how the heck are you!!!
checked out your site!
whats news!

are you moving ahead on the plan?

kisses to BABERS and Bar(r)on
Sherry

You should pick up The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. I am feeling glad to have read it before getting my start – and it seems like it could give you some helpful tips about how to manage your growing business without doing all of the work yourself and allowing you some down time to do other things. Of course – easier said than done – but there is some sound advise and perspective if you read between the lines.

Best regards,
Jennifer

bon week end! ^-^

What a wonderful father you have! (Mine’s pretty great too but he doesn’t read my blog!) Good luck and hold onto that passion.

Reading your blog really struck me because of a conversation I had with my mom last night. My mom went through the dilemma of whether to pursue her dream of going to college when my sister and I were little ones. She made the decision to pursue her art degree (and went all the way to through her doctorate for psychology). She was in school and gone a lot since I can remember. The reason I am writing this is because I know that she has always felt so much guilt for not being a great housewife, or “there for her children” all the time, she wasn’t able to fulfill my dad’s expectations of keeping the house clean or being organized. I never realized how much guilt she felt until I went to college. It makes me sick that she feels so guilty from the societal pressures that tell her what she should be good at and what she should be as a wife and a mother. I told her last night that I wouldn’t trade what she accomplished and the inspiration and example she set for us for a clean house or better dinners, or anything like that. There is no one I respect more than her and it is because of her that I understand and am passionate about biblical gender equality that so many churches seem to have backwards. Anyway, I know you have decided to keep on with your passion and I am so happy to hear it! My hope is that you wont fall prey to the guilt trap that haunts so many women from our society.

It was a struggle–herculean at times. Often terribly discouraging. At one point when I had laid off my few employees and the bank told me to pack it in, I sat at my desk and cried. But I didn’t quit, I didn’t go get a job as probably would have been smart. I kept at it. Many times, the opportunities before me were severely limited by my commitment to my wife and kids. I didn’t travel much at all, though doing so would have had a huge impact at key times. But my family was more important and I don’t regret those sacrifices. I do regret one thing–too much worry, too much thinking, too much uncertainty and doubt. These things took too much of the joy of the journey as well as the mental time away from my precious family.
I have no great answers for you. Sometimes the expectations of perfection are dangerous. Trying to be the very best at everything could lead you to a sense of utter failure just when you are succeeding the most. I suspect you are a great parent, actually, I know you are a great mother as well as a great chef.
I should know, since you are the mother of my grandson and you are that stunningly beautiful daughter.
Put the worry hat away, keep on with your dreams, and enjoy each day for the great gift it is.

So here are my two cents worth.

It would be CRIMINAL to give up on your dream, especially when you have so much potential to excel. I seriously suggest you make it work. Get a sitter, if possible cajole your mum or the next nearest relative to help you with you child. Once you are satisfied professinally and earning a bundle of cash-your self esteem will take a huge jump. Just because you are a new mother does not mean you need to give up your passion for your son.

In fact as your child grows up and sees you committed to your career, it will motivate him and he will also feel very proud.

Believe me, if you give this up, you will regret it at the smallest corner of your heart forever.

Best of Luck.

Anyway, I needn’t describe my feelings to you to be able to tell you, I know exactly how you feel and it is a struggle faced by so many women today. Now we have choices, or so we thought. They’re not really choices like we want them to be, because what we want isn’t really possible (career, family, relationship and happiness).

My way to deal? Allow myself to be upset sometimes, which is hard to do (I always want to push away the feelings, hold on to the hope). Sometimes I think my struggle with this is a struggle accept the world in its fallibility, and, for the first time, my own limitations. I’ve never been limited before, yet as I try to attempt so many things at once, find I am good in so many different arenas of life, I realize I am limited in the amount of energy I can devote to one thing. I have to choose.

Second thing. “It will get better”. I know you said you didn’t want that kind of advice, but truly, it will get better. Even without logic, even with logic, whatever you choose to do to change your situation or keep it how it is… it will all get better with time, or so experience has told me. It calms me tremendously to have a time limit. For instance, I know for myself that right now I have one year to decide a particular thing about my career. Can you give yourself some time? A good long amount, say, 6 months or more. Tell yourself you will be logical about this – describe your emotions in a journal – but don’t feel pressure to make a decision. 6 months from now, look back, reflect, and have a record of how you felt in those 6 months. You might be surprised.

Good luck.
Rachael

My passion is print design and paper and I began my business two short years ago. My event invitations are handmade with the utmost care. I always exlpore a range of non-traditional materials such as beading and fabric. The past two years have been good to me but I am beginning this year with mixed feelings. Steve told me yesterday, “You need to charge more!” Somehow I feel it’s not that easy, I find myself at your same crossroads. I am also a mother of two little girls ages two and half and 16 months.

I am always excited to learn about someone who has a passion for what they do and in turn churns out such high caliber work. I would love to meet you and your son! We could chat business, kids, let it be casual. I would love to be able to refer some of my clients to you. My contact information can be found on my website: http://www.dolcedesign.net

In the mean time best of luck to you, although from what I have seen, your work speaks for itself!

I also think that Ashley’s idea is quite a good one. If not national distribution, perhaps taking samples to restaurants in your town and surrounding areas and seeing if they would like to source their desserts from you?

For me to finish 4 yrs of college, 3 yrs of graduate school and have this expensive degree and then to wonder why I did it all as I look in Blaise’s face is such a tension to be in. Contrastingly, for me to sit across from someone that I’m counseling seems like such a full use of my skills and what God has gifted me to do–at that moment, Blaise is a distant part of my life, and my housework is the least important thing on my mind…it’s a tough dilemma.

For advice or encouragement…let’s see…an acquaintance once asked me (in one of those random and brief “rock your world” moments) if it was pride that kept me pursuing my other work–pride in the money I make, the accomplishment of helping someone, or in just having something else outside the home to give my life meaning…I constantly now analyze my motives in what I am spending my time doing, and I think she was right–I do find some level of pride in that other work that isn’t given to me when I tell someone at a party that I am a stay at home mom…And so I’m constantly contemplating what I’m ultimately called to do…sometimes I see those years of school as a waste of money on my family, sometimes I see them as a huge value in growing me up into the person I am now…being a trained counselor will hopefully make me a better wife and mother. Being an amazing culinary artist will make you a better wife and mother…All I can say now is I fight for balance in it as I work at home and outside of it. For this season of my life, I counsel 1 morning a week. That’s all I can handle, on top of holding together our “fort.” I want to do more when I see the need at church, but I know that my family needs me too–Blaisey will only be this size for so long, and he and Jon are my first priority. Later on if we have more kids, I may not be able to do anything outside the home for another season of life…and then I may come back to it all later. If you charge a higher wage, you may find a smaller niche market of people who can afford to appreciate your work, and that smaller market may be the lower work load that you need–but who knows how that will really work out? It seems scary to raise your prices and wonder if people will respond. I certainly don’t know the Bellingham market as well as you do…anywho, those are my thoughts, as I struggle with a similar situation alongside you…many prayers for you guys as you work through this.
~Katie

Thea – That is really good advice. I always get a bit more analytical and try to make life changing decisions around this time of the year – I think it’s all the gray! 🙂 So I do just need to wait, rest and pray. Things will be so different once Gabe isn’t working two jobs also. So we’ll see. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.