OY! KRISTEN

Hi Friends! Happy Thanksgiving week to you! We got our Christmas tree over the weekend and Everett is begging us to set up the train that roars around it ;) We are hosting family in our home for the holiday (and I'm making the turkey, eeek!! First time!!), so we have lottttts to prepare. As I'm sure everyone does! But even with all the busy-ness, it's truly my favorite time of the year! Today I want to share something with you that is on my heart, and... I want to ask for your help.

I've been thinking a lot about how to give back this season. It's been a big year in our country, with so much relief needed due to so many unprecedented natural disasters. I have found myself overwhelmed at times, wondering how to really make a difference. I am thrilled that my church is partnering with City of Refuge this season, an Atlanta organization that comes alongside individuals and families in crisis by meeting their immediate needs while also providing avenues for long-term education and self-sufficiency. You can read more about that here.

City of Refuge has a need right now for toiletry kits for mothers coming out of traumatic circumstances, including sex trafficking and abuse. Here's where you can help me - I want to partner with them by donating 25 kits!

Since becoming a mother myself, I have such a heart for single moms who are doing their best to raise their babies. My own mother was a single mom before she met my dad, and I am constantly baffled by her tales of how she made ends meet during that season of her life. Friends, I know that being a mom can be hard, and my experience of motherhood has been one rife with an uber-supportive network and a loving husband. I can't possibly imagine what these women have endured to make ends meet and support their families. It would be my absolute honor if you partnered with me in donating 25 toiletry kits to these women.

Here's how we can do it! I've created a Target registry to make it easy to shop for the items needed in the kits. Once the items are delivered, I will compile them and deliver them to City of Refuge myself. Each kit contains 1 of each of the following: 2 in 1 shampoo + conditioner, deodorant, lotion, lip balm, tampons + pads, toothpaste and a toothbrush. The approximate cost of each kit is just under $25.

Contribute to the registry

I know this upcoming week is a dizzying carousel of shopping, deals, and promotions galore. My hope is that in the midst of this busy-ness and holiday hoopla, we can band together and serve the Atlanta community in a way that showcases love first and foremost. Thank you so much for hearing my heart and for your considerate generosity, my friends! I can't wait to share about the outpouring of love that comes from this groups of readers! xx

P.S. - This is the first time I've ever asked my readers (you!!) to donate/contribute to something and it feels really, really exciting. I wanted to do this last year but I was so unbelievably pregnant I couldn't even walk without contracting. I am so excited about being ready and able to make a rippling effect of loving difference this year! Thanks again for joining in!

You guys might not know it, but I've been super motivated since Intentional October to grow my writing. Sometimes I feel like I've had nine lives of trying different things - working in different industries, from public relations and Chick-fil-A, Inc. to acting and voiceover and now writing - I have been all over the map! But I feel proud that I've tried all the things in my heart - it's forced me to be vulnerable and ask people for help and receive critiques and experience rejection. It's not an easy feeling. It's not comfortable. But I am certain that this spark in me for more must be investigated until that little spark is fully lit.

I have a feeling I'm not alone in my pursuits. So many of you have reached out and shared that your heart is to try something different, pursue your passion, and see dreams come into fruition. I am honored to be right alongside you in that journey. May we all continue to explore this wonderful life and find passion and fulfillment in all the different, winding paths of our life's journey.

Which is why I want to share this small bit of progress in my own personal life. It always encourages me when I see people pursuing dreams and actually getting some traction with their efforts, so I want to be able to do the same. It might not sound like a big deal, but for the past few months I've been contributing lifestyle articles to my county's Women's Magazine, Fayette Woman. I've had the opportunity to write a handful of articles - from parenting to wellness to home decor. I've developed, researched and contributed my own content, along with conducting interviews and doing profiles on other companies and people of interest. It has been so much fun! I've been published before, but this is a new and NOW feeling, and I feel like I am starting over again and it's so good. It's exciting (and slightly terrifying) to see your words in print - it's a little bit like feeling naked on a stage, but also super freeing, like I'm pursuing my dreams and garnering opportunities that I only could have hoped for a few months ago, because SOMEONE is publishing me! Woohoo.

Just wanted to take this quick moment to share my latest article about How to Keep Your Resolutions, which is both in print and online this month. I would love it if you checked it out! Thanks for all the support, friends. And happiest of Fridays to you! XOX