Hi guys! Welcome to my blog.

My name is Nastassia and I’m a hopelessly romantic aspiring writer and a big sister of three. I live in a not very romantic place, doing a pretty romanticized thing, but that’s not what this is about. This is an outpouring of thoughts – a public journal, so to speak. I decided to start this blog because I thought maybe something I say will be something someone out there needs to hear.

One day in the far off future I may use this very blog to discuss my retreat center I plan to start after college – but that’s another post for another day.

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Couple of questions you might have right off the bat –

a. Why start a blog?

Just for fun! I’ve always wanted to but lacked the inspiration, but now I have it (her name is Ruby).

b. What’s with the title?

I love Shakespeare – ya know, “A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.” (From Romeo and Juliet)? Anyway, to me this blog post is a sort of rose in the garden of blogs on the world wide web, just has a bit of a different name to it – but hopefully, it still smells sweet.

c. What does the title of this post even mean?

Ah, yes, well there are a couple of meanings to this title. One, my dad would say this is a very American or very millennial thing to do – start a blog just for fun. Of course, it’s all in good fun. The other reason is… Hamilton. That’s it.

d. What’s your ‘mission’?

Mhm, saw that one coming (…probably ‘cause I asked it). My mission is to finish High School, graduate college with a Counseling Masters, and open a retreat center for Third Culture families to rest, relax, and debrief before heading back to their host country. My heart is with those families because I know exactly how they feel and I know how hard it is for my family. I want to be a little breath of relief for families like mine who think they might explode. We all have those days (heck, I have those weeks!).

Hopefully, that cleared some things up for you.  ^-^

And now, I’m going to correct some common misconceptions about yours truly:

1.) “Oh my gosh, you’re so calm and have everything under control all the time.”

Yeah…no. I don’t think anyone really has everything under control all the time. (Do they??) I know I certainly don’t. In fact, I feel pretty out of control pretty often, which is a scary feeling, but one I’ve kinda gotten used to since moving across the big blue wet thing.

2.) “Wow! You’re learning a second language. You must be super smart.”

Huh. You know, whoever thinks this should talk to my math grade, cause… Just because I’m learning a new language doesn’t mean I don’t spend every taxi ride home from talking to people going “oh crap… coulda said that better” and “nope, wrong word” and “well, now I can never show my face in town again. Time to dye the hair and start makeup.”

3.) “You have three little brothers and two of them have special needs. Wow, you’re an amazing sibling.”

Yeah, well, in my opinion, any siblings out there who are doing their best to connect with their brothers and sisters and lead them down the right path by example is a great sibling. I don’t do anything special – in fact, a lot of times I do some really un-special things. My brothers will tell you how far from perfect I am – so I encourage you to not ask them under any circumstance. Just kidding! But for real, I’m a super messed up person, just like everyone else. I struggle with being a big sister – but that’s another blog post too.

4.) “You work at an orphanage. You must be super holy and stuff.”

Ha, no. I’m Calvinist, my dude. I believe in total depravity. That means I’m a mess completely undeserving of grace and totally deserving of Hell. That sounds super depressing and sad – but this is where it gets good! I also believe in Irresistible Grace. Because God chose me I’m on my way to sanctification and Heaven. Just because He loves me and His grace is unexplainably awesome He picked me to be His daughter. So, while I am definitely, in no way, shape, or form ‘super holy,’ I know there is grace and love. I struggle with my faith, I struggle trusting God that He will take care of life’s crap – but He always does and I’m constantly being drawn back to Him. My life is messy, my faith is a work in progress – but I’m trying and I know He’s not done with me yet.

5.) “Oh you’re good with animals! Can you train my dog/horse/bird/fish?”

Nope.

And now you know just a little bit more about me and hopefully have a pretty good idea of what will go into this blog.

I’m really excited to start this and hopefully inspire others to do the same just as I was inspired. My greatest hope is that this blog will give people a chance to connect with me and my future ministry, as well as show other big sisters, TCKs, adoptive siblings, writers, and just other girls who feel like the world is crashing in that there’s hope and there’s a silver lining.

Find that lining and grab it. Some days I’m still working on finding mine, but whenever I catch a glimpse I /run/ because I know what I want and Lord willing, I’m going to get it.

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you back next post!

~ Nastassia