Once upon a time

Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, I decided to open my own daycare.   Now I cant honestly say I had spent my life dreaming of this, or that I really even wanted to, but when my little angel was placed in my arms for the first time, I knew I would never be able to leave that little baby every day and miss out on her growing up.   Well, that tiny thing has grown into an active five year old and daycare has become my life.   She refers to work days as friends days.   My very first child to sign up for daycare is now her best friend in the whole world.   We have had many kids come and go through our doors.   We have seen the carpet go from beige to more of an array of rainbow colors.   And I can now change diapers quickly, efficiently and have changed diapers almosr every single day since my child was born, even though she was potty trained before her second birthday.   And there are moments I am not sure how I was going to survive the week.   Then are those moments when they just curl up on my lap for another story, or to sing songs, run in the door in the mornings excited to give me a hug, show me their new shirt, that I love.   They get excited over acorns, walnuts and bugs found in the yard and i realize that I am not missing out on living, that God has placed me here for such a time as this.   And now as we are preparing for the next phase of life.,.the school years, questions and concerns and if homeschooling will really work questions are prevalent.   But through it all, we just have to ask for Gods guiding hand to lead us, and to believe that it will. 

Unexpected places

Last summer, my daughter got all into Sofia the first, loving every aspect of the new Disney Junior show.   She wanted a dress like Sofia.   And well, the dresses I had seen in the store just weren't of a quality that I was content with.   At least not for the price.   So I got on pinterest and found the perfect dress on a blog.    Hmmm...the pattern hadnt been released yet but the designer was looking for pattern testers.   I loved the dress and really wanted to make it, so after rolling it around it my head a few days I decided to email her and see if she would like me to test the pattern, admitting I had never done any pattern testing before.   She said yes, and so my pattern testing journey began!   In the fall she asked me to test out another pattern, Anna or Arendale from the soon to be released Disney movie Frozen.   My little princess wasnt sure if she wanted the dress, but the twins birthday was coming up soon and they love dresses.   Somewhere along the way, I got an idea....an Elsa dress to accompany the Anna dress, after all I had heard they were sisters in the movie.     So late at night, I stared at the movie poster and drew and elsa dress pattern.   Then I made the dress.   A couple months passed with this idea bubbling around in my head and with mich encouragement fro the designer of the other dresses I had recently made, I decided I would sell the pattern on etsy.   We could use a little extra cash (Really, who couldnt?)   So i thought maybe i would be able to make $30 a month, at least enough to help out.   I posted the pattern and wouldnt you know it, people actually liked my pattern...it started selling.   Then the questions started coming, "would you make this dress to sell?"   Hmmm...I hadnt really thought of that.   I had extra fabric.   I had the means and ability to make it look nice.   Maybe i would sell the dress.  I had enough fabric for 2  more dresses and they sold very quickly.   The requests continued to roll in.   So I bought more fabric.   And now I am behind.   I dont like being behind....Im that person in college who did the papers on the day they were assigned, not the day they were due, because being behind is stressful.   It makes me question things.   So my plans for tomorrow eveing include  sewing.   Lots and lots of sewing.   And I have a friend to thank for the newfound money making hobby....a friend that I have neevr met, but yet she has encouraged me so much.   Drop on over to www.joy2sew.blogspot.com and check out her site.   She also has some great patterns on her etsy store, well worth taking the time to check out!   Unexpected friends, found in unexpected places, giving the courage to do things we had never thought possible.    Yes friendds, God is leaving his fingerprints all over this one!

Daniel

I am currently in the midst of Beth Moore's study on the book of Daniel.    Last week, we discussed fire.    In the sense of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, it was literal fire, they could feel the heat, they had seen people die in the fire, and the way things were headed, they were going to be next.   But yet, they never wavered, when wavering would have assured survival, they still praised the Almighty God.   In this study, Beth Moore pointed out something I had never really thought about.   What do we do when we are faced with the fiery furnace?   Most people that claim to be Christians will pray.     And God will either deliver us from the fire, through the fire, or deliver us into His arms by the fire.   Our faith may grow, it may be refined by fire.    What god wants us to remember is that in the midst of the fire, no matter how hot it is, He is right there beside us.   In Isaiah 43 God said, when you pass through the fire, I will be with you.   He never promised there wouldn't be fire, or that we would only get close to the fire.   He doesn't say IF you pass through a fire.   He says WHEN you pass through the fire.  

He is the everlasting Father, the prince of peace, the one and only God, and He loves each one of us enough to step into the fire with us.  Isn't that just amazing?