maiden

this little bird is nearly six. i took these photos in cambria (on my phone) in october.

this little person is just grand.

"Tis beauty truly blent..."

-viola, twelfth night,shakespeare

"food is my liiiffeeee"

Yeah, my birthday was almost six months ago and I'm posting a picture of my birthday cheesecake. YOU'RE WELCOME.

flowers for your birthday

c. Emily Barish 2013

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

rejoice and be glad

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again:Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

How wonderful are those truths.

Happy friday, my friends!

P.S.I'll be eighteen day after tomorrow...

California wild poppies and lupines circa 1995 by my mama

ah, sweet spring

THOU GOD OF ALL GRACE
          Thou hast given me a savior,
          produce in me a faith to live by Him
          to make Him all my desire
                                all my hope
                                 all my glory.
                   From The Saviour, The Valley of Vision


Today is warm and the breeze carries the glorious scents of spring...jasmine, orange blossom, dewy grass, freesias and roses in bloom. What a gift is this life. On this day, amidst the daily ups and downs, I want to fully wonder and marvel at all the beauty surrounding me. Our Savior is so unbelievably good.

xoxo

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

She really is this cute.

Happy THIRD Birthday to my beautiful, funny, delightful flower princess!

May our Father in Heaven continue to guide you and bless you! HE is so good!

I love you so much, baby sister!

the pleasing rhythm of everyday

c. Emily/song of the sea

Life has just started to slow down into the pleasing rhythm of  ( almost, not quite) ordinary days.
My sister Hannah's graduation was beautiful and so much fun! I am so proud of my big sis and the beautiful,godly woman the Lord is fashioning in her! ( Pictures of the ceremony are coming!!!)

My life this week has been full of taking pictures, going for walks with my two favorite littles in the world ( brother and baby sister), cooking, chores, tea, lots and lots of drawing ( want to see some?), family Bible time, singing, studying,history with my brother, music, talking, leftover graduation cake ( =, flowers, coffee, pondering, dish-washing, smiles, sniffles, light, wonder...more comes to mind as I write.

You know, life is simple and wondrous every day.

We just need to recognize it all comes out of our Father's loving hand.

Much love,
Emily

Stepping towards the light.

                                                                   This is me. photo by my dear Hannah

From my journal:

  April 28, 2012

 ''Seventeen. That's what I am today.It is just incredible to me how the future becomes the present so     

quickly, that growing up is a reality. For the first time in many birthdays, this concept of leaving behind    an age, a part of myself, and moving on isn't bothering me.

 We all move forward--this time I'm excited. I'm excited to grow and learn and live and to walk along the   stepping stones of life, simply in awe that the LORD of the universe is the One directing my path, guiding my steps. Growing older is not a dark threat, it's moving towards the light.''

Thank you,  dearest Kelsey, for taking this beautiful photo!

On Saturday, we had a fun little exploring day with my family--who, may I point out, are my favorite people in the world. I love them to the moon and back.
Then...

We had a little family get-together on Sunday at my grandparents house. It was perfect. Just to be surrounded by people I LOVE  was such a blessing from God!

My heart is so full.

Well. Can't sing I am sixteen-going-on-seventeen anymore. I smile as I write that. Because, you want to know why, seventeen? You're already promising to be wonderful.

infinitely wonderful

c. Emily/the song of the sea

The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend.
A.W. Tozer

Amen! That quote is so true of my life right now...no matter what happens, God's goodness is always there. I just want to praise Him for His love and mercy!

thoughts on blogging

I've been thinking about my blog lately... 
It's about to grow.
I began this blog with the intent to post about daily happenings, my walk with the Savior, photo-journaling my life, my family, chronicling my little siblings childhood, my art, creative endeavors,  
natural living, food and cooking,  little and big things that I love... the list goes on. I didn't intend to post sporadic writings that, because I was in a rush to 'finally post something', did not convey very accurately who I am and what I had desired this blog to be. I would say 'My blog isn't the one I would like to have, but I don't have time for it to be different'. Not enough time. Could that really be true?

Everyday it seems I have something I would love to write about, pictures I would love to post, adventures I would love to share, that it can no longer be an option for me to not have enough time. Obviously, I have very little time. But time can be made. Thinking of all the little, unimportant things I waste time on...I realize that blogging can be squeezed in somewhere. It has to be. I had been thinking about all of this, and talking to my mama, and she told me that she wanted me to blog the way I'd wanted to in the beginning, sharing my life with writing and photos, creatively and productively...as a family record, and for my grandparents to enjoy. Well, having mama say that in her kindness and wisdom clinched it for me.

