Encouraged

Random Yard Shots

 

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times, happy moments, and unhappy moments

The next time you are experiencing one of those bad times or unhappy moments that take you close to your breaking point, bend but don't break.



Try your best to not let the situation get the best of you. A measure of hope will take you through the

unpleasant ordeal. With hope for a better tomorrow or a better situation, things may not be as bad as

they seem to be.



The unpleasant ordeal may be easier to deal with if the end result is worth having.

Written from: Timeless Truths Devotional



This devotional seemed so fitting considering the circumstances of the last few days for me. Just letting it go for a couple of days has already given me such a release from the frustration I was feeling.

I want you to know that you also played a big part in helping me find that release. I want to

thank you my friends for your support and advice concerning my dilemma with Etsy.

Your words of encouragement have blessed me beyond words. My prayer is that the

Lord will use me at some time to be a blessing to one of you!

Disappointment

  I'm sure some of you are wondering what I am still doing at home when I'm suppose to be helping our

daughter, her husband and children get settled in their new home. Two days ago when I spoke to Emily

she wondered if we would mind if they waited until Friday to make the move. She had some unforseen

things come up and felt it would be better to delay the move by a couple of days. I agreed. And, as I

told her, I've waited years for this to happen-two more days isn't going make any difference for me.

See this dancing plate? He's so happy he's jumping for joy. That was me last week when I had finally

copied all of the patterns I was currently going to place on Etsy. Now all I had to do was copy and store

them so they would be ready to send when the orders started flowing in. Now keep in mind this was over

150 pages to copy and store. I entered them all PDF. Now I'm ready to finally open that Etsy shop.

I go to the Etsy site, set-up my shop, and am ready to attach photos of my patterns for the shop.

Rejection! It will not accept PDF. I have to go back and recopy all 150 plus patterns in JPEG!

OK, stupid mistake. I should have been smart enough to have known if it's considered a photo

you're going to have to use JPEG. Well it was disappointing, but nothing more than a little bump

in the road. I re-entered everything JPEG and began tranferring to my shop. This was over the course

of 3 days. On the day I was entering my last pattern (this last Monday) I had noticed that I had

already had over 140 views combined on my patterns, but no sales. I thought that was odd, but

I often view items but don't purchase them. But as the day progressed I just couldn't get it out of

my mind. You know how something keeps niggling in your mind?

I felt like I had touched a hot iron! What if there was the possibility that a person could copy my patterns

right off of my site?  No that's just crazy thinking , I told myself. Etsy is a highly respected selling engine, they would surely provide protection against possible down-loading theft. But my experiences from the past told me to check it out whether I thought it was just some crazy thought or not.

I went to my site, clicked on my pattern photo, and was able to print the pattern easy as pie! I have to

admit I was equally furious and devastated. No I'm not exaggerating. All I could think of was all the time

and hard work I had put into preparing these vintage patterns to finally get to this place where I could

finally list them for sale and any Tom, Dick, or Harry could simply steal them with the simple click of

a button. I didn't know what to do. I ran out to the garage to share with my husband my findings. His

advice was to shut it down right now! But I had already paid over $23. in fees for the listings. He said

to just consider it a loss and find somewhere else to sale my stuff. I didn't want to give up that easily on

Etsy. So I contacted them through e-mail. Of course you can't talk to a human being anymore! That

was Monday and I still haven't heard anything back from them. I have done a little research and found

another selling site that is similar to etsy and it didn't have any protection against down loading theft

either. E-Bay does make it impossible to copy off of it's site, so that's a possiblity. But now I have to

learn how to list with them and that whole process is always such a pain for me.

Anyway I've had a good cleansing cry over the whole deal. I've stepped away from it for a couple of

days and decided I'm going to let it go until next Monday. I'll go enjoy seeing the grandkids for the

weekend and come back to examine it through fresh eyes. Hopefully, I'll have heard something from Etsy by then. I can't say that I'm putting much faith in thinking their going to change their site to accommedate little

ol' me. But I would think it would be something other Etsy shop owners would be concerned about too.

If any of you have any knowledge or advice about were I should go from here I would more than welcome it

And "thank you" for letting me vent my friends. I try not to be a "whiner". I guess I lost this battle though.

Decisions

  Have you ever had a time in your life when you think you have things settled and  are on an even keel and then something unexpectedly comes along and  temporarily throws you off balance? Well that's what happened in my life this week.
As some of you know my husband and I have worked away from home in various locations. But in March I left my job as an art gallery manager and we moved back to settle in our home on the lake. There were many factors that caused us to make this decision. Mostly concerning family. It was a huge decision. Mostly concerning giving up a great paying job and stepping out in faith to do something we've always wanted to do.

                                          I needed some light and some Godly wisdom.
When working in the Yukon 3 summers ago, one of our co-workers was an Aussie lady named Barb (Bawb, is how she pronounces it). We became fast friends. But we've lost track of each other in the last year as she also does a lot of traveling too.
To make a long story short. She was in a new position where the company she worked for needed two seasoned manager for a new lodge that they had bought. Communication was made back and forth all week, finally with an employment package that was suitable to all involved. Then came the final decision!

Were we really going to give up this once again to chase the bloody dollar? Was I going to give up my dreams of having a garden again, canning my own food again, living nearer to all our children, and starting my own home-based business, as planned for the money? Not to mention having to drag my dear MIL all the way out west again.

 I hate to admit it, but things were rocky for a while. I was the man in James1:6 whose doubts were like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. And James1:8-double minded and unstable in all my ways.
But when it came down to that final decision, the ink on the contract. We couldn't do it. There was no peace.

I can't tell you the joy I feel again now that the decision to remain here has been made. It is a huge step of faith and I sure there will be times that I waver. But I'm putting my trust in the Lord and following my dreams.
None of us knows what the future holds. I think of those of you who have shared the major changes in your lives with me. Whether it was a loss of finances, a sudden health problem that's effected employment,changes
you've had to make in your lives unexpectedly, but I've seen that you've stood strong and kept the faith. And that is such an encouragement to me. So please know that those little incidents in your own life that you share with others may just be the encouragement that someone out there in blog land needs that day.
I, again, wish you a happy weekend. I'll be back on Monday to visit with you again.