Made $2500 at my Yard Sale Last Week - Feeling Blessed

Last week I had a yard sale. I have had a yard sale around this same time of the year for at least three years now. I used to have them all the time, but now I just pick this same week each year as there are people coming into our town for activities. 

I made $1,300 two years ago. I made $2,200 last year, and this year, I made $2,221 and then the day after, I had a man show up to buy some Hot Wheels stuff I had for sale and picked up two items I had on the table that I put out towards the end of the yard sale for $155.

I sold a lawn mower after the sale and another person contacted me buying some Disney videos and a pitcher for $26. 

So, in the end, I made over $2,500! It is amazing to me that I keep pulling things out of the garage that I had from 20 years ago to sell on eBay, and I still have 30 or more boxes of items to sell on eBay. Of course, I sell things the girls give me, or items I purchase and then decide to not keep, and if I find something I know is of value at thrift stores, I will get it and then sell it for less than it would sell for online to people at the sale, and then they can sell it online and I make money and they make money. 

I am still trying to recover from the sale as I was up all night putting it out on Friday, and it rained on Saturday. I had to dry it all out on Sunday and put it all out again on Monday. I sold from 10 a.m. to dark each day and my goal was to make $200 each day. I made that and made more and more each day. Saturday I made the most which was wonderful! 

I am so happy as I wanted to make enough to pay my house taxes. I did make enough to pay my house taxes and a little more to put towards my house insurance! 

Of course, it was a LOT of work, but it was nice that it worked out in the end. I feel VERY BLESSED! 

Have a blessed day!

Visiting The Raspberry Lady - Angel on Earth

I was so touched by the woman I posted about yesterday that brought me raspberries during my yard sale. I wanted to thank her, so I texted her daughter and asked for an address. 

I took over some of my dried apples to her home. She and her husband were so sweet. They invited me in and asked if I wanted any more raspberries. She gave me another quart bag full of raspberries and I, of course, was thrilled. 

Her husband brought out a loaf of fresh baked bread and offered it to me and I shared that I was gluten free. She said she would have given me some raspberry jam to go with it but if I don't eat bread, jam isn't much use. We laughed about that. 

I saw a few interesting things in her home that I wanted to share. I have never see either of these in any home before, so I thought I would share them with you as I thought they were very smart and creative ideas. 

She showed me her stairs. I hadn't noticed that there were mirrors on the backs of the stairs! I thought that the backs of the stairs were open and I was looking into another room, but the mirrors reflected the light coming from the window opposite the stairs and made the room lighter and larger as it looked like there was room behind the stairs. 

The other cool thing was built in shelves, but they were glass covered fronts. I just thought it was fun. They were at the top of the stairs where most people have a blank wall, so I thought that was a creative use of space. 

I asked the woman specifically why she brought the raspberries to me, and she said she came to my yard sale the day prior and overheard me say that my girls were all over and I lived alone and she figured doing my yard sale alone, I may need a break or a cool treat as it was so hot. 

I was just so touched that she would think that way. Most people don't think about how others are doing unless it affects them. It was so refreshing to talk to someone who lives their life for others. It was really enjoyable to visit with her. 

I told her she was being led by angels and shared about my dear friend passing and how she filled in where my friend couldn't be. I just can't help feel that my friend in heaven guided this sweet woman to help me. 

I am feeling blessed. I hope you are feeling blessed as well.

Still Super Tired, But The Yard Is Clean

I went around town and took all the yard sale posters down. One of the stores had a posters on their community boards. I went to visit my friend that makes sushi while I was there . He gave me two containers of sushi for free. 

I then came home and as I pulled up a man pulled up asking to buy some things left from the yard sale. I was able to get $160 more dollars from him for 3 items he wanted. I then came in and ate my sushi but I also wanted to share that an older woman I don't know showed up at my home with a bag of frozen raspberries telling me she could see I was hot and tired and needed a cool treat. 

I think she probably overheard me earlier telling someone how I missed my friend that used to come over and bring me cool drinks when I was doing my yard sale. She would also come over every few hours and give me a potty break. 

I was so sad as she passed away a few weeks ago. I came in to use the bathroom and wished that she was still around. She was such a good friend to me. As I went back out to the sale, the woman came up to me with the frozen berries and told me she would watch things if I wanted to use the bathroom. 

She noticed I had a box of sheet music and she called her daughter about it thinking she might like them. When the daughter showed up, I knew her. I thought it was amazing that a complete stranger would bring me a quart size bag of raspberries she picked out of her yard that were frozen. 

