Friday and Saturday were the culmination and fruition of 2+ months of soap-making and 2+ weeks of marketing, packaging, printing and prepping. The Front Porch Pickins Vintage and Handmade Market at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale hosting hundreds of vendors, including my little Goats Make Soap Co. booth, was from 9-7 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. Thursday was about 8 hours of unloading and setup and Saturday after 4pm was about 4 hours of packing up and loading.
In total, weeks of hours was put into this event and it paid off. I learned some things, had great interactions with new customers, was blessed with visits from friends and made triple in sales what I was hoping for. I think I'll do it again in February and won't be nearly as stressed about it before hand now that I know what to expect.
My dear neighbor, Laura, volunteered to help me through the whole process in exchange for keeping her in soap. Deal! And I'm sure I got the better end of that bargain, because I would not have been standing upright on the floor of the Cardinals stadium setting up a booth on Thursday if it wasn't for her! I see a good friendship developing there. Thank you Lord!
In the weeks leading up to this event I sold my last two milking does and went to part time (24 hours a week) at work. I was also offered an opportunity to apply for a wound nurse position at my hospital (which I will be applying for tomorrow), which is a half-time position (20 hrs a week). I also applied to ASU's RN to BSN online program which I will be following up on tomorrow to find out the next step.
The Friday before last my mother in law found out she has stage 3 duodenal cancer, which is so rare the doctors are treating it as small bowel cancer because they really don't know how to treat it. This came as a big surprise. She starts chemotherapy next week and I will be flying out to stay with her for a couple days the week of Thanksgiving.
I'm tired and ready to call it a day after a nail-biting baseball tournament day with Connor and coffee with dear friends this evening.
I am finding that there are no A+B=C explanations for why God does what he does. At least those kinds of linear, clear, neat explanations don't satisfy me. But a look at the cross of Christ does. A look up at an all-powerful, sovereign, good and holy God gets my eyes off why and on what. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to learn? And even more that that, it takes the questions off the table, at least for awhile, and causes me just forget myself and be in awe of one greater than me and my circumstances. To get lost for a moment in the wonder of God and his plan for the universe and little speck of dust me... to think about the fact that I am his creature, he made me, in his image, and for his glory... The whys and the whats fall off the radar and I can look back down at where I'm at in life and have a sense of peace that says, "All will be well because I am His and He is mine."
Quieted,
Sheila
