I have been holding out on you guys because there is a lot of crazy that has been going on in our lives. We have had some big time choices to make (Que the dramatic music) and some exciting news as well.
Lets start with the exciting news (since that is always fun).
I am pregnant {CUE my surprise}!
And because I am just not busy enough {hee hee}, I have decided to partner with my friend Tina of Mama Mia Jewelry and am offering a FIVE FREE sterling silver HOPE charms {one with each necklace or charm bracelet purchase} to the first FIVE amazing customers. Simply click on the SHOP or HERE to see what is available.
Photograph of ‘New Life’ charm with ‘HOPE’ charm
And DON’T forget that until AUGUST 7th, I am giving 20% off each jewelry purchase with the ‘Mama Love’ code for International Breastfeeding Week!!!! Ahem, early Christmas shopping anyone? And because I am clearing out inventory, act fast, while supplies last.
Oh ~ AND . . . . wait for it . . . As soon as I found out I was pregnant we decided to SELL OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!
We are literally choosing HOPE and FAITH again.
In the last three weeks we have moved ahead, found a realtor, done MAJOR projects and will be listing very soon {fingers crossed}.
For several years, we have talked about selling our home after Steven lost the job we relocated from TX for four years ago. Two weeks after being laid off {as some of you know} we received the news about Amelia and our lives turned upside down. After she died, I became pregnant with Silas and we chose stability over more transitional changes, and decided to stay put. In hindsight, it was the best decision.
I am the luckiest woman to have the MOST AMAZING HUSBAND, who kept us financially solvent in the worst two years of our lives, only because of his foresight to keep us debt free over the years. There is nothing like watching your bank account dwindle as you watch your husband suffer indignity after indignity trying to find a job for 20 months. But through it all, he never gave up {even though I did a few times}! God literally brought him a job at the last possible moment. I can’t even begin to tell you how HE provided for all our needs during those trying times! From being pregnant after Amelia’s death, to having anxiety constantly throughout my pregnancy with Silas, then postpartum depression and enduring month after month of no income ~ we held onto HOPE!
The reason for such a fast change?
We want the flexibility of getting out of a mortgage.
I know for most people that is crazy talk . . . but we have always moved around and traveled for Steven’s work and the military, so for us, being tied down to a house in this economy is just not practical anymore.
So, please wish us luck . . . because we need the perfect family to come quickly and love our home and neighborhood so that we can figure out where in the world we will end up next.
And YES, I am totally freaking out right now . . . there is nothing like being a control freak and handing over your future to a waiting game while your trying to keep a 2700 sq ft. house ‘show ready’ with 4 kids running a muck and being tired and sick all day long.
Hence, my purposeful choice to focus on HOPE and share it with you all! I think that we can all use some HOPE to hold onto in this crazy world we live in.
SO, I really could use some help spreading the word! I know it takes time to share, but I really would appreciate as much help as possible right now! Thanks for considering it!
Oh wow BIG BIG BIG news! Congrats on everything!!!!!!!!
Thanks Beth!
Congrats, Stephanie!!
Thanks Jen! I guess I was pregnant when we met at Starbucks, but didn’t even know it! Crazy!
congrats Steph! so happy for you!
Wow big changes and congratulations! Love your message of hope…
Hi, Stephanie. is it? Not sure, but I know your baby girl’s name is AMELIA. I have a 34 year old first born daughter–Amelia, She is wonderful and has five children. I will think of your little one when I see her and speak her name. I am so sorry for your pain. This summer, we feared losing my second daughter, Elizabeth’s little boy, JUDGE. He had some problems, and he had to stay in the NIC unit a few more weeks. She had to leave the hospital without him. We realized-slightly-the pain of parents who lose their children at birth. We prayed for them.
I was brought to your site, because I,too, am traveling a grief journey. In 2008, I lost my wonderful husband, Travis, of 33 years. Like your husband, he, too was a MOST AMAZING HUSBAND AND MAN. My life has turned upside down, changed in so many ways. It has been almost four years, and I am still in deep depression, I think. Have a big lovely family, and enjoy being with them. But lose your soulmate and you lose so much of yourself, at least, that is how I feel. Lost my joy, and interest in life. I am not proud of it, and trying to get out of this pit of grief “marinating in misery”. I am a spiritual being, close to God, but I guess need to grow closer. Traavis, I guess, not God, was my everything. I have absorbed your encouraging words, and hope to let them inspire me to choose hope, and faith, and return to my art and use the gifts God has given to me. NOTHING can take the place of your baby daughter, AMELIA, but I am overjoyed that God has blessed you with SILAS, your other children, and NOW ANOTHER ? How wonderful. My heart smiles. I am so grateful that God has given you PEACE, A PURPOSE, AND FAITH AND HOPE. If one has HOPE… one has EVERYTHING. I will keep you and yours in my prayers, and check in with you from time to time. May God continue to bless you with an abundance of blessings.
PS I was born and raised in New York, and have been living in Texas for 15 years now. ENJOY LIFE, Grace 
Grace,
I am so so sorry that your husband left so soon. My mother lost my father at the age of 37 and was widowed with the three of us. I remember that as a dark dark time in all our lives. She and my father were soul mates in much of the same way you describe. I know that she felt just as you did for years as well (how can you not).
I am very humbled that you think of my sweet Amelia (thank you for that). It makes me smile.
I hope that you do explore your art and other gifts that God has blessed you with. I know for myself, it was very hard to start, but just what I needed to express myself when words didn’t come. And for me that is saying something, lol. I am a wordy gal. Never afraid to speak my mind. But there is something very different about using your hands to express yourself. It gives you a winding path to follow that you didn’t see coming and a way to explore things that words cannot.
Thank you so much for sharing a bit of your story with me. I have to say ‘be gentle with yourself’ in your grief. There is just no right or wrong way to do it. It is a journey that is different for each of us.