listing, listing, listing!!!

The past few weeks have been very busy ... I think I've taken about 1700 photos. Then I've gone through them to sort by clarity, angle, and general appearance. Then I've cropped them to the appropriate size for listing on Etsy. Each listing has at least 2 photos -- one with the earrings hanging, one laying down. Some listings also have photos of the items in alternate colors so people can see what the items look like in other colors. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, I started listing ... I've listed nearly 80 items!! No new sales yet, but I have 6 new hearts ... so that's positive.
I've also worked on some of the new designs floating around in my head. I've finished work on "Sway" (the navy pearl) and "Yasmin" (the emerald crystal) ... they are similar but a bit different and in different lines. I've also figured out the detail for a new stone earring design ... haven't named it yet. Today, my project has been to work on a necklace idea ... it's not quite where I want it to be yet ... need to keep mulling it around.

1 Year Ago

It was a busy weekend, so I didn't have an opportunity to post ... but it marked the anniversary of an event that is still impacting my world. Last year in February, we spent several weeks at Maranatha Village in Sebring, on kind of a working vacation -- Keith was showing the men of the village how to use the concrete forms he sells. On Friday, Feb 23, I woke up with some discomfort in my side. It was sharp off and on but it didn't really stop me. Keith was pouring concrete that day and I went to take pictures. At lunch, we went to Avon Park to a wonderful little restaurant to have lunch with friends. When we returned to the village, Keith went back to work and I went to the little apartment where we were staying. By the time Keith got home from work, the pains were quite sharp ... at moments, I was nearly doubled over. We made the decision to go to the ER. It took 9 hours to figure out what was wrong ... my appendix needed to be removed. I didn't have the rest of the typical symptoms .... no nausea, no fever ... so it had required a lot of testing to find the problem. At 4 am, I was checked in and at 7am, I had surgery. It all went really well but when the doctor came out to report to Keith, he indicated that I seriously needed to see my OB-GYN. My recovery was fabulous ... I gained strength very quickly and felt pretty good pretty fast. We stayed in FL for 10 days of recovery time, then headed north to MI (home).

I saw my doctor, who ordered all the tests I needed and referred me to another doctor (he doesn't do GYN anymore). On April 12, I had surgery again, removing a fibroid the size of a small cantaloupe. This surgery was more difficult and it took me a lot longer to recover. I've had some ongoing difficulties, mostly what we laughingly call "mental clarity issues" -- memory loss, disorientation when I drive and I occasionally misplace things. It's been getting better, and most days, I'm almost back to 100%. I still tire easily but that's getting better too.

We have no health insurance. Between the 2 surgeries and related expenses, we racked up about $65,000 in medical bills. But God has been incredible in His provision! Some bills were reduced. For others, we received gifts from friends and supporters. We have paid off everything except 1 doctor and 1 hospital. The total of those 2 comes in around $22,000 but that's a huge amount of bills that have been taken care of! And having only the 2 payments is fairly manageable for us ... so we are praising God for His wonderful grace!

With the traveling that we do for our ministry, and now with the health, it's been difficult for me to find employment (that I can manage). So, I've put my talents to work, making jewelry. We've done a few craft shows and for the past few weeks, we've been selling at a flea market. And I have a shop on Etsy. The shop hasn't done well, but I'm still optimistic that things will improve there. More about that later.

Shop & Shuttle

Wow!! It's been awhile since I checked in.... but I've been busy. For the past couple weeks, I've been working on polishing up my Etsy shop. I have a new banner and a temporary new avatar. I have an idea for a new avatar so will be working on making that happen. I've also been trying to take photos of my jewelry -- that's proven to be a challenge! I like taking the pix outside, but we only live a couple miles from the ocean -- so it's breezy (at the very least) all the time. I'm using fabric for backgrounds -- it's always blowing around. I'm shooting for having all my photos taken and ready to list on Feb 15. If all goes well, I'll be listing 50-75 new items. Still have to make a few -- I have prototypes but need to make the real deal. So I'm not lacking for something to do this coming week! I'm excited at the prospect! I've given some thought to how to list -- will list so that everything comes up organized when done.

We got to go watch the shuttle launch today -- with a couple guys from our crew and the church we're working on. It was a great day of fellowship as well as getting to do something awesome! We didn't have the greatest view of the launch but drove around afterward and figured out where we want to be next time -- got lost, laughed, laughed, found our way, laughed....

And we're always up for a road trip!!