Trees of Transition

Comfort for people going through life transitions by sharing thoughts, photos, cards, and recipes.

Category Archives: Beginnings


by Leave a comment

Living in a Staged 🏡 House

Have you wanted to live in one of those houses that look perfect, like in Fixer Upper or another decorating show? Well, I thought it would be interesting, but I didn’t think it would happen.

Enter: New job, moving to a new state, selling our house, SO in order to help our house sell, our realtor introduced us to a stager that came in last Wednesday and made our house look like a model house! We saw how it looked, and then took off to our new home for a few days. Seeing our home so clean and pretty brought a peace to my mind that I had not had for a while.

Now, how is it living in this beautiful home? Well, it is harder than it looks! Since our house is on the market, we have to make sure everything is all in its exact place that the stager placed it when we leave. It is like living in a hotel. I’m enjoying how beautiful the pillows look on the bed, but it holds me back from just flopping on the bed to rest…it is harder to just live in.

I’m thankful for this experience and that it will help our house sell. I’m thankful we only have to live in this kind of house for a few days and then we can get back to living in a not perfect place.

~Mary Hope

Copyright 2018

P.S. Thank you for stopping by! I insert affiliate links, such as  Amazon, into my posts to share interesting books and products. If you buy something or start a registry, I receive income (at no extra cost to you!), for which I am thankful. So….

— Use this link to shop on  Amazon

–shop at my Etsy photo card/notecard/art shop: Trees of Transition Art & Design

–keep on reading this blog.

Thank you again, and peace to you and your family!

~Mary Hope


by 2 Comments

We are Moving to the Twin Cities!

A year ago my husband and I prayed that if God wanted us to move to Minnesota, He would open the doors very clearly and help Stephen get a job easily. A few weeks later in 2017 we found out we were pregnant, so my response was, “We are NOT moving! I have nesting to do…” I thought God didn’t answer that prayer or just said, “No.”… Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

Napa Flowers and Fields

Here’s a few Napa images for you! This morning at a Mom’s gathering, a potted one of these flowers was sitting on the table. Memories of these photos slid through my mind, but I couldn’t remember where I had taken the photos until I saw them here! Continue reading →


by 3 Comments

Our 50-Hour Birth Story /// The Bradley Method Works

The transition from having a baby inside your belly to having a baby on top of your belly is an amazing and exhausting experience. My mom had four natural births, and I grew up on a farm around sheep giving birth to lambs every spring, so I assumed that I would do natural birth as well.

When I was six months pregnant, I came across more information about the Bradley method of natural childbirth (see more at: The Bradley Method Website), and my husband and I signed up for a class that ended on November 14. The empowerment I felt from learning how labor functions and how my body works during labor gave me strength to not hardly be afraid of the pain of giving birth to a child. Dr. Bradley believed that women can give birth naturally most of the time if they’re given support and good coaching; he designated the coach to be the baby’s father.

The Bradley Method gives you a lot more homework than most birthing classes. I had to watch my diet and eat lots of protein. I had to do daily exercises, such as Kegel exercises and pelvic rocks. My husband and I were supposed to practice relaxation techniques and labor rehearsals (these were harder to fit in because we were finishing up the floors in our home—going from old beige carpet to maple laminate floors; we did some almost every day.) We attended seven weeks of classes, up until our due date of November 7. Having to do all this homework gave me the mindset that I owned my birthing experience and could greatly influence it by my actions and attitudes instead of it being something done to me. Having to work together to prepare for the labor brought my husband and I closer together. We describe the labor as “our labor” not just “my labor.”

This was on Joel’s Due Date — November 7th — but he waited another week to show up. 🙂

Continue reading →