Reflections

We are into maybe the 3rd or 4th day now of misty cold rain and its been wonderful for giving me thinking time. Ideas have a way of sitting in my head for inordinate amounts of time without actually having any means of getting turned into action. Or I simply allow them to sit there without doing anything about turning it into reality. Scary how many hours have been spent dreaming things that will never come to be. Is this what I should be doing with my time?? Perhaps these are thoughts that will be turned into things one day when the means is possible and when it is wise to do so.

The first all-consuming thought is what the first house will be one day. We don't need a big luxury house and we don't need a brand new house (although it could be), but we do long for one to call our own that can take on the personality of our family. The one we are renting now does have a lot of charm and we are super blessed by it. It's huge! And its so quiet in the country. And its affordable thanks to Greg's parents' generosity. Despite this we spend lots of time imagining what the first home will look like. I guess it goes with the job that I would be this way. I see these amazing homes that we build day to day and get tons of ideas for what works in a home well. Above all we want our home to be incredibly inviting and warm. I hope that when we do put this dream into reality that I'll have organized all these ideas in my head into feasible projects that won't cost too much :-)

Another thought that doesn't seem to go away is the idea of starting a home-based business. Two companies that I've really been drawn to are Arbonne and Shaklee. Both have helped my health and have really great products. They would both be great things to be able to share with others. I read the success stories and think how great it would be to work from home one day when kids come along. This is the OCD planner in me needing to have a plan in place years before it needs to be implemented :-) Well, I haven't felt a "no" from the Lord yet to pursue this but I definitely haven't gotten a "yes" either. One thing I've realized is that I am definitely not a natural born seller. I already knew this, but I got to see it in action yesterday when I helped my mother-in-law sell her handmade crafts at a craft show. The traffic flow was disappointingly slow and we came away with very few sales. She had put so much time into creating each piece and it was a lot of work to travel there and set up and take down everything. We were both sad it didn't go as well as hoped. I have to remember that part of my personality lends me to be super-sensitive. I wish I had a thicker skin!!! I wouldn't hurt others' feelings as much if I didn't feel so easily hurt by them when I am rejected or criticized. I have tried to manufacturer this thicker skin and sometimes I am aware of an increased ability to allow hurts to roll off my back. But most of the time this just doesn't come well for me. So a selling business would more than likely not be the place for me. I am thankful for the enlightening experience I had yesterday.


Its now 4:00 and we decided that's when we'd start putting up Christmas decorations!! Yay!! Time to get out that tree and all the wonderful ornaments that give me goose bumps to pull out each year :-) The advent season is upon us. May you be blessed by all the cheer it can bring!