Yay September!

So, I started working in Kids Ministry at my church in May, and in between being a full-time mom, summertime, crocheting (very little), and running summer ministries for K-Gr 5 kids, I have been planning and dreaming for the Fall.  In August I gained a new partner at the church, Amy, who is working full-time (I'm part-time), and we have been planning, and training, and prepping, and dreaming, and painting, and typing, and recruiting like crazy women!  But, this weekend... is the weekend.  Our Fall Kickoff for VAC Kids (www.vernonalliance.org/home/ministries/families/vac_kids/)!  Hooray!  We don't have enough volunteers yet (as if you can ever have enough!), and we didn't get a stage or set built yet (there's always next month), but its coming together and I'm so excited!
At the same time, I am working on another local order for Chicken Little.  Apparently my hats have been selling like hot-cakes.  I've even had a local mom email to say how much she loves the hat, and would I make one for her!  So neat!  Jeremy and I have been debating whether or not I should have a booth at a local Christmas fair, but I don't really want to.  I love being out in the community, connecting with my clients, but its a big sacrifice to stand around for two days, especially when I have been doing so well with custom orders, and selling through local shops.  So, I think for this year, I won't do the Christmas fairs.
However, as I mentioned I am still doing custom orders, by email or on my Etsy site (www.buttonboxdesigns.etsy.com), and I picked up some new yarn yesterday to work on some new fall-themed designs.  Last night I made Aria a cute little beret with some pink bamboo yarn that I had in my stash.  I just have to put the finishing touches on it, then I'll photograph it, and post them online here.  I've wanted to develop a design for a beret for awhile, and I'm super pleased with how it turned out, and how quickly it worked up (considering I was designing as I went, which often means I end up pulling out rows as I go if I don't like how its looking!).  A couple of my girlfriends are having babes this fall, so they'll probably be the recipients of my first fall hat designs.
I love the Fall.  After the heat of the summer in the Okanagan, the cool, crisp air of the fall is always welcome and so fun to go out walking in!  Aria starts preschool again next week, and I'm excited to have an excuse for walking to and from the school to pick her up.  Ballet starts up next week as well.  Every morning she asks me how many more sleeps until preschool?  How many more sleeps until ballet?  The countdown is on!

Retail, and Other Summer Excitement!

So, around the middle of July I did up a whole bunch of hats for a local shop, called Chicken Little Childhood Outfitters Ltd.  This is my first opportunity I've had to sell my products out in the big, wide retail world, and I'm super excited about it!  I had a girlfriend stop me at church the other day to say she had bought some hats there, so that was really encouraging.  Chicken Little is a fabulous little shop here in Vernon, and I used to work there, back in 2005 when we first moved to Vernon.  There was a different owner then, but the new owner, Lindsay, is fabulous and such a great source of encouragement and support.
I've had a couple other shops mention they would be interested in carrying my product, which is super cool, but baby steps.  Right now, I've been busy working at my new job with K-Gr. 5 students at Vernon Alliance Church (one of my dream jobs!).  So, I'm pretty focused on that... and my kids... after all, it is summer, and we have been having fun going to the "peanut pool" near our home, watersliding, hanging out at Eagle Bay Camp, houseboating, and playing with friends and family.  Here's some favorite pics from the first half of the summer... 

Roscoe watching the boat at EBC

The food is GOOD at EBC

The kids love to try getting the ball in the net

Aria's sandcastle she built all by herself!

My side of the family on the houseboat (just missing Phil)

A stream near the beach where we pulled in one night

Excuses, excuses

So, I haven't been blogging FOREVER for a couple reasons.  One is my new job.  I'm currently trying to balance three jobs, plus my craft business, for which I have a show coming up in only three weeks!  Yikes.  I'm starting to get a little nervous.  You know classic self-doubt questions...  Will people like my product that I've poured so many hours into?  Am I charging too much?  Too little?  I don't need this stress, so why am I doing this?  Do I have enough product?  Will my display look okay?  Where will my display be?  Will I be able to fill the space?  Will I have too much to fill the space?  SO MANY QUESTIONS!


The other reason I haven't written, is because the other day Aria accidently knocked over my tea all over the keyboard!  You can't imagine how crippling it is to not be able to type the letter 'a' or use the spacebar!  I literally couldn't email anyone for two days, and when you work from home, that's tough to handle.  So, I thought "Hey! Perfect opportunity to get a wireless mouse and keyboard!".  So I went and bought them at Future Shop, got them home and realized that my Mac is too old and doesn't come with bluetooth, so I couldn't install my wireless stuff.  So back I headed to Future Shop to return the stuff and pick up a different one.  Only, I didn't have my bank card, so they couldn't refund me the money unless I wanted it on a gift card.  No thanks...  So I came home with the wireless stuff that didn't work, and the new keyboard and mouse that would work.  And then headed back to Future Shop for a third time after having scoured my house looking for my bank card.  Good grief!  Why can't things be simple????  So that's my excuse for not typing.  I was getting so desperate though, I was copying and pasting spaces and a's from other documents onto my emails just so that I could communicate with people! 

