Another Update... Christmas is getting closer every day! :-)

Now that I am focused on CHRISTMAS, I keep thinking of what I need to get done, what I need to get it done, and how to get it done... 

I have spent way over my budget already, but everything is covered - so far.  I am buying supplies, starting to paint, getting out my crafting tools and other supplies.  Tonight I went to Etsy to check on the price and availability of something and stayed there forever.  A shop in China has a lot of low-cost items I want to try, but I am going to sleep on it and see if that is what I want to do.  They want to charge high shipping costs so the "free" option doesn't get here until September/October.  I am thinking about it... about whether it is worth the wait.

I will look for my own supplies and start with them.  I have to find them.  :-)   They are somewhere in my room... I hope.

If I can do the silk-screening, the jewelry supplies can wait.  I received my silkscreen transparencies for making designs to burn into the screens. I'm expecting my major order of supplies soon... it is suppose to go PRIORITY MAIL... so that means tomorrow, maybe.  I hope so.  I made the economic plunge because I have been trying to get the right equipment for a long time.  What I ordered is for small art.  I am going to work on my postcard designs, maybe some ATC's/ACEO's, small designs for baby clothes maybe, whatever I can figure out.  I only have about 10 screens to work with, of two types of screen material.

Next will be the emulsion learning curve... making my own screens to burn designs in.  I'm going to work my way up to poster sizes because that has always been something I wanted to do.

I watched some YouTube videos again... about the premade transfers that are available.  Some will do actual photos.  Some will work on sports clothes.  Some are for regular needs.  I am learning these things on my way to buying a heat press.

I was at a store tonight that had about 30K listings... that is a lot of listings.  I'm not sure I want to get that big... but if it's automated, it won't hurt.  That's a future decision.  Right now I just want to make a decent amount of money for CHRISTMAS.  I just remembered, as I was writing that last sentence, that my original goal was to make things all year and sell the most at CHRISTMAS, trying to make enough to pay for the next year... ahead.  :-)  I will have to write that down again.

I am debating (still) about PRINTFUL.  My eBay shop got disconnected from its integration with Printful.  I am thinking I might try manual sales for a bit.  I am getting ready to list some items with my phone.  I've been working in that direction for some time now.  I started taking photos and making social media posts this past week.  I started to make a listing, but didn't have my items planned for eBay out and ready to list.  I will be working on that this weekend, too.

I didn't do my prayer journals this morning.  The day just got away from me.  I will be entering them when I finish here.  I see how much better it is to get this done first thing in the morning, like Bible time.  I haven't had Bible time for a long time... it's been a long valley.  Today was a good thing... it has reminded me that mornings are important for some of the commitments we make.

I watched a video on making my own stickers, too... another goal.  I need one of those cutting machines to get that done right, good enough to sell.

Everything I want to do is based on the designs I have always wanted to make.

Awhile back I remembered the POLITICAL ACTION CARDS I created way back in the beginning of my quests for creating income.  They would be great for election issues like we are facing now, and will face in the future.  God willing, I might be able to get those done for the next Presidential election... it should be a major event for the US and the world because there will be two new candidates fighting to win the position.

We forget that our country is only as good, as healthy, as kind and merciful as the hearts of its people.  When there is no GOD to create moral foundations, sin and evil grow -- without the lost even understanding what they are missing.

I think the false media, powers that are bigger than us, try to make us think that Christians and Jews are dying.  It helps their cause... it makes us weak.

I wrote a letter to someone this week about deciding to sign up for AARP to get their "freebie" item... but not liking the politics of the group.  I remembered that one of reasons I wanted to build up Working Together was to be the AARP for Christians... to have the power that membership gives when it is large.  To stand against the rising evils.  To be able to organize protections and provisions for us.

I seem to be "remembering" my original goals these days. Mostly I just try to survive.  The things that mattered to me at the beginning seem pointless now, as I am heading into senior issues and death.  The foundation is good, the need is great, but the provision just hasn't been there.  I don't know why.

Sometimes I think it is the interference of Satan, but I don't think it would have been allowed this long unless there was a bigger purpose in GOD's Plan.

Sometimes I think the person, or people, who GOD wanted to provide for WT didn't do it.

There is always this connection with action in our faith.  I have shared it before, but one time I was in a church Bible study and a question was asked... I knew the answer, but didn't give it.  Then the Holy Spirit found someone else in the room to share the answer.  It was a lesson to me of how GOD works sometimes. When we don't do what He prompts us to do, sometimes He finds another Christian willing to be His vessel in a certain action.

Then I think of the times when there was no one else to be a substitute. What happens when we are the only one who can do something, and we choose not to do it?  It could be a minor consequence or it could be devastating... for us, for the church, for the Body of Christ... we don't know the effects of not doing GOD's Will.

I think of how different my life would be.  E V E R Y T H I N G  would have been different.  So, is this where we are all suppose to be?  Is this the time GOD will finally move on our behalf?  I don't know.

I guess I will just keep thinking about all these things... and trust that GOD is able to do anything that needs to be done, and I am just ONE tiny little cell in the global BODY of CHRIST.  Something is happening, I just don't know what it is.  GOD does.

Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us
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