when it is about something more

First, here is a little glimpse into the  Homemade Year tent area -all set up and ready to go.Crafts from the book all on display.

Palm Sunday Apron


Books for Sale!

Box of crafting supplies for deomonstrations



Michaelmas Bunting

Easter Paschal Candle

New cards stand at attention

Holy Cross pillow, Old Joseph Cards...

Patchwork Wreath, Lenten Sampler Tote
One of my little helpers

Tension holding things together

Sunflowers from my sweet hostess

Southern Voodoo Punch for thirsty shoppers and vendors

Grateful Mobile waving in the breeze
A few things I am grateful for

Eva, my little helper drew pictures of things she was grateful for.This is a picture of Bread.Love it!

My constant companions

Paper chains left over from the Homemade Hootenanny
And then, just like that, it was over.************************************************
Last weekend was my last stop on the Homemade Book Tour Spring '13.I cannot say that I am sad.Like pretty much everything else related to the birthing of A Homemade Year, book events have been a huge learning experience for me. After doing just about every sort of even-speaking, signing, craft demonstrations- I have figured out what suits me best. What works well in conjunction with my daily life.Which activities are life-giving, and which ones are mostly just time consuming.Which ones make my heart full, my skin tingle, and my hair stand on end from shear joy and which ones just leave me exhausted and depleted.
Going into all of this I thought that all of the events would be equally fun.I also thought that the crafts and recipes were what people would enjoy the most when they read AHY.
Turns out I was wrong on both accounts.
What I have found, through all this trial and error and success, is that what most people seem to love the most about the book, is the same thing that gives me goose bumps when I talk about it:The stories.The need to share our stories. The blessings that come from connecting our stories to the stories of others and then to God's story.The common threads through all of our stories-   joy, disappointment, redemption, love, failure and hope- that binds our hearts together, and helps to erase the false belief that we are alone, that we are the only ones who have ever felt this way.
I thought I was writing a book about cute crafts, yummy recipes, and fun parties with some messy faith stories mixed in.
As it turns out, it is the other way around.