April Showers Bring… Baby Keller!

That’s right! We are expecting!

Baby Keller will be joining our journey on April 24, 2019.

Wow! It feels so good to finally say that. If you know me, you know that it is so beyond difficult for me to keep my own secrets. And this has been the secret of the decade for me haha. I will have several posts coming up detailing the first trimester, our testimony, answering your FAQs, as well as updates all throughout my pregnancy on how I’m feeling, what products I’m loving, and updates on baby K!

I will be 12 weeks on Wednesday, but we wanted to announce this on our anniversary (Happy Anniversary, Babes!). The first trimester has been an interesting one, filled with lots of changes, and even more morning sickness, but it has been so worth it. I will be going into more detail in my next post, but for now I’ll give you the basics. We found out super early- about 4 weeks and a couple days. We had our first appointment at 5 weeks, and due to some concerns, we had another at 6 weeks, and then the regular 8 weeks. We have our next appointment on Friday, and I am so excited!

To those who knew and kept our secret, THANK YOU!! And we are so grateful for all fo the love and support we have already received. I am so looking forward to sharing this journey will y’all. I plan on staying true to me and remaining 100% transparent through this whole process. Thank you in advance for your love and support!

XOXO

ELK and Baby K

See You Soon

It’s hard to believe that ELK is almost a year old! What a crazy year it has been- the launch of ELK, our decision to move across the country, our actual move across the county, and all of the craziness and adventure that met us in our new home of Atlanta- just to name a few things! It feels a bit strange to have the title of this blog as “See You Soon”. I have been very distant the past couple of months here on the blog, and even on Instagram. There are a couple of reasons for that absence, including the worst case of writer’s block ever, as well as just simply trying to adjust to our new life here- work, friends, family, etc. Many of you may remember that last year around this time, God placed it on my heart to take a month off of social media to seek Him and what it was that He wanted me to do with ELK. Coincidentally, that lined up perfectly with the month leading up to my 21st birthday. This past week as I was praying, God placed something similar on my heart. I felt Him telling me that I needed to do some refocusing and reprioritizing before entering into my 22nd year of life.

That being said, I will be fasting for the next month leading up to September 12th- my 22nd birthday. My goal with this fast is to do just what God said I needed to- refocus and reprioritize my life. I will be fasting from a few things, one of which is social media. I will more than likely share more about my fasting experience once I’m back online. I am so looking forward to what God has for me and for ELK in this next year, and I am so excited to see what is revealed to me during this time of fasting.

My next blog will be posted on September 12th. I am not sure what it will be about, but I’m sure it’s gonna be good!

Thank you so much for all of your continued support! See you soon- when I’m feelin’ 22!

XOXO

ELK

May Five Faves: Beauty Edition

Hey Y’all!

A few weeks ago I did a poll on Instagram to see what content you wanted to see here on ELK, and the results were quite conclusive. My main concern, aside from posting what I feel the Holy Spirit leads me to write, is giving y’all the content you want to see! That being said, you will start to see a lot more beauty and lifestyle posts! I’m super excited to dive deeper into these topics, as they are huge passions of mine. So, today we have my May Five Faves: Beauty Edition. Without further adieu, let’s get started!

1. L’Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise in “Mystic Black” ($7.99)

Moving to a humid climate presented a whole new set of challenges when it comes to makeup, and to be honest, I’m still trying to figure things out. My regular mascara was holding up fine early on when it was still cool, but once things started to warm up, it was just not doing the trick. Enter Lash Paradise. This mascara is my new Holy Grail mascara. It is seriously amazing! It goes on great with its smooth consistency and bristle brush, and doesn’t flake or run. It truly lives up to its name, because, y’all, the volume is REAL! I have pretty long lashes, but they go through phases of thickness, so this mascara is a must have. Not to mention its gorgeous packaging! To top it off, I picked mine up at Kroger for only $7.99- I’m tellin y’all, it’s an all around 10!

