Full Bloom Blog

I have known for sometime now that God put a call on my heart to publish a blog. Truthfully, I dragged my feet for so long unsure of what I was supposed to write and share about. In so many ways, I felt out of place and dissatisfied with my own life; I didn’t feel qualified to be sharing anything with anyone.

To give you my brief back ground; I was a ballerina who, for one reason or another, failed to ever have a thriving professional career. I met my husband, Erik, right before my 22nd birthday and after three and a half years together I was able to marry my best friend in a wedding of our dreams. I found out I was expecting my first child just three months into marriage. I then had three more children totaling one wedding and four babies in less than six years. Considering my plan was to wait at least five years after getting married before starting a family, I was feeling a little upside down and off track. That’s not even to mention my goals of dancing and performing.

There is one thing you should know about me- it’s that I love to make plans, and I am not known for handling changes to said plans well.

When things didn’t turned out as “planned” it was easy to start doubting myself. It was easy to question my abilities, my strengths, my significance. For some time I sunk deeper into my unimportant, insignificant slump. Perhaps it was exacerbated by my exhaustion as a young mother, but I felt invisible. Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved my husband deeply and loved each of my children more than I can put into words, but I felt lost in my purpose in life and unsure of how the Lord would use me, if at all. What I’ve learned though, is that those are the times that the Lord is working most deeply. While I had been watching my children and my marriage grow, I also learned so much about the unique ways that God created even little ‘ol me. I have now been married (almost) ten years and I know and understand MYSELF so much more than I ever have before.

I don’t count myself as special in any sense of the word. But now that I am seeing the Lord unfold layers of my unique composition, I know that I am indeed beautifully and wonderfully made. During this journey of self discovery (although I really despise that phrase, I suppose it is fairly accurate) the Lord kept dropping the phrase BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED everywhere I went. And so, I adopted that as my new mindset. Even though I was not living life the way I had expected, I was not just going to live life, I was going to thrive. I didn’t just want to blossom, I wanted to be in FULL bloom. And even still, the Lord is still revealing to me that it’s even more than that. He did not call me to do my best in a random place, or even second choice life that I landed. He called me to live this life for a reason! All these things I have been learning about myself, new hobbies, new found abilities, new found loves were all like layers of a flower; like petals. As He reveals each piece of who I am, it all comes together to form the beautiful flower He has created me to be!

I like to think of myself as something like a rose or a peony with lots of layers. I am a type A middle child (who has ever even heard of such a thing!?) I LOVE creating; ballets, flower gardens, refurbished antique furniture, baked goods, breakfasts, parties… Basically, if I have the opportunity to be creative and artistic, I’m in. I crave beauty and the ability to create it in all kinds of avenues. I’m not patient but I have a gift of teaching. I prefer caramel to chocolate and still get (probably even more-so than my kids) giddy on Christmas Eve. I love the Lord with all my heart and have considered my life a sweet sacrifice of praise, although, sometimes more successfully than others. I believe in real authentic hospitality. I was born and raised in the mid-west but sometimes I think I belong in the south. I raise three beautiful kiddos, Annabelle, Giselle and Torsten and my second born, Sebastian, is with the Lord. I have been married to my incredible husband Erik (as previously mentioned) since 2010 and I adore that he has always been my biggest cheerleader. While trying to be super mom, I also run a home based boutique bakery and teach classical ballet at a studio I have been a part of since I was 13 years old. I consider my home and my life my ministry and so I want to share it with as many people as possible. I love that God has put this journey before me and I pray that it becomes a vessel of ministry so that I may share with the world the love of Jesus Christ and my favorite taco recipes. 💕

All thoughts and photos belong to Kerry Graney. Opinions and advice are not of a professional standpoint and are not meant to advise or persuade in any way.