it out, there was always some sort of error in the fine print.

(Dialated) After all the nitty gritty corrections, we took one more look over it.

(Push) Everything is done and it is now ready to send off to the press!

Here is a little sneak peek of what is to come…

Partial book cover

(Although what I am about to say sounds like I am talking about babies, I’m not).

I can’t wait ‘til I can hold it in my arms. I pray that while it is getting printed out that nothing bad happens to it and no one on the printing side messes it up.