It's been awhile

I never meant to let my little blog go silent for so long... but for [soooo] many reasons I did..

I'll give a bullet point list of those now

Note: Some of them where and are very sad, but over the last year I have come to see blessings in what then seemed to be the of darkest times. This list is mostly for me, but for those who care to know, this is why I didn't blog:

• My parents divorced in the summer of 2011. I grieved a reality I thought would always be true.
• I struggled with understanding what had happened to our family. I know now that my mother is happy and that's all that I could ever want for her.
• A young man, named Julian Blakey, was shot and killed just outside our home on October 9th of last year. I grieved someone I never knew.
• Jeff and I saw his friends attempt to revive him while I was on the phone with 911.
• We obsessively looked for another place to live.
• I spent time with my girls. I talked to people who love and support us.
• We moved into our new house December 17th. A celebration. A safe neighborhood.
• We were able to go for walks in our own neighborhood for the first time.
• I worked on setting up my new sewing room and began to create again.
• We finally had the bullet hole in the trunk of my car repaired.
• We try to continue work our old house. Not on the market yet.
• Camilla  learned to crawl, walk then run all before turning one in April.
• My father-in law had multiple bi-pas surgery this past summer. (My in-laws are my child care provides one day/week, they could no longer do that).
• No child care for months. I didn't get to be in the shoppe much. I missed it terribly...
• Aelyn turned 5 in July.
• Pre-School started again and I finally found an amazing sitter for Camilla. Back to working my dream job 3 half days/week!!!
• I began designing more. Fell in love with simple dress making.
• The dream of my own little pattern line returned.
• I began to reach out even more and have made some new and very dear friends.... the type of women I've literally prayed for.

Perhaps I'll elaborate on some of these points later. Or maybe not.... One things certain; I'm not the only one with a list such as this. A lot can change in a years time. [Sometimes] when it rains it pours.

I feel stronger today. I feel more mature in ways I might not otherwise be. In fact I feel I've gained quit a lot in this short time and now

I'm ready to move forward.

In the blogging realm that forward will probably never be as wordy as this... but I really do want to start sharing myself again.. mostly I want to share whats happening in my creative life with photos and maybe a few lines of thought..but hopefully on a somewhat regular basis.

We'll see.

I'm just committing to try...

because... as we all know... Life happens.