ROAD TRIP

Hello bloggers! Here I am again...behind in my blogging. I have a lot to catch you up on, but later. It's 10:20pm & I have to get up at 3:30am to go to California! We're taking a quick 3-day trip with some friends to Disneyland and the beach. Nate has been saying every day last week, "Next week, Disneyland!" He's very excited to see Mickey & Donald...although I doubt he'll get too close. haha. I didn't like characters either when I was kid.

Lots to fill you in on...another fun zoo trip & our 40 Day Celebration Sunday in the park. Oh yeah...and the Disneyland trip when we get back!

Have a great week!

YAY GOD!!

Wow! I got a huge God-size blessing yesterday. I became a licensed artist 4 years ago & it has been a tough occupation. Basically...I've been pulling in about $100 a month for the last 2 years...that's right...no profit for the first two years. Pocket change in this day & age. The good thing is that it's forced us to get disciplined about our money. That was a hard lesson...to live off 1 income when we've been used to 2 incomes for 16 years. But we made a lot of cutbacks & changed how we live and eventually realized we could more than survive on 1 income....even with the new addition of a child. 

The licensing biz is tough to break into. My agent warned me that I wouldn't begin receiving royalty checks until after I'd been in it for about 3 years. She was right but I didn't realize the checks would be so small. Still I had faith & trusted God ...I really believed that He opened the doors for me to even start this venture (although it was very frustrating to be patient!)

HOWEVER......I am always intrigued at how God works. After we began trusting him more with our finances and made it through an agonizing "test of faith" over the last several months...I began noticing that God was doing some things. 

Despite manufacturers & retailers closing their doors last year, we were signing contract after contract. I thought it was temporary...that they might fall through due to the economy or that it would become harder to find more contracts. But they just kept coming. Even my art agents were surprised. And the contracts were GOOD ones...not just small manufacturers but bigger ones who landed big retail buyers like Anna's Linens. 

I began seeing the monetary results in those contracts this quarter, but yesterday...my agent emailed me with best news yet....

"I just received the final final word from Creative Converting that Target has picked up your “Harvest Blessing” collection for their Fall/Harvest end cap.  Yeah!!!!  Congratulations!!!

 

They said they will be sending the agreements out in the next couple of weeks!

 

It is so nice to see some of these are coming together and that your hard work is paying off!! J

 

Karen"

I couldn't believe it! This is a tremendous break for me. Target is picking up my Harvest Blessings art for their fall lineup. They are making paper plates, napkins, etc. to be displayed in Target nationwide!! I am so excited...especially considering that the art they selected is from my Inspirational collection...something that mass retailers don't always select. I am not really sure what this means royalty-wise since I have never landed a client this big, but regardless, I'm excited that God's message of encouragement will actually be in viewed in a mass retailer across the U.S. 

I have always wanted my art to serve a purpose somehow. I believe God is planting seeds with people who view my licensed art and I pray that they find encouragement through that. There's a lot of encouraging messages in the Bible....regardless of whether you believe in God or not.

SUMMER TREATS

I reserve the right to declare it officially summer when the temps hit 105 degrees. ha! Here's some fun pix of Nate....

Watching Funniest Home Videos with dad

Totally absorbed...

Yay! Ice cream!

Check out my mini cone

Climbing, climbing, climbing

I'm king of the mountain!

OREGON TRAIL

We just got back from a great trip to Oregon. Don performed the wedding for some good friends of ours, Kevin & Iris. While we were there, we stayed with my best friend Karie and her family. I've known Karie since I was about 4, when our dads were stationed at the airforce base in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. When I was 5, we moved to Phx and Karie's family moved to Oregon. We're always joking that we get to see each other every 6-10 years...sad but true...but every time we get together, it's like not a day has passed. We have an amazing amount of things in common and always feel at home with each other. Here's some highlights from the trip. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Jerrit & Karie's house...built by his dad many years ago.

Nate having fun with Jerrit & their boys

Nate loves tractors but he thought Jerrit's loader was too high!

Jerrit has an excavating company & his family owns a rock quarry

on their property.

The drive to the Oregon coast

Newport lighthouse

Me & my best friend, Karie. I was FREEZING!

Oops..closed my eyes

Lunch at Mo's in Lincoln City

Gianormous windsock

The boys posing on the train in Avery park

Nate had a blast on their trampoline!

Our friends & newlyweds, Kevin & Iris

Gorgeous plum blossom tree

Waiting for the plane ride home

FRIENDS

We took a quick trip to Phoenix to attend the church we used to go to, Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV) and spend time with friends. My friend Mary is the most spontaneous person I know. We planned an impromptu girl's night with her and another spontaneous friend and decided to treat ourselves to dessert at A.J.'s (YUM!)....because we've been pretty good with our diets..haha...and went to see a scary movie, "The Haunting in Connecticut". It was extra scary because the movie didn't start until 10:15pm! We also stopped at our fav place, IKEA. We'd love to do our whole house with their stuff.

It was awesome to be at CCV again and see the growth. When we were there 10 years ago, there were about 3,000-4,000 people. Now they are up to over 15,000! Mary sings on the praise team and I tried to get a video of it but the lighting was pretty dark. Despite the size of the church, we still ran into several people we knew. We met up with more friends, Sam & Chanda and went to dinner with them & their 3 yr old daughter Alyssa. Nate had a good time playing with her dolls, at which Don made a mental note to get him some "ACTION FIGURES". haha. Here's some pix for you:

Spring in the desert

Harvard's new hangout

Mad scientist at IKEA

Breakfast at "The Place". 59th Ave & Bell in Phx. Awesome!

Julia practicing her babysitting skills

Look mom, snails!

Hunting for more snails

Nate & Alyssa. No smile but at least he posed. ha

Playing after the church service