1 John 4:4

 

A month of silence! Woah. I’d say I’ve been busy working on projects, but I haven’t. It’s been so nice to not have a million things to do. (Not that there aren’t things to do, but we haven’t been working on them this month.)

October brings on of my favorite seasons, my birthday, and a friend’s wedding in Nashville, so not only were there the usual things going on we spent 4 days in the heart of Tennessee. We really enjoyed walking around the Hermitage – Andrew Jackson’s home – but other than that and the wedding, well Nashville isn’t really our scene. You see, Bryan and I hardly listen to music, and when we do it’s Miles Davis, Cole Porter, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. Ah well, it was fun to celebrate the wedding of friends. Congrats Ab and Lee!! ❤

More recently (i.e. today) I was working on another one of the Bible verses that were requested in a graphic printable. This verse in particular speaks to the differences between ‘me’ and the world, and since the dear friend of mine/girlfriend of my youngest brother-in-law goes to college just outside of Philadelphia, I thought that beautiful skyline would be a great signifier for the world. It’s not always just the large mass of green and blue, but the people who surround us who make up our world as well.

Where is your world? Like the other bible verses I’ve turned into printable, feel free to click and download, or email me at courtney@bottledsunshine.org for the files sent straight to your inbox.

 

Drum Roll please!

brrh brrrh brrh brrh brrh brrh brrh brrh…

What? that’s my attempt at a typing drum roll.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Something thing that made me look like this:

oh boy am I excited. (This photo is entirely staged, and it took me about 14 tries to get an ‘excited’ expression that seemed semi-acceptable

What could induce a sane person to stick a photo of themselves like that up on their blog?

have a guess?

go on….think about it for a little and make a guess…

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Alright alright. I’ll tell you.

It was a long and busy day. It started off with two hours at the salon, where I got some brief training on what I’m going to do everyday. (It’s a lot to learn)

Then I hurried next door where I did a lot of framing, etc. It was a relatively slow day customer wise until around 2. Then we were swamped.

First, a customer came in quickly. She had to catch  a ferry to Fisher’s Island in just a few minutes and quickly ordered the most expensive glass, said she’d be back to pick it up and tossed her credit card at me to ring up a deposit. While waiting for the card to process she explained she was a new principal on the island. I couldn’t help but say congrats, and then state that I went to college to teach art and am certified in the state of PA. She was excited and said she would actually be looking for a long-term sub, actually she didn’t know how long of a term it would be because the art teacher was expecting and she didn’t know if she’d come back, it could be an open position. My mouth dropped open and she signed her credit slip, said she’d call, and ran out the door to catch the ferry. Did I just get told someone (who had never met me before) was highly interested in hiring me as an art sub? On Fisher’s Island? WOW. That would be cool, but would require a 40 minute ferry ride every day, so while it’s encouraging, it probably isn’t something I would pursue. It was a happy feeling though.

But wait, there’s more. (best infomercial impression ever)

Infomercial pose.

Was I right? Or was I right? I’m channeling my best Billy Mays here.

Twenty minutes later or so an older woman walks in with black and red striped capris, tan crocs, and a gray sweatshirt. She’s pleasant and had never been in the shop before. We wander around and I tell her bits about the artists whose work she seems interested in. She thanks me and just keeps browsing. I go back to work and after a little while she asks me to ring her out. She’s holding some ‘lobster claw ornaments’ (real lobster claws bought by a lady on social security who eats the meat out of the claw, washes them, puts them back together with hot glue and paints brightly colored seaside scenes on them) that she wants to purchase. I write-up the slip and ask if there is anything else today, she wanders off and comes back holding a painting and an easel.

My painting of the Ledge Lighthouse that has been in the shop for sale since December. I gulp and say, “are you going to buy that?”

“Storm off Ledge Light”
8×10 Oil on Board
$250 SOLD

She says, well sure, unless it’s not for sale.”

“Oh no, it is. Sorry you caught me off guard, you see, because that’s my painting.” I probably was practically stuttering at this point.

“Honey! No way. You are not old enough to paint this well,” she said before rushing on to continue, “There have to be 5 other paintings of this very same lighthouse in here, and yours is by far the best.”

“Th-th-thank you.” I managed to get out while inwardly flipping out in excitement, but working so-so hard to stay calm and professional in my demeanor. “I hope you enjoy it very much.”

Before she was done she’d added other painting, and a hand-crafted wooden wagon with terracotta flower pots and walked out spending a mini-fortune.

Thankfully, at that point I was able to go back to the back room where I could relax and share my excitement with my boss. And, I’m also thankful that I was raised not to let someone appearance change how I would interact with them. If I had treated her under the assumption that she couldn’t afford to buy anything there wouldn’t have been any sales. Instead I treated her as a person, and a customer. Hoorah for respect being drilled into my head at a young age.

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So that was just part of yesterday. I worked a lot of hours. I started a new job. I met an influential person that could get me into subbing in a very wealthy school in NY. I sold my second painting.

