Where have you been Lisa?

Hello and happy Saturday everyone! I see some of you are enjoying the TOP's Tuesday and #OSJWritersWednesday posts every week. Then there are those messaging and asking me, "Where have you been? I miss your blog in the morning." If you enjoy the blog more than once a week, I apologize for my absence but sometimes we NEED to take a break to reconnect and find our inspiration. 

I haven't been creating stories, pictures, and emotions with my words for a couple months. Instead I've been creating with fabrics and patterns. Back in the day, a long, long, time ago my friend Ret taught me how to sew. The first thing I made was a dress for Easter. It was a simple pattern and with all it's flaws, I wore it proudly. The time and energy to sew after our daughter was born seemed to become less and less with each year. With the exception of holiday outfits or special occasions, the sewing machine collected dust. 

By the time she reached middle school I basically retired my sewing maching and it only worked for minor repairs or a Christmas project here and there. Fast forward a decade or so and guess what, I remember why I enjoyed sewing so much. With Mags in college I have more time available to think and create but to sit and write has been a challenging task since my Mom passed away. Yesterday the light bulb of "why" I probably struggle to write came to the forefront, thanks to a conversation with a friend.

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As I talked with a friend who blessed me with a quilting magazine and gift card for JoAnn Fabrics, I told her both are appreciated and I had a pattern (or 2 or 3, lol) I hoped to create over Christmas vacation. Somehow my writing came into the conversation and it was thanks to a magazine, the written word, and a friend that I realized something.

It's a challenge to write because when I completed a chapter or piece of writing, my mom was first one to read it. She offered honest (sometimes editorial honest, lol) feedback and I went back to the drawing board. The only time she wasn't reading and editing was if the writing was a gift for she and my Dad. As I thought about this epiphany last night and woke up with it still on my heart I realized something, Mom would want me to write. She knew my heart better than myself. 

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As Mom made notes one night, she left this. Dad found it after she passed and shared it with me so I snapped a picture to remind me. On one page she told me to keep writing, I tear up thinking about it. A few pages later there is another note and it ends like this, "...few minutes later laughing, thinking to ask Lisa to write me book Christmas, lol" I did laugh when I read this because as I cared for her in those last weeks and days she told me I should finish a book I'd been working on. We both laughed and I told her "In my 'free time' Mom", and we laughed even more. I didn't write her a book for Christmas last year and with only a week until this Christmas, there won't be a book this year either.

BUT thanks to God, friends, and a note she left behind...I'm ready to create. I'll use the gifts God's given me to share hope, inspiration, and joy with those I meet and even some of you that I'll only know via the Internet and written word. As I work out at the gym or putter in the sewing room I've realized something, both these things relieve stress AND give me ideas of things to write. I might not be writing as much as I used to or working towards a publication goal BUT my heart and desire to create and share with others has been restored.

Call it a Christmas miracle, a gift from God and my Mom from Heaven, or me finally picking my selfish head out of the sand...it's time to create and share with others. You might not have a new book to read in 2017 written by me but one thing I promise you...you can find me here blogging and sharing snip-its of stories and pictures of projects completed. There are so many ways for us to utilize our gifts to encourage, uplift, and inspire others. Mom can see and read from above, who knows, she might be enjoying me taking a break and not pushing so hard to meet self-set-deadlines. 

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Quilt Block Pattern used to create this Christmas Tree Block: 
http://www.conniekresin.com/2011/12/Christmas-tree-runner-tutorial.html

What are your gifts and desires?
What have YOU been up to?
Leave a comment below...