Oh friends. Wow. I can’t even express to you how excited I am today. Our first ever video is now up and ready for viewing. What’s it about you ask? Well…us. As a business. What we are all about. And its about the people who buy Evy’s Tree, and why they love it.

I can’t be more thrilled with how it turned out. I think it adequately displays the heart behind Evy’s Tree {even though I can’t STAND how I sound or look in it. ha}. You’ll get to hear me talk…and walk, and do weird things with my face. ha. But seriously, I think you’ll see my vision with the company and I love it.

It’s all because of you guys. I hope that comes across. We do this for you. If you don’t have an Evy’s Tree hoodie/wrap, I encourage you to watch the video and then hop on over to the shop and shop around. I’m sure you’ll find something you love AND…you can still get that FREE Gussy Sews item. Oh and guess what? I think there is still free shipping going on right now with the code JUSTBECAUSE. But don’t tell the management I told you so. ha.

If you DO have an Evy’s Tree item… THANK YOU. We love you so much. Please feel free to use this video to share our company with your friends. I hope it touches you as much as it touched us when we first saw it. We love and appreciate you.

Before I close, I have to thank Brooke, my graphic designer, and David, my brother in law. The two of them teamed up creating the video. A few others I have to thank: Monika McSweeney, Jenny, Nicole, Carisa, Kirsten, Christie, Nora, Brittany, Brookie, Brandon and Maddie and all their friends. I love you guys.

  Big hugs friends!! xoxo

Oh PS…I haven’t forgotten about the house tour/goals. I’m finishing them up this week. Come back tomorrow.

So tell me…what do you think about the video?!?!

Well, not me exactly, but my blog.

And oh my word….I love it. LOVE LOVE LOVE the new design. If you are reading from a reader {such as google}, or from an email subscription, I would love for you to hop on over and check out the new look. I think you will be so excited for our little blog. We look fabulous. Brooke, my graphic designer, really outdid herself. And not to mention the amazing photos by my brother in law, DASO photo. Seriously, the whole combo is simply stunning. Click on the header to see the whole thing…and be sure to check out the category buttons over to the right. Brooke is genius!

I’m so sorry I have been MIA recently…not that anyone is actually paying attention, ha. I have so much to catch you all up on…such as our Disneyland trip, our Christmas, some great vacation stories…but I have no idea if I’ll ever get around to blogging about them, so just trust me when I say, we’ve had a wonderful holiday season.

We’ve also been very busy. While the shop is shut down, I am doing my best to organize my life a little. I am a firm believer that the first step to success is to be pretty organized, and to be honest, last year was a crazy year for me and my organization skills, while already subpar, definitely became non existent. The poor studio was a disaster! The last couple weeks my girls and I have been tearing apart every nook and cranny and putting them back in the proper places, tossing things we don’t need and buying things that we do.

We’ve painted chairs, hung decorations, and Brandon built us some tables. Even my dad has come over and helped out by painting a little. We are nearly done and I hope to {finally} take some decent pictures of the studio so you can see where we create.

But the studio isn’t the only place I’ve been updating, I also cleaned out my pantry, which, if you follow me on Instagram, you probably already saw….

I am a horrible pantry keeper, unfortunately. Things end up being stuffed in and often I am finding things months later that I didn’t even know where there. NOT GOOD. With my New Year’s resolution weighing on my mind, I am striving to be much better with what I buy and simplify a little, so I took some little metal bins that we didn’t need in the studio and used them in the pantry. WOW…I know it doesn’t look a lot better, but it’s amazingly easy to see what I have now.

And while we’re speaking of my New Year’s resolution, I updated our budget. Last year was, as I stated, a crazy year, and unfortunately, I did not give the attention needed to our finances like I should have. I really, really want to wise in that area, as I’m sure you all do. Last week I poured over our books and set up a budget I feel will really work for us. As coincidence would have it, I’ve had more budget conversations with friends lately than I have in a really long time and I realized that I’m not the only one who is trying to find the proper way to manage their finances. I have always had a system, but sticking to it is probably the hardest part {amen, everyone?}. So in order to hold myself accountable…I am going to share with you my budget planning soon. Obviously I won’t let you in on all the hard numbers, but I am going to have Brooke make a downloadable of our budget worksheet so if you are looking for a good budget format, you can use it too. In my mind it’s useless to go to all that work if you can’t share it, right?

