Mamas*Little*Treasures

It's a big, big world out here!

Do you ever feel like you are completely "lost in the crowd" while you are out here in the ever-growing world of cyber space? This "village" is so huge that you wonder if you will ever be "noticed" for all of the great work you are doing? Well, it is just like that wherever you go! We can't connect with everyone in the entire universe, and we don't need to. We will all find our little "niche" in the world of online business and community, and I've learned that it is not just having a million and one "friends" (although obviously quantity is important if you want to build a business) - but if you don't take the time to nurture the connections and new friends that you make while you are out and about, you have really missed an important part of this endeavor.

Of course, if we want to gain a following for whatever little business we are trying to build, we need to get the word out to as many people as possible. That's where running a successful advertising / information campaign on Facebook and Twitter is great. But along the way, it is so important to connect in a meaningful way with some of the wonderful people you meet in your online travels. I have had the privilege of "meeting" so many amazing people, and of course we don't have time in our lives to build life-long relationships with everyone who comes along - even if we really, really like them a lot. But take the time today to recognize the accomplishments of someone you have "met" in your travels. You never know, it just might be that they need a kind word, a bit of acknowledgment, a touch of encouragement, or just a friendly reminder that they are important in this great big world marketplace.

One of the people who has come into my life recently is Sue of Indiesmiles. She has been such a wealth of information and advice, enthusiasm for the work of independent business women and other artists, and kindness in unexpected ways. And then, as is always the case, when you take a minute really to listen to what another person is saying, I discover that she has had her own moments of struggle and discouragement. And I feel completely welcomed into the world of real people, with real lives, real hopes and dreams . . . . those "hidden" things that do not always come through in an email or a blog post. It is easy to hide behind our online persona and give the impression that we've got it all together and that everything is "perfect" in our life. But in the REAL world that is just not the way it is.

That is one of the reasons that I am working on my Journal of Gratitude. And that is the motivation behind my determination to include a column in the upcoming issues of Ruby for Women that will focus on the struggles and triumphs that various women have experienced through the grace and mercy of our loving Heavenly Father. Someone has to start saying it. Someone has to begin to speak the truth about the realities of life. Someone has to have the courage to be first. We're working on it here at Ruby for Women. But in the meantime, please visit Sue at Indiesmiles where you will find an incredible group of indie artisans who have created a community of celebration for those of us who work out here, sometimes in the silence of our homes, but always with the opportunity for connection through the Indiesmiles neighborhood.

If you want to read my blog post for which I was honored with the "Top Columnist for the Month of April, 2010," you can go here. But mostly I want to encourage you to join a community where you will be welcomed, embraced, nurtured, and encouraged along the way on you journey to reach your dreams and goals for 2010. When you stop by Indiesmiles, be sure to tell Sue that I sent you! 

This computer does NOT control my life!

I hate to admit it, but it is true . . . . the work I am doing has created a situation where I am completely dependent on my computer. So, when my regular computer crashed and burned two weeks ago, I was lost. There's a wonderful computer fix-it guy not too far from my house, so that's a good thing. I called Jack and explained what had happened, and he said, "Well . . . . bring it in and we'll see what we can do." That didn't sound good, so I asked if whatever had happened had completely destroyed my hard drive. That would mean, I guess, that I had lost all of my pictures and all of the documents that I've been working on for the past several years. All of my eBook patterns, all of my articles, and all of the documents that I need to create each issue of Ruby for Women. He was rather vague in his response, but it sounded like that was not the main problem. Is this good or is this bad?

So, I loaded up the computer and drove over to the shop. Jack was very friendly and cheerful, I think partly because he was afraid that he was going to have to give me some bad news. I came back home and waited. I felt like I was waiting for a baby to be born or something. Of course, there was a lot of work to do here around the house, but I really, really needed to get some of my computer work done. Jack called the next day and said, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your hard drive is intact, but the computer is completely worn out." I guess I've been working it too hard. So we discussed the options . . . . until my husband reminded me that his computer (which he was not using regularly since we got the lap top) was in perfectly good shape, and could Jack just put the hard drive into THAT computer? Good idea!

