New Adventures and Sales

Hey guys!

I remember a certain accounting class from college. I really enjoyed that class and learned a lot about accounting but even more, lots about business. My teacher told me that I would be successful at anything I put my mind to. And guess what!?! I think I agree!

After a crazy few years of sickness I have finally started a business. I don’t pretend to know God’s complete plan for my life…I have clarity here and there, but only He knows the whys of where I have been and the what ifs of the future. I do know that God has a plan for that business degree that I worked so hard for. I am excited and thrilled that He has given me the chance to stretch my business wings again. I am now an independent consultant for Lilla Rose. I sell beautiful and affordable hair accessories. Wow! I get to own my own business and still be a mom. Who gets to do that?

I am thankful that so many of you have supported me in prayers throughout my illness. I know that many of you may also love to help me with my business. So, I thought it might be helpful for me to give you a few practical things that would help (other than purchasing from me) J.

Things You Can Do To Help Me Build My Business

• ·        ‘Like’ my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lillarose.joyfulnoise
• ·         Check out the new Flexi clip every month on my website: www.lillarose.biz/joyfulnoise
• ·         Purchase hair jewelry directly from me or online: www.lillarose.biz/joyfulnoise  (if ordered online, your hair accessories are shipped directly to you)
• ·         For review and giveaway options, I would love it if you would share any blogs that interest you. Email the blog address to: www.joyfulnoise114@gmail.com
• ·         Have a home party! Come on and plan a fun time with the gals, enjoying hair clips and laughing together. Home party hostesses get free product and fun incentives.
• ·         Have a catalog or online party! No cleaning and you still get to enjoy free product.
• ·         Join my team! Earn some spending cash while having a great time. I love Lilla Rose and am really enjoying the support and guidance that they offer. Ask me more!
• ·         Share my website with someone that you think would love the Flexi clip. They can order online, no party necessary.
• ·         Become a customer and get updates when there are sales and new Flexi clips. Simply go to my website and join as a new customer: www.lillarose.biz/joyfulnoise

Click here for more sale items

Speaking of sales, I would love to share an awesome sale that started this morning. Three brand new hairbands and six bobbie pin sets have been released. (I love the new Garden bobbies…so cute!) For this new release Lilla Rose is offering 10% off EVERYTHING. Plus, 30% off soon to retire styles. If you are interested in this sale, HURRY! The Sale started Wednesday, June 17^th, 2015 at 12 am PT and ends Friday, June 19^th, 2015 at midnight PT.

Click here for more sales items

So, I just wanted to share my new and exciting adventure. Come on back for other adventures with my little family soon. I am working on a blog of a recent home redo (wink, wink). Jason and I have been busy.

Until next time…

Riding Tandem

Hey guys and gals!
So, I have some very dear friends that are biking from Jasper, Alberta, Canada to Estes Park, Colorado. And if that isn't impressive enough, they are doing it with a toddler, on a tandem bike. WOW! I am thrilled that they are my friends and thrilled that God has put adventure in their hearts. If you are interested, they are keeping a blog of their adventures: https://gordonandhui.wordpress.com/
My reason for bringing this up is that riding tandem is not as easy as it looks. Take a look at the bike itself.

It looks like it would be hard just to get on the thing. The peddles need to be in the right place for both the person on the bike and the person getting on the bike. Control is more difficult with  a tandem bike as only one person can control the steering. Also, maintaining the same speed has to be super difficult.
On the flip side, I can only imagine how much fun it must be to have someone else with you to share every moment. My friends talk about how neat it is to see the mountains at the same moment. How much more fun a flat tire is when you have someone to laugh with as you change it. I guess riding tandem truly has some advantages.
Recently, my husband and I have either been in or attended several weddings. The weddings and the tandem bike got me to thinking about marriage.
Marriage is much like a tandem bike. You need to be on the same path and going the same speed to make it in marriage. I am blessed to have a husband who is both on the same path and willing to go the same speed as I, even when that speed is super slow due to health issues. On a tandem bike you both have to brake at the same time. In marriage, you both need times of rest. Too much busyness can kill a marriage. On a tandem bike you both have to stop to make repairs. How true is this also in marriage? You both have to stop and work on issues, money needs and just daily decisions. On a tandem bike, you get to enjoy the highs on the mountaintops and the lows of the valley with someone else. And that is so true of marriage. You take your spouse with you through all of the valleys and you get to enjoy the mountaintops just a bit more with your mate there beside you.
God said , "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up." (Ecclediastes 4: 9-10) That is what marriage and tandem biking is all about.
I am thankful for a husband who will ride the tandem bike of marriage with me. Here is to many more mountaintop views and support through the valleys.
Before I close, I want to say that before I was married I found great encouragement from Godly friendships with other gals. Thank you to those gals for riding at the same speed with me, for helping me when my tires were flat, for laughing with me during the valleys and enjoying the mountaintops with me. You were and still are an encouragement to me.
Until next time...