If you look at the blog posts containing sushi on my blog, you will see that when I get sushi, I usually get raspberries. 

I know God had a hand in sending me my very favorite meal after my long and stressful week with the yard sale and many late nights. I also believe that my friend who passed away recently had something to do with it as well. 

I felt very blessed! Not only were my financial needs met, but my physical needs were also met. Not only met, but with my favorite foods! I also found coins on my way out of the store. I also got a gift in the mail this week, but I will share about that later.

I hope you have a blessed day!

Nothing But Exhausted! My Boxes are Reproducing

I was up all night Saturday night putting the yard sale away. I finally gave up and covered several tables and climbed in bed for just over an hour before heading to church on Sunday. 

I spent an hour after church taking down my yard sale posters around town. I got home, and climbed into bed. I fell asleep and woke for a few minutes last night to use the bathroom, and then back to sleep. 

I had some weird dreams, had a dehydration headache which woke me a few times, and kept falling back to sleep. 

My phone died, so I got no notifications to wake me, I didn't wake up until almost 10 a.m. today! I slept through blogging, family group chats, several messages about yard sale items. After waking up, my hands and feet are swollen, my muscles are achy and cramping, and I still have a dehydration headache and I just laid in bed for a few hours so sore I didn't want to get up! 

As I consolidate and pack up, all the boxes that held the sale stuff get stacked up. My suburban is FULL of the banana boxes and now I have them stacked beside the suburban, and I am not finished consolidating the books I had in boxes down the center. I will be finishing that off tonight. It is amazing to me that I had all that stored in my garage. 

As I am putting things back into my garage, I am wondering how all that was in there as I am filling it up with the ebay stuff and wondering how all that fit in my garage and how all the empty boxes fit in there. It looks like nothing left! 

I'll report on how I did tomorrow hopefully if i can get everything put away and piles taken to the thrift store in town etc. 

I am just so tired, I am not sure if I will be able to do that today. With this headache, I just want to go back to bed after getting a massage! I think it will take my body a few days to recuperate. 

I hope you are having a blessed day! 

Dehydrating Apples With No Power

I have had a super long day and am so tired again. I am more sunburned and am dehydrated. My feet are swollen and cracking.

I had a few minutes this morning when there was a lull in my yard sale. I had picked up all the apples and pears that had fallen on my grass in the wind, but fell asleep last night before being able to put them on the dehydrator, so I decided to do it during the lull. 

I had the dehydrator completely filled and the power went out! I had customers outside and I then realized that I had a phone message from the power company saying my power would be out for three hours this afternoon. I worried that the fruit would be brown before the power came back on. 

I started calling some neighbors about taking my dehydrator over but after helping all the people that came to the yard sale, I went back in and the power was back on. It was such a relief. 

Yesterday the neighbors power went out but they are on a different line than my house as many years ago, my power was out along with my entire side of the street so I was surprised that my side power went out. 

It only seemed to effect the last apple I put on. The rest seemed to be ok which was happy. 

I am thrilled I made over $200 again today and my four day total is over $1100, so I am thrilled. I still have two days left, so I hope I can keep up the and pull more boxes out. I moved all the $1 and $2 items onto tarps so I could make space to put more things out tomorrow. I hope I can sleep well tonight. I had leg cramps again last night. 

Have a blessed day!

Another Night Falling Asleep In the Chair - Yard Sale Happiness $380

 Once again I am exhausted and have fallen asleep in the chair. My throat is swollen on one side. It is a lymph and I think it goes back to the rain and shivering. I fell asleep in my wet clothes after trying to rescue my yard sale stuff in the rain and woke shivering. 

Every day has been so long and I am exhausted getting up early, working all day hauling heavy eBay boxes out of the garage, and putting them out and being in the hot sun most of the day. I am dehydrated and woke last night with leg cramps. 

I drank a glass of pickle juice and that helped as that has happened about three times now and each time, the pickle juice has taken care of the cramping. 

I sit to blog and fall asleep in the chair not feeling well, and being hot and tired. I pray I can continue to make good money for the next few days and make enough to pay my house taxes and insurance for the year. 

God is good! I made $380 today and am still bringing out new things so I remind people to come back and visit in the next few days. It seems like most people, once they get out of the car, will buy something, so I love when they actually stop and look at things. 

