My Continued Journey

So I will now continue......We found out that my husband was going to be transferred to Colfax, WA, I said, "Col-what?  Where the heck is that?"  I find out it's over in Eastern WA; I had never even been to Eastern WA before.  And now we find out we will need to be there in just 3 short weeks.  WHAT?!?  I called my parents, packed up the kids to stay with my parents and Kevin & I headed over to the town of Colfax to find a place to live.  We arrived in Colfax and drove all through town.....it didn't take very long as there are only 3 stop lights and the town is about a mile long.  The population in Colfax is about 2800; I was thinking, "Hmmm, this could take some adjusting to."  Now I'm originally from Phoenix, AZ -population=millions, after high school we moved to Olympia, WA -population around 100,000 and now Colfax is less than 3% of that!  On with my story, we ended up finding a house for rent the only house to rent in Colfax at the time and oh so thankful it was big enough for our family.  Now back to Olympia to pack up and get moved.  We happened to be moving during spring break, so it worked out great that we could get a little settled in before the kids went to school.

OK, OK, I totally fell in love with this cute little town.  It almost felt like we went back a couple of decades.  Everyone was friendly and helpful and so excited for a new family to be moving to town.  Everywhere I went I felt so welcomed.  Colfax is small, but we do have the essentials here; grocery store, hardware store, a few gas stations, a few restaurants, a couple of fast food places, the grange (I call it the everything store), some gift shops, an elementary school, a high school, tons of parks and lots of churches.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to live without my Costco, but it's only an hour away, it'll have to do.


                                                        This is Main Street in Colfax

We found an amazing church Catalyst Church (formerly Colfax Assembly of God).  They have an awesome youth group (which was important to me for my kids), a supportive mom's group and an amazing pastor.  I have to tell you that this whole move was definitely in God's hands.  The transition could not have gone any smoother.  I mean really, we had only 3 weeks to move our family of 6 across the state and virtually no problems at all!  Only God can do something like that.  I should have been trusting God more because after all He is the one in control.  He lead us to the right town, the right house and the right church; what more could I ask for?  Ok, I did ask for one more thing.  I asked God to show me what I was suppose to be doing in my life because I knew there was more.  I had been praying for a long long time for God to show me that one thing that I had been missing in my life, because I was still feeling I needed something.

After unpacking, getting the kids in school and getting settled, I started making crafts again, (it had been so long since I used my creativeness) and I loved making things.  I was having fun making my little decorative blocks and wood signs and I even started selling them at one of the local gift shops called Cottage Gate.  I thought to myself, "maybe this is what I'm suppose to do, make crafts and sell them."  I was kinda on the right track but not quite;  I loved making things, but my heart wasn't totally in this.  I was cruisin' the internet one day and came across a website, The Worship Studio, and found a book called Unlocking the Heart of the Artist by Matt Tommey.  I didn't think I was really an artist, but it said something about crafts so I thought it sounded like it might help me.  This book really made an impact on me.  It talked about being an artist in the Kingdom; I was thinking, "do art for God?"  Yes!  God's work here on earth.  Use the gifts and talents He gave me to bless other people.  What a concept!  I knew that this was what I was missing from my life!  I needed to use the creativeness that I've always had to help others.  I get it now, but what do I want to make?  Back to the internet again.

I started to research.  I came across the blog of Kelly Rae Roberts and this is where I discovered mixed media art.  I fell in love with this type of art.  I googled "mixed media art" and found a whole new world!  I started following the blogs of Kelly Rae Roberts, Melody Ross, Christine Mason Miller, Paulette Insall and many others.  I then ventured out and played around with some mixed media techniques;  let me tell you, it was invigorating!  It was an absolutely perfect fit for me.  Let me explain a little, mixed media art can be a bit messy, chaotic, busy and fun; I am a bit messy, chaotic, busy and fun - a match made in heaven (lol).  I have finally found my passion.  You know you've found what you were meant to do when you:  A. can't wait to get out of bed to do it, B. you feel so at peace when you're doing it, C. you get really giddy and excited when you've finished a piece, and D. you are so proud of yourself that you can't stop looking at what you've made!  I finally feel like I have found my long lost missing piece.
                                       
                                          If you already have a passion, did you always know it was your passion?
                                          Do you ever feel like you're missing something?
                                          What does your journey look like?