I’ve been working with Beaming since March of this year, and I couldn’t have asked for a better fit. I get to write about autism (something dear to me because my son is autistic), and I get to help other autism families in the process. We’re adding valuable resources to the internet and creating comprehensive guides to help autism families navigate tough stuff.
Below you’ll find all the articles I’ve written for Beaming to date. I’ve contributed to others by providing feedback, but these are just the ones I wrote. Our team is very collaborative, so know that my words have gotten plenty of help from experts and the Beaming team!
This afternoon The Boy™️ and I had a picnic on the entertainment center.
No, literally. Like, we sat *on top* of the furniture and peacefully ate our lunch while watching the outside goingsons out the big window.
At one point, the wind began gently blowing the trees back and forth. It made the limbs and the shriveled up brown leaves, (who evidently did not get the memo to fall in Autumn) hanging on for dear life to the branches, dance.
He got very excited and pointed out the window, saying “Look! Look!”
I said, “What, bubba? What do you see?”
He continued pointing excitedly. Um….there was nobody outside? What was he seeing that I wasn’t?
He waved his chunky little hand and said, “Hi.”
That’s when it hit me:
He thought the tree was waving at him. He was politely greeting her back. He didn’t want to be rude.
Oh, to see with the fresh eyes of a child.
Child-like wonder. It’s something adults don’t often experience.
Somewhere along the line, the world tells us we’re supposed to grow up, be serious, and get our heads out of the clouds.
But I believe the clouds are exactly where our heads should be.
What if the rut you’re in is because of your dusty vision?
Because you’ve begun to see the extraordinary as commonplace and the miraculous as ordinary.
When’s the last time you stopped to smell the roses? Or had a conversation with a bee? How often do you check in with the blue jays, just to see?
How often do you rhyme? Or confuse colors with the time? Unawares trees have waved at you, and flowers called you “mine!”
It’s time for a change. I say no more, friends.
No more beige walls. No more dinners in front of the TV, forgetting how to even taste or experience food. No more walks in the park with your head buried in the blue light bosom of your smartphone. No more double-tapping pictures of stars on Instagram — actually *looking* at actual stars with your actual eyes. No more FaceTime. Just…face…time. (Time with people’s faces.) No more being unaware and ignorant to the life teeming around us.
Obstupefacti.
Semper teneri.
We need to learn how to wonder again.
Because when a tree introduces itself, it’s rude to not wave back. 🌳
Obstupefacti. (Stay awestruck.)
Semper teneri. (Always fascinated.)
Semper tremendum. (Always in awe.)
I’m considering a line of merch based on these wicked cool Latin phrases, so get at me if you’re interested lol.
Despite what the romcoms on TV, the diabolical evil geniuses behind Big Sugar™️, and the bigwigs over at Build-A-Bear have told you, Valentine’s Day is not aaaaaactually about romance (I said that in a French accent, btw).
*Saint* Valentine’s Day commemorates the life of a 3rd-century Roman Christian.
You see, the Roman Emporer believed unmarried men made better soldiers, so he issued an edict prohibiting marriages. In response to this, St. Valentine bravely continued to perform underground weddings, at the risk of his life, for Christians (and possibly others), which angered the Emporer and frustrated his plans to send dudes off to war.
In addition, St. Valentine was known for miraculously healing people with epilepsy, blindness, and more.
He was jailed for defying the anti-marriage ordinance, and while imprisoned he befriended the JAILER’S DAUGHTER, Julia, who was blind.
Naturally, St. Valentine prayed for Julia’s sight to be restored. It was. She was miraculously, totally healed.
It is rumored that before his execution, Valentine sent Julia a note signed, “Your Valentine”. (Beginning the long tradition of sending notes to people we love on Valentine’s Day).
According to Shane Claiborne, author and activist, “Valentine was beaten with stones, clubbed, and, finally, beheaded on February 14, 269.”
Valentine’s life was less an example of romantic love with flowers and chocolates and festive undies, as it was a call to loving our enemies, standing up for what we believe in, and giving yourself for a cause greater than yourself.
According to Claiborne, who is also one of the authors behind the Common Book of Prayer, St. Valentine was relentless in his devotion to his faith and his comrades.
St. Valentine passionately fulfilled the command of Jesus to “love [our] enemies, and pray for those that despitefully use [us]”.
So often we point to shiny, glittery things and say “this is love”. But in real life, love often looks much different than it is portrayed.
In reality, love is often a bloody, sweaty, gritty, exhausting mess. It isn’t always pretty, it isn’t always pleasant.
It’s sacrificial. It’s eternal. It goes beyond mood or feeling — it’s a choice.
