Lots of stuff

This is the current state of my desk...

  There's a lot of stuff going on there.  I always get orders when I'm super busy.  Always!  Three this week and I carved them all during nap time yesterday (which is a record!).  I'm also trying to get my 2016 calendar in the shop, so for those of you that are wondering, I'm trying really hard.  I even got an inquiry from someone who bought it last year, so that made me feel good and motivated to get it done.  Which means, I will probably be taking a short break from blogging, unless I need a short break from creating.

  There's a lot of stuff not in it's normal place in my house right now.  I am doing my annual rug cleaning, upholstery cleaning, and car carpet scrubbing today.  I have a partner in crime this year and I will be so happy to pass the baton to him this afternoon.

  There's a lot of stuff being delivered to my house right now as I am trying to be on top of the Christmas game.  I am really overwhelmed at the thought of more stuff for me to organize, keep track of, etc.

  There's a lot of stuff going on in this world right now and it has been swirling in my head.   This year has been a year of equally hard and wonderful stuff.  My sweet friend lost her mom this year, and that is a first for me and my friends, and then there was Charleston and then last friday in Paris.  On the flip side, my niece was born this year, along with some other new babies (Z!!) that are dear to my heart and those are the most wonderful things.  I don't know about you, but in the mundane day-to-day, it is easy for me to lose sight of the big picture.  But when the world/my world is rocked, I am reminded again why I have such a strong and rooted faith in something that though I may not see, it is something much, much bigger than me.  And I can have hope.  Hard as a rock, tangible, wonderful hope.  Hope that this, this world full of disease and evil and fear and hatred, is not it.  It is not all that there is, it doesn't end here.  Even the good things of this world (new babies!!!, selfless people, generosity, beautiful lands) is not all that there is.  There's something far better and something much greater to come.  Hope.  That is the good stuff.  And that is the stuff I am wanting to fill my heart and mind and house.

Happy tuesday!