Hoot Hoot...

Monday night I had my Open House for my new business that I started.  I am selling Living Lockets with Origami Owl!! It went so well and I just loved every part of it...except for the order part because that totally stresses me out!! I love that these lockets tell your story...who you are...what you have been through.  I have always said that a picture tells a story and that is why I love photography...but oh, this locket.  This locket that hangs so close to my heart tells my story too.

A story of redemption...of rescuing.  I was so lost in this dark world and Christ rescued me out of it...He changed me...gave me a new purpose in life.  A calling!  Man am I ever grateful for the cross of Calvary   My most important charm is the cross, because without the cross...oh without the cross, I'm not sure there would be anything in my locket.  I have an "R" in my locket and that represents my sweet husband, Ric.  I love that man, I do. He is the Godliest man I know.  He is my BFF...my leader...my love, and without him, I wouldn't have the next four charms.  Those charms are my children's birthstones.

 My first son, Charlie who has such a sweet soul...I look at that sapphire and remember how he made me a mom first...and I think of what a great kid he is and I pray that he does great things in his life for Christ.  The next stone is for my Addie...an aquamarine, and I think about my sweet brown eyed girl that is such a little momma.  She is the little girl that I thought I was going to lose when I suddenly went into labor at 25 weeks...and I just remember praying...God, would you just let her stay safe inside of me.  And He did....and she is such a blessing to have in our lives and I know God has huge plans for her.   The next stone is for my Shelby, its tourmaline and such a pretty pink...and isn't that fitting because I named her after Shelby in my favorite movie...Steel Magnolias.  Pink was her signature color!!  It reminds me of my smart and funny little girl. She has more random facts memorized than any person I know...but oh how that little girl lights up the room and brings a smile to any face.  She has a true gift...and I pray Christ uses that. The next stone is my Jesse...it's an aquamarine too. He was born two days before his sisters birthday.  It reminds me of my fun loving little boy who always lives life in a big way.  He is uber athletic...funny...and is just so stinkin cute!! He is still my "baby" and I can't wait to see what God does with him.

I have a "6" charm to represent my family.  I love numbers...always have and six is special to me because it represents the Blazi 6.  My family is so important to me and it's what I do.  I am doing this business on the side...I don't have to have this...I don't need it to make me feel important...to give me a purpose...to give me girl time.  This is so I can help our family down the road with college...cars(Jesus be near)...weddings(even nearer).  But my family...my family comes before this.  Christ is the most important thing in my life...he called me to be a wife and a mom....and to serve my church.  Those things will ALWAYS come first....always.  I can't imagine not serving in my church...it's just part of me and who I am.  So that number is to remind me of my family and my purpose...to honor Christ in all I do as a wife, mom, church member....the list goes on.

I have a camera because I love taking pictures.  A picture tells a story and I love being part of people's stories...I have cried several times when I pull a picture up to edit.  Not because of my magnificent work...no, it's because of the story!  I have a sand dollar to remind me of my favorite place on earth...where we go as a family every year...St. Simon's Island.  I call it my happy place and it truly is.  We hunt sand dollars for hours as a family and love seeing who can find the smallest or biggest one...it's just a symbol of a great place for me.  I also have an owl and its to remind me of this new venture in life...one that I pray God uses me in.  I don't just hope to make money...I hope to make an impact on every person I come in contact with...for the cause of Christ.  I pray that my story will plants seeds in the lives of the women who buy lockets from me...oh God, would you use me.

That's my story...and why I believe in this new venture in life.

If you would like to look at the website it is www.genieblazi.origamiowl.com and you can see how awesome this stuff is!!  Go tell your story!!

On a side note...we are in full swing with the Christmas Season and I started a new Advent book with our kids and we are loving it.  It is the Jesse Tree by Ann Voskamp....I love everything this woman writes.  She has such a neat way about her and I just cling to every word.  Her blog is amazing...just punches me in the gut every time I read it...in a good way of course:).  Every night we read the advent story and place an ornament on our Jesse tree. Each picture represents something in the story of Christ and I have just loved...LOVED...doing this with my kids.  I know its late in the month, but you can always start today....go here for the book!


This is my story...This is my song...praising my Savior...all the day long.

How do I send a text...

I found this post that I wrote this summer...and for some odd reason I never hit "publish".  I chuckled when I read, seeing as I am trying to learn how to use a "dumb" phone since giving up my glorious iPhone a week ago.  I think the words out of my mouth were..."how do I just make a phone call" when I began learning my "dumb" phone!!!  Any-who...read on, even though this was written about 4 months ago...it still rings true!!


My dad is riding his bike across the country over the next few weeks.  They aren't going all the way across...just to Colorado and then back.  I texted him the day he left and told him to have a good time and be safe.  He texted me back that it was super hot and the wind was blowing crazy(not fun when you are on the back of a Harley)...that the scenery was beautiful...and then he signed it...Dad.  As if i didn't know who it was from, so I thought that was super cute.

My dad just got his iPhone about 3 months or so ago and he has just cracked me up with it.  He came to visit shortly after his BIG upgrade and Ric, Mom, and I were all telling him cool options...fun apps...all the tools that he had...right at his finger tips.  He sat there for a while, soaking it all in and then said "I got one question...how do I send a text??".  I laughed...really hard...and then went and showed him how to send a simple text message.  It tickled me so, because we were showing him all this awesome advance stuff and downloading app after app...and dude didn't even know how to send a text message.

