New Ventures

I've started carving jewelry. It's not too much of a branch off of sculpting, but it is different. I'm working on creating an Etsy store to sell some of my work. Hopefully, it will be lucrative enough to make one of the payments on our bills. We'll see. I've got ideas pulsing through me, and not enough time to work on them all.

Time to get started with the chores. I really want to get at least a rough carving on a new piece before we head to the gallery.

First, my list:

46. Tiny, warm puppy, curled up in my chair.

47. My heavy, leather journal, filled with joy, tears, fits, and lessons learned.

48. Silence.

49. Pressing my cheek to Daniel's strong back while he drifts off to sleep.

50. Sitting in sunshine, reading a book.

51. Yellow-striped turtles, each with their own unique designs. A reminder that no creature is too small for Creator's attention.

52. God's gift of talent, so I can create imitations of His beautiful works.

53. Yellow tape measures coiled neatly.

54. Morning calls with Mom, and hearing Dad's morning sneeze fit through the phone.

55. Marley's devotion, and his one goal in life: to try to sleep in the bed with his humans.

Still Alive and Kickin'

Life has been busier than normal at our home. We started going to a new church and our new friends have turned us into socialites. Who knew!? We are enjoying making new friends and strengthening some very fun, wholesome relationships. Yay God!

Today, I sat down in my chair to ponder the lessons I've been learning lately. A few of them are as follows:

1. Look for joy and you will find it.

2. It's easier on yourself to have a good attitude about something you don't want to do than to exhaust yourself and everyone around you having a bad one.

3. Friendship, real friendship, is a rare and precious gift. Treasure it!

4. Generosity is about more than material possesions. It's about sacrificially giving of yourself so that God can teach you to love people. Generosity glorifies our wonderful Father!

5. Giving away your stuff makes you worry less about it. Stuff becomes meaningless, and that is such a wonderful feeling.

6. Relationships are meaningless without total honesty. You aren't friends with some one if you won't let them walk into your house with a messy kitchen, you hair unwashed, in you pj's, and having a bad day. Friendship comes from knowing about the shortcomings of others and loving them more for it.

7. Very few things are actually worth arguing over. Bite your tongue and move on.

8. God never lets pain go to waist. -Pastor Mark

9. People are more interested in what you're for than what you're against. -Pastor Mark

10. Stop to gaze upon the beauty of God's creation. I love thinking about the things God made which appear to serve no other purpose than to teach us of his beauty.

A quick update. Daniel gave me the grunge this week, but (praise God!) it seems to have cleared up. I was pretty concerned that I would develop pneumonia again. We LOVE our church family! We have never been so happy in a church and it's absolutely breathtaking to watch Daniel's heart (and mine) begin to burn with Christ's passion. Nothing new to report about my fertility, except that I am more regular than I have been in years. My attitude about my circumstance continues to improve. I am SO excited about Christmas this weekend. I am chock full of Christmas cheer this year, and I love it! That's all for now. I have to conquer Mt. Laundry and make dough for cinnamon rolls and French bread this weekend.

God bless!

Day 1

I don't know exactly what I want to do with this blog. Ideas are stampeding through my brain, but I worry about that I will sound boring and end up writing to absolutely no one.

A good place to start, I believe, would be introductions. My name is Kimberly. I am married to a man of integrity and humor, with an excellent smile. Daniel and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary in April. One day soon, I'll have to tell you all about how we met and ended up marrying; it's a very sweet story. No one irritates me more, or makes me as happy as Daniel. Daniel is a man who knows what his preferences are and isn't shy about letting me or anyone else know. This is by far his most annoying characteristic. His most endearing characteristics: generosity, his mind, his love of a happy ending, his boyishness, and unfailing honesty.

Marley, our 70 pound, Labrador/Brittany Spaniel lap dog, is my child. Very few humans have ever come close to the love I have for "Fella." He is my constant companion. I also have a cat, her name is Peach, but she only responds to "Monkey." There is no evidence that she is actually a cat and not some neurotic alien come to research the tolerance level humans have for constant chaos. In two weeks, the newest addition to our family will come home. She's a Rat Terrier/Welsh Corgi mix who is currently nameless. I've thought of so many names, and Daniel has hated them all. We never can agree on names.... My mom says it doesn't matter what I name her, because our animals always end up with a nick name anyhow.

Currently, I am at home full time. Officially, I am a sculptor with my own business. My pieces are bronze depictions of various animals; all of my work is currently displayed in a gallery in the Texas hill country. People often ask me if I love being an artist and I lie... sort of. I don't love it most of the time. I hate being the center of attention with people I don't know gawking and making stupid comments about how I'm too young to ever make something that looks like that. I cannot stand making commissioned sculptures (a work that is designed and payed for by a customer). I am truly happy when I am divinely inspired, no one has any say in the piece, I turn on my mood music, and in a couple hours I have a sculpture that makes me feel some happy emotion. If I am forced to sculpt something, inevitably I will hate it.

My newest passion is cooking. I love to eat, and that is exactly how I came to be 35 pounds overweight in our first year of marriage. Food is the surest way to improve any mood, and I, being female, have an ample supply of moods. Since June, I have lost 20 pounds. I have 10 more to lose to get to wedding weight and 15 pounds to be my recommended weight. I am so excited. Cooking healthy food is a new concept to me. I'm trying. To this day, I still force feed myself vegetables... I turn 23 in 2 weeks. I think most of my teeth are sweet teeth, and I've only ever had one meal that had no meat in it. So, 20 pounds is a serious accomplishment for me. The movie "Julie and Julia" was so inspiring. My mom suggested I do a similar project using Paula Deen's cook book; this sounds like the best idea ever, but I never want to be fat again. Charming Paula loves her butter, and I love my southern food. The craziest idea popped into my head last week; my poor brain said, "Kim, you should write your very own cook book. Come on, it will be fun! Yes, you will probably become insane in the process, but how cool would it be to have your own book?" I'm still trying to talk sense into myself.

Well, I have developed a headache. I guess this is a sufficient introduction, and I really need to go rest. I wish you all a happy new year, and I will write again soon.

Signing off,

Kimberly