A Cambodian Market {gifts for you AND a give-away!!}

I may have mentioned in my post on Siem Reap that Cambodia has 

THE BEST MARKETS EVER!! 

guys…I went a little crazy. 

ok…a lot crazy. 

I was in awe of the gorgeous items made in Cambodia. 

the fabrics..the stitching…the creativity! 

ahhh, it was beyond me:) 

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to bring back a few items for you, my readers:) 

Today on the blog I am selling a few gorgeous hand-crafted purse/bags,

and some very fun wallets and cute baby bibs! 

My reason for selling these is two-fold…

A) I love supporting local artists around the world! 

B) I thought it would be fun for you guys to see some of the beautiful treasures from Cambodia, and be able to give your friends or family something that you can't just buy at Target/Urban Outfitters/etc!! 

If you are interested in one of these items, let me know asap! 

I can mail it out to you first thing next week (or even tomorrow if you email me soon enough!!). 

{and if you want to see more detailed pictures of any item, just let me know!}

Also…I have an adorable passport cover to give-away to one lucky reader:) 

Sadly, I didn't snap a picture of it, but it matches the Elephant wallet:)

 It's so cute I debated about keeping it for myself, but that's a tad selfish of me, hehe:) 

*see below for how to enter*

Enjoy your international shopping experience….

The Weekender bag

$50  SOLD OUT

This adorable bag is perfect for a trip to the beach or a weekend away! 

I just saw a bag like this online being sold for twice as much, and even then it would be worth it. But fortunately I'm selling it for a good deal:) 

This is a gorgeous bag that I can't stop staring at, haha! 

The Sachel Bag

$40  SOLD OUT

This bag is so versatile! 

The strap is adjustable so you can wear it across your chest, or synch it up into a purse. 

And the designs will melt your heart…they are so stunning and vibrant:) 

The Purse Bag

$40  SOLD OUT

I.love.this.bag. 

A perfect purse that can fit a little extra something-something:) 

Great all-around-town-bag!! 

The Elephant Wallet

$20 SOLD OUT

So, truly the next few items are So creative and innovative! 

The print for these wallet is made out of old cement bags! 

They take the cement bags, and then use them as the material for the wallet,

 and then line them with a nice clear plastic finish! 

They are fully functional, and just darling! 

The perfect gift for someone looking for something super unique and useful:) 

The Fish Wallet

$20 SOLD OUT

Same idea as above with the cement bags, but this one is a fish! So so cute:) 

 The Baby Bib

$15 SOLD OUT

Um…how cute are these? 

So cute that I wanted to wear one myself, haha:) 

These bibs are so perfect! 

They are lined with a water proof clear finish, and then velcro in the back! 

**I also have another bag for sale, that is more like a laptop type bag. It is the same fabric as The Purse Bag. Let me know if you are interested and i'll send you some iPhone pictures:) SOLD OUT

To enter the give-away: 

 -leave a comment about where your passport might take you next!! 

 -follow Hope Engaged on Bloglovin, FB, and Google Friend Connect (the little thing on the left hand side of my blog that says "members") 

It's that simple:) 

{and i'll choose one at random next Monday!!} 

Lastly…

 Email me at katie.emma.cook@gmail.com if you are interested in a certain bag! 

It's first come first serve:) 

Happy Friday!! Woo Hoo! 

love Katie 

The wonderful, the awesome, the one and only Christmas Card!

 Ekk! It’s the Christmas season!! And I am one giddy elf! Christmas brings so many wonderful and meaningful traditions that help us to fully embrace the holiday season! One of my absolute favorite activities is sending and receiving Christmas cards! So much so, that I’m dedicating a whole post to the awesomeness of these babies! Below are the incredible reasons YOU TOO should send a Christmas card!!

1.  MAIL!!! 

Come on…Who doesn’t love getting mail? Growing up, every day in December, my siblings and I would race to the mailbox in search of the Christmas cards. We’d rip them open and read them aloud to each other by the fireplace, ohhh and ahhing over the pictures! You might be thinking…”wow Katie, you were a cool kid” Haha. Well not much has changed…I still am all excitement checking my mail each day in December!

2.    Christmas cards are a great way to update friends and family on your life!

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram got nothing on the awesome Christmas card!!  For starters, you are allowed to write more than 140 characters about your life…what a concept, right? Snatch the opportunity to reflect on the blessings, heartaches and adventures you experienced this past year. Give the gift of yourselves to others through your letter! 

That in my opinion is the best kind of fireside reading:)   

A few tips to avoid when writing a Christmas letter…

A)   Do not write your card from the point of view of your dog or cat. That is just weird people! Even when I was young I was creeped out by “spotty” giving us the Smith family update from 1994. Just.dont.do.it.

B)   Don’t be the ridiculous overachiever. I mean, it’s no fun when you receive a letter that says “our three year old is fluent in Spanish, received his black belt, and is currently taking calculus” and you’re looking over at your poor child thinking “my toddler can’t even hold a pencil”. So don’t make the rest of us look bad! Okay?....okay.

Moving on….

3.    Christmas cards can be used to make a sweet Statement Wall in your home!

The first year Kevin and I were married, I taped up every Christmas card we received on our kitchen wall. I planned to take it down in January {with my husband eager to “help” me} but couldn’t resist leaving those cute smiling faces up “just a little longer”. Well, a little longer turned into the ENTIRE YEAR, and into my permanent décor. Kevin and I have at least one to two parties a month, and we realized how much guests in our home loved to look at the cards! 

