What to blog about?  That’s what I sat thinking last night as I stared at my computer.  I have projects on the go but no pics to share.  I have so many things I have done recently but no pics of them.  I’d say I’m being a very bad blogger right now.  Hard to wear all the hats all the time and make them all look good 😀

So I clicked over to my list of ‘drafts’ to see what might be lurking in the wings of this blog.  And I found this post.  I had started writing it a few weeks ago, then got sidetracked and never finished it.  So I dusted it off, added a few more paragraphs, tossed in some pretty photos for fun and called it good.

Housewife to Entrepreneur

All kids have dreams for their lives.  Dreams of where they will go, what they will do.  Never in all my childhood dreams did I ever entertain the thought of my own business.  Entrepreneur was never a word I linked with my name. (I had to look up the word entrepreneur to make sure I was spelling it right – just saying)

 As a child I dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having babies.  I wanted my own baby to take care of so badly.  During high school when everyone else was getting after-school jobs that seemed to be on the track for ladder-climbing, I was cleaning houses and babysitting.  While everyone else was talking about what career they wanted, I just wanted to get married and have a family.  After high school I bounced around from this temporary job to that.  At age 20 I got a job in an office that was an 8-5 job – a ‘real’ job.  Didn’t pay enough to support myself if I ever wanted to move out on my own though, so as the years passed I began to consider the fact that I might have to go back to school and learn to do something that would pay a bit more.  I didn’t want to but I was aware that I might have to.  No idea what I wanted to take classes for.

And then God surprised me and introduced ‘Prince Charming’ into my life one December day and just like that all my dreams came true!  I married him the following September and 18 months later we became the parents of a darling baby girl.  I was living my dream!

Fast forward 15 years.  Now I have 3 beautiful daughters, 15, 10, and 8.  And as a little 4 year old friend of ours said not too long ago – ‘children take YEARS to grow up’!!!!!  all those dreams I had of babies failed to go beyond the baby years to the childhood years, the pre-teen years, the teenage years, and the fact that I was going to relive my teens all over again through my own kids!  YIKES!  

Like I said already – entrepreneur was never a word I would have used to describe myself.  Even 2 years ago when I made the decision to register my business name and start an actual business I was a bit in denial about what I was actually doing.  In some ways and on some days I still am!  Me with a business?!! HA!  But that’s exactly what I am doing.  I’m parenting kids and teenagers instead of babies and I’m running my own business.  How did this happen and what was I thinking?!!  GAH!  parenting kids and teens is way different than taking care of babies and I have no idea what I’m doing!  Running a business is way out of my league and comfort zone  and I have no idea what I’m doing!

But guess what?!  God doesn’t answer prayers or fulfill dreams and then walk away and leave you to fend for yourself!  How awesome is that!?  He gave me an awesome husband.  And though the road of marriage has not always been straight and smooth, I’m still in love with my man and so thankful he is the one God used to make that dream come true.  God gave me 3 beautiful babies.  I loved and cuddled and raised those babies right through the toddler years till all of a sudden I didn’t have any babies anymore.  But God is still with me now that I find myself floundering in the sea of temper tantrums, noise, bickering, hormones, and craziness that makes up a household of girls.  He shows me the smiles, and hugs and laughter that makes all the rest worth it.  He lifts me up when I feel like the biggest failure of a parent – he gives me a new morning to start fresh every day.

And the business part?  God knew I had an inborn desire to create and decorate and repurpose – of course He did!  He created me and any talents I have are directly from Him and He gets all the praise!  But still, a business?  In this economy?  Are you SURE this is the direction I was supposed to go God?  Really?

How do you answer a question like that?  I didn’t ever hear a heavenly voice telling me exactly what to do and what my business should look like.  But I did have a peace about proceeding and it seemed that things just kept working out.  And if something didn’t go exactly like I had planned or looked like I though it should look to be a success there was always something good to be gleaned from it.  Experiences that taught what to do or not do next time.  Friends made that are irreplaceable.  Contacts made that expand and grow my business to look nothing like anything I ever dreamed of!  Even though I didn’t dream of this as a  kid, as an adult, once the idea took root, all kinds of dreams kept cropping up!

I’m so very very thankful that God made my girlhood dreams come true.  I wouldn’t trade being a wife and mother for anything!  I’ll cherish my memories of those darling, chubby babies forever.  And these pre-teen and teenage years too!  I love how my teenage daughter and I are becoming friends.  She comes to me every day for hugs.  She wants me to watch movies with her.  She wants me to see the things she is creating and she shares everything with me.  We talk about all the stuff teenage girls go through (whether I want to or not! 😀 )

My two little pre-teens are so funny and sweet – all while trying my patience at every turn!  Honestly I don’t think I will ever miss the pre-teen years, they just are not my favorite.  But we will go through them to the better years ahead.  I play Rumikub with them, I read them stories, I pray they will absorb a bit of the math and grammer they do every day.  I love watching their personalities unfold and blossom as they grow up.

My business is growing and changing and I’m loving it.  I’ve hired a seamstress to help me out with the basics so I can concentrate on the design and creating.  I’m painting some furniture.  I have several places I’m selling my items.  I have a few events on the schedule for this year.  I’m figuring out what I really enjoy doing and what I don’t enjoy.  I’m saying ‘no’ to the things I don’t enjoy so I have more time for what I do enjoy.  I’m slowly working on getting my girls to do a few of my business things with me.  It’s spring and I’m hopeful the weather will soon turn warm and sunny and I can get out there picking some great vintage items.

Life may not always look like what we think it will.  Some things God allows us to go through are hard.  Some things we really don’t want to do.  But he is always there to carry us through.  I am praising Him for my life and trusting Him for the days and years ahead!

Jill