It’s a sippy cup full of milk at 2am when you can’t keep your eyes open. It’s fixing your partner’s plate before your own, even though you got into a fight earlier.
It’s being kind to those who are rude to you. It’s answering with a soft tone when someone has spoken to you harshly. It’s sharing your lunch with that coworker you despise.
This is real love. This is the message of St. Valentine’s Day.
So, if you want to *properly* celebrate V-Day this year, try doing something nice for someone you don’t like…because real love doesn’t fit in a heart-shaped box; it extends itself and reaches even those who don’t deserve it.
“The world takes us to a silver screen on which flickering images of passion and romance play and as we watch, the world says ‘This is love.’ God takes us to the foot of a tree on which a naked and bloodied man hangs and says, ‘This is love’.”
“I feel as one who has inadvertently stumbled upon a private moment between lovers. Perhaps, I muse, that is some of what art is meant to be? Why not? It already is a language of love between God and me. Now it appears to be even more than that, spilling outward and touching another life and heart.”
Sara Joseph | Gently Awakened
In her incredibly moving and insightful book, Gently Awakened: The Influence of Faith on Your Artistic Journey, Sara Joseph masterfully explains the relationship between God, art, and self.
Tonight as I was reading, this passage stood out to me (condensed for LI):
“My art is not for all, but for specific others. They almost seem to be predestined to be drawn to a specific work. The urge to have another enjoy [my work] as much as I do is not as pressing as it once used to be.
It is His business what is done with the work upon its completion.
Another casualty in this slow stripping away of all that once consumed and stifled me is the desire for the praise or approval of others. Instead, I participate in many more moments of His love, sacred and holy.”
So many of us (myself included) are guilty of creating with the intent to share. The intent to have our work admired, widely read, distributed, talked about, and adored.
We obsess over every jot and tittle of our prose, every line and brushstroke, every 1 or 0 in a piece of code, hoping that someday, we will make it “big”.
(Not you? Okay, quit reading.)
We so desperately want our work to be loved. *We* want to be loved *through* our work. We check our social media stats, read articles on how to become ‘successful’ (whatever that means)…we toil & fret, for what?
This perspective has rattled me. I do not need to write for everyone. I need only write for the *right* one!
I may never be published in a major publication, never go viral, shoot, I may never even pass 200 Instagram followers. But by golly, I’m going to keep going.
Why?
Because somewhere, I have an audience of one.
I will create in such a way that I will touch the right person’s life. I don’t need to touch thousands of people’s lives. Just one. The right one.
A favorite tale of mine is about a missionary who started a church in a foreign land. The congregation was small, sometimes only consisting of one man.
The missionary prayed, he wept…why could he not grow his tiny congregation? What was he doing wrong? He was sorely discouraged. Yet still, the young man who frequented his church kept coming, kept listening, kept absorbing the missionary’s teachings like a sponge.
Eventually, the missionary became severely depressed, and sadly, took his own life.
After his death, that young man who faithfully attended the missionary’s church became the *pastor* of that church; a church that grew, and grew, and grew to a congregation of THOUSANDS.
Never underestimate creating for an audience of one. You never know how your work will change the life of another.
If you liked this post, consider giving Sara’s book a read. It’s been invaluable and transformative for me, as I know it will be for you. I don’t get paid anything for sharing this link with you, I just want you to benefit as I have.
when I was a little girl, I wanted to become a fashion designer.
I’d spend hours drawing wedding dresses, homeless shelters (I also very much wanted to open a homeless shelter!) and whatever ridiculous outfits my adolescent imagination could come up with.
when I came to know Christ, I felt immense guilt (which I later realized doesn’t come from God anyway) about my chosen career path. I’d filled out applications to get into art school, but suddenly making pretty dresses didn’t seem so important, once held up to the mirror of eternal salvation.
I struggled with what career path to choose for a long time after that. I struggled with acknowledging both the creative and scientific side of me; the dreamer, the optimist, the Believer — and the shrewd, curious, Devil’s advocate (pardon the expression). When I was 25 I finally decided to give in and settled on psychology as a profession.
but that doesn’t mean I give up on utilizing the talents God gave me for writing, design, art, fashion, and just in general awesomeness.
over the years I’ve made many forays into creative endeavours; some mildly successful, some successful only to me. one such adventure is a modest fashion blog I started called modmodest.
