A review of 2023! New Year, New Beginnings!!

Happy New Year, ya’ll!!! It is time for a new year and new beginnings!!! But let’s do a review of 2023! I cannot believe 2023 has come and gone. But can I say I am glad to have the past two years behind us? Hardships come in different ways for everyone, which is why it is not good to compare with others. The past two years have been some of the hardest for me and I am here today to share some of what has been going on and to give a review of 2023. Also, how through all that has been going on God is good and has walked with us on this journey.

When I logged on here on January 1st, I saw that I had not written a blog post in a year and a half, wow, I had no idea. That is how crazy and fast 2022 and 2023 were.

It All Started in 2022

In all honesty, it all started in January of 2022. We lost my uncle on my mom’s side. He was her only surviving sibling. She had already lost her sister and mom a few years ago. It was a shock because it happened so quickly. He got sick and within a couple of weeks, he was gone. We were all numb for a while and at this point, it was hard to get into our business.

By the spring of 2022, I was getting back into the swing of things, writing content and doing crafts on Facebook. Life was getting better. And again, God was walking with us through it all. He gave us peace that only He can give!

In October, my dad was getting ready to have a simple surgery on his elbow. While doing pre-op, the Drs found afib and sent him to his cardiologist. After several tests, he had to have 2 stents put in. Then a few days later he was having pain and losing blood, because of two blood thinners, so we took him to the ER, after another round of tests they found that he had a mass on his left kidney. At this point, we were wondering what in the world was going on!!! And because of all the blood loss, he was extremely weak for a while.

Through all of this, we continued with our business be it on a smaller level. We did our first big vendor show in November, just a few days after finding out everything with my dad. I have never been more thankful for those in my life. My brother and brother-in-law showed up in so many ways to help us out!!

Now we had to get ready for him to have surgery to remove the kidney, but the Drs were concerned about doing surgery so soon after having stents put in. I think we all agree that when things like this happen it puts life into perspective and makes you realize what is more important!!

We had a different sort of Christmas but a most blessed one because my dad was still here with us. The goodness of God!!

Review of 2023

A new year was now beginning and we were getting ready for my dad to have a pretty big surgery. It was a little bit scary because he had to stay on a low-dose blood thinner during surgery, most Drs don’t like to do surgery while on a blood thinner and just having stents put in.

We had many prayers covering him! Thank You, Jesus the surgery was a success and he lost minimal blood.

Now comes the healing process and there was one little drawback…a week after surgery, the Drs removed the staples and would you believe it if I told you that his incision started opening back up? Well, it did!! If I could do an emoji of big eyes right now I would!!!

So for about 3 months my mom and I had to keep it cleaned daily and he had to go to a wound clinic every few days. If you know me, then you know I was going to have a hard time keeping his incision clean. I was the kid in school who could not handle bloody and gory things!! All that goes into cleaning a wound, eeekkkk!!! I will not go into details. But, again, thank You, Jesus, I was able to stomach it and get it done. Ha, now I feel like a professional, lol!

Thankfully as the year progressed he got better and is improving every day. He still has to go every so often to have bloodwork and scans done to make sure everything is gone and we believe that it is. Jesus has brought him through so much in his life but especially this past year, God has something in store for him.

Just When You Think Things Are Slowing Down

Things were getting back to normal and we were moving ahead, but in September my mom had an accident and broke her shoulder and wrist. Now I am really thinking “What is happening?”

She had to have back-to-back surgery on her wrist and her shoulder just one day apart. She is now on the mend and healing. If you believe in prayer, please keep her in them as she is still in pain and healing. It can take up to a year.

Again, God has walked us through all of this journey and been good to us. He has placed the right people in our lives and given a peace that only He can give!

Final Thoughts

I wanted to finally share some of what’s been going on and why I haven’t been on here or on our social pages as much. Family is always more important than business! And I want to encourage you that even though life seems hard sometimes, God is faithful and He will place people in your life to walk with you.

Also, if we can pray with you about something, please comment below or reach out through our email. We will be here to pray with and for you. It is something I want to do more of this year, encourage you and be here as a prayer partner.

As a side note, even with everything going on this year, we were able to do another big vendor show plus a couple of small ones. Also, this was probably our biggest year sales-wise as a business, yet another blessing from the Father.

We are looking to grow this year and make some changes in our business. We are always pivoting and evolving but that is what businesses do. Also hoping to post more often on the blog this year.

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I am so excited to be back with you and look forward to spending more time with you this year!!! Thank you for letting me ramble!!!

Blessings always!!! Amanda