I am headed to bed. It was 1:11 when I woke and started writing this and laughed when I saw how long I have been sleeping with my head hanging in the chair. My neck isn't feeling great having fallen asleep in the chair three nights in a row. 

Have a blessed day!

My Neck hurts so MUCH Falling Asleep In The Chair

I have been fighting sleep for four hours in the chair and I am just going to bed and will post tomorrow.

Have a Blessed day!

Kinda a Weird Day - Good and Bad - 1111 is my highlight

I got lots of sleep last night and was hoping to wake with lots of energy, but after getting up, my throat hurt, I started sneezing, and my stomach was churning. I had gotten ready for the day and no sooner finished putting my make-up on, than I was feeling so horrible, I just wanted to climb back into bed. I think getting wet and falling asleep in wet clothes the other day got me sick. I started getting undressed to climb back into bed when the post man showed up at my door with the Wind Chimes I sent to my host Mum in N.Z.! 

I asked him why they came back and he told me he didn't know, but that I would have to go to the post office to ask. It was expensive to ship and I know the woman at that small post office was having a rough day, but I was super sad to see that they had gone all the way there and back because she forgot to input it into the system. 

I forgot to take a photo of the box. It has stickers all over it. In fact, the woman behind the counter at my local post office did take a photo of it to contact the post master and show him what had gone on with the box. 

I would have done better to have waited the weekend and just mailed it from my local larger post office, but hindsight is an easy thing to judge off of as you can see the entire situation. 

I did come home and climb back into bed at one point and slept for an hour or so, and I did feel better after that hour, but did still want to stay in bed. I couldn't as I needed to put up signs for my yard sale, so I printed up the signs and went out and put up signs and bought a few groceries as it is hard to get away when you are in charge of a yard sale with no help. 

I smiled at the store when I saw the $11.11 total. I did get my phone out and take a photo of that. I was out putting signs up until after dark. 

It was a good day with the 11.11 but not so good that the gift came back. I have fallen asleep in the chair and I am still sneezing and fighting the sore throat, but I need to get up in a few hours and start putting things out for the yard sale, so I am headed to bed. 

Have a blessed day!

My Yard Sale on Saturday Was a Wash

I shared I have been struggling with being really tired lately and I was supposed to get a yard sale set up for Friday and Saturday. I was so tired Thursday, that I didn't set up for it and was waiting for the neighbor kid to mow the yard as it was super long. 

I finally got one here on Friday after asking three days in a row. they are great and mow regularly, but I guess they had a hard few weeks because it was super long. 

I went out after they mowed and started items out of the garage and setting up tables. I was up all night doing that and about 6 a.m. after 12 hours or putting stuff out, I has only half way or just under that to get everything out. 

I figured I would just keep pulling new boxes out in between people coming. I had been watching the weather as I wanted to have the yard sale but didn't want to deal with Rain. The app said 30%, then jumped to 50%, the to 60%. I got nervous and thought maybe I shouldn't keep spending my limited energy on that. 

I decided it I would go ahead and stick the stuff out as I bought some more plastic sheeting I could use to cover it if it did rain, but I was worried being along it is hard to place that quickly without things tipping over and breaking etc. 

Around 6 a.m. it started to sprinkle. I hurriedly covered things. it got worse very quickly, so I put some of the stuff back into the garage. I let time pass as I was pulling things out of different areas where they were stored and putting them all near the front of the garage. 

It was still raining, So, I showered and took a nap. I woke to thunder and rushed out to see a few of my cute neighbor kids trying to hold down, or put back the plastic tarps I had over everything. Together we filled totes and took them back into the house. We covered things with plastic and stuff heavy objects on them to hold the plastic down. 

I got soaking wet! I put some items out to dry in my home and sat down to eat and started shivering. I was so tired however, I kept waking just enough to curl up and an hour or two went past and I finally got up and I was still soaking wet. I took off the wet clothes and climbed into bed. 

I fell asleep around 5 p.m. and slept until 3 a.m. when I woke with a migraine. So, either my ears are so irritate with the allergic reactions I have been having, or I am reacting to the new earrings I put in that are supposed to be Sterling.

So, on the first day of the yard sale, I got nothing and could probably claim some losses with warping books, lo

I have fallen asleep every time I have sat down in the past week. I have been taking some anti-parasite stuff and I feel like I am having a massive hyper infection going on and my sit-itus is back. Here is my link to a funny post about that. Just trying to post this I fall sleep every sentence or so. I need to get to bed. 

Have a blessed day!