2. Covergirl Get In Line Eyeliner in “Black Vinyl” ($7.49)

Another change I had to make when we transitioned from the Phoenix to Atlanta was my eyeliner. I had been a gel eyeliner fanatic for years, but for some reason the climate here just did not agree with it. I was honestly terrified about the thought of switching to a liquid because I had always heard people talk about how difficult it was to use. All I have to say is- I don’t know what those people were thinking! This switch to liquid liner has forever changed my life. Covergirl recently did an overhaul on their image, and I am here for it! This product is simply perfect. It has a contoured handle that makes it super easy to hold, and a fine, tapered tip that makes it perfect for a thin, simple line, as well as a bold, sassy cat eye. The liner itself is very smooth and goes on very clean. Overall a perfect makeup bag staple!

3 &4. Sinful Colors Base and Top Coats ($1.99 ea.)

So this one is technically 2. In case you haven’t noticed, I am all about a good bargain. I was in need of some new nail polish, because for the most part I do my own nails, but I wasn’t about to spend $9+ a pop. I had used Sinful Colors nail polish before and thought it was fin, but had never used them with their own base and top coat, so I decided to try it again. My nail polishes have a pretty big job, considering I am 1) a nail biter and 2) a nail polish picker, but let me tell you, when these three polishes are combined, neither of those two habits are an option! The polish goes on so well and bonds even better to you nail. Trust me, I tried picking the polish out of habit, but it was not budging! They have a wide array of colors, and even have a gel line that I cannot wait to try. On top of all those great qualities, each bottle is a steal at only $1.99, but I got mine on sale at Walgreens for 3/$5.00. If you’re on a budget or can’t make it into the salon, I would highly recommend you check them out!

5. Joon Hair Care Saffron Hair Elixir Oil with Pistachio and Rose Oil

So, if you didn’t see it on my Insta, I chopped 14 inches of hair off and donated it to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths in January. I loved the cut my stylist gave me, but after a couple of months, I started to really miss my long hair. On top of that, Jon-Paul, who usually stays completely indifferent when it comes to matters of my beauty and fashion preferences, told me one day that he really missed my long hair. So began the process of growing my hair out. On top of taking biotin, I wanted something that would keep my ends and lengths thick and strong. After using it for 8 months herself, my friend recommended that I check out Joon. BEST. DECISION. EVER. It literally takes 2 little droplets to coat my hair and smells like heaven. On top of keeping my hair looking amazing, it also acts as a heat protectant and helps speed up the drying process. I usually wash my hair every other or every third day, so after I get out of the shower and towel dry my hair a bit, I rub two little drops in my hands and run it through my hair. Then, I brush my hair using my Wet brush, just to make sure my hair is evenly coated. It leaves my hair feeling so soft and smelling so amazing, without making it oily or greasy. It is also a cruelty, sulfate, and paraben free product- SCORE! They sell the vials in two sizes, 1.1oz ($28.00) and 3.1oz ($50.00). I got the smaller size and have only used maybe 1/8th of the bottle over the course of a month. Total including shipping and handling came to be $35.00, and has been worth every penny!

That’s it for today! Comment some of your fave beauty products below or on my insta post- I’d love to try them out!

XOXO

ELK

A Grand Proposal

Every girl dreams of the day when the man of her dreams drops to one knee, tells her how much she means to him, and pops the question. We all love the idea of the happily ever after dream we have dreamt since we were little girls becoming a reality. Most girls, no doubt, have in their minds or on their Pinterest boards what the perfect proposal will look like, and we all hope he gets it right! On the second anniversary of our engagement, I wanted to share with you the story of how it all went down!

First off, let me give you a some quick backstory for context. Jon-Paul and I knew from the very first week we started dating that this was it- we had each found the on! He had just returned from a trip to the Arizona, where he visited the Grand Canyon (important) a couple weeks prior, and after a beautiful whirlwind first week of dating, we just knew. I can’t explain the feeling. I don’t know how to describe it to someone who hasn’t experienced it themselves, except that it’s an overwhelming sense of peace and excitement at the same time. Shortly thereafter, he moved out to Phoenix in October of 2015, and I moved to Tucson with my parents in December of 2015, then later to Phoenix in March of 2016. I was waiting patiently for the proposal- okay, maybe not so patiently! We had discussed our future countless times from where we wanted to end up living to how many kids we wanted to have and what names we would give them, and I wanted that life to be a reality. I was so excited to get the show on the road!