I want this blog to thrive. I want it to be productive.  It is something I've wanted to do for such a long time. I pray the endeavor will strengthen my skills in writing, photography and creativity
(and time management *grin*), I pray that  it will bless my family as I journal our life, that it would encourage and inspire you in some way, and most of all I pray that the LORD would receive all glory and praise.

 I won't be posting all the time, but I hope my blog will start to take the shape I had originally intended.
I'm excited!

Thanks for being on this journey with me.

~Emily

 This post needed a picture, so here's one  I took this summer. It's no longer summer, but today has to be the warmest day we've had this year...so a summer flower photo is appropriate. ( = 
My mama told me this lovely flower is called Jupiter's Beard.

beautiful, amazing things-part one-the baby shower

So much has happened lately. I hardly know where or how to begin. I haven't been blogging for a number of reasons, mostly because we've been so busy, but when I'd have a free moment to actually blog about what life has been like, I would just get completely overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of writing about it all. Honestly, since the start of September, life has been a whirlwind. Beautiful, amazing things have happened...so I suppose I shall just start at the beginning. I'm going to split-up all the recent goings-on into a few parts, because there is just way too much to squeeze it all into one post!

I'll start with the baby shower.

My last post (ahem, written almost a month ago...eeep!)  was about the baby shower we were throwing for my auntie. My mama was the party planning mastermind, my grandma was the talented go-to, and my sister Hannah and I were the 'assistants'. Wow, I had so much fun. It was delightful to spend time with my dear mama, gramma, and sisters. We held the party at our coffee shop, and we had a wonderful time transforming it with the whimsical decorations. My mama is a creative genius. ( =

The theme was 'A Child's Garden of Verses' and I think it came across really beautifully. My mama worked so hard. It was truly a labor of love, and it showed. 

I would love to post pictures I'd taken, but alas, in the hectic last minute party prep crunch time ( whew!), my camera was left behind. Yes. Hard to believe, but sad and true. However, there is good news. Our lovely friend Cassie took some GORGEOUS photos, so I'll share them with you. 

Here are a few pictures.

The spread! We had too much fun making all of that food! 

My little brother Henry helping to serve tea. He was such a cheerful helper!

I love this boy!

This my friends, is my baby sister. She is a constant source of delight and I love her with all my heart.  She was loving the tea.

We made Lemon Verbena Lemonade, and Pink Sonoma iced tea. They were so good.  The pink sonoma is a new white tea our tea supplier came up with. It is delicious. ( For any of you new to the blog, my family owns a coffee/tea shop.)

Darling, yes? This was one of my favorite decorations. ( =

The table decorations. Definitely one of the most fun parts was making the centerpieces. photo credit: Cassie.

Sisters! My lovely sister Hannah and me. That's me on the left. Photo: Cassie

 Elizabeth + me. I am so in love with this little  baby.  Isn't she the most cutie beauty little girl? God has blessed me more than I can even express with this one. photo: Cassie.

I just love this photo. For the tea, we served Lemon Chiffon Rooibos. My favorite. I think.  ( =

                                                   My dear auntie and her first baby.

            It was a delightful day, spent praising God and enjoying sweet fellowship. 

Much love in Christ always,

Emily 

a letter to my mama on her birthday

Isn't this orchid gorgeous? I love photographing flowers.

Dear Mama,
Happy Birthday! I love you so much, how can I express it? You are the most wonderful, godly mother, and you are so fun! Thank you for all that you are! I praise God for you, and all you do  for Him and for others, always so selflessly. How do you do it?
Thank you for training us in the knowledge of Christ, and teaching us that everything's about Him.
 My mama, I love you and I always will.
xoxo (xoxoxoxoxo...),
Emily

May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand       times and bless you as He has promised.
Deuteronomy 1:11

she's a rose

Today is my dear, sweet, amazing friend Dottie Rose's birthday! So, I thought I would post this rose photo I took while we were at my great-grandmother's beach house in central CA.  I'm not usually one for  red roses ( I'm more of a yellow, peachy, rosy rose sort of girl), but these were lovely.
God is such a glorious Creator, isn't He?




~Emily