New Sterling Silver Earrings - Hope It Solves The Daith Problems

THEY FINALLY ARRIVED! The sterling silver (.925) curved bar type daith pierced earrings finally came in the mail today! 

I am so excited to get the stainless earrings out of my head! I can't believe how bad they got in the time they were in. Yesterday, I was pulling dead tissue off my right ear. It was the first ear pierced, so it was a bit more irritated than the other. 

I thought that if the silver earrings didn't arrive by the weekend, I didn't think I could keep the steel ones in anymore. I have been having more tinnitus - ringing in my ears. My eyes have been itchy. My throat has been irritated and sore. My sinus has been hurting and my teeth roots as well. 

I have had a few headaches, but they weren't as bad as I would have had with rain. I didn't have any headaches for a few weeks after the piercings, but since the allergy and irritation in the piercings, I had those headaches, so I am wondering if the headaches are related to the irritation in my ears. 

My sweet niece that pierced my ears was headed out of town. She literally stopped at her tattoo shop on the way out of town with her family to help me put the new earrings in as she knows how irritated my ears and body are from the steel earrings. 

Here is a link to the post of her piercing my ears which really helped my headaches. 

I got to say a few words to her daughter who is one of the cutest things. I LOVED that she was wearing a rainbow outfit! I left there to mail a letter and passed a sign with my middle name on it. I felt like my mom was telling me things would be OK. The fact that the earrings took so long but my niece happened to get with me as she was leaving town. If I got the earrings any later, I wouldn't have had a way to get the new ones in until next week! 

I pray things with them calm soon and I start to feel better and have a bit more energy as this week was one of the hardest weeks I have had in a long time being SUPER tired. 

In case someone else is looking for silver earrings, I am putting the name of the place I purchased them online as I spent hours looking for sterling curved bars. They did take a long time to get shipped and to arrive verses Amazon, but they were sold out on amazon. 

Have a blessed day! 

Wind Chimes Made For Loved Ones That Have Passed On

Several years ago, my mother passed away. Here is a link to the post about that. 

When she passed, my bunko friends gave me such a thoughtful gift. They purchased a wind chime that has the tones for "Amazing Grace" on it. They all chipped in on this gift and so many days working in the yard, the wind catches that chime and I immediately remember my mother and how she loved music, singing, and all the memories that go with it! 

Each time it chimes, I am so grateful to my Bunko Friends who were thoughtful enough to purchase that for me. It is so thoughtful and it is the gift that keeps on giving as I think of my mother each time I hear it. Here is the post about that.

Because of how that gift has meant so much to me, I thought I wanted to use that idea and get some wind chimes for my host mother and sister. I looked online and it was hard to find a place that shipped internationally and engraved what I wanted written on it, and also getting it out in a timely manner. 

I tried to use a company in Maine but had a hard time getting a person as it sounded like they did it out of their house and worked limited hours. Also, I was looking at Buoy Bells, but the shipping due to weight and size became an issue as well as the engraving. 

In the end, I was able to find two different wind chimes in my small town! Luckily, I have the worlds best sister, who has an engraving machine, and she and her husband were willing to help me make a wind catcher for the chimes. They allowed me to put what I wanted to say on the wooden wind catcher. 

I had to go to every store in town to find a second wind chime, but I was so grateful that someone suggested a farmer supply store as they had one. I think the issue is that everywhere had clearanced them for the summer as winter is coming in quickly. 

I was able to get the catcher done and attached to the base of the chime, and then tried to mail them from my sisters even littler town. The post office is a one very small room. It is the smallest post office I have ever been in. The other fun thing, is that everyone in town takes the extra things they have from their garden or want to share in the post office on the counter. 

I had a few boxes with me as I wasn't sure which would be better for mailing. Putting the one for my host sister and mother in the same box, or mailing them to their homes individually. Also, I wanted to see if I did a "Flat Rate" shipping international box may work better, but the post office was so small they didn't have the documentation or boxes needed, so I had to refill out the forms as she had a few in the back behind the counter. 

It took me almost an hour to mail the two packages from the little post office as the power had surged and the little printer she had wouldn't work until I suggested that she unplug it and then plug it back in. Then weighing, filling out the new paper work, packaging the two packages after figuring out which would be best, and then getting the postage on the packages. 

It was such an experience using that post office, but I loved it as I came home with two cucumbers and four zucchinis! I figured it was there to share, so I was happy that I used that post office rather than rushing to try and make my larger post office nearer my home. 