Health, Wedding, Business and Busyness

Hey guys and gals,
I am so excited as I write this post. So much has been going on in the life of my little family! It is encouraging to see what God is up too.
First, a health update. For those of you that have been keeping up, you know that we had tried to have some ozone treatments that did not work out. Well, we found out that they are being administered by a new nurse, which opens the door to this treatment again. However, the timing and financial commitment has not worked out for us at this time. The main reason for continuing to pursue this treatment is that it would give a great boost to my immune system. A boost that my immune system really needs. I continue to catch anything that makes its way into our home. The good news is that my doctor is seeing great improvements. She even told me that most people do not have as great and quick results as I. Isn't God good? He is the healer! My doctor is watching a certain blood count. It needs to be at or above 150 before I can be antibiotic free. It is currently at 57, which is a great improvement on the 7 that it was when I started. Please continue to pray with us that healing continues and my immunity improves.
Now for the wedding news. My brother just got married and is starting a new life out with the gal that he loves. We are so excited that they finally got married. It was a joy and honor to enjoy all the wedding festivities with both of them. I was a bridesmaid and baby girl was one of the flower girls. I am so blessed to love my brothers bride as a sister and it was a joy to share the "getting ready" part of the day with her. Praying with them both as they step into this new adventure was such a special thing for me personally. I must say that I am so grateful for folks who were and are praying for my health, because on this special day for my family, I only had to slow down once. I enjoyed the whole day, from beginning to end without pain, headaches and only once needed to sit down from dizziness. I watched as my brother's bride got her hair and makeup done. I stood next to my brother and his bride in the 90 degree sun as they said I do. I danced with my baby girl and husband until the very last song. I enjoyed seeing and visiting with folks that I haven't gotten to connect with in years. It was such a blessing to not just share in this time, but truly enjoy it without health problems. Thanks for praying me through this special day!
I have started a business! I feel a bit like that cartoon whose head spins round and round and round. I am learning so much and finally getting to apply some of that college learning. I am an independent consultant for Lilla Rose. I sell fine hair jewelry that is both beautiful and affordable! What makes this venture so fun is that I really love what I sell. Please check out my website: www.lillarose.biz/joyfulnoise and please 'Like' my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lillarose.joyfulnoise
I will be having my Grand Opening at the end of this month in Athens. Please pray with me that I follow God's leading in this business venture and that if/when I am successful at it that He gets the glory. I am so excited to see what He does in and through me with this great little business. My husband will tell you that it is wonderful to see me excited about this business. And he is right, I am just excited to sell something that I truly enjoy myself.

We have finally started that long "to-do" list that we had to put off while I was so very sick. First, stop...a crafting/gift wrapping/letter writing closet. That's right, we are multipurpose fans! We have taken over the guest bedroom closet (sorry, Mom) and turned it into a craft storage and desk space. A picture preview is coming soon in a post.
We are also starting to feel like we can start visiting extended family. It has been far to long since we have truly gotten to visit with much of our family and we look forward to hearing what God is doing in the lives of our extended family again.
Thank you for praying and being part of our story. We look forward to more wonderful updates in the future. Until next time...

What Happened to Children Being a Blessing?!?

So, the other day I was cruising through Facebook and saw a link to a Christian magazine article that caught my eye. It was about 20 things that Christian couples should do before having children. I thought it was going to be an article about things that you logically need to do before having children like: making a will, preparing a home for a family, or even deciding what you believe about raising children. However, to my surprise this article was about things such as traveling to exotic destinations, buying your dream car, joining a kickboxing club and playing soccer with a team. The article actually encouraged couples to put off having children in order to enjoy these activities.

To be honest, this article made me mad. Now, the disclaimer here is this: I do not think any of the activities in the article are bad. I do not think that everyone should think like me. And I do not expect the world to understand my viewpoint. But I am going to get preachy in this post. That’s it…disclaimer over.

My point here is that I didn’t read this article in a People magazine or an “all-about-you” magazine. I read it in a Christian online magazine. Shouldn’t we look different than the world?!?

If you are a bit confused as to why this article made me mad, then we need to have a brief conversation. My biggest dream was to simply be a wife and mom. So obviously, I value children. Even more than that though, I think that children are a blessing from the Lord. Actually Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.” This world is full of children who need love and God calls them a reward. Wow, it doesn’t get much plainer than that.

