Bountifully Blessed but Blissfully Exhausted

Oh my goodness am I tired and nearly slap happy! Late in the day I felt as though I might be soon qualified to hide my own Easter eggs I was so tired!!! To say our Open House was a success would be like saying the Beatles sold a few records!!! LOL just gave away my age didn't I??? ;)

My goodness the new faces, the repeat customers, the new and old friends we recognized and have grown to love, the laughs, the hugs, the ideas shared and all the fun that has been going on for two days is just awesome!!!

My sis Terry, our friends Lisa, Tina and Tammy, my nephew Drew, my daughter Miranda and our Mom all spent some part if not most of the last two days in the shop. There was stocking of shelves and wrapping of gifts, and decorating, and writing up orders, and demonstrating techniques, and assisting customers in picking just the right touch for their homes....wow wow wow......

I would just like to say a huge thanks to my Sister Terry ( my left hand ;)) , Mom, Lisa (our "best" friend/honorary sister), dear friends and consigners Tina and Tammy for demonstrating their crafts and helping in other ways, my nephew Drew for running the register and lifting and toting, and for Miranda my daughter for her lunch run to feed us all today!!! Thank you...thank you....You are all more valuable to me than can be measured! I am honored to have you all as a part of my life!!!!

You know the most important thing that happened wasn't the huge volume of sales we made, even though it was wonderful both days.... nope... and one would was interested only in making a buck or two might have looked at that part and said it was the most important thing.

You know what I find over and over again to be most important most satisfying???

Things like:

• The customer who said she comes back again because I'm a Christian and I run a Christian business, and she also sends other Christians my way because of it too...


• The lady who gets teary eyed saying how much she enjoys spending time with my sis and I because she loves the atmosphere we have created in the shop and how homey it feels.....


• The new dear friend who says we always manage to teach her adorable preteen son some other funny mischievous thing before he leaves the shop...who also got friends to come to the shop now too..


• The customer who says we have gotten her addicted to our quality handmade items and she wont shop anywhere else now for special items for gifts or her home.....


• The child who knows if he is good again on this visit to the shop with mom that he gets to dig in the goodie basket for a treat.....


• The lil girl who couldn't wait to excitedly share her newest news about her new puppy with us.....


• Watching my family and friends laughing and hugging old and new friends and enjoying my dream as much as I am.....yeah those things are important to me.

And more things like:

• The new customer who just got transferred to this area and feels like she is home when she comes into the shop and wants to just stop in and enjoy wandering through the shop when she feels homesick...


• The mother who knows we welcome her well behaved child with open arms and will even take time to visit with them and let them know we value them too...


• The customers who "get" my humor and insanity and laugh right along with me....
• The look on the new customers face when she walks into the shop the first time and discovers how amazing it is.....and she realizes she will have to come back...again...and again....and again....she is hooked....

Yeah those are some of the things that matter to me!!!!

What continually amazes me is that God blessed me in allowing me to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning this shop but in doing that it is also blessing others too... like dropping a pebble in a pond, one ripple creates another ripple creates another ripple........

...and knowing that this is my "job", my occupation is "Shop Keeper", "Proprietor", "Owner" and I love it and I wouldn't trade it for any other job anywhere that pays any amount of money....

Yeah that's such a satisfying feeling I cant even put words to it to describe it...

...Our God is truly an awesome God!!!! And with family and friends and the shop in my life I would say I am way more blessed than I will ever deserve to be.

To those of you who came and visited and shared a cookie, some cider and some laughs during the Open House I say thank you my friends new and old!

And to those of you I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet I say the door is open... you are always welcome, come as you are.....we hope you feel at home! Come shop with us, its like no place else you have ever been!

God Bless!!!!