Learning: Being Thankful

This past Sunday, my pastor spoke about the trials and tribulations of life, spiritual struggles, and the lies that Satan speaks into our hearts. He also spoke of how, in almost every situation, the Bible offers a thankful heart as a way to stay strong despite our weak human nature.

He called every person listening to a simple challenge. When you awake in the morning, write down ten things you are thankful for. If you are married, at least one needs to be related to your spouse. If you are living under your parent's roof, at least one needs to be about your parents. The challenge is to continue this process of list-making for 30 straight days, to help build a heart filled with thankfulness.

It is amazing how much good a thankful heart can accomplish!

I have taken up this challenge, and I would love if you would take it with me.

Here is the beginning of my Thankful List.

1. Cuddling with my husband before starting the day.
2. My warm and cozy home.
3. My voice was made for singing.
4. Being able to walk without too much help.
5. Warm baths.
6. Grocery stores with a seemingly unlimited supply of food.
7. Fresh fruit.
8. V8 fusion juice. So delicious! (and healthy!)
9. Skype. (or any other means of video chat with family and friends)
10. Airplanes. So helpful for visiting family!

I will do my very best to post my 10 each day, so come back tomorrow!

What 10 things are you thankful for today? I would absolutely love for you to share them with me!

Ideas: School Spirit

For a little over a week, I have been dealing with some sort of flu bug (or other annoying virus). I've had aches and pains, been tired all day long and have been hardly any help around the house.

Worst of all, I haven't been able to crochet for a whole week!

Seriously, that is akin to torture for an artistic spirit like myself.

I am feeling much better this week. Yesterday I was able to crochet! I finished a blanket that I hope to photograph and post online soon, and started on another one. :-)

Even better than finishing blankets was working on a new idea (I have to utilize my pent-up creativity!). I designed an awesome way to add warmth, style and school spirit to your wardrobe.

This is the start of my newest scarf, monogrammed with my college alma mater: Illinois Institute of Technology. School name, school colors, school spirit!

It is incredibly warm, and unbelievably soft! (btw, I'm keeping this one for myself ... creator's benefits!)

What do you think?

Etsy: New Lower Prices!

© Jessica Van Eaton

My new design is complete! I have my wonderful Etsy shop up and running with all new prices, now set to be donated for charity!

Ninety percent of the proceeds from each sale (excluding the cost of shipping and materials) will be donated directly to the Emergency Family Assistance in Boulder, Colorado.

I cannot wait to see the wonderful benefit this will have in the lives of those in need!

Etsy: A Whole New Me

I love to give.

At my core, that's basically who I am: a giver. I prefer to think of others, I find joy in sacrifice and I smile the most when everyone around me is already smiling.

My Etsy is undergoing a change to reflect this. It's my shop, my products, things I have lovingly made by hand; so, I want it to reflect all of who I am.

Ninety percent of all sales will be donated directly to an awesome program in my new hometown: the Emergency Family Assistance in Boulder, CO. The Emergency Family Assistance Association works in Boulder and Broomfield counties in Colorado, with the purpose of aiding families. They provide food, temporary housing and monetary aid for utility bills, medical needs and housing costs to prevent homelessness.

I am excited to continue learning more about this wonderful program, and to be a part of its efforts for aiding those in need!

I hope you will join me on this journey, and prayerfully consider giving to this wonderful cause ... all while gaining a beautiful heirloom blanket!

My Etsy shop is on vacation while I am undergoing these changes. It will be back online on Monday. Until then, please visit my other shop, and be inspired!

Slipping In and Out

© Jessica Van Eaton

Once again, I have managed to let time slip away from me.

Sorry!

These past few months have kept me rather busy. I've married an amazing man of God, enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon that he planned, experienced the beauty of an island and the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon, drove a whole horde of miles to my lifetime of things, decorated a new home, spent hours playing with my new macro adapter for my camera, cooked a lot of new foods and learned more each day about what it means to live as a Godly wife. I have also been working on projects for my awesome Etsy shops and might possibly have a temporary assignment that relates to my love of architecture and my expertise with the amazing program Revit. *phew* It's been an adventurous time!

I've been quite busy, yet every day I feel as though I can be doing more things to help others.

I have been researching lately about the various volunteer opportunities in my area. I can help at the animal shelter, the food bank, the library's reading program, Big Sister programs and so many more!

What I still want to do, however, is find a way to help people through my love of crochet (and my awesome ability to finish projects quickly!) and good interpersonal skills. How could I do this?

I wanted to sell my blankets and give the profits to the Storehouse, which is doing awesome things in Chicago. It seems, however, that no one is willing to pay the asking price for my blankets, which includes paying me for my time.

What, then, am I to do?

Maybe I should start by giving my time away. Would I still ask the buyer to cover the cost of materials? Or would that still be too much? How long do I have to price a beautiful, time-intensive, hand-made blanket before someone actually wants to buy it?

Or maybe I should find a way to auction my awesome, soft and beautiful blankets to people who would appreciate them, and the good their sale would be doing.

Maybe I should just stick to my area of the world, and find a place in Boulder to donate. Then maybe the people I interact with throughout my week would actually be interested in helping.

Or maybe, in the end, no one really cares.

Maybe I'll just donate the blankets straight to the homeless and needy. At least I would be giving them something.

Maybe I'm not meant to make a huge difference in the world.

But maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to make a small one.

Where do you choose to make a difference? Do you take a few moments of your day to make someone smile? Or do you take a whole lot of moments and put in thought and effort to make a difference? Both are important. Which do you do?

The Craziness of it All

No matter how big or seemingly small, every single wedding is filled with fun, laughter, and tons of planning. The type of planning that takes over your life and every moment of your day. The planning that never seems to end until the moment before you finally walk down the aisle.


This coming Saturday I will be marrying the love of my heart, and I am so excited! Sadly, I have managed to be so busy with planning that I haven't written a single blog post that I intended to.

So, this beautiful blog will be stagnant for a few more weeks while I go through the wonderful new process of starting my life as a married woman.

Keep us in your prayers!

Sorry for the Delay

Once again I have managed to not blog in a while ... sorry!

It is so hard to come up with a time to write down all of my thoughts, find awesome pictures of mine to illustrate (or at least to look at), and then decide on a short and insightful blurb when sharing my post across the crazy internet.

Here is a wonderful little list of things I hope to be writing about over the next few days:

• The awesome time I had helping out at Vacation Bible School at Northpoint church in Corona, California
• A few fun times during my month-long stay in Colorado with my fiance and his family
• My abundant excitement about getting married in less than two weeks
• Things I have learned about simple relaxation, such as laying on the floor
• How quickly the monthly of July has passed
• The awesome new purses I designed and have been making 
• Groups that are helping the poor and hungry throughout the world
• Some random fun thing on the internet so this blog isn't boring

I hope you will come back soon (and find that I actually posted something!).

Have a blessed day!