I had big dreams and a long-term plan to eventually launch modmodest as a full-fledged boutique brand with original designs and a curated collection of modest clothing from designers all over the world, plus fashion articles, interviews with designers and so much more.
that still may happen, but for now, modmodest is a very neglected blog, and a very active Facebook page on which I share some of my favorite modest outfits and boutiques.
the Facebook page is very lonely nowadays, as I suppose most of the fashion content has fallen to Instagram… (I refuse to maintain another account. I’m already pulling my hair managing personal and professional accounts. I can’t. send help.) but I do post outfits on modmodest‘s Facebook page several times a week. if you’re into modest fashion, come give us a ‘like’. (https://www.facebook.com/modmodestco)
but back to the main purpose of this post, the actual blog for modmodest which contains a few articles I wrote regarding modesty and modest fashion.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever begin writing there again, but I do think the blog shows a bit of my content writing skills, especially within the fashion and beauty space. keep in mind, though, this *was* several years ago. like fashion, I’ve evolved since then.
at some point, I will begin reposting the articles here, but in the meantime, you can read ’till your heart’s content over at http://modmodest.jimdo.com/
hopefully someday very soon, modmodest will no longer be one foot in the project graveyard. but today, she’s strugglin’ ya’ll.
psssssst. if you enjoy modest fashion and would like to contribute content to modmodest in the form of articles, #OOTD, reviews, (or whatever else you can dream up), please reach out to me! I’d love to connect.
P.S.: lemme just tell ya, transferring over ten years’ worth of writing from the north, south, east, and western corners of the internet and compiling it all in one place is a headache and a half. 0/10 do not recommend!
Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace is an inspiring, heart-wrenching tale that is sure to become a new Christmas classic.
– Jeryn Cambrah for Dove.org
I’ve reviewed a lot of films for Dove.org (formerly The Dove Foundation), a Christian organization that aims to provide people with movie (and other content) reviews from a faith worldview, so we can make informed decisions about what we consume. I can’t possibly begin to share all of them, but since it’s nearly Christmas, I thought I’d share a selection of film reviews fitting with the holiday theme!
There are some films that stick with you, so when I saw that one of those films, Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace, was coming to Pure Flix, it was kismet! This film is the perfect place to start our little holiday movie review journey.
In a stellar debut performance, young Scarlett Diamond manages to captivate the screen and steal the hearts of viewers as Lucy Shimmers; a precocious, kind-hearted 5-year-old with strong faith in Jesus, and a desire to do His work. Operating based on a dream the Lord gave her, and the advice from her deceased-turned-angel Grandpa Jackson (Shawn Stevens), Lucy feverishly works on a book she entitles Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace, featuring a character she calls “the sad man.” When Lucy suddenly becomes ill and winds up in the hospital, she sets about her work of spreading the love of Jesus to everyone — including “the sad man,” a stubborn prisoner with kidney failure named Edgar (Vincent Vargas).
The unlikely friendship between Lucy and Edgar transforms his life. As things begin to turn around for him, sadly, things fall apart for Lucy. Touching the hearts of everyone she meets, and remaining a strong witness for Christ even during her illness, Lucy is a prime example of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “a child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). Lucy’s resolute, child-like faith teaches the adults around her to know Christ in a deeper, more meaningful way than ever before. Perhaps the most powerful lesson Lucy teaches is in a scene of conversation with her father, James (Adam Hightower), in which she questions “if Jesus can love him, why can’t we?” Her innocent and bold question raises one for believers everywhere: If Christ is not selective in who he loves, why are we?
Now, I’m going to warn you … Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace is an absolute tear-jerker. I mean full on baby sobs. The production quality and writing are excellent, and the performances by Diamond, Stevens, and Vargas stand out as especially memorable. There are some flaws with the film’s theology, what with the grandpas-turning-into-an-angel angle, but the trope serves as a great base for events in the story and moving the plot along. Watching the relationship between Grandpa Jackson and Lucy is very touching, and at least the filmmakers got one bit right: angels do minister strength to believers (Hebrews 1:4). Overall, Lucy’s character is a powerful example for children and adults alike; God can use anyone, anywhere, for any work … we simply have to have faith and obey.
There are some heavily emotional scenes, especially a really heavy death scene toward the end of the film, which could be disturbing for some younger viewers. The film has plenty of positive character arcs, great examples of integrity (supporting family, parents who train their child up in the faith, etc.) and is sure to be a new Christmas classic in many households.
For all these reasons and more, we award Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace the Dove Seal of Approval for All Ages.
I still eat regular cheese, but I have eschewed milk and ice cream, and other milk-related products.
which, for me, as a sugar addict and self-proclaimed ‘ultimate sweet tooth’, has been an adjustment.
I’ve been trying every sweet, dairy-free treat I can get my hands on. and lemme tell you what, I don’t miss milk at all.
