Ok… before you read Brett's newest letter about a prison rock garden that completely melted my heart 🥹💛

I wanted to share a few of my favorite lash and brow transformations from the past couple of weeks.

One of the things I love most about doing lashes and brows is getting to help women see their own beauty a little more clearly.

Sometimes the transformation is dramatic.

Sometimes it's subtle.

But every single time, I love watching someone look in the mirror and smile because they feel refreshed, confident, and a little more like themselves.

Honestly, that's one of the reasons Brett's newest letter touched me so deeply.

It's about a man named Smiley, a tiny prison rock garden, and the reminder that there is beauty in places most people would never think to look.

And if I'm being completely honest...

this little lash and brow business has become one of those unexpected places of beauty in my own story.

Every appointment, every referral, every encouraging message helps me provide for Cambria, Willow, Lula, and Zion while Brett is away.

I'm working incredibly hard to build my clientele and create stability for our family after a very long season of ups, downs, uncertainty, and stretching.

And I truly can't thank you enough for supporting me along the way.

So if you (or someone you know) has been thinking about a Korean Lash Lift, Lash Tint, Brow Lamination, or Brow Tint, I would absolutely LOVE to take care of you 🤍

And the best part?

I come to you 😉

📱 Text me at 714-210-9014 for pricing, availability, or questions.

And if you're currently walking through a difficult season of your own...

Please don't lose hope.

Sometimes God plants the most beautiful things in the most unexpected places.

Alright... enough about lashes and brows 💛

Go meet my new favorite prison landscaper, "Smiley," and check out his PERFECT prison rock garden.

I have a feeling you're going to love it just as much as I did. 🌱💛🪨

---

Smiley & The Rock Garden

Smiley: "Brett... did you see it???"

Me: "Yes Smiley... it's beautiful."

Smiley: "I knew you would love it, Brett. I just knew it. Make sure you look outside your cell window tomorrow morning because I'm going to add a few more rocks to our garden."

Me: "Sounds great, Smiley. I'm truly blessed to have you as my neighbor."

Smiley: "Brett... will you please tell your people about our rock garden???"

Me: "Of course I will, my friend."

Smiley: "I already know they're going to love it, Brett. I just know they're going to love it..."

Every morning, my neighbor Smiley arrives at his prison landscaping job a little earlier than everyone else.

Not because he's trying to impress the guards.
Not because he's trying to earn extra money.

But because he's on a mission.
A very important mission.

My toothless barbwire brother is searching for the perfect rock to add to our growing prison rock garden.

Around 2:30 every afternoon, as I'm walking back from my work assignment inside the prison hospital, Smiley is usually waiting for me with the biggest grin on his face.

Now when I say "big grin," please understand something...
the man only has two teeth left.

Yet somehow, his smile lights up our entire floor.

The second he spots me, he'll excitedly wave me over and begin describing the newest addition to our garden as if he's unveiling a priceless work of art.

"Brett... this one's PERFECT."

"You gotta see this one."

"I knew you'd love it."

And honestly...

I do.

For the record, only Smiley's slightly scratched prison window and my slightly stained prison window can actually see our "secret rock garden."

At the moment, it consists of five smooth black stones stacked on top of one another beside a prison sidewalk.

That's it.

No flowers.
No waterfall.
No fancy landscaping.

Just five simple rocks.

I'm sure if you stumbled across it in the "free world," you probably wouldn't think much of it.

BUT...

To me and Smiley...

this little rock garden represents something beautiful.

It represents friendship.
It represents hope.
It represents two fathers with complicated pasts refusing to believe their stories are over.

In a place where so much has been taken from us...
we're still building something beautiful.

Oooohhh man...

I wish all of you could see the smile that takes over Smiley's face every time he talks about our garden.

It's priceless.

My barbwire brother arrived on this concrete compound about six months after me, and we've been hanging out ever since.

Since our cells are right next to each other, we get to take our future superhero service dogs, Finn and Fergie, out for playdates before evening count.

Those puppy play dates have become some of my favorite moments in prison.

While our pups wrestle and chase one another around the yard, Smiley and I talk about what we love most...
our children.

My friend is a PROUD dad to two incredible young women whom he absolutely adores.

The joy in his voice when he talks about his girls is impossible to miss.

Our conversations about fatherhood are treasures I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.

BUT...

The Sinister Shadow of Shame always seems to find a way to sneak into even our most beautiful conversations.

You see...

Smiley consistently sinks into a suffocating level of shame because a few years back he lost his grip on the road to recovery and unfortunately found himself trapped in a devastating cycle of addiction once again.

What started as one poor decision turned into another.

Then another.
And another.

Before he knew it, the life he had worked so hard to rebuild was slipping through his fingers.

The Sinister Shadow of Shame loves stories like Smiley's because it constantly whispers the same soul-crushing lie into his ear:

"You'll never change."

"You'll always be defined by your worst decisions."

"Your daughters would be better off without you."

"You blew your second chance."

Then...

to support his spiraling addiction, Smiley sold a bag of drugs to an undercover federal agent and was eventually sentenced to 19 years behind razor-sharp barbed wire.

Nineteen years.

