Working Towards an Online Victory!

Can't wait to sport the Triple Double-U's and have my Petie Mae Jewelry website up! Yes, it is taking forever, i hear ya. Besides, since i don't have a job, why in the world am i not getting this thing done and ready to take on the world?
Give me a break, i'm a people pleaser. Who isn't? I think people realize i am at home most days, so i am a perfect person to give a holler to, ask a favor, etc. I LOVE helping out, don't get me wrong. It's just that the not-so-urgent tasks get put on the back burner. Speaking of back burners, i even bake more than i make jewelry these days because i am strangely obsessed with making EVERY RECIPE i have ever seen. This reminds me of my disilluisionistic goal of wanting to read every book ever written by the time I died. That got erased from the bucket list. But the food-making obsession has not. I need the jewelry making and marketing obsession gene!
Well, hopefully petiemaejewelry.com (don't go there now, it's "down for maintenance" aka, has never been opened yet.) will be ushered in with the New Year, 2011. or 2012? hmmm... Please pray that Petie Mae Jewelry will be all God wants it to be.

I have ideas for social networking, such as having a blog on my website, and ideas for partnering with charities to put on a show/fundraiser with a percentage of the PMJ profits going towards that particular charity.

Nicole Strain, if you are reading this, i am hiring you to become my marketing consultant because you are, well, amazing. Let's talk business. I want Petie Mae Jewelry on the necks of every woman in America--without breaking their wallets or making them feel bad about their purchase.

That's another question...how does one promote their business without using less-than-pristine/ethical tactics? I'm not into conning, or convincing someone to buy something they really don't need, and could be spending on a few meals for a homeless man ("What Difference Do it Make?", anyone?) or for a couple of chickens for Christmas (Gospel for Asia's Christmas Catalog, anyone?)

How do you have a heart for the needy, and be a savvy businesswoman at the same time? Is this even possible??

Oh dear, another post for another time. For the 20 plus people who follow me, please give me your advice/opinions/ideas and pray for the future of Petie Mae Jewelry.

Next up, i'll be posting some photos of some internet-only merchandise!

The Mystery and the Mayhem

As i sit here in my NEW! house, eating a delicious and visually-appealing bowl of Ranier Cherries, i struggle to grasp the magnitude of changes in my life these past few months. I am staring out a window into a backyard that is entirely new to me, but is now MY backyard. I am in a guest bedroom that is painted a light apple green and is filled with MY old sheets and comforter, MY old green desk, and dozens of knick knacks, both mine and my hubby's. I will soon go to switch out laundry in MY laundry room, with MY clothes and the clothes of a MAN. Then water MY garden, small, yet fruitful, full of a variety of peppers, watermelon, chives, tomatoes, blueberries and strawberries (all your basic staples of course!). yeah, random bunch, i know.

I will be shopping with my mother for furniture for MY house. A couch for MY living room, a side table/dresser for MY husband's bedside (that i share with him!), and a structure for storage in MY kitchen, which is overflowing with MY shiny new appliances. I curled up for devos in MY zebra-printed Pier One blanket (THE softest blanket known to mankind, and i am willing to fight for this title), in MY chaise lounge chair, drinking coffee from MY Keurig Coffeemaker (more on THAT in a later post). MY husband will be coming home and I will have him all to myself. My father will not be trodding down the hallway, ankles cracking (which comes in handy for the preparation of his arrival), peering into the room to see what we are "up to". My mom will not be yelling up a cheery "hello" from the bottom of the stairs and then coming up to chat with us both. Don't get me wrong at all, i LOVED living at home and having my parents there for everything. But there is just something about having that almost-guaranteed privacy, the realization that nobody is going to come barging through that door except my husband announcing the infamous, "Honey, I'm home!!!". And then i will spend the evening getting to know my groom better, doing devos, and falling asleep by his side in OUR bed. Well, not tonight. We are housesitting for a week. But for the past few weeks it has been this way.

Oh, there is such mystery in marriage! And the mayhem of life continues on...even after a wedding of 500+ attendants. even after a honeymoon on the beach. Yes, life goes on. Dan's desk is waiting for him every morning, and a pile of empty Thank You cards are waiting for me. I still must furnish my house, keep up with the cooking, baking, laundry, gardening, and cleaning, hang stuff on walls, organize shelves, and clean out boxes. But it is very good.

This Kansas girl who grew up with a passion and desire for the great continent of Africa and the faces of the children she met there, is, in effect, living out her dreams right here as the bride of a wonderful groom, a keeper of the home, and an eater of delicious Rainier Cherries* (really the only "pits" she has come into contact with lately), as she strives to become even a smidgen of a "woman of dominion". Yes, life is good.

*these cherries are in peak season right now and it doesn't last long, so go getcha some! oh, and here is my grapevine...

Wait

(a poem by Russell Kelfer and taken from the book "Emotional Purity" by Heather Arnel Paulsen)

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said,
"Child, you must wait".
"Wait? You say, wait!" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why! Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard? By faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

"My future and all to which i can relate Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to WAIT? I'm needing a 'Yes', a go-ahead sign, Or even a 'No' to which i can resign.

"And Lord, You promised that if we believe We need but to ask, and we shall receive. And, Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry: "I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, i learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And I grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed, then, to kneel
And His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun. I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run. "All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be. You would have what you want-- But, you wouldn't know Me. You'd not know the depth of My Love for each saint; You'd not know the power I give to the faint;

"You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair; You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there; You'd not know the joy of resting in Me; When darkness and silence were all you could see. "You'd never experience that fullness of love As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove; You'd know that I give and I save, for a start, But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late into the night, The faith that I give when you walk without sight, The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last. "You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee, What it means that, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true, But, oh, the loss if i lost what I'm doing in you! "So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me. And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late, My most precious answer of all is still, "Wait."

I share this poem for its amazing potency in revealing the most awesome, perfect, loving, and in control God whose plan is above all human reasoning, and completely for His glory. God be praised for the life-lessons on waiting...