Fast forward to the week of Easter 2016. Jon-Paul had a horrible stomach virus followed by food poisoning. It was miserable! Poor thing was completely drained come Easter Sunday when my family came up to Phoenix to attend Easter service with us, which was of course followed by a nice lunch out. Now, Jon-Paul is not a particularly chatty person on the regular. He more so likes to observe, especially when he’s around my rowdy family! Because of this, I didn’t think anything of his quietness during lunch, especially because he had been sick. The next day, he called me and said, “How are your parents with surprises?” I said, “Uhhh, well, it depends of the surprise… why?” To which he responded, “Well, you know, I wasn’t feeling very well yesterday at lunch and I felt bad for not talking much, so I decided to go down to Tucson to see them.”…………. Now, mind you, Tucson is a two hour drive from Phoenix. In my mind, I just KNEW he was going to ask my parent’s permission to marry me. I was about to jump out of my skin from excitement! I told him to call my parents and let them know he was coming, and he did.

I am THE worst when it comes to surprises. I have a love hate relationship with them. I love the excitement, but I hate not knowing what is happening. So, from that point on, I made sure to have my nails done every 10 days or so, always made sure that my makeup and outfits were ON POINT, and may or may not have done some snooping through Jon-Paul’s phone trying to find out some details. We had planned a trip for my mom’s birthday up to the Grand Canyon, and I thought maybe it would happen on that trip, but I had convinced myself it wasn’t going to happen then. My mom had the whole thing planned out down to the minute. She had told me multiple times that we needed to be at the canyon by 11am on the Monday after her birthday because we still had a 4 hour drive back. She probably mentioned it in every conversation for like 2 weeks. This, logically, led me to believe that something was planned at 11am! Then, the day before our trip, she told us that the 11am arrival time was not a thing anymore and that we could take our time. In fact, she encouraged us to stop at some towns on the way up and make a full day of it. I was in shock! That is so 100% the polar opposite of her personality!

The next day, we started on our way up to the Grand Canyon. We stopped about an hour and a half into the trip to get breakfast and wander around one of my favorite towns, Sedona. As much as I was trying to enjoy myself, I was so stressed about time because I was convinced my mom would still be upset if we arrived too late, and our trip would be ruined! I also reeeeaaaly wanted to see the GC! So I rushed Jon-Paul to the car after about 2 hours in Sedona and told him we had to get going. But, he had other plans. He wanted to take the scenic route- a route that would add a whole hour onto our drive! As worried as I was, I went along with his plan. We drove through the most beautiful national forest and stopped at a beautiful lookout and took it all in for a minute. Then my brain kicked back into overdrive and we were on our way again, only to have Jon-Paul tell me he needed a potty break. We stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and I pumped the gas while he did his thing. I finished pumping and pulled up to the store parking lot and waited. And waited. And waited. I wondered if he had fallen in! 10 whole minutes later, he came walking out with a gigantic jug of windshield wiper fluid. “What the heck is that for?!” I asked. He responded with, “Well, you’re almost out and there’s a lot of bugs out here. We will probably need it.” I rolled my eyes and waited as he fumbled around with the hood and started pouring the liquid. You would have thought he was pouring molasses!! He was moving soooooo slow. I finally went over, snatched the jug from his hand and dumped it all in the container myself! I was slightly annoyed at this point, and rushed us back on the road.

When we arrived to the canyon, I was so taken aback. It didn’t even look real. It looked like a painting or a green screen. We walked up to the main overlook and were just in awe of the beauty. Then, my dad, who was in the middle of a Facebook challenge promoting awareness for ptsd, saw a little cliff that we could hike to and said he wanted to film his pushups for the challenge down there, and asked Jon-Paul to film it. I said I’d go along as well. We hiked our way down there and filmed the pushups, after which Jon-Paul asked my dad to take a picture of us. Little did I know he was actually recording. Jon-Paul took me to the edge and started to tell me that a little less than a year before that, when he visited the Grand Canyon, he was in this exact spot trying to send me a picture and couldn’t get it to send. (fun fact, there’s like zero cell service out there) He told me that it kept failing to send, and he said out loud, “Ugh! I just want to talk to her!”, and in that moment he realized he had feelings for me. He then got down on one knee and said some stuff that I honestly don’t even remember because I was so flustered and excited! I immediately said yes before he could even finish asking me to marry him! I was shaking and so so happy. Then, he turned me around and his whole family had flown out to be apart of the day! In fact, because they were using buddy passes, they weren’t able to fly in on Sunday as planned and had been traveling right behind us our whole trip! They only passed us while we were at the longest gas station stop known to man lol! As if all of that wasn’t enough, he proposed on the anniversary of my grandfather’s passing with a diamond from one of my grandfather’s rings. It was simply perfect. We drove back to Phoenix and went to dinner that night and celebrated the day. It was so beautiful and magical and wonderful.