I hope that my host mum and sister enjoy the wind-chimes as much as I enjoy mine. I chose the saying, "I wish heaven had visiting hours" as I know that they will be missing him so much during this time. 

I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends who bought me the chimes, and for the families who were willing to take on a young American. 

Have a blessed day!

The Loss Of A Beloved "Dad" in My Life

I have shared over the years that I was an exchange student through Rotary International 38 years ago this month. 

I was blessed to go to New Zealand. I had a Host Liaison familly, and then four host families that had me for a few months each. They were varied family sizes and dynamics, but I LOVED each of them so much! 

My first host family was a wonderful couple with one daughter. I was one of 8 children, so moving from a crazy busy home with an active family, to one with only one child, was a bit of a change for me. 

I was so grateful to this family for "breaking me in" as I was dealing with jet lag, culture shock, homesickness, and missing the social aspect of my small religious community where I would see my friends weekly at school and church. 

I already had two younger sisters and a younger brother, so I was used to being a big sister. My host family was really easy to love. They were so gracious to allow me to stay there and to make me feel safe and allowed me to feel all the different feelings that came up those first few months. 

My first host father passed away unexpectedly this past week. He has stayed active and rode a bike on his last day. He was in his 80's and was such a active and buoyant person. 

He and my fist host mum came to visit me a few years back and got to meet all my girls. They came to visit many years ago when we lived in the East as well, but this time was so fun as they were able to meet my girls and grand-daughter. 

I was so sad to hear of his passing this week. Princess One actually saw a post on Facebook and then let me know. It was so unexpected and sudden, that it took everyone by surprise. 

There is a blessing in the world due to COVID, and that is that everything has had to go digital! With the resurgence of of COVID through the world, they had to limit the amount of people able to attend the funeral. With that, they were able to stream the funeral! 

It was amazing to be able to see my host sister paying tribute to her father, and hearing all the people share about their life tributes. They also did a video / music slideshow which was fun to see. He and his wife have traveled extensively and watching that video, it was even more evident how much they traveled. 

It was fun to hear about the awards he got for service as he received NZ's highest honor for service. He was in Rotary International leadership for years. He was a friend to everyone and that was something that was mentioned by every tribute speaker. 

I know that his family will take some time to adjust to life without his fun sense of humor and kindness daily. I have been praying for them, and pray that God will allow them to heal and adjust quickly. 

RIP Dad! I love you, and am so grateful that you allowed me to be your daughter!

Sorry I Am Late Posting - It Was a Rough Day / Night

I shared in yesterday's post that I wasn't feeling all that great. I ended up in bed much of the day and kept falling asleep. It was a close friends birthday and she called to open the card I sent and I almost felt drugged talking with her and was very out of it. 

I watched a dear loved one's funeral from another country, and found out one of my best friends passed away. All of this was yesterday and I am struggling with the earring / ears being infected and started having equilibrium issues nearly falling three times. The emotions of all that news yesterday, and not feeling well took its toll. 

I am still waiting for the new earrings to come as I don't want to have to get them done again, but who knew that after hours searching online, I only found 2 earrings that would work in silver. One on Amazon, and one on Etsy. I went to order the ones on Amazon, and they were out of the length I needed, so I went with Etsy. 

I have never ordered anything on Etsy before, and it took a week to ship and they must have shipped ground or something because it has been a full week and I still haven't gotten it. 

I also woke with the sore throat and am now struggling breathing a bit. I took a walk and could feel that my allergies were really on overdrive and I am sure it is due to the earrings causing so many problems for me. 

The only thing I got done was making a few jewelry videos, and drying a batch of dried apples. I pray that the earrings come today and I can get these earrings out of my ears. There aren't many other options. 

I hope I can feel better and heal my ears soon. Have a blessed day! 

Be Careful What You Ask For - A HOUSE Full of TOTES

I woke this morning with a sore throat. I got someone to cover leading the music for me in church as I didn't want to go in case I have something more than a cold. 

Every worker at the Food Bank currently has or just had COVID and I was there distributing right before they shut it down, so I could have been exposed, so I just didn't want to take any chances. 

What I really think my problem is, both my daith piercings are irritated, as I have allergies to the steel in the earring. I have been having some equilibrium issues, throat irritation etc so I think it is most likely that. 

I posted ten days ago about wanting totes and searching for totes to use in cleaning out the garage. I spoke to the workers at two thrift stores in town letting them know I was looking for totes during the past month or so. They were so sweet to save the totes they found for me!