I called Jack back and asked him if that would work and he said to just bring it over and he'd take a look at it. OK . . . . another day of work sucked into the big black hole of "running around doing errands." Because, of course, since I was going out anyway, I would just make a few quick stops. The post office, buy a few groceries, go to the bank, stop at the eye dr. to drop off the broken glasses. That kind of thing. After looking at the working computer, Jack informed me that the hard drives were not compatible. BUT . . . . he could take all of the data off of my hard drive, copy it to a disk, and put it all on the hard drive of the working computer. Whatever it takes. I need to get back to work. That would only take a couple of days and I should be good to go.

By then it was the weekend, so I knew nothing was going to happen in a big hurry. Over the weekend, we decided that I should use the lap top and try to work on that while I waited for mine to be fixed. Good idea, except that ALL of the information that I needed to work with was on the other computer. But I could at least take care of the piles of emails that were accumulating, and I could get started on a few new projects, and I could even recreate some of the stuff that I needed. Well, if you are used to working on a regular computer (with a mouse) and then you try to switch to a lap top (without a mouse . . . . just that little pad that you have to mess around with) you know how annoying it is. Suffice it to say, I did manage to get some work done, but seemed to experience an ongoing sense of desperation, kind of like a low-grade fever over a very long period of time.

By Monday, I was really ready to get this show on the road, so I called Jack's shop. I thought it rather strange that he had not called me, because he had been pretty snappy the previous week. There was no answer, so I left a message, thinking that he would call me back later in the day. When I didn't hear from him for a couple of days, I really began to be concerned. Finally, on Thursday night I got a call around 9:00 p.m. from Jack's daughter. He was in the hospital, in ICU, recovering from some kind of aortic aneurysm that he suffered the previous Saturday. Oh my goodness!

Now the condition of my computer seemed to become instantaneously insignificant compared to Jack's health. His daughter told me he should be out of the hospital by Saturday, and that he would call me on Monday. That made me feel a bit better about his prognosis, but I certainly did not want him worrying about my computer when he needed to be investing all of his energy in getting healthy. Sure enough, Monday morning at about 9:03 a.m. Jack called. He sounded OK but tired. He said that he would be in the shop on Monday and Tuesday, but had to go back into the hospital on Wednesday (today) to have something else done to fix the problem. He will probably be out of the shop at least until the end of next week, and then restricted activity for at least six weeks.

But Jack is a trooper, a kind and gentle man, and totally trusts that God is in control, no matter what happens. So, today I am praying for Jack and his family. And I will call him the first part of next week to see how he is doing. I did drive over to his shop on Monday, picked up the resurrected computer, and now I can finally get back to work. All of my stuff has been located and rescued, and I'm burning up the keypad trying to catch up on so many projects. But my little encounter with Jack and my broken down computer over the past couple of weeks has definitely brought me back to the reality of life. Really . . . . sometimes there are things that are more important than a computer, email, Facebook and Twitter. Yes, building my business is important to my family, but there are bigger issues in the world. I can't let my computer control my life, even though I am grateful for the gift of being able to work at home that my computer offers.

Actually this post was going to be about my Journal of Gratitude. That's why the pictures are here, because I want to document my progress which has been minimal while I've been messing around with the computer situation. But I am also reminded to be grateful. Today I am grateful for many things, but especially I am grateful for my friend Jack and his steps toward recovery. And I am grateful that, so far, my family is healthy. That's truly a gift! Are you working on your Gratitude Journal? Making progress? I'd love to see your pictures!

Journal of Gratitude

This happens to me all the time . . . . . I get an idea, then have all the plans in my head, even talk about it and / or blog about it . . . . then weeks go by before I actually get a chance to work on it. That is sometimes very annoying. But, of course, I do have a few other projects I am working on these days, including finishing up the May / June issue of Ruby for Women. Well, that, along with taking care of my home and family. 