And that’s how I would sum up the past three years since Jon-Paul and I have been together. Beautiful, magical, and wonderful. I’m so grateful everyday that God brought us together. It was definitely not something either of us expected, but it has been the best years of my life. He is the most kind, loving, funny, caring man I could have ever asked for. He surpasses all of my wildest dreams everyday, and I am so glad I said “Yes” to him two years ago. Ladies, if you get one thing from this post, let it be this- Do not settle for a man that treats you less than what you deserve. I promise you that it is worth the wait! There is absolutely nothing that can replace the feeling of knowing you are with the one that God intended you to be with. Wait for the man that will exceed your expectations and surpass your wildest dreams, and give you a beautiful, magical, and wonderful life.

XOXO

ELK

Georgia On My Mind

The saying, “God works in mysterious ways” is used pretty commonly- Lord knows I’ve said it way too many times to count. It is usually the follow-up to an ironic story with a happy ending, or when something happens in our lives that we don’t quite understand. It’s like implying that, though you may not know how something is going to play out, but you know that God will work it all out for your good. He knows how to orchestrate events in your life- good or bad- to bring you out on top. He takes the ugly and makes it beautiful, the tragic and makes it joyous, and the unknown and makes it territory to conquer. We go through life as Christians knowing this and believing it, but it’s not until we have to fully rely on God to make our nonsensical situation make sense that we truly understand the beauty and the mystery that is our loving Father.

For Jon-Paul and I, that season is in a way just finishing, but also just beginning. We have recently been going through a season of having to fully entrust our entire lives to God more than ever before and believing that He would make a way where there quite literally seemed to be none. It’s so funny, because we thought before this season that we had given it all to God. But, it took going through this for us to realize that there were so many areas we were still relying on our own strength in and not giving God room to be God. At one point it seemed that we were getting bombarded from every angle possible with problems, from finances, to family, to friends, it seemed like new wounds were being made and old wounds reopened every way we turned. Needless to say, it was a very trying season. But, hindsight is 20/20. I still 100% believe that we heard the Holy Spirit clearly. I believe it was a God ordained season that we had to go through in order to draw closer to Him. He does, after all, work in mysterious ways.

Rather than focusing on the negative consequences that were many, but brief, I want to take time to give honor where honor is due. We talk about God being our loving Father God (any Father-God-ers out there???), but what Jon-Paul and I had the privilege of experiencing over these past few months made that more real to us than ever before. It was like when a parent takes the training wheels off of their kids bike for the first time. You get them all ready- elbow pads, knee pads, and a helmet- and take them out to the street, show them how balance and steer, and hold the bike as they start to pedal. They are wobbly at first but soon have the hang of it, so long as you are holding onto the back. Then the time comes for them to try it on their own. You tell them to start pedaling and they yell pack, white knuckling the handle bars, “Don’t let go!” You tell them you won’t, knowing full well that if they are going to learn how to ride, you are going to have to let go at some point. But, just because you let go doesn’t mean that you aren’t still running behind the bike, ready to pick them up when they inevitably take a tumble. You pick them up and dust them off and tell them to try again.

I believe that God sometimes allows us to go through things so that we learn to rely on Him and become even closer to Him. He’s like the parent teaching their child to ride a bike. He gets us ready- prepares us with a vision or word, gives us the tools through His word, and gives us promises that He’s faithful to the end and never forsakes us- and then begins to teach us. He doesn’t cause the storm or hardship, but He uses to His advantage what the devil meant to take you out, knowing full well that you have the full armor of God and can handle anything with His help. I believe this is why we went through the season we did. We followed God’s word, and though He didn’t cause the problems, He used them to draw us closer to him. He drew us out into the deep where the waves were crashing, and we had to realize that he didn’t want us to fight to keep our heads above water, but rather He wanted us to let go so he could guide us safely to the other side. We had to rely on Him like a child does with their Father. He had to dust us off, bandage our wounds, and take us to a vulnerable place to give Jon-Paul the biggest word He’s given us in our relationship.