Onto other things... Jer's been working on some flowers I designed, and we sold our first one on Etsy this week!  Very exciting!  Actually to a gal in the UK... so now I'm international!  I just need to pop it in the mail today, along with birthday cards for my nephews...

And, yes!  Jeremy HAND-SEWED all these flowers!  Isn't he amazing?

Other than that life is busy but good. We've been experiencing some warmth again here which is nice, and even better are the sweet spring storms!  Lots of rain, so everything is very green and even some thunder and lightning.

My "First Real" Job!

So.  I've been busy.  Much is changing.
I received a phone call on Tuesday last week from the senior pastor at my church offering me a very part-time role in our children's ministry department as part of a team of three people working with the K-Gr 5 age group.  I can't even begin to tell you how shocked and pleased I was/am!  I graduated from Canadian Bible College in 2003, not quite sure how I planned on using my degree...  Should I go on to do more education?  A masters degree?  Should I be a pastor?  Should I work towards a teaching degree?  What should I do?  Before graduation I had worked in Hinton at a church as in intern in the student ministries department.  I had always really enjoyed working with teens, but while I was there I heard from several individuals on more than one occasion that I should consider working with kids, as they seemed drawn to me.  I was resolute in my calling to work with teens, so I dismissed the idea.  Then, I fell in love and married a youth pastor.  Pre-children (our children I mean), I really enjoyed working alongside Jeremy, supporting him in his ministry area, and building relationships with girls in his youth group.  But, I also started to take on leadership roles in kids ministry.  And, I was pretty good at it.  I really enjoy the creativity requirements, and the joy that comes from seeing a child's innocent interactions with God.  Their approach and understanding of God and Jesus is refreshing and challenging at the same time. 
That being said, I have felt a call to working in children's ministry increasingly over the past seven years.  Even in periods where volunteering in that area has been difficult (ie. when I was having babies!), I felt God opening my heart and pouring ideas into my head, and giving me opportunities for relationships with other families and leaders in this ministry area.
I am so excited to see how God has honored the desire that He placed in my heart, the calling that His voice has spoken to me.  I am thrilled to be working as part of a team, as I see that being key to maintaining a balance between work and family.  And I finally get to put to good use my degree.  I have certainly used it over the years as a volunteer and mother, and support to my husband's ministry space, but I am SO excited to have my "first real" job... a job that directly correlates to the four years I spent at CBC, and the money $$$  that I spent there on my education.

Fancy Nancy Party Part 4 - Details and the Party Itself!

Aria's 4th Birthday party with a Fancy Nancy theme was divine (that's a fancy word for great).  We invited seven little girls to come over on Saturday from 1-3:30 (right during Roscoe's nap time, so I wouldn't have to worry about him, and could just focus on the girls).  All the girls came wearing fancy dresses and accessories.  They were SO well behaved and quiet, and really into all the different activities that we had planned.  My husband and I had decorated the basement playroom with strings of white lights, and flowers we had drawn and cut out, and balloons.  I drew a big welcome sign for the front door to set the mood.  It is now on Aria's bedroom door!

First off, we made a construction paper fan.  The girls used the same jewels that we had used for the invitations to decorate their fans.  I also had some princess stickers on hand and markers.  I let them decorate the paper first, and then folded them up and stapled the end.

Then the girls spent time playing with the toys, and dressed up with some old costume jewelery that I had from when I was younger.  When they started to dress up, Aria and I handed out feather boas to each of the girls that we had found at the dollar store!  They were a big hit!

And since we were all dressed so fancy, we sat down to read a couple Fancy Nancy books!  The girls chose "Fancy Nancy" and also, "Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy".  Some of the girls hadn't read the books before, and they were a huge hit!

After that we played Stick the Jewel on the Tiara aka pin the tail on the donkey.  And then it was snack time, present opening, cake and then time to go home!  Aria had such a good time, the girls got along fabulously, and I had fun too!  I was wiped by the end.  It was great having Jeremy and his parents there to help and take pictures.  But even though we were so tired we went to bed around 10pm that night, the smile on this little girls face made it all worthwhile.  I can't believe my baby's four!  Happy Birthday Aria!