I’ve rounded up a few moo-less milky delights to share with you, so that you can partake in dairy-free ecstasy, too.
these are the best of the best.
the A-team of dairy-free sweet thangs.
enjoy!
No. 1 | Chloe’s Oatmilk Salted Caramel Pops
image courtesy of Instacart
these heavenly bars of deliciousness will make you say, “wait, what’s ice cream, again?”
seriously, they’re that good.
the sweet, hearty flavor of the oatmilk combines with the rich caramel to create a unique and satisfying experience.
what’s more satisfying than the taste is the TEXTURE.
I’m a huge picky eater, mkay. like, pickier than your toddler. (or my toddler). so, when I say that this is one of the best textures ever to dance across the doorstep of my tooth-cave, I’m not fibbing.
it’s best to let these sit out for a moment before consuming, (or you can just demolish it immediately like I do…) but oh boy, once you do…get ready for your mind to be blown. it’s a far different texture than that of ice cream or even a traditional pop. but it’s thick, luscious, and well, you’re just gonna have to try it and see what I mean.
No. 2 | Blue Diamond AlmondBreeze Chocolate Milk (sweetened)
image is courtesy of moi
this chocolate milk is the best I’ve ever had.
hands down, no contest. and that *includes* regular chocolate milk. in fact, don’t tell the cows, but it’s better than any dairy-full milk I’ve ever tasted.
on my hunt for good-tasting non-dairy milks, I’ve tried a couple. I found Silk to be too bitter, but Almond Breeze’s choco milk is smooth, rich, decadent, and extremely chocolatey.
I choose to drink mine out of a vintage chalice I found at a local thrift store, but I suppose you could just use a regular cup. (you won’t feel like a princess, tho, cause you’ve got to have the pink sherry glass from Goodwill for that.)
it’s also great for freezing into pops or cubes for smoothies and a variety of smooth, chocolatey delectables. there’s a whole chocolate-almond-milk world for you to explore.
No. 3 | SO Delicious Dipped Salted Caramel Cashew Bars
image courtesy of Instacart
it’s like being a kid at the ice cream truck again, except you are no longer young, everything is more expensive, and cashewmilk has made your life 3x (rough estimate) better.
these delightful bars taste very similar to my next pick, SO Delicious Salted Caramel Cluster Cashewmilk Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert. only difference is, these bars don’t contain any *whole* nuts.
if you like Magnum ice cream bars, but you’re looking for a dairy-free option, these guys are your pick.
smooth, creamy center with a naturally nutty and rich flavor (thanks to the cashewmilk). cashewmilk also gives the center its thicc, delightful texture. coat that bad boy in some luxurious, velvety chocolate and you’ve got yourself a decadent dessert perfect for watching rom-coms and pretending you’re the protag. (don’t act like you’ve never done it).
and hey, if caramel isn’t your thing, SO Delicious also has a mocha fudge option. which, I mean. IT’S MOCHA FUDGE. mocha fudge is never wrong.
this is the best non-dairy ice cream in existence. there. I said it. (sorry, Ben. and Jerry.)
I have searched high and low for a good non-dairy ice cream, and I’ve been strung along by brands that promise a creamy, ice-cream like experience, but only offer me a broken heart and a crystallized, icy, mess.
following Elsa’s lead, I let it go and forged on.
that’s when I discovered SO Delicious, and a gateway opened. the genius behind this particular flavor and brand, is that cashewmilk lends itself so naturally to frozen dairy treats. it’s got the body, the taste, and the stamina to accept loads of flavor combinations. he just sits there, patiently, in your freezer, not growing one ice crystal. strong, flavorful, sweet, and spoonable…if this ice cream were human, he’d be the perfect boyfriend.
disclaimer here, i really, really wanted the best dairy-free ice cream crown to go to Ben & Jerry’s; a. because they’re my favorite brand of ice cream, ever, (for many reasons) and b. because they have such an amazing assortment of flavors.
but I’ve noticed that when it comes to moo-free treats, you often have to sacrifice the goodies, like toppings, sauces, multi-flavor combos, etc. in order to have a great base flavor.
that’s not the case with SO Delicious. the base for this flavor is SO good, you could eat it by itself, but you don’t have to. they’ve thrown crunchy cashews in with real ribbons of caramel, and little shaves of chocolate. if I sound like a snake-oil salesman right now, it’s because I really am selling you a cure.
it’s the cure for a bad date, the cure for lackluster non-dairy ice cream, and the cure for a hard day at the office (or at home, if you’re working remotely).
seriously, it’s the best non-dairy ice cream I’ve found, and you should try it…if for no other reason than as a foolish attempt to prove me wrong.
jeryn cambrah 