He called her Hephzibah

Welcome to our blog, my friends!  I say our blog because several friends and family members have contributed to the words on here!  I want to introduce myself in case you're new! Hell o New Readers! My name is Emily and I love to paint.  In 2021, I experienced a traumatic brain injury that significantly altered my quality of life.  Two years later in 2023 I experienced a "stroke event."  Then in August 2025 I had a stroke.  All three events affected my body in different ways and each has been its own learning curve.  I experience a wide variety of symptoms that vary in intensity.   If you are here because a calendar or other item from the shop , I want you to know that 100% of the proceeds go toward my medical expenses.  Right now that looks like physical therapy and occupational therapy happening multiple times a week.  Thank you for your support!  There will be a blog post at the beginning of each month that dives deeper into...

The 2026 Calendar is now available!  Click here to learn more! Let's do something different this month: let's start with the song this painting is based on.  If you can, take a deep breath and press play.  Focus on the words.  What do they say?  What do you think they mean? Historians call it the "Intertestamental period."  It was the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament that stretched about 400 years.  For reference, America has been a country for 249 years.  So we are just over halfway through that period of silence that marked the difference between Old Testament prophets and the coming of the Messiah proclaimed through Gabriel and then through John the Baptist. I struggle with insomnia as a result of my TBI.  It's currently 4:30am and my eyelids have yet to close.  Night is long when it's just you, the ceiling and nothing else.  I've tried to pray, paint, clean, and do a number of other things during that time....