Again, I am not trying to say that everyone should make the same decisions that I have made, but if God thinks that all children are a gift, why would we not agree!

This debate hits home for so many couples who are not able to have children. They sit back and read articles like that and only wish and pray that they could have children. This article also may hit home for single folks who wish that they had a partner to share children with. Frankly it hits me hard, because I am a lioness who believes that children have great value.

One commentator on Psalm 127:3 summed my heart up well: “Too often children are seen as liabilities rather than assets. But the Bible calls children, ‘a gift from the LORD,’ a reward. We can learn valuable lessons from their inquisitive minds and trusting spirits. Those who view children as a distraction or nuisance should instead see them as an opportunity to shape the future. We dare not treat children as an inconvenience when God values them so highly.”

Thank you for letting me rant about something that is so precious to my heart. I pray that my little rant will at least help one person examine what they think about children. Please value them, even those that may not be your own. Children are a blessing!!!

Hope Is Springing Up

Hey guys!

I hope you all are doing well and being blessed! I am happy to bring a good update today…so grab a tea or coffee of your choice and enjoy!

After my last update, Jason and I spent an evening in the emergency room. I was in the worst pain of my life and while at the hospital passed what we think was a kidney stone and all pain left. The good thing about this experience was that it pushed us both to find a general practitioner here in Columbus. So, now Jason and I both have a GP in the area.

I am free of poison ivy now and looking forward to digging in the dirt some more in the next few months. Speaking of which, baby girl and I have been watching herb seeds grow over the past few weeks. Today we transplanted our little seedlings to growing pots. You would love to watch that sweet baby helping mommy fill the pots with soil. She is so careful and decided about each spoonful of dirt she moves from the bag to the pot. She is so much fun to work with. She loves watching the seeds grow…she giggles and claps her hands when we talk with daddy about the baby plants.

I am having more good days…such a blessing! I am not even close to 100% me yet, but improvement is good. We are thrilled with little victories like:

-being able to stay awake and alert longer during the day.

-being able to make a grocery list at one time instead of multiple tries.

-being able to get down on the floor and playing with Millie without worrying about where the nearest piece of furniture is that I can push myself up on.

-no dishes in the sink when I go to bed every night.

-planning our weekend activities at the beginning of the week and actually getting to do what we planned.

Many of you have asked how long I will be on the antibiotics and well, I don’t have a good answer. I hope that I will not be on them much longer, but the doctor  thinks that I need to be on them for two months after all symptoms are gone. As I am not symptom free, we are unsure what my Lyme doctor will say at my next appointment toward the end of April. In the meantime, I am still drinking my herbal teas, taking vitamin and mineral supplements, detoxing and eating nothing more than fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and lean meats with a few gluten-free grains mixed in once in a while.

Although I am not completely myself, we are excited that improvements have been made. Please continue to pray that a full healing will be swift. Also, continue to pray for financial renewal. It may seem simple but please pray that we will continue to find the joy in every single day.

The day is coming when I will finally be able to share a cup of tea with you and your family. Thank you for all your prayers this far! I couldn’t have made it without your love and support! It is a huge blessing!

Many hugs,

Joy

 

Walking Across Egypt and Crying Uncle!!!-Health Update

Hey Family and Friends,

I am so thankful for your prayers and love over the last few weeks. The prayers are much appreciated. You will know how much by the time you read this letter.

My mom and I always joked when something bad or unexpected happened that we felt like we were walking across Egypt. Well, ladies and gentlemen, my little family has felt like we were walking across Egypt these past few weeks and months. If you don’t get the word picture yet, let me expound a bit.

Like many of you, we were hit with the flu in December. Sweet little girlie was the one hit by this sickness. She was not resting during that time and Jason and I were both left exhausted. My daughter is such a sweet baby girl and battled through it with a smile on her face. Dealing with being exhausted from my illness and adding a sick baby, Christmas, the new year and then…

At the beginning of January, I got a simple cold. You may shrug your shoulders and say, “no big deal”. My immune system is so compromised, that a simple cold knocked me on my back for several weeks. Oh, man…I was so tired of being sick and so tired of having to lie down and not get things done with my family. I asked myself “why” often during this time.

Just about the time I started feeling better, Jason told me that he had been having stomach problems. I looked at him and thought, “are you being serious with me”? At this point I was tired of researching sicknesses, diet, treatments, herbs and just about anything you could think of related to an illness. But I started researching more, this time for Jason. We started changing an already difficult to manage diet. Because of my illness we had only been eating fruits, veggies, eggs and lean meats. That meant we had already cut out sugar, gluten, dairy, and any processed foods. Jason went to two doctors. We finally put together that he was having a reaction to eggs. Yikes…no eggs.