Today we had sore throats all around, but no fever, so we didn't get much accomplished - but I did hear that this 24-hour bug has been going around the neighborhood. The girls seem to be feeling better now, because they have been playing outside for about an hour - it's almost time for them to come in and get a bath, have story time, and get tucked in, so I thought I'd take a minute and get this project started. I can work on it after they go to bed, but sometimes I'm so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to tuck myself in! 

This is a project that I actually worked on a couple of years ago, while we were still in Colorado and I was really struggling with health issues. Fortunately we discovered that all of my headaches and general "yucky" feeling for many months could easily be taken care of by coming down out of the mountains. We miss our kids and grandbabies who still live there, but I definitely have been healthier back down here in the Heartland of America.

As I have been writing articles for Ruby for Women, as well as a couple of other websites, one of the things that seems to be impressed on my heart is the need for encouragement when we are walking through the dark places in life. We all go there occasionally, sometimes by our own choices, but often as a result of nothing that we have done. Completely taken by surprise, shocked, grieving, sometimes completely alone, frequently for extended periods of time . . . . . we wonder "Why?" and "When will this be over?" and "How could this happen to ME?"

Now, partly because I watched my Mama allow anger, grief, and bitterness to break her heart and debilitate her emotionally right up to the very last day of her life, I have had many years to ponder the results of our attitude toward the struggles that we all encounter on our journey through life. And, partly as a result of meeting my dear friend Fern, who was wearing her dancing shoes and playing honky-tonk piano nearly up to her last breath, I have concluded that our attitude towards pain and brokenness make a HUGE difference in how our life plays out.

So, one of my lifetime projects is to work on my Gratitude Journal. And I want to chronicle my journey through journaling the hard stuff, the sad stuff, the broken places, and the shattered dreams . . . . and prove to myself that if I choose to be grateful for even the stuff that one would NEVER ask for in life, God can take it all (the junk and the tragedy, and everything in between) and create something amazing with it. Now that is not to suggest that we would ever be jumping for joy when disaster or tragedy strike our family or anyone else's. But the reality is that we WILL encounter those places that bring us to our knees and on our faces before God. So I'm thinking that if I can lift my eyes beyond the broken pieces of my life that lay scattered on the ground, to the gift of God's grace . . . . . and trust that somehow He is able to bring greater joy IN SPITE of the tragedy, and not necessarily BECAUSE of it.

God is not the author of chaos and disaster, but it is a reality of our life because of sin in the world. Even if we have chosen to walk with Him and sought His face every day of our lives (which of course we all fail at occasionally!), in the real world there is much pain. So when we find ourselves in one of those scary places, we need to try to remember that He will take this scar, our wounded heart, and make something beautiful in it's place. Hard to believe, I know, but it is true. So here is the beginning of my journey as I chroncle some of the "junk" that has come my way, and my musings on how God has, and continues to, use it all to make something bigger and more beautiful than anything I could have ever imagined.

STEP ONE - I started with a simple sketch book / inexpensive scrap book that I found at Walmart. The covers were black with a black spiral binding. I didn't want to start with black  ;o) so I painted the entire cover, front and back, with an ivory acrylic craft paint. I gave it a bit of a texture by bouncing my brush all over it, and then going over it a second or third time. I wanted to make sure that none of the black showed through, and I kind of like the textured appearance.

STEP TWO - Then I did the same thing to the inside of the front cover and the front of the first page. That way I will have a great beginning place to post images or some of my writing, poetry, photos, or whatever I decide to put in my Journal of Gratitude.

That's as far as I've gotten so far, but it is a good beginning. I hope that tomorrow I can work on a couple of pages. I'll post pictures as soon as I can! If you are working on a Journal of Gratitude, I would love to hear about it and see pictures of your work. Next time I'll share with you ideas for finding images and making collage pages for your art journal. This is actually kind of a combination art journal and a writing journal. Words and art together is a powerful expression of who you are, so get out any old book you might have around your house and start painting those pages so we can get busy working on our Journal of Gratitude!