Monday, August 22, 2011

Going to Relevant 2011



If you're coming over from Denise in Bloom, Welcome! And if you're not, Welcome to you, too! : )

Denise is hosting a sort of Relevant 2011 meet and greet today so I wanted to join in. I can't tell you how excited I am to be attending Relevant again this year. Last year was so amazing I prayed I would be able to go to this year's conference.

I won't go into why I call myself "Heathahlee" because you can read that here, but I'll tell you a little about myself, then I want to tell you about something God has done for me already regarding the conference. A lot of what is in this post is in an earlier post I did for the M.O.B. Society blog hop, so stop me if you've heard this before. : )

My blog is about my life...the good, the bad, and the crafty! And I throw a homeschool post in the mix every once in a while. I talk about my husband,(He ROCKS! We've been married 16 years. He's my best friend.)

my Kiddo,
(He is our only kiddo, much to his dismay most of the time. He feels like we have deprived him by not having any siblings for him, but I try to tell him that we really didn't have much to do about that and that evidently the Lord knew he was enough for us to handle. Heh. He rolls his eyes. He's eleven...'nuff said.)

my dog, (Isn't he cute? And SPOILED!)

my ministry, (I'm the alto section leader of our choir and direct every other time we sing. I'm also on the Praise Team. I adore what I get to do each week, leading our church to worship the Savior!)

my tassels,

(You can see more of them at my Etsy shop, Butterfly Genes. I lurve making, giving, and selling these pretty things for your home.)

...among other things like recipes, reading the Bible in 90 days (yes it can be done!), and other random stuff.

Back to what I said earlier about what God has done for me regarding Relevant. I needed a sponsor. I begged God for a sponsor. I wrote letters. I sent emails. I made phone calls. Nothin'. Nada. Zilch. Not one "yes." I wondered if I was doing something wrong since so many other people were successfully getting a sponsor.

I already had my ticket to the conference, but needed the sponsorship for everything else. So, I decided I needed to do something on my own to try to get the money. I started thinking about my tassels and how I could make them more marketable and came up with the idea of keychain tassels.

Oh. My. Goodness. I absolutely adore them. I was terrified at the idea of doing something I had never tried and had never seen done before, and I put it off for a long time. I finally realized I HAD to do something, and came up with this...
Squeeeeeee! Do you see what the ribbon in front says? Relevant '11! So, I put it out there and tweeted and posted (all this since Thursday of last week) and so far I have about 10 orders.

So, I was still nervous about getting all the money together to buy my plane ticket, like, NOW, when all of a sudden I got a phone call out of the blue from someone who is close to me, but I haven't spoken with in a while. She asked me how much I needed for Relevant and I told her. She said, "Well, I've got $300 or $400 I'll give you."

Me: "WHAT?????? Why would you do that?"

Her: "It was either that or get Botox and I figured it would be better spent giving it to you."

HA! She told me the Lord had put it on her heart to do this. Who am I to argue? :)

So, my plane ticket is paid for. Well, technically not yet, but it will be. God is so good. My husband told me he felt like God wanted me to step out in faith with these tassels and do the work, and THEN He'd provide.

I still need money for my room and other expenses associated with the trip, so I still need to sell quite a few more, but what a burden has been lifted! If you'd like one, click any of the links associated with the order post either in this post or at the top of my sidebar. You can also order them without the Relevant ribbon.

I look forward to meeting you at Relevant 2011 in October!

14 comments:

Kat said...

That whole Botox thing is hilarious. And was she serious? About the Botox? If so, I see that the Lord was not only providing for you, but sparing her of some Priscilla Presley plastic surgery gone wrong ;) His mercies never cease :)

Tee said...

I so wish I was going to Relevant with you. Saw the link to the tassels on FB the other day. Are you actually carrying yours in your purse? I think they're too cute for me to squish into the bottom of my ginormous bag. But I want one anyway so I'm off to Etsy.

Hugs to you,
T.

Colin, Juanita, Ian, Brooke and Gavin said...

Hopping over from Denise's place today! I read you blog the other day and fell in love! Looking forward to getting to know you at Relevant 11!

Beth Zimmerman said...

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin." Zechariah 4:10 :) Congrats on this beginning. Looking forward to hearing what other amazing things the Lord will do!

Beth Zimmerman said...

P.S. I married a guy with 3 kids (we raised 2 of them in our home ... long story) and then we became convicted about allowing the Lord to plan our family. Being a Christian home-schooling family (complete with mini-van, denim jumper and Birkenstocks) we thought that would mean at least 5 or 6 more kids. We had ONE. (And a couple of miscarriages.) Josiah is 14 years younger than our daughter so he was essentially an only child. I always felt like I had to apologize for ONLY having one (in homeschool circles). I just want you to know ... I've been there, I understand, and no explanations or apologies are necessary!

Wendy said...

I have enoyed reading your story and I can't wait to meet you at Relevant and hear how God provides for the rest of your trip expenses!! I know he will!
I think I am your newest follower :)
Wendy

Unknown said...

Hey roomie!! Can you smuggle some southern sweet tea on the plane with you??! Pretty please?

I need to get my blog post up!

Amanda @ A Sweet Life Rocks said...

I am dropping by from the link up party today.
You have a great blog. What a nice post today welcoming all the Relevant ladies.
Nice to meet you!
-Amanda

Rebekah {honeyandcheese} said...

Isn't it humbling and amazing how the Lord provides when we act in faith? He's so GOOD to us! :)

I look forward to meeting you at Relevant!

Anonymous said...

Glad to come and get to know you more. I am sure God will provide. He provided us with a "new" computer from my father in law after ours died Monday. We are buying it from him but definatly less than 1,300 for a new mac.

Tammie said...

The Botox thing is hilarious! Thanks for dropping by my blog. See you in October (and on Twitter before that!!)

Katie Orr said...

What a fun story! Looking forward to meeting you at Relevant!

Southern Fried Gal said...

Awesome story! Blessings on your trip!

Dawn @ 5 Kids and a Dog said...

Your tassles are so pretty! Such a unique thing that you came up with! Did you finally get your plane ticket purchased? I can't wait to meet you! (I'm @MommaKnows) ;)