Small Successes and a Lesson From My Seven Year Old

First and foremost, let me just say a big, huge, enormous, gigantic, titanic THANK YOU to all those who showed support for my little undertaking in the past week -- either by email, facebook message, text, etc. Your comments are most appreciated...and please feel free to make comments at the end of my posts. They are so helpful and really make me feel encouraged. So, on that note...


Week one down, and I'm off to a pretty good start! It was a big week of firsts for me: first 5 followers on my Etsy blog (sadly, that's one more follower than I have on my regular blog...apparently, my life isn't all that interesting to read about. Of course, it could also be the fact that I haven't updated it in over a year...but still...ouch!), first item to get more than 10 views on Etsy, and, HAPPY DAY...my FIRST SALE! Thank you Sylvia Green for being my very first customer! Your merchandise is on the way, along with a First Customer Appreciation coupon, so be on the lookout for it! At any rate, it has been a week of small successes that FEEL very monumental. So, thank you everybody who helped make this a good week!

This whole Etsy business is a much larger undertaking than I originally anticipated. No, that's not exactly true...it's just bigger than I HOPED it would be. And MUCH more time consuming...but I'm guessing that's largely due to the fact that I have an 8 month old who constantly cries/wakes up/growls/wants to eat/tries to stand up/falls and starts crying again...you get the idea. I don't know what I would do without Ilaiasi. Who knew a seven year-old could be such a huge business asset? I've been blessed with such a helpful, loving firstborn son, so the huge task of getting things started hasn't been QUITE as enormous as it could have been. I am learning a whole lot, I'm excited to be doing something that I enjoy, and, well, quite frankly, I'm feeling pretty lucky.


Here's a sneak peek at the items I'll be putting up this week. I've got some fun rings and wire-wrapped pendants, and I'm trying lots of new things. Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you like, what else you'd like to see in the future, and even what isn't really working for you...that's the only way I'll improve, so all feedback is welcome!




It's been a while since I've been able to stretch my "creativity muscles," and I didn't realize how much I've missed the pursuit of new knowledge. There's something so satisfying about researching a topic, attempting to accomplish something, and then feeling like you've succeeded -- or at least made drastic improvements. Little things like being able to make my Etsy banner using a new computer program, finding new ways to create fun pieces of jewelry, and just the general overall exploration needed to navigate this new endevor have breathed new life into my normal routine. Don't get me wrong...diapers, bottles, and frequent trips to the restroom (thanks to the twins fondness of using my bladder as a trampoline) are definitely exciting, but this is just new and fun and I am LOVING IT!


Anyway, have you ever had a week or two where it seemed like the world was somehow trying to tell you something? Like, everywhere you turn, there is something that has to do with one specific topic? Well, over the past couple of weeks, the topic of talents keeps finding its way into my daily life. Last Sunday, our Sunday School lesson was on the parable of the talents (for those who are unfamiliar, let me attempt an extremely brief summary: 3 men are given varying numbers of "talents," a biblical monetary unit; the first and second invest theirs and end up doubling the number they started out with. The third is afraid of losing his, so instead of using it, he buries it. On the day of reckoning, the first two are rewarded, and the third is chastized and his talent is given to the ones who used theirs wisely.) This Sunday School lesson started me thinking about talents. Then today, my funny, innocent son, Ilaiasi, came up and asked me for a piece of paper, saying, "Mom, I need it because, like, I have a TALENT. It's a talent for folding paper into different shapes." So, I gave him a fresh piece of paper and waited with baited breath to see what kind of masterpiece my little origami protege would come up with. After much anticipation...Ilaiasi made...a rectangle. Yes, you're reading right...a RECTANGLE. HAHAHAHAHA! Talent clearly runs deep around here. It's not every day that someone is able to fold a paper into a rectangle, you know. But, silly as this little example seems, I LOVE the fact that Ilaiasi has complete confidence in his abilities, and was just SURE that he had a talent for folding paper. In the past few weeks as I've pondered this subject of talents, I've done a bit of soul-searching...mostly as a result of some lingering insecurities regarding my own talents. It feels like it's been a really long time since I succeeded at something new. I've been entrenched in the depths of motherhood, coaching, and teaching -- all of which require a very similar skill set -- for so long, that I wondered if I would be able to succeed at something that required me to step out of the teacher/disciplinarian/motivator role. Just this afternoon, I took my newest creations over to my Mom's work so that she could take a gander at them, and one of her coworkers remarked that I had a talent for making precise curves with the wire. Rather than graciously accept this comment, I found myself uncomfortably minimizing it, saying, "Well, it's just something I like to do." Anywhoodillydoo (a phrase borrowed from my baby brother Westlee), the more I've thought about talents, the more I've decided that I am really going to take this opportunity to develop what little talent I may have, and hope that on the day of reckoning, my industry has allowed me to progress and add a little something to what I started with. So, moral of this story: Maybe I DO have a talent for making precise curves with wire. What do you think of that???