12 Months ago...

I took a HUGE leap, the doors
to my scrapbook store opened
on March 1st, 2006.
Wow..what a year its been.
I remember that day well.
I don't think I've ever been
more scared in my life.
At 9am, I was cold, shaking
and sure I would fail after 2 days.
At 9:45am...well, lets just say I wasn't
feeling well.
I turned on the open sign at 9:59am
and the thoughts that came into my
head were, What if NO customers
walk into my store? What if they
hate the products I ordered?
WHAT IN THE HECK AM I DOING?
Never owning a business before, I
was certainly afraid of it all.
However, at 10:10am, I had a friend
walk through the door. She was so
excited for me, happy that I had taken
this step. We had been friends for a
while and I told her my fears, what
would i do if my business failed? How
would I handle the humiliation with
my friends, family and all that have
thought this was just a silly dream.
She told me to not be afraid, turn to God.
Hes waiting to be my business partner.
I just have to remember to hand over
control to him. We prayed,
and told God we give him complete
control over this business. There would
be NO room for failure. We would
not accept anything less than a successful business.

When other businesses downtown hadn't
seen a customer in 3 days, my shop was
so full you could barely walk through..
When record lows were hitting in other
shops, I was hitting record highs.
Just when I would stop and ask-
how am I going to pay bills this month-
God would send in people eager to
spend!Or he would send another great
friend of mine in to give me some great
sales ideas(Thank you Ruthie Ruth!)
God made my dream come true.
I only was able to spend 7 1/2 months
in business, But in that 7 1/2 months,
I was blessed in so many ways.
Thank you to all those that
helped make my dream a reality..

Thank you to Steve-Janitor,table mover
lifter of heavy boxes and cleaner of sidewalks!!
You spent hours and hours and
sleepless nights pondering this business
idea. Thank you for always having
faith in me and supporting me in every
way. Thank you for always seeing my vision
(or at least pretending to!)
and never asking me those questions I wasn't sure the answer to!
You are awesome...I couldn't have done
it without you!

Thank you to Jen-my girl and smeller of smoke!
For being there from day 1 to the last day-
keeper of a spare key I lost every 3rd day,
always there to paint, clean, work, move to a new store,
paint some more, search fonts,
helping with a new name, laugh, cry, laugh
some more and for always being
"Employee of the Month!"

Ruthie-Ruth-my eternal optimist,
product finder, display mover,
idea searcher...and more! You're not
bossy, you just have better ideas!!
You're a great friend. I thank God
for bringing you into my life!!

Many more people helped along the
way. Its overwhelming sometimes
the graciousness of all those in my life.
I would write for 5 days if I listed them all!

Most of all,
Thank you God for all you gave to me.
For the people you sent into my life
and for the way my life has changed over
the past 12 months. Thank you for
showing me that when I give you FULL
control of my life-in every way..you
will give back to me and bless me in
every way!

Now, whats the next step?
I'm not sure...
I know God has a plan..
I just have to wait for him to tell me!!!