Just when I started to get a grip on our diet, it was time to start my ozone treatments in Atlanta. I know many of you have been wondering how that went, so here you go… My treatments were delayed until the middle of February. My first treatment was scheduled for a Tuesday, so that week was a single treatment (and now I am thankful for that). I haven’t really known what to say about the treatment but I will start by saying that we really felt that the treatment did improve my health. I had less joint pain, enough that I was able to play on the floor with Millie without groaning as I got up. I didn’t have any headaches afterwards. I even felt that I had more energy. I had no ill side effects. The problem is that (to put it lightly) the nurse administering the treatment was extremely unprofessional. The details (although many and varied) are not what I will concentrate on here. Needless to say, I will not be going back for treatments by that nurse. To be honest, I was disappointed and felt a bit overwhelmed. Here I found something that was helping me, only to realize that I would not be able to get it again. Well, poop!

Just when things started looking like it might slow down, Jason and I got poison ivy. What!?! Poison ivy in February? Yes, on a good Saturday we got out in the yard to remove some “harmless” vines on our fence. Those “harmless” vines were poison ivy. Well, with my immune system in the state it is in, I was not able to fight off the poison and it popped up all over my body. I felt extremely tired and knew that my body was trying to fight it. However, it just seemed that my body was losing the battle. As of today, I have had the poison ivy for over two weeks. It has gotten better and is slowly going away. In the process we tried a lot of home remedies and finally found a great product (Zanfel) that started helping my body fight the poison off.

After all this mess, I threw my hands up and cried “UNCLE”!!! I am tired of walking across Egypt! With that said, Jason and I are confident that we are walking across Egypt with God still in control. We know that He hasn’t left us or forgotten about us. Your prayers have allowed us to continue to believe that.

We are uncertain what the future holds for treatments for me. Please pray with us that we will be wise. I will be going for labs this month, with a follow up with the doctor in April. At that point we will see how the antibiotics have been doing and adjust if necessary. We will also talk about any additional treatments that she thinks would be helpful.

Please pray that if we are being attacked, that God will give us just enough strength for the battle (and maybe a little extra). Please pray for thankfulness on even bad days. Please pray for restoration of health and financial freedom.

We love you all! We look forward to the day that we can sit in a coffee shop sipping coffee, laugh at these days and see what God was doing.

Many hugs and smiles,

Joy and family

Simple Things

Hey all!
Sometimes it is the simple things that speak the most to my heart these days. I know...I am simple and why should I be surprised that simple things speak to me? I guess I'm not really that surprised, but thankful!
I went for a walk around my yard with my daughter this week. We were looking at all the dead branches on the trees about to burst out in life. We saw the little yellow bells that were just starting to awaken from a long dark slumber. We saw the birds that were building new nests from the leftovers of a nest past. We saw the tiny little bits of green starting to emerge from the dead ground all over the yard.

In that moment a simple truth was brought to my mind: God is always doing a new thing and He brings life from death! Isaiah reminded us of this:

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the desert." -Isaiah 43:19

I have to be honest, it is so much easier to look at my circumstances and see the death...or the bad...in every day. It is hard to have the hope that He is bringing a new thing and life to my circumstances. I like to think that I am not unlike many of you in this struggle. At times, everyday can be a struggle. The hope comes in our believing that the new and life will come. Think about it, spring always comes. The flowers make their way to the surface of the dead ground and break forth. The trees continue to grow. It is His plan!
So here is my challenge for myself and you: Grab your boots, take a walk, marvel at God's world and be reminded that He never changes and that means that He is working on something new in your life if you are trusting Him and He will bring life!
Another simple truth came when I was having a not-so-great-day, and, just to be honest, wasn't feeling very thankful about much of anything. Heck, I was just straight up angry about circumstances in my life. I even had a "discussion" with God, where frankly, I wasn't really listening at all, just telling God why my situation wasn't very desirable. The details aren't that important, I'll just say that it was not a God-glorifying day.
At the end of the day, I was sitting in the rocking chair listening to my husband read a Bible story to our daughter when he began to sing. My daughter joined him as she swayed her head back and forth. My husband was singing, "Jesus Loves Me". My heart slammed inside me. Here I was, complaining about my situation and wondering if God was even listening to me, and was reminded by a simple children's song that God does love me. He hasn't forgotten about me instead, He loves me! Wow! It doesn't take much!
The last simple thing happened this morning as I was singing praise songs with my little family. The song below was playing when God reminded me that He is in control...of everything! Not just some things in my life or the world, but EVERYTHING! This was so comforting to my heart. May it be comforting to you as well. Enjoy listening and perhaps singing along!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG-zoopwV_I
Until next time....