Just typing that number makes my stomach hurt.

The pain of the past sits incredibly heavy on my barbed wire brother's soul at times.

I can see it in his eyes.
I can hear it in his voice.

Some days, while we're standing on the prison yard watching Finn and Fergie wrestle around like two furry maniacs, Smiley will suddenly drift off into thought as he reflects on all the moments addiction stole from him.

The missed birthdays.
The missed holidays.
The missed opportunities to be the father he desperately wanted to be.

And honestly...

I consider it a tremendous privilege to sit in the messy mud of life with my dear friend on those hard and defeating days.

Because every single one of us needs someone willing to sit beside us when the Shadow of Shame comes calling.

To work through the pain and regret that comes with a complicated past, Smiley and I often soak in the grace and mercy that only Jesus Christ can offer two broken men like us.

During these sacred moments of beaten-down DAD bonding, I do my best to remind Smiley who he REALLY is in the eyes of his Father in Heaven.

He REALLY IS a man who wakes up every single day and works multiple backbreaking jobs inside the pit of prison so he can support himself without placing an additional burden on the people he loves.

He REALLY IS a tender and LOVING father who absolutely adores his daughters and talks about them with the biggest smile on his face.

He REALLY IS a man who EARNED his way into the highly coveted dog-training apprenticeship program and is already helping prepare his feisty future superhero service dog, Fergie Girl, for a life of service.

He REALLY IS a selfless friend who volunteers his free time pushing terminally ill prisoners around our concrete compound so they can feel the kiss of sunshine on their pale skin during their final days here on earth.

He REALLY IS a man whose heart is far bigger than his past.

YES...

my friend Smiley has an extremely complicated story filled with painful chapters and a long list of regrets.

BUT...

those regrets do not define him.

The blood of Jesus does.

And every day, little by little, grace is teaching my brother how to believe that truth for himself. He is truly one of the purest-hearted and most genuine human beings I've ever had the honor of meeting.

Yesterday, after a long day of work, Smiley tapped me on the shoulder and flashed his signature toothless smile.

"Brett... I found the perfect rock for our garden."

"I know you're going to love it."

"I just know it."

The following morning, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked out through my slightly stained prison window.

And there it was.

Sitting proudly at the very top of our growing prison rock garden.

The sixth stone.

The perfect stone.

A rock shaped like a PERFECT HEART.

I couldn't help but smile.

And immediately I heard Smiley's voice in my head.

"Brett... I knew you'd love it."

And standing there in my cement cell, staring at a heart-shaped rock placed there by a friend who refuses to stop believing in beauty...

I realized something.

Maybe our little prison rock garden isn't really made of stones.
Maybe it's made of friendship.
Maybe it's made of grace.
Maybe it's made of two fathers learning how to love themselves again.

Smiley...

you were right, my friend.

I DO ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!

LOVE... ALWAYS... WINS.

Sincerely,

Brett
(A prisoner who promised to tell his people about Smiley's PERFECT six-stone rock garden.) 

---

A Note From Noél

Smiley...

I wanted to personally thank you from the bottom of my hurting wife heart for sharing your PERFECT prison rock garden with all of us.

I don't think you realize how much your simple act of stacking a few smooth stones touched me.

What some people might see as "just a pile of rocks"...

I see as a beautiful reminder that friendship, hope, and love can still bloom in the most unexpected places.

We are truly blessed to be cheering you forward throughout your purpose-driven journey.

And honestly...

I'm so thankful my HUGE-HEARTED husband continues to show the world that there is always more to a person than the worst decisions of their life.

Because that's exactly what Jesus does for all of us.

He sees beyond our mistakes.
He sees beyond our shame.
He sees beyond the chapters we'd rather forget.
He sees the person He created us to be.

YES, I absolutely HATE the fact Brett is currently living behind razor-sharp barbed wire nearly 2,000 miles away from me, Cambria, Willow, Lula, and Zion.

I hate the distance.
I hate the missed moments.
I hate that our family is walking through this painful season.

BUT...

I'm also beyond grateful for the ways God has expanded my understanding of what REAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE actually looks like.

Now I'm watching Jesus love people through their lowest moments.

I'm watching Him sit with hurting fathers.
Broken sons.
Forgotten men.

And gently remind them who they REALLY ARE.

In a place built to punish a person for their past...

God is finding a way to smother our friend Smiley with His grace-filled LOVE.

YES, the devastating consequences of this dad's choices are real.

YES, the regrets are real.

YES, the pain is real.

BUT...

So is the warm and healing embrace of his Father in Heaven.

So is mercy.

So is grace.

And so is redemption.

"Lord Jesus, thank You for meeting Smiley in the messy mud of life and for LOVING this broken man back to his true self. Thank You for reminding him that he is more than his mistakes, more than his regrets, and more than his past. Continue to cover him with Your peace, Your mercy, and Your unconditional love."

Somehow...

someway...

my family's prison story continues to be a living, breathing testimony that:

LOVE... ALWAYS... WINS!!!

With so much love,

Noél
(A wife who is EXTREMELY PROUD to share Smiley's beautiful prison rock garden with the world.) 💛