Speaking of budget, are you a small business or blog that has a budget for advertising? We would love to have you advertise here on the blog. We have a unique group of loyal readers who are interested in learning about new shops and blogs. We have two size ad spaces available…

along with giveaway and review options, all at very reasonable prices. I also do a blog post introducing all new sponsors once a month, which will include all your contact info, such as your website, facebook page, twitter, etc. You can find out all of our stats, pricing and information HERE. We would love to have you join us!

In closing, I owe you all some Evy’s Tree shop talk, especially regarding our manufactured goods. I will fill you in on that and much more later this week, but let me say this…manufacturing in the beginning is slllloooowwww going. Almost to the point where you want to pull your hair out kind of slow. It’s safe to say we won’t have the manufactured goods here this month as originally planned, but they are coming very soon and I think you will love what we have. I will designate an entire blog post to it this week so you are all in the loop. In the meantime, we WILL have a small handmade Spring 2013 line this month for you. I am SO EXCITED about the handmade Spring line. First, remember this big time seller:

After many, many requests, the Grace Wrap will be making a comeback.  Plan on seeing the is one coming your way with the rest of the spring items the end of this month.

PS.. we will be having a bunch of grace wrap giveaways next week… will you join us?

Regarding the shop reopening: I still have quite a bit of sale items, especially in kids sizes, so I will reopen the sale section with a bunch of items on Monday, January 21. The new Spring items will be announced, but most likely the following week. Please remember: all Spring 2013 items will be FULL PRICE. Our Save Evy’s Tree leftover hoodies are all gone and we are now resuming our regular programing. If you want a good deal, I suggest you snag one of the sale items coming next week.

Oh, wait, one more thing! Several days ago I made a call out on our facebook page to photographers…asking to trade some Evy’s Tree items for product photos. WOW!! You guys!! I have over 50 emails from photographers willing to work with us. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t even think I would get five!! And you all are amazing photographers!!! So what to do now? Well, obviously, I don’t need 50 photographers, so I compiled a list of you all and will definitely contact you in the future if the need arises. I have contacted the ones we are going to use {I only needed 2 or 3}, so if you didn’t hear from me that means I cataloged your info and will reference it in the future. THANK YOU so much everyone for being so amazing and willing to help us. I sincerely am blown away by how many of you wanted to work with us. There are no words to explain my gratitude. I love you guys!!!!

Whew…I guess that’s it! Did I cover enough for you? So sorry for such a lengthy post. To recap:

• Our Blog got a facelift! Click HERE to see it.
• The Shop is shut down, but the Sale Section will reopen with items on January 21
• We are now accepting advertising on our blog. Click HERE to check out all the info.
• Need a photographer? Check out all these amazing ones HERE.

Love you all! xoxo

Happy New Year Friends!! I hope you all had a safe and exciting end of the year. Us Miraflors just laid low..we were SO TIRED from our Disneyland trip and Christmas. Are we the only parents who can barely keep their eyes open now a days? Sheesh! Anyway, I pretty much summed up my New Years feelings in this post, hope you had a chance to read it. 

I hope to catch you up to date on our holidays later this week and after I am able to finish all my end of the year duties for Evy’s Tree….so today, I want to start the year off with discussing a topic that I know many of my personal friends struggle with. I hope Emmy can inspire and encourage you. And I hope you sincerely think about attending the Choose Joy event. Please be sure to contact Emmy with any questions. 

Love you friends! Take it away Emmy….

* * * * * *

I’m Emmy, I’m 35, and I’m infertile.

Wait, let me back up.  I’m Emmy.  Amy has been so sweet to allow me to invade her space for the day.  I own Much Ado About You {where I used to sell printed day planners, and now I just sell printables}, I occasionally blog {Confesstions of a Paper Freak}, and I incessantly Instagram {@itsjustemmy}.  I am married to my high school sweetheart and as of this year we have been together for more than half our lives.

Almost 11 years ago I got pregnant for the first time.  Nathan and I were so excited, and immediately started planning that child’s future.  We were thinking of names… wondering if it would be a boy or a girl… hoping its due date of December 26th would not mean we were going to have a Christmas baby.

But just a few days later I started bleeding heavily, and knew in an instant that that baby was gone.

We had only just begun trying to get pregnant, but I had so many friends experiencing infertility and I begged God to spare us from that roller coaster.

Our doctor told us that since we were so early in the pregnancy I would not need a D & C, and that technically I could get pregnant as soon as my next cycle.

Which I did.

That pregnancy was such a relief, and I vividly remember thanking God that I was never going to have to walk that long and painful road of infertility.

A year after Beau was born we decided to start trying for a second baby.  We wanted four, so we thought we’d better get going!

God had different plans for our family.