In November, Jon-Paul and I went to Atlanta to visit his side of our family for my sister-in-love’s wedding and Thanksgiving. Now, on previous trips, I fully enjoyed myself and loved seeing friends and family, but could never see myself living there. If you aren’t familiar with the area, it’s very humid, there’s about a million freeways surrounded by trees, complemented by like 5,000 little small towns and suburbs. It’s all very pretty, but for the absolute most directionally challenged person in the world (a.k.a moi) it can be a little (a LOT) overwhelming. But for some reason, from the moment we landed this time, I felt so at peace being there, and a very strong pull to be there. I was a little (a LOT) freaked out by it to say the least. So much so that I kept this to myself for 5 days. I was concerned that I was just feeling this because of the turbulent season we were in, and I didn’t want to make any rash comments. But after 5 days, the Holy Spirit was not letting up. So on our drive up Chattanooga to see some good friends, I sheepishly asked Jon-Paul how he was feeling about Atlanta. His response was one I was not expecting. He replied, “It’s weird, I’m actually feeling a strong pull to be here.” I couldn’t believe it. He used the EXACT wording I had been mulling over in my head for five days! My first thought once I wrapped my head around that fact was, “Oh, crap.” This had come out of nowhere. Despite the tough season back in Phoenix, we were still so in love with our life here. After all, we have an amazing church, friends, mentors, etc. So we spoke with some mentors in our lives and decided we really needed to lift this up in prayer. We had every reason move- proximity to family, more music opportunities for Jon-Paul, not to mention the undeniable move of the Holy Spirit in giving Jon-Paul and I the same wording; but we also had every reason to stay. So we asked God to give us a “No”- a reason not to move. We prayed and asked God to show us by a specific day. We asked that if He wanted us to go, that he would give us an abundance of confirmation and clarity. The days following that prayer were suspenseful. We were awaiting God to give us direction, and He did.

We are so excited to announce that the Kellers are moving to Atlanta on February 23rd of this year! This is such a bitter-sweet time, to be honest. We are so very excited for what lies ahead, but also very sad to leave this wonderful place called Phoenix. All emotion aside, we know that God has prepared a way for us in the good ol ATL. We are so appreciative of all God has done here in Phoenix. He brought so many amazing people into our lives here, and we will never be the same because of it! I’m a firm believer that we as Christians are not meant to stay put in the same place for our entire lives. I believe that we are to glean from every stop along the way and take with us to the next place everything we have learned. Lord knows the amount of knowledge we have gained here in the past 2 years. So now we are asking you to join us in praying for this journey! We know that God has already gone before us and made a way for us to prosper. We are truly so excited and a little nervous, not gonna lie!

I know now that if we had not been taken to that vulnerable place with God, we may not have been receptive to His word for us to move- especially myself given how closed off I’ve always been to the idea. And as hard as that season was, I would do it all again if it meant I would gain this new level of intimacy with God. Not only did it strengthen our relationships with God, but it made Jon-Paul and I grow closer. We truly relied on each other during that time for strength and emotional support, and also comedic relief! I just love seeing how God works all things for our good! He loves each of us so very much. He knows exactly how to communicate with us and show us His love. He knows what we need in our moments of despair. He knows how to mend our wounds and comfort our hearts. He goes out of His way to show us His love. He is such a magnificent, mighty, loving, kind, powerful, gentle God. If you get one thing from this blog today, I want it to be this- never take for granted a trying season. Never think that just because the seas are rough means that God isn’t there. He is always with you. Guiding you, protecting you, helping you up, dusting you off, and telling you to try again. Even when you can’t feel Him, He’s running right along side you, ready to catch you. He will always catch you. He will always work it together for your good. His plans for your life are so much bigger than your storm. The destiny He’s placed on your life alone is enough to carry you through the hardships. Never doubt God’s intentions for your life. He’s got it all figured out, no matter what you choose to do. He does, after all, work in mysterious ways.

XOXO

ELK