About Me and a Little Glimpse into the Story of Honey Bee Mine.

Hey there! My name is Caitlin. I am a wife and mama to a beautiful little boy and some pretty spoiled animals.

Some of my favorite things to do are spending time in nature with my
family, hanging out at our local thrift shops, taking pictures, playing
guitar, and, of course, creating art.

I have always loved art. As a child, I would write short stories and
draw pictures to go along with them. If you asked me at any time what I
wanted to be when I grew up, it was "an artist."

When I was 18 and getting ready to enter college, I changed my degree
from art to business because, realistically, being an artist seemed like
just a dream. I didn't think it was something I would ever be able to
do professionally; it would just always be a hobby.

The reason for changing my degree to business was that it was more
generic. I knew I'd be able to apply what I learned to many life
scenarios. I did always want to own my own business, but again, that
just seemed like an out-of-reach dream.

That being said, being an artist and business owner stayed in my back
pocket, in the back of my mind, for years. I never revisited those
dreams until 2018, after I got married and shortly thereafter had my
son.

At the time, I worked a great, stable-paying job, but I took a huge leap
and decided to quit so I could stay home and raise my son. I always
thank my husband because, truly, what came next in life could not have
happened easily without him supporting the family while I figured things
out.

When my son was a few months old, I decided that I no longer wanted to
just not work. I wanted to help support the family too.

I quickly made the decision to start reselling thrifted items on
Facebook Marketplace and Instagram. I came up with the business name
“Bee Mine Thrifts,” and eventually, that name changed to “Honey Bee
Mine.”

MY FAITH JOURNEY.

During the time I was reselling, I found out that one of my favorite
country music artist's sons, 3-year-old River Smith, had drowned in an
at-home swimming pool accident. This hit me as a new mom.

I think it's normal when someone we do not know passes away to feel sad
but to eventually go about our day-to-day life again. This was
different, though. Once I heard what happened, I for the first time went
to the Smiths' YouTube channel and watched a couple of their videos,
and my heart broke. I felt a "pull" to stay around. It's weird to say,
but there was something about River. So I continued to stay up to date
and just wanted to make sure they were doing okay during this tragedy.

At the time, while everything was happening with the Smiths and while I
was staying up to date listening to their story and reading their posts,
we were also going through our own things at home.

My son was about a year old, and I was struggling with the remnants of
postpartum depression and having a hard time "finding myself" again. I
was using self-care and meditation books; I sold my then car and bought a
new sporty Eclipse, which brought me temporary happiness. I was
searching and looking for peace and joy in all of the wrong places.

Around the same time, we were also trying to purchase a home. We were in
an apartment at the time, and we wanted to raise our son somewhere with a yard, a place he could have room to play, and somewhere we could decorate and make our own.

The buying process was not easy. We were hitting roadblock after
roadblock, and eventually I said, "If we can't have that house, we are
not moving." We had looked at so many, and I had fallen in love. I
wasn't willing to look anymore if it fell through, and I felt depressed
at the thought.

One night while I was taking a shower, frustrated, feeling a bit lost,
and not knowing where to turn, I said a prayer and asked God for a sign.
I needed something. I wanted to know if He was there.

I grew up going to church but soon strayed away. If you asked me what I
believed in, I would say "God" or "That I had an open mind". I knew of
God and what He did, but I never KNEW Him. I never felt a relationship.


In the shower, I asked if He would show me a cardinal, then stopped and
thought, "No, not a cardinal because I know I'll dismiss it," then asked
to see a hummingbird because I don't believe I'd seen any hummingbirds
outside that year, so I for sure would not dismiss that.

The next morning, or the morning after that, as soon as I woke up and
looked outside, I swore I saw a cardinal, but it had quickly taken off. I
thought back to the prayer and dismissed it as I knew I would. "It
probably wasn't a cardinal, I see cardinals all the time, so thats just a
coincidence." We went about our day as usual. We later went to a thrift
store when a sweater with a cardinal on it jumped out at me. I
remembered the prayer again and thought I was thinking too far into it. I
dismissed it.

My memory is a bit fuzzy with this being 6 years ago now, in 2019, but
if I remember correctly, either the day after I saw the cardinal or a
couple of days after that (it was within days of each other), I was
lying on my bed, opened my phone, and went to Facebook. The first post I
saw when opening Facebook was a BEAUTIFUL up-close colorful photo of a
hummingbird, and at the top of the post, it said "recommended for you."

I thought back to the prayer, and my heart skipped a beat. It felt like
my heart dropped into my stomach, actually. I wish I would have
screenshotted that photo. I remember looking at the page of who had
posted the photo, and I had never seen it before. I wasn't sure why I
had been "recommended" that photo other than it being recommended to me
by God.