The next six years were spent going from one doctor’s appointment to the next… from one surgery to the next… all in an effort to figure out why my young and seemingly healthy body was not working.

I have Endometriosis, a condition that basically destroys your body from the inside out.  During my final surgery my doctor made the painful decision to remove both of my non-functioning fallopian tubes, hoping it would increase the chance of my third and final IVF {invitro-fertilization} treatment being successful.

The next month we had our final IVF procedure.  It failed.  We were done.

We were physically {well mostly me on that one}, emotionally, and financially spent.  The chance of a natural pregnancy was eliminated with the removal of my tubes.  I was officially STERILE.  It is still strange to say those words.  I am a woman that cannot do what I was created to do… bear children.  That is a very strange reality to be faced with.

I spent seven dark years in the thick of my infertility {I say “my” infertility because the issues were mine… with another woman my husband could have had more children… more salt in the wounds}.  For some of those years Nathan and I were not on the same page.  He didn’t understand my desperation for a child when I already was a mom.  Those years I struggled with a deep loneliness that I had never known.  It is so hard to explain what infertility feels like to someone that has never experienced it, but the bottom line is… IT SUCKS.

However, God also used those seven years to challenge my character and bring me to a place of total trust and reliance on His plan for my life.  I came to a point where I had to say, “God, I love you and I trust you, and I know that {while very different from mine} Your plan is the best plan for my life.  So even if I never have another baby I will praise you and be thankful for whatever it is that you call me to do.”

And I really was at peace.  Without tubes I no longer had to live in two week cycles, wondering if each late period was the one.  I had an incredible eight year old that was the joy of my life, a loving, supportive husband, a thriving business… life was good.

Now since I have already babbled on for quite some time {and probably lost most of you} I will leave this next part of the story short and sweet {if you would like to read the whole story, you can find it here}.  Through miraculous circumstances, in March of 2011 we brought home the most beautiful baby girl that looks nothing like us.

And in the instant that I met her I understood every no that God had placed in my path.

If you are in a season of not understanding the circumstances of your life, please be encouraged that someday you may understand and even appreciate the painful path that you are walking.

Since experiencing infertility and adoption I have a heart for encouraging hurting women.  Several months ago I felt a calling on my life to do something to help other women that are experiencing similar trials, and the Choose Joy event was born.

Choose Joy is a one-day conference in Southern California for women and couples that are experiencing infertility and/or desire to grow their families through adoption.  I have somehow convinced several other women from all over the country to come and be a part of this event.  We have speakers on topics such as “God’s Heart for the Hurting; Waiting Hurts, Waiting Perfects”, “Having a Heart of Hope: Overcoming the Hurt of Infertility”, “The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of International Adoption”, and much, much more.  My desire is for this to be a day of connection and community, and for women to open their minds to the plan that God has for their family.

The event will include a luncheon and a dessert, and at the end we will be raffling off a cash prize to help someone grow their family.

Tickets are on sale for $30 through the 25th of January.  {After that the price goes up to $40, so don’t delay!}  Please visit the website for all the details on the location and schedule, bios on each speaker, and to register for the event.

If you aren’t experiencing infertility, statistics say that someone you know is.  Please pass this website on to your friends or family that could use some support.

Thanks for reading my story.

XOXO,

Emmy

I think one of the easiest things to do is judge others and compare to yourself. I find I do this, sometimes, without even thinking. I find most Christians in general struggle with this. And why not, I guess? We are striving to live a Christlike life {which is sometimes mistakenly translated: Perfection}, and in our race to do what HE asks us to do, we sometimes fall into the pitfall of thinking “holier than thou” thoughts. I know, it’s hard to confess this, but there it is. I will speak for myself here, at least.

This past week I felt myself struggling with thoughts along these lines. I went back and forth between, “I’m not good enough, I’ve made too many mistakes, I have no idea what I’m doing in life” to “Thank God I’m not like HER. She’s a nightmare.”

Confession. It’s good for the soul, right?

I have felt the Lord deal with me about these things recently. Sometimes He is showing me how HUMAN I am. How I can’t do things on my own. How when I try live this life without Him I make a big mess of it. And how He is full of grace and mercy and will pick up the pieces when I have made a mess of things. Like my dad. You know how Dad’s do that? Well, that’s what HE’S like. It’s powerful.

He also shows us how important it is to look at the heart. Because if you were to look at my life during these times when I’ve tried to do things on my own, you’d think I’m a DISASTER. You’d think {or judge} that I’m a huge failure and you’d probably witness some of these mistakes that I make first hand. Pretty sure you’d not want to be my friend if you looked on the outside during these times.