It finally paid off as this week, I got three stacks of totes from the different stores! Five were $1 each, the rest were all $2 each! God is so GOOD to me! Whenever I put something "out there" in prayer, HE always makes sure I get what I need! 

I am so happy! I wanted to pack up all the wedding stuff in similar totes and was able to get many of the same type. I also wanted to take everything that is in banana boxes in the garage and put them into totes so if any mice every get into the garage again, everything is safe! 

If you remember, the girls bought me shelving for Christmas, and I was only able to get part of the garage done this winter, so I was hoping this summer I would be able to get back and finish up the garage. This summer hasn't been what I expected with it being such a HOT summer and planning the wedding etc. 

I feel like I am getting help from heaven to get what I need, so I can start working on the garage again, and get things I need organized in there. I want to be able to empty out some of the closets in the house that are storing the girls items, and give each girl a shelf in the garage, so I can then put things we would use more often in the closets. 

I am feeling blessed with totes as I got 21 in the past four days! I scrubbed them all and each day was scrubbing a stack. They are all washed and ready for use! It will be a busy month coming up as I need to start pruning the trees and am currently dehydrating apples! 

Have a blessed day!

Posting Over a Year Old Post Draft - Clearnace Shopping

I have been fighting another headache that started a few hours ago. 

I sat in the chair to blog. I started writing in my journal and just kept falling asleep. I kept waking with my headache being worse and worse, but I am so tired, I just kept falling back to sleep.  

I love clearance shopping. I try to buy gifts, prizes, or team treats when I knew there would be items for sale on clearance, but tried to buy things that could be "anytime" treats rather than things that were holiday specific. 

I also try and buy the chocolate melting discs on clearance for the following year, as they are usually $2 - $4 a bag, but after a holiday, you can get them for less than a dollar and sometimes $.50 or less. 

I use the candy melts for my Christmas popcorn treat. Here is a link to that post.

Who would have known in early April 2020, that we would skip an entire year of holidays where I would have used these treats, bags, and activities. 

I wasn't able to do our family Thanksgiving and Christmas parties like we have in the past due to COVID, and didn't want to keep the treats for over a year as I knew I would have the treats I purchased on clearance for a long time not having those family events. 

I had purchased an entire tote full of candy necklaces, ring pops, and some other Easter bags and activities.

With that, I decided to give these treats out for Halloween as we couldn't have kids over to do our traditional jewelry give away, (see how we give out jewelry here) so I tied a ring pop onto the candy necklaces and gave them out in a reverse "trick-or-treat". Here is a post about that.

I got the candy necklaces for $.25 each. The ring pops were two bags for a dollar and each bag had three rings if I remember correctly, so that is half what they are at the dollar store. 

I got the candy melts super cheap for the next treat needed, and the little gift bags, we used for our annual Easter Camp-out this year in 2021. 

I offered to let the girls have the cookie decorating sets, but they didn't want to do them, my grand-children aren't allowed red dye, which even the white icing contained, so I gave my nieces families all the cookie decorating kids I purchased for a dollar or two. They were happy to get them.

I love when I can find a bargain and I love to be able to share the things I find with others. I find joy in bringing joy. 

I may be posting some other old drafts as I have 85 drafts that I started and haven't ever gone back and finished, so this week of many headaches, I may just finish up some of those older posts I started. 

Never overlook the clearance section! It may be holding treasures! 

Have a blessed day! 

baby blessing / dinner with dad

My Niece recently had a baby. Her son is adorable! Since she is currently living with her mom while her husband finished up some training, I have been able to see and hold him. 

It is so sweet to be able to hold a newborn baby. It is probably one of my favorite things in life! They are so sweet and innocent being new from heaven, I believe they still have heaven "dust" on them. 

In our faith, we believe in giving a baby a blessing and giving them a name officially during that blessing. It is the equivalent to other churches baptizing their babies, but we believe in baptism by immersion at the age of 8 in our faith. I am just using that as an analogy for how it is a big event in the babies life, family is invited, and there is usually a party / meal after the blessing. 

My dad and step-mom (I call her that only for clarification as I love her like a mother) drove down for the event arriving the night before, and they offered to take me to dinner upon arrival in town. 

I don't go out to eat much living alone, so I was really happy to be able to go to dinner with them. I am so blessed to have them always thinking of me. 

It was a nice break from all the other family stuff I had going on. 

Have a blessed day!