I’m always amazed how good God is to me!

I have a spot in my living room which was sort of bare and I am always in need of yarn storage. A few months ago, I started to look for a dresser or a cabinet which would fit in the space but not cost me too much. And I didn’t have the time to rehab one so I was really hoping it would be black to match the shelves in our living room.

But I’ve not been successful to find one I can afford.  This morning I decided to look at FB Marketplace again and there was one exactly like I wanted! And, it was local! And, it was being sold by a friend from church!

I told Eric I wanted to buy it and I’d use the balance of my Christmas gift money to pay for it. It was a little bit more than I had available, but it was SUCH a good deal, I couldn’t let it go by! Then my friend gave me a friends and family discount and it was EXACTLY the amount I had available! (she didn’t know)

Jeremy helped me pick it up after work tonight.  It fit perfectly in the space and I quickly threw some decorations on it. This weekend when we decorate for Christmas I’m FINALLY going to have a spot for my Christmas Village! It has been YEARS since I’ve had room to display it!

Feeling blessed! Merry Christmas to me!!

Pardon, the dust! I’m going to be cleaning out this space and sharing about myself and my life in the coming days. You might find broken links (please let me know) and things might look strange from time to time.

I was thinking about how to (re)start and I thought “Well, how does one start any conversation, introduce yourself!” 

I started this blog back in December 2002.  At that time, I was mom to 4 very young boys – 7, 6, almost 2 and 7 mos old.  I was back living in Northern California after 13 years in Oregon and for the first time in over 13 years, we weren’t in ministry.  I had just ended my affiliation with a ministry I had created and poured all of my creativity into when I clearly heard the Lord telling me it was time for something new.  With an underemployed husband, homeschooling two of my boys, an active toddler and a newborn while living in my mom’s house, well, I didn’t really understand giving up the one thing I could count on to help me feel like I was making a difference. But it was one of the times I clearly heard from the Lord (but not the last) so I obeyed.  

In February of 2003, we lost Joshua. I was in shock for many years and turned to my blog/journal to share my heart in ways I couldn’t share verbally. I’ve always felt I could write my emotions so much better than try to find the words to verbalize my pain and emotions.  

At some point I learned how to knit and the therapy of knitting allowed to process more emotions and gave me so much peace.  At times I tried to keep my emotional side, my spiritual side and my crafty side separate but then I’d realize I was all of those things and needed to be myself here and not worry about keeping up with other bloggers.  

But then a few things all came together to make me quit writing. (1) Social media really took off.  I was interacting with friends/family on Twitter and Facebook and it was all fun. When I discovered Instagram, my blog really suffered!  Why write about what was happening when I could choose a couple of images and show what we did. It wasn’t the same. But then (2) we entered the teenage years. The things I was struggling with weren’t just my stories so I didn’t feel I could share them and some of them were big, scary things.  I threw myself into learning how to survive the day, what FASD means and how to help my family understand what was happening.  

NOW, I’m a wife (35 years), Mom to James (27), Jeremy (26), Jason (almost 22), Joshua and Christa (15). I’m a follower of Christ and a crafter as I have time. I’ve been blessed to work outside the home for the last 7 years – so blessed by and love this job! Eric is still teaching and for the past few years he’s been preaching biweekly at the small countryside church we’ve been attending. We love that little church and it’s people so much and feel so much healing ministering out there. Even I am sharing some of my skills again – I edit and upload the church videos weekly. 

For the past year I’ve been involved in an online coaching program called Life Mentoring School (https://lifementoringschool.com/) which has allowed me to work on parts of my life in monthly chunks – setting goals, challenging mindsets and stretching me to think differently. I’m sure I’ll share more about that as we go along. 

I’m not sure where we will go but I would love to have you join me on this journey! I’m also looking for other journalers – so if you have a blog or are aware of one I might enjoy, please let me know in the comments so I can come visit you! 

I know…that’s so 2002 but I miss the daily catch up with my brain. And I said I’d use paper journal, but I didn’t. And I’m still paying for it! Lol Instagram and Facebook really made me feel a blog was unnecessary but they are both surface level and I miss going deeper sometimes. So keep an eye on this space if you want to interact with me!