Isn't that just how we do life sometimes?  We try to complicate things by doing the hard stuff before we master the simplest tasks.  Whether its in our housework...it seems like I always take on a major project in the midst of simple cleaning...and then my simple cleaning has turned into a ginormous mess!!  With our kids...we sometimes try to get them to do flips off the diving board before they even know how to swim...that's a joke, but some may do that!  We want our kids to be so "advanced" and be potty trained...and sleep trained...and doing all the big stuff before our friends kids(cause isn't parenting a competition??).  I jest, but sometimes we look at things that way. 

Spiritually, I think we sometimes overlook the simple things that Christ has called us to do...commanded us to do, and we dive into the "bigger...flashier" stuff that gets us noticed.  We get so caught up with wanting more knowledge(which is so important...we should always be growing in our Faith) that we don't live that knowledge out.  We aren't being the hands and feet that God has required us to be.  We want to know all the big words...and read all the "in the know" people's blogs...and have the latest books and commentaries and yet we are so busy that we forget that whole "love your brother" part.  All those "extras" are not bad in and of themselves...they are great things, but if we are so bombarded with all of that, that we don't do the simple stuff, then we have for sure missed the mark! 

I have been reading through 1 John and am beyond convicted over the words he penned.  2:9-11~"Whoever say he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.  whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes".

1 John 3:11~For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another"

I have decided that I am going to sit back and focus on this...that I am going to love my brothers and sisters in Christ.  That I am going to encourage them when they are down...that I am going to point them to scripture when they are in need...that I am going to pray for them earnestly...that I am not going to judge people the way I have in the past...that I am going to love the way Christ called me to...that I am going to purposefully share the Gospel with my friends...family...and strangers.   I can learn all the "big" stuff but if I don't love and tell of His love, then it's all for naught. 

I am thankful for that day in my living room when my daddy showed me this lesson...sometimes we just need to pull back and figure out the "simple" stuff first.  And see...My dad knows how to send a text now!!!

Broken...

A few weeks ago I received a package that I had been waiting on for months.  I had finally ordered a Living Locket from Origami Owl and it was here.  I opened it so carefully... oohing and ahhing over the packaging and when I pulled it out, I think I gasped.  It was beautiful and everything I had hoped it would be.  I gently set it on the table...took pictures of it...instagrammed it and just couldn't wait to show it off.  I was most excited to wear it, because soon I will be selling it and I just couldn't wait for people to see it and want one. I was being so gentle with it that I didn't even put it on.  I just looked at it over and over!!

We went on about our night and after dinner and family devotions I pulled it out to look at it and I noticed my charms were messed up.  I looked closer at the locket and there it was...the back of my locket was cracked.  It is made out of glass and somehow it was cracked.  I automatically went to the girls because I knew they had looked at it.  Both said they didn't do it...and as I looked at their faces I knew which one was guilty.  I also noticed missing charms and when I inquired about that...the truth slowly came out.  

Earlier in the evening, Shelby had wanted to look at my locket, and I told her I didn't want her to mess with it.  It was special and she could look at it here at the table, but I didn't want her taking it anywhere.  Sometime that evening she took it.  She went in private and looked at the locket and decided to open it.  When she opened it all of the charms poured out and panic took over.  I can see her now shoving those charms back inside the glass plate and then trying to shut the locket back.  Evidently she didn't have the charms laying flat so when she ever so gently(enter sarcasm) tried to shut the locket she broke it. 

 

She cried...oh how she cried.  She was so upset...I was so upset.  I was upset that something that I had waited for for so long was broken.  How was I going to show it off...get interest in the product when it was broken?  Then my husband so gently said "it's just a locket Genie...this is your daughter".  I love that man for his honesty...even when it hurts. Grateful that those few words changed my heart from being selfish to "how can I best help my daughter".  

I took Shelby Jean to the scene of the crime and we had a good heart to heart talk about what had happened.  I looked at her swollen puffy eyes and told her I wasn't upset about the locket.  She looked at me with shock...and then I said "I'm upset that you went behind my back and then lied to me".  This broke her  fragile little heart (much more fragile then a stinkin' locket) and it was torn in two over her sin.  She repented and told me how sorry she was over and over.  I explained to her that she had broken a commandment.  She broke the 9th because she lied to me...she had also broken the 8th because she stole something that belonged to me....that she broke the 5th because she didn't honor my wishes...and she had broken all of those things because of the 10th...that she had coveted my locket.  I then looked at that broken little girl...looked at my broken locket and I told Shelby that I loved her and she said "you still do...even though I did all that stuff wrong?" and it was as if God had laid a golden opportunity for me to share the Gospel with my child.

I told Shelby that I loved her so much and it didn't matter what she had done, I was her mom and I loved her.  I then told her about God's love and how He loves me...a wretched sinner.  How he forgives me when I make mistakes...when I break His law.  That He still loves me...because I am His!  I explained to her that      " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."(1 John 1:9 ).  It was a moment that I would give 100 broken lockets for.  A moment that the Gospel was so clear for my broken 7 year old.  I explained to her how precious we are to Him...and that we are His children  "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God"(1 John 3:1).

We hugged and I reassured her that Mommy was fine...that this broken locket could be fixed.  She prayed and so sweetly asked God to forgive her for lying to me and taking something that didn't belong to me.  We went for a ride up to the Dollar General...just her and I and spent some good time talking and she told me "Mom, I have $10 you can have to fix your locket...it's all the money I have, but you can have it".  I told her I didn't think $10 would be enough to fix it...even if they could fix it.  The next morning we took it to the jeweler here in town and he examined it and said "yeah I can fix it...it will be $10".  I just smiled.

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."(Ephesians 1:7-10)