And then sometimes…when life is going good…you might look at me and think, “oh wow, look at her life. She is so lucky. She has this and that {you fill in the blank}. Her business is booming, her kids are all put together, and her husband is blowing up.”

I can say this because these are the things when I look at YOU. Pretty sure that’s how many of you think when you look at some of those around you. I know this isn’t the first time we have talked about this subject here, but in this highly visually stimulating world, I feel it bears repeating. Looks can be deceiving. The OUTWARD can be deceiving. Because remember…God looks on the heart.

I was given a very good reminder of this last week. I had something happen with another mom’s reaction to Jake’s enthusiasm {craziness ha}that made me sooo frustrated. The protective mom in me was ready to let her know how I really felt about the situation {and her, ha}. But after I had a long text chat with another friend close to the situation {thanks friend, you know who you are}, I was reminded, “we all have our struggles” and I have no idea what that particular mom was going through that may have caused her to react that way. I really have NO IDEA what her heart is like. I only saw the outward…which is deceiving.

Today I sat down and read about Samuel anointing David to be king, and the following passages when David slays Goliath. So crazy as the last couple months I have been so addicted to the Old Testament, where for years and years growing up, I had such a hard time reading and connecting to the Old Testament. But lately, oh boy, it totally speaks right to me!

And you know what hit me…how HUMAN David was. I know, this is not new news. But I love the whole way Samuel questions God. Like, “Really, God? THIS KID?!”. And I love how David blows everyone’s minds by killing Goliath. He’s so you and me {ok, well, ME at least, you might be perfect, ha }….he’s easily angry, misunderstood, impulsive {“I’ll kill that giant!”} and confident. And then as he becomes king and matures, he is still misunderstood …people think he’s perfect, look at his successes and are surprised at his failures.

Oh boy I love that David.

Because here’s the deal: I feel like him so much. So misunderstood some times. And other times I feel like I can conquer the world. And then sometimes I feel like looking at people and feeling sorry for myself…thinking they have succeeded and I haven’t. That I’m a huge fauilre as a mom, as a business woman, I’m not as pretty as them, or I as creative as someone else. My house doesn’t look like hers or my blog is poop compared to theirs. My business should be booming like that one, or how come her kids are more well behaved? Yes, I struggle too.

And David is SUCH a good reminder that you should never, EVER, look on the outward. You should always look at the heart. Because things are never, EVER how they seem. Until you walk in someone else’s shoes {right text chat friend?? }….

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height…. The Lord does not look at the things mans looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” I Samuel 17:7-8

Big hugs friends. xoxo

So I know, shopping at Evy’s Tree is a bit frustrating at the moment. So sorry about that. Let me reiterate what’s going on around here:

Our manufactured goods are coming January/February 2013. Although I cannot guarantee an exact time, I can tell you I have paid for the goods and they are in the process of being made. This is my first time mass producing so I do expect delays. 

So what to do in the meantime…

Well, you may remember that I mentioned waaayyy back during the Save Evy’s Tree campaign that we had some left over raw hoodies and material. My seamstresses have been sewing up what they can to produce some inventory for the shop to get us through Christmas. But apparently, it’s not enough.

We have completely run out of most raw adult hoodies. Which means we don’t have much left to make. The question has been asked: why don’t you just place an additional order with American Apparel? Well, because right now, we just can’t afford it. To make it financially feasible for us, we have to order things in BULK…like 200- 300 hoodies at a time. That’s a lot of hoodies…and we don’t really have the space at the moment to house that, especially since we have rearranged our studio to house our manufactured goods.

But I know, it’s frustrating…many of you want to partake of the cyber monday great prices, but just can’t find anything in your size. I get it. So here’s what we can do…

Please leave a comment on this blog {or email me at amy@evystree.com} with the STYLE and SIZE of hoodie you would like, as well as your PAYPAL EMAIL ADDRESS. If we have the material for the hoodie you want, but not the raw hoodie, we will email you and give you the option to buy the item for the price of $54.95 +shipping cots…it is more expensive than the $39.95 cyber Monday price, but discounted from the $69.95 cost. Please do not comment with a style and a size if you are not willing to pay the extra amount. If we have the fabric to make your hoodie, we will send you an invoice. You must pay for the invoice within 12 hours, and then we will order the raw hoodie and make the item for you. Your items will ship the weekend of December 14.

This option is only available through tomorrow, Tuesday November 27. I will stop taking orders at 10 PM PST. 

I hope this helps some. Thank you, dear friends, for being such loyal supporters of Evy’s Tree. You guys are AWESOME!! I appreciate your love during this transition.