[autumn} shop update.

our shop is constantly evolving. it's a roller coaster of emotions, and as much as i try to not let the highs get too high and the lows get too low, they inevitably get the best of me and leave in a puddle of tears some days. this handmade business thing is not for the faint of heart. it's just not. 

don't get me wrong, i never thought it would be easy. i never did. and the first year we were in business, it took off beyond my wildest dreams. only God can take it where you didn't even know you wanted it to go! i got to experience wonderful things like making dear friends via social media, i had weirs {a local to-die-for country store} contact me about wholesale and we're still enjoying a blossoming partnership that i am forever grateful for. i've been blessed to sponsor craft weekend {which i still love} and even had the privilege to go. it was amazing.

all of it was amazing. 

but in the midst of all of the good, there is hard. just like in any business. there are those VERY rare customers that you can't make happy - and it kills me when that happens. there are people who steal - ideas, merchandise, words + so on - and that is just NOT nice. and if i don't watch myself, i end up focusing my thoughts on the negative. on all of these little tiny negatives instead of the vastness of the wonderful blessing my business has been.

and so in this season of thanksgiving - i am choosing to take my thoughts captive - each + every one - and i will be focusing on all of the wonderful aspects of being a handmade business owner. because there ARE so very many - and they greatly outweigh the yucky stuff. a wonderful friend of mine who has her own kind of business told me she felt the Lord speak to her that she is to be grateful for EACH and EVERY sale. each customer. each product sold. each sweet and kind email. each positive comment. each 'like'. 

and that is the best advice i've been given in a long time. and it's changed how i look at my business. and i hope it changes how you look at it too. i hope you know that you are loved and prayed over with every order you place with little branches. i hope you know that we are grateful for new business and blessed three fold by return business. i hope you can feel the love that was put into each and every product that we make and that you are blessed and it fills your day with love, life and encouragement.

"the words I have spoken to you - they are full of the Spirit and of life" {john 6:63b} 

that is our hope.... that the words you find within little branches will be full of the Spirit and of life, just as Jesus's words always were. 

blessings today.