About

The person writing your letter

I'm Vanessa Embling. Photographer, endless wanderer, and the person sitting down every month to write to you from a lake in northern Wisconsin.

My life is far from perfect. There is struggle here, and hard things, and seasons that sometimes ask more of me than I feel ready to give. But through it all, I've been learning to find beauty, gratitude, and God's faithfulness. That practice has changed me, slowly and genuinely. And I think it might resonate with you too.

Because if you're here, maybe you're a little tired. Tired of the noise and the scroll and the pace of everything. Maybe you're craving something that actually feels like a breath of fresh air. Something slow and real and personal, that arrives in your hands instead of your inbox.

I've been a photographer for 20 years, spent time doing humanitarian work in Honduras and Bolivia, built a business in Boston, and chased a lot of big dreams all around the world. Six years ago I moved to a lake in northern Wisconsin, a place I'd been visiting my whole life, and something in me exhaled. Being outside more, slowing down, paying attention to what's right in front of me, seeing God in nature, all of it has been so quietly healing. I'm still figuring things out. But I'm more rooted than I've ever been.  And every month I want to bring a little of that beauty and stillness to you.

Some months I'll write about an adventure, or something I'm learning, or a quiet reflection, or something I noticed on the trail that stopped me in my tracks. The hard and the beautiful together. I believe we can all do hard things. And if you look for ways to be amazed, you will find them. Every month I'll send you a little proof that's true.

So pull up a chair. Make yourself something warm to drink. Come sit with me for a bit. You deserve a few minutes of quiet and stillness.