a new year…a little late!

i am so sorry for the prolonged absence! a little mini-vacation spiraled out of control. actually, time has gotten away from me. after a wonderful holiday season, both personally and professionally, i had in mind to take a week off, reorganize and work on some new designs that have been on my mind for some time. anyway…….you might guess that things didn’t work out that way. i had one failure after another in trying to birth the new designs and new line. discouragement set in. day after day, i struggled with what to say. days turned to weeks and here we are!

my time has also been filled with minor illness (after illness, after illness!!), lots and lots of snow, lots and lots of missed school & work days, hospital and then nursing home visits to my mom, broken kilns (yikes!!!) and just general scheduling mishaps. i don’t say all this to make you feel sorry for me – on the contrary, this list causes me to gain some perspective. my life is not my own. and no, it doesn’t belong to my clients or my husband or my son or my mother. my life belongs to God and i’d do well to remember that! the seeming ‘inconveniences’ i listed are reminders. reminders that i can’t do this on my own and it’s only through Him that i will accomplish anything good or worthwhile.

after reining myself in, admitting my errors and giving it all over to God, something surprising happened – designs came to life and peace entered my soul! no, i don’t have any pieces created – not yet. but God directed me to some alternative solutions. also, i’d had a very vague idea for the new line but nothing fleshed out. the vision kept eluding me. lo and behold, i sketched out 4 pieces of the new line last night.

God works everything for good. all this snow has allowed me to spend more time with my son – intentional, quality time. i’m not going to lie – i still feel a bit bonkers and am happily looking forward to his return to school. but i’ve learned a lot about my little man. who he is, how he processes things, what’s important to him. i am blessed to know this beautiful child of mine and i pray daily that the Lord gives me the wisdom to “train him in the way he should go…” (proverbs 22:6). and my mother’s stay in the hospital has produced at least one diagnosis: lyme disease. it’s bad but it’s treatable. now her time in the nursing home is giving her strength and she’s getting involved in activities again. praise Jesus!

so, my word for the year is “intention”. intentionally obedient. intentionally present. jewelry pieces with intentional, thought-out, meaningful design. and if i appear to be slipping, refer me back to this post! because i know the Lord places people in our life intentionally – to provide support or guidance. so support and guide away! :-)

and i almost forgot to mention the wonderful news i received today – our sponsored child who lives in rio de janeiro is safe and sound! here’s another huge praise Jesus and a hallelujah on top of that!