Hello, May...

It's going to be a good month! Can you ever just feel it sometimes? Already, the second day in, and I can feel a shift in the atmosphere. Good, positive things are coming...I just know.

Do you ever have one of those days where you realize how closely your reality resembles your wildest dreams? Today, as I sit here at my computer, my girls toddling about me...inside and outside...I'm having the deepest feelings of happiness and contentment. I'm realizing how there is absolutely nowhere else I'd rather be {physically or metaphorically}.

I'm working diligently on getting my prints in the shop today. I cannot tell you the feeling of accomplishment as I placed my items the "Art" category. I have wanted to sell something in that category for as long as I can remember. From a time when I was sure that "artist" meant "painter" or "illustrator" or something else that I did not possess the skills for. There were so many years that I resigned myself to suppressing my creative desires because I did not match my own description of "artist".

It wasn't until this big world opened up for me and I fell in love with my camera that I began to see things in a different light; that I began to explore all of the possibilities that lay in front of me. Artist is not a job; it's not a category on an aptitude test that implies some specific skill set. Artist is a way of life. To be an artist is to be able to look at this world, see something magical in it, and then be able to share that with the world.

Today, I accomplished a long time goal...I began selling my art. It feels huge...so monumental. It was a goal that seemed too huge to even work towards at one time, and then a goal that felt to intimidating to tackle. Persistence and patience have won today...as have I.

And the fact that all this has happened amidst my being home to raise my children and watch them grow...well, words cannot even begin to describe my gratitude for my blessings! Five years ago, I was working full time in a stressful, non-family friendly work environment. I missed my daughter, I hated my job, I came home crying nearly every day...but saw no other solution. On faith, I left that job and began waitressing only to realize shortly thereafter that we were expecting our second child. I didn't see how it would be possible to support two children when we were barely getting by on Brent's meager salary and my minimal waitressing shifts. But I had faith...strong faith...that everything was meant to be...that God would provide. I was open and listened. And a waitressing job, an in-home daycare, a soap business, and some changes in Brent's work situation later...here I am realizing my wildest dreams!

I didn't even really come here today to spill all of that and get so mushy...but once I started writing, I knew that it was important to look at everything that brought me to this point. I don't want to go all "if you can dream it, you can do it" on you, but I do want to say that if something is on your heart, I'm a firm believer that everything will all come together eventually to make that happen. Life may not always go down the roads you plan, but ultimately, you will always end up where you were intended to go.

So, May is starting off really great, yes?