Why I'm Closing Up Shop

Well there's a long story for this, and a short one. The short reason is that I need to take a step back and focus on other things right now, with the hope that I can continue with Radical Crafts in the near future.

The long reason is actually several reasons:

• Blogging - as someone who received her minor in Writing, you might think I'd enjoy the blogging process. And there are definitely parts of it I enjoy. However, the networking thing is just not for me. I'm so grateful for the bloggers and friends who have helped me along the way these past few months, but the truth is that it's a ton of work to write a blog that gets enough attention to drive business to your shop. And that's just not my passion. I like writing, but I don't have time to link up with party after party in the hopes that people will visit my blog and then visit my shop. I know that's the process, and I totally respect it. I just don't have time for that game right now. Speaking of which, reason #2 is:

• Time - Erik and I both feel like I need to take some time off to plan and create and spend some hours praying about what Radical Crafts might be in the future. In the meantime, I need to get a lot more organized and intentional with my days. I'm currently reading Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider and it's amazingly helpful with this process. I highly recommend it. She speaks a lot about the need to be intentional about your family's purpose statement. Come up with one, and make sure everything in your home and all the ways you spend your time serve your family's purpose. So that's a process we're going through right now as well.

• Health - a lot of this decision has come about as a result of some health issues I'm currently having. Two years ago (when our daughter was 1) I was told I had a heart condition. It's been a long process of determining what that means, and we were told we shouldn't have more children. But the Lord is so gracious and our doctor came back and said he thought it would be okay. So we have our son - an amazing blessing. But after he was born things went downhill a bit for my heart, so I had a catheter ablation in February to try to fix the problem. We thought it had been effective, but a recent report showed I'm still having problems and so I'm currently on a couple of medications. Hopefully these will help, but in the meantime they are causing some fatigue and dizziness. So I'm trying to simplify my schedule a bit in the hopes that I'll have more energy to devote to my family.

 So that's it...in novel form. I am hopeful that God will reveal another ministry to support in a few months and that I can start building up stuff for the shop again. Or maybe He has another plan altogether. What a joy to be able to seek Him in His Word and know that He is sovereign in our lives. 

Hopefully I'll be posting once or twice a week, but for now the shop will be closed starting this coming Sunday (May 1st).

Thank you all for your support, and I ask for your prayers while we wait and see what this ministry might be in the future. 

Closing the shop isn't easy for me. I'm typically the kind of person with a plate piled miles high with commitments. And quitting one is so painful - mostly for my pride. Admitting I can't do it all...not great. But I'm confident this is the right thing for now. So we'll see what happens :)