So the tradition began…and I love it:)

4.    Christmas cards give you that perfect ice breaker to meet your neighbors!!

I mean, when else it is completely ok to walk over to a complete strangers house and give them a piece of paper with your picture on it? NEVER…except for now! So take advantage of this window of opportunity and meet your neighbors! They’ll love that you took the time to introduce yourself and you may even find your best friend forever.  Really, you never know!

5.    Christmas cards are perfect for remembering to pray for friends!

Both my husband and I grew up in homes where the Christmas cards were put into a basket or bowel and placed on the kitchen table. Each night, we would draw out a card or two and pray for the specific family. It’s a great way to bring the family together and intentionally love others through praying for them!!

Still haven't ordered your Christmas Cards? 

I just ordered mine from Tiny Prints, and am soooo happy with them! 

They had many, many beautiful cards, it was so hard to choose a template. 

Here are mine below…what do you think? 

Lastly, what do YOU do with your Christmas cards? Any fun ideas I missed? 

Happy Wednesday! 

Stay tuned Friday for some very fun gift options 

i'm selling on my blog all the way from SE Asia!! woo hoo! 

love Katie 

My health journey, Part 1

I feel incredibly thankful for you readers. 

Truly, what a beautiful community we have here in blogging. 

One of the reasons I started this blog was to share my life with others. 

To connect. 

To build community. 

To be honest and vulnerable…and real. 

And I realized on Thanksgiving day, after I ran 3 miles straight at our local "Run for Food" race, 

that I was incredibly grateful to be able to run. 

You might look at this and laugh and think 

"3 miles…ppssshhh, that's nothing". 

And if 3 miles is cake to you…YOU GO GIRL! 

But to me, a girl with body broken, this was something. 

It was a victory. 

{on race day…}

And while delighting in this small miracle, 

I also realized how little i've shared with you about my health. 

I'm not really sure the reason. 

Maybe there is a fear that i'll seem whiny, or ungrateful, or just sad. 

And I suppose sometimes I really do feel each of those emotions as though they owned me. 

But they don't own me, and my health doesn't either, 

and in the spirit of being brave, i'm ready. 

To share. 

At least…to being to share. 

My freshman year in the dorms, I woke up one morning and thought I was paralyzed. 

I couldn't move. 

My sweet roommate did my hair, got me dressed, and somehow managed to cart me to the health center.

 My joints were swelled so bad I was practically worthless. 

I couldn't open doors, I had to take massive amounts of pain killers to just get out of bed and walk. 

I felt like a walking arthritis ad. Wasn't that only for 80 year olds? I thought…not 18 year olds.   

For years I was tested for everything under the sun. 

everything came back negative. 

the doctors were baffled. They had no idea. 

So my body was pumped with antibiotics and harsh painkillers. 

and my heart pumped out hurt and confusion, 

and my eyes poured tears. 

every day, every day, every day, and then repeat. 

Psalms 56:8 says that the Lord collects our tears in a bottle. 

I think he must own a whole storeroom of mine. 

A few years out of college, 

I began realizing that I wasn't going to get better by just believing the doctors confusion.

 I decided it was high time to do some research of my own. 

One day I happened upon a link that said 

"If you have 4 or more of these symptoms, you may have Lupus"

I had 9 of the symptoms. 

I marched myself right into the hospital and kindly/frantically asked if I could be tested for Lupus. 

it was positive. 

I'll never forget that day.

 I opened the results, and I wept. 

I was scared, 

but also grateful that I had uncovered the first step in getting better. 

But it was still a long road. 

My very first appointment with a rheumatologist after my diagnosis 

was thick was fear. 

I was told:

- you can't have kids

-you are allergic to the sun, and must be covered AT ALL TIMES

and

-you must be on medications for the rest of your life because Lupus is a chronic disease. 

in a dazed stupor I stumbled home and proceeded to cry myself into a literal mess. 

the kind of low howling cry where tears and snot and hair mingle and you look as though you just crawled out of a swamp. 

red eyes puffy, and pain oozing from every fiber and cell in my body. 

The truth was,

I wanted to have kids, and I loved the sun, and I never wanted to take medication ever again. 

never ever ever! 

But the doctors orders were completely opposite. 

On my way out the door at the doctors, 

I was handed an old ladies magazine full of SPF clothing that would help keep me "safe" from a Lupus flare. 

I opened the first page and was mortified to discover that what they wanted to sell me was 

visors, and big brimmed hats and baggy clothes and just generally 

old people doing old people things. 

this just isn't fair! I cried. 

I'm not old. 

I don't want to do old people things! 

and so I began to hide. 

I wore floppy big hats everywhere, even in my car. 

I covered every inch of my body with fabric. 

I lost my tan and became pasty white. 

And I began to resent normal people who wore normal clothes

like tank tops and swim suits. 

I'll never forget one day at the beach in Santa Cruz. 

I was literally covered head to toe in clothing, with a huge floppy hat on (from the dang magazine!)

and I just snapped. 

I was so envious of all my family around me that just ran around in suits like it was 

no big thang. 

and it was no big thing…

normal people wear bathing suits. 

for any of you that have struggled with a chronic illness, you get this. 

You get that "normal" things are so enticing and dreamy when you can't have them. 

and you "get" the emotional pain attached to the physical pain. 

but this story ends in hope, I promise. 

it's a long one, so i'll share more soon in Part 2. 

thank you for giving me the space to share this part of my life with you. 

in a sense, it's liberating! 

and Jesus has done so much, so i'm excited to share more! 

and as a last word, if any of you are struggling with health, I'd love to pray for you:) 

so send me an email!! 

Happy Monday dear ones! 

It's December…WOO HOO!! 

much love,

Katie 

To read more, Part 2 is {here}