My parents raised me in a loving, Christian home, where we were taught to give thanks to God for the many blessings poured out on us each day. When we lived in Germany, and were far away from any family my mom really grew in her relationship with the Lord. That’s where she fell in love with rainbows, as a sign of God’s promise of deliverance and hope (as well as never flooding the whole Earth again) and ‘rainbows’ have become known as ‘God sightings’ in our family. I see one and I not only think about God’s promise to Noah, but I am reminded of the many blessings I have, the infinite goodness of the Lord, my mother’s strong testimony,  and am just in awe.

I didn’t actually see any rainbows yesterday, but through all of the major events, every single thing made me literally picture a rainbow, and feel as though I given with a gift-a shining of His favor on my life, that in spite of the craziness of the past week, I’m still able and striving to discern His plan for my life and am trusting in Him, and with His help I’m doing ok. I couldn’t have used that at a more opportune time. I had felt led to make the choices I did, but yesterday was like a fleece, that I didn’t know I had laid out.

First Day: Check

Well, the first day at the gallery wrapped up well, and I sunk onto the couch tired after a long day. Long, but good. You know how when you start something new the first few days you are tired out, drained, even if the day wasn’t really that strenuous? Well that was me today.

I fit right in though, the youngest by 40 years it seemed across the board. The owner S, reminds me of my grandmother, the bookkeeper J, only works a couple of days a week, and is a grandmother. The two guys, both J, are either the 82 year old molding cutter, (who has never been in the hospital a day in his life and reminded me of Dick Van Dyke), and the second J, the previous owner (mostly retired), and a man half a foot shorter than myself, who hand cuts the mat. Granted, all of them but the owner work part-time, and I really have no idea who else works there, but it did crack me up that I’m so much younger. The amazing thing is they all are Christians. And with each new Christian I met today, the owner first told the story I told you all about last week, when I walked into the gallery because of a fish on a sign, and walked out because of a job. What a way to meet people, hearing over and over again it was all God, what a day at work!

I was tasked with tidying up shop after the big weekend show and though that went pretty well. It was a fun day, a busy day, but a good one. For now I’ll be working two days a week, but only until the lady I’m filling in for recovers from her surgery. Of course I’m praying for her to heal quickly, but then again, I don’t want my time here at the gallery to wrap up to soon either. The good news is I’m gathering my knit-wear and will most likely be selling that at the gallery once I’m organized. So, even if this doesn’t turn into a permanent thing like I’m praying, it still will give me a foot in the door in the local art scene. I’m feeling blessed.

On a very different and unrelated note, our wedding pictures are up on the photographers website, you can see them here. What do you think?

What do you remember from entering a new job?

Courage

Courage
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, to sleep in peace. God is awake. -Victor HugoCourage, patience and faith. It seems easy, but is deceivingly hard. Act in faith, and wait

Moving

Is moving ever fun? The process of packing, canceling services and transporting all of your possessions is not in fact fun. However the chance for new adventures, new experiences, and a fresh start are in a way, fun.

Bryan has been home a couple weekends in the last month and we’ve been busy carting van-load after van-load from my parents house, to his parents house, doing our best to pack everything as tight as possible to do the smallest amount of loads possible. For you see, this week the movers come to pack up all of our earthly belongings and begin the drive to CT.

When Bryan first called me about the potential to interview for the job in CT I know he had reservations. Most of them were either of moving, or leaving his current place behind. Looking back, he is glad God has blessed us with this opportunity to expand and move on, especially since CT was on our list of ‘someday we will move here places’.

Wrapping up life in PA wasn’t that bad for Bry. He borrowed his parents van and moved one load at a time over three weekends. Then there were several loads from my house to his parents. But thankfully the movers will take over from here. Sure, he still has to call the electric company in CT, the internet service provider, and the gas provider. But this surprising blessing of relocation being paid for was more than we ever expected. Especially in this financial climate. I find it so cool when God chooses to answer prayer requests in a bigger and better way than I’ve ever imagined. It really highlights how awesome He is, and how much our lives would miss out on if we only get what we asked for instead of what He answers with. And I don’t just mean in the prayers he says yes to. I can think of multiple occasions where prayers were answered no, but out of the pain and anguish of loss God’s greater plan was revealed, through a beauty and change you’d never have expected.

Boy, that got pretty far off the track of moving, but thanks for bearing with me. Any prayers that have been answered in a totally different way than what you were asking?

It’s not all about weddings…

I’ve been finding myself spending a whole lot of time thinking about what this wedding means. It’s not just about the one day, it’s the one day that shows how important the rest of my life will be. This one day is only the beginning of a new chapter in the rest of our lives. It’s important to me that this day shows other people how important our faith in Jesus Christ is, and how important we view the sanctity of marriage.

This is the most sincere and public commitment we can make to each other. I am very much looking forward to making that commitment and making it for the rest of my life. Not the rest of ‘however long we get along’.

 

This will be a forever thing. Not because I think he is so great (he is) or because we are perfect for each other, or because it’s easy. This will be a forever thing because God asks that of us. It won’t be easy, I’m sure there will be times when it isn’t great, and we get on each others nerves, but I’m excited nonetheless.

I’m just so very blessed.