I remember thinking, "Alright, God, I am listening."

Fast forward, we DID end up purchasing the house. Praise God, but I have
to really quickly mention this because I was blown away. I can't
remember if we were moving in or what we were doing, but in the process
of purchasing the house, one day we were inside walking around when we
stepped into the laundry room… guess what was there. Sitting on one of
the shelves, the prior owners had left something… a little trinket
plastic birdcage with a red cardinal sitting inside of it. I think I
still have that somewhere. I thought back to the prayer.

Keep in mind while all of this is going on, I am also still following
along with the Smiths. Not a lot was being talked about at this time,
but they continued to update their followers with how they were doing on
their social media and YouTube.

I remember when we purchased the house, one of the first things I wanted
to do was put in an in-ground pool. I had the money; all I needed to do
was find someone to do the work, and we started actively looking.

While actively looking and making the plans to install a pool, I am
continuing to watch the Smiths.

The Smiths at some point (I don't have exact dates, I'm sorry) ended up
talking more about what happened to River and water safety. I was
learning how dangerous and deadly water is if you do not know how to
swim, how drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1-4,
and how you need multiple layers of protection when there is water
around. A simple gate or supervision isn't enough.

After learning more... water eventually started to make me sick to my
stomach. My son was just around age 2. We decided not to install a pool.

Looking back now, if we would have installed that pool, I'm not sure
what would have happened. As time went on and our son got older, We
REGULARLY asked each other or other family members, "Where is Brantley?"
He was always on the move, and all it took was a second of looking away
or getting lost in a conversation with someone before he was gone and
running off to somewhere.

One day when talking with my mom outside, just lost in our conversation,
I paused, asked where Brantley was, and he was on his way to our
backyard… it was seconds.

I followed the Smiths' journey through absolute tragedy, heartbreak, and
the unknown, to then choosing to see the light and trusting God through
it all.

With everything that had happened in my own life, coupled with watching
the Smiths, I was unknowingly and unintentionally learning more, and
growing closer to God myself. I never followed their story because I
wanted to grow my faith, but God used their story to do just that. He
had made His way into my heart, and I felt the transformation taking
place.

Soon, I began to see God in everything. I looked at things differently,
felt things deeper, I was seeing connections being made. When looking
back on my past, I now saw that certain events that happened, happened
for a reason, and that they were meant for good.

I wanted to get to know Him more. For the first time ever, I felt a true
relationship with Jesus.

MY FIRST CONVICTION

A couple of years into reselling thrifted items, I ran into my first
conviction and started to feel terrible. I felt like what I was doing
wasn't really helping anyone. I wasn't making any kind of impact; it was
all just for quick money, and that's not what I wanted. But I also have
a passion for business and didn’t want to give it up, so I rebranded
completely.

After rebranding a couple of times, trying to figure out what I wanted
to do and what felt right, I was led to Christian apparel. I felt good
putting my Christian designs on clothing, and I was excited to share it
with the world.

MY SECOND CONVICTION.

I sold Christian apparel for a couple of years as well and soon started
to feel conviction over this too, which truly confused me. I felt
frustrated, but I knew why. It was because, again, of money. I began to
focus too much on money.

Keeping inventory on hand and buying the supplies needed slowly but
surely ran me into debt, and I was starting to panic. Eventually, I
became too worried about making my credit card payment instead of
worrying about sharing the Word of Jesus. So I sadly put that chapter
behind me and trusted that God had other, better plans for me.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

This all leads up to where I am today.

I took a step back from apparel, did lots of praying, and came to the
conclusion that I needed to go back to the roots of the business, the
roots of my childhood, what I always wanted to do, and the reason I
started the Christian clothing business “Honey Bee Mine.”

Jesus and art.

Hand-drawn, painted art. Just me, my paintbrush, and Jesus, letting my
ideas flow from Him, through me, out on paper. Taking my time, praying
that through my hands God reaches others, and putting my main focus on
the message rather than profit.

I still don't know what the future holds, where I am headed, and the
plans God has for me, but I do know that His plans are always better. I
am choosing to enjoy the ride, trust Him, and pray that He uses me to
share His Word and His light.

I am grateful.

Thank you, God, for working in my life as you have. For giving me the
gift of creativity and planting a dream in my heart, for holding my hand
through all of the hardships I endured before I even knew you as I do
now, for working through other people, for turning tragedy into beauty,
for your patience, grace, and unconditional love. Thank you for never
giving up and for meeting me where I was. Your plans are perfect, and
Your timing is perfect, even when I don’t understand. All praise and
glory go to you, my Lord and creator of all. Thank you. Amen.

And to those taking the time to read, thank you for all of the support and being here on this journey with us.

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.