What a hot summer!

Hello, I've been absent for some time. There were some issues and oh well, it's all history. Today is a new day. In the South Texas area this time of year is so hot that you could literally cook an egg on the sidewalk. It has been in the triple digits and our a/c broke. Half of our house is cool and the other half is like an oven. It just happens that the kitchen is in that half. Everytime I cook, the heat is worse. I do have a fan but that just does not seem to help. What a horrible mess but can't complain. I just tell my kids imagine how hell must be. Now that's a place we sure don't want to be.

One hot afternoon, my kids were complaining and I took advantage of the moment and mentioned how hell could be even worse. I told them the importance of forgiveness because at any moment God can say this is your time. Imagine being in the presence of the Lord and we can't enter heaven because we chose not to forgive someone. Because He commands us to forgive just like He forgave us. Sometimes its just too hard to forgive. How can we forgive someone who has wrong us, who has offended us, how can we forget.

This week we went through a trial in our lives. A few months ago, my husband burned his tongue while eating dinner (he just couldn't wait for it to cool a bit). Well, in that area a tiny little bump formed. Later, it looked more like a growth. Months later, this growth grew and the texture and color changed. A few weeks ago, it grew to a size that worried us. My husband went to his doctor on Saturday and the news was shocking. The doctor didn't like the looks of it and for him there was no doubt- cancer. What a blow? How can that be, it was just a simple burn. The doctor referred my husband to a specialist. His appointment with Dr. Wright would be on Tuesday.

I just prayed. Because I knew I can't do nothing without Him. I prayed because I knew where my help comes from. I prayed to wonderful and powerful God. I prayed to God because there's absolutely nothing impossible for Him. Because His word says-by His wounds we are healed. During prayer, I said to the Lord, "if there's anything I have done that has offended You, show me so I can repent" and He showed me. He reminded me of two occasions I chose not to forgive.

Last year two of my husband's co-workers went through some health problems. One had cancer and the other had a very bad infection on his foot, result of a spider bite. We prayed for them and I asked for prayer at church. Church members prayed for them even if they didn't know them, regardless of religion. Our Lord all mighty healed them and we rejoiced. But, later these two wronged my husband in different occassions. I was so mad, I thought how could they after we asked for prayer and they were healed, just how could they forget. Just hearing their name made me so furious.

Oh!? I felt so bad when the Lord showed me. I chose not to forgive and let go. Immediately, I forgave these two men. I realized that it's not who God heals, it's just the fact how great He is that He can heal anyone, even those who chose not to follow Him. How full of mercy and great and awesome is He. After I finished my prayer. I just knew my husband would be okay. If God can heal a nonbeliever why would he not heal my husband how serves and loves Him.

On Tuesday, we saw the specialist and praise His name, my husband doesn't have cancer!! He will need to get that growth removed. But, it's not cancer. From this trial I learned so much, we can sometimes focus on what people have done to us that we forget what God does for us.

As I tell my kids to remember to forgive, I remind myself, too the importance of forgiveness. Because this kitchen gets so hot when I cook that I sure don't want to know how it can be in hell.

Nathaniel- what a blessing

Nathaniel is my son who will soon be 7 years old, in April. When I was 5 months pregnant with him, I fell. My husband rushed me to the hospital and I had lost some liquid, it was believed to be amniotic fluid. I was hospitalized. The technician performing the sonogram just stayed quiet and looked at me with sympathy. I could tell by the look on his face that something very wrong and bad was going on. But, I believed in a great God. I believed in Him and knew He would see me through this. The doctor later gave me the results of that sonogram and she said that the placenta was detached from the uterus. That within hours I would have lost my baby to a miscarriage. Because at 5 months pregnant it would be impossible for my baby to survive. Instead of crying and fearing the worse after hearing all this, I had this peace. How great is our God, because after being in the hospital for so many days, there was no miscarriage!! The doctor just couldn't believe it. She ordered another sonogram and it showed a healthy placenta. There was no gap as I had seen days earlier on the monitor when the sono was being performed. I cried because I was so thankful to the Lord. I was released from the hospital. That year we celebrated Christmas days later because I was in the hospital Christmas eve and didn't get out until 29th. Not losing my baby was my Christmas gift from God. Reason why I named my baby Nathaniel - gift from God.

Nathaniel was just days shy from his 1st birthday when he fell. He had this huge cut on his forehead which required medical attention. Not only did he get a scar on his forehead but he also stopped talking. After so many doctor opinions, I finally found my present doctor (a Christian). She referred us to a speech pathologist. He was almost three and wasn't talking. He started speech therapy. I had noticed since he was born that he didn't like being held and didn't like loud noise. I mentioned that to the speech therapist and good thing she listened. He was evaluated and he was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder. Apparently, touch and noise hurt him. That was the reason he was always crying. He had his treatments for almost three years. To top that, he had asthma. There were nights I couldn't sleep because I had to be checking on him. There were nights he was sitting on his bed crying and almost blue because he couldn't breath.

When he started Pre-Kinder, he changed a lot because he was interacting with kids his age. But, that year in December, he had the worse asthma attack ever. I rushed him to the ER, my husband stayed with our other kids at home because it was too cold. At the ER, doctor noticed that he would not react to the medication. The doctor called the nurse to start an IV, well she couldn't find the vein. By the time I knew it there were about 6 nurses around Nathaniel's bed. His veins were collapsed and they were trying to figure out what was going on and there was Nathaniel with breathing problems, too. Nathaniel would turn to look at me. It was hard to stay strong but I smiled at him and said 'don't worry'. I heard one of the nurses say "God, he's so young". I just prayed and said "God, my son is yours. I accept your will. But, if this is just the enemy's attack, help my son". He answered my prayer and Nathaniel stopped having breathing problems. Later, the doctor said that he was dehydrated and that his systems were shutting off slowly one by one. The first system that was shutting off was his pulmonary system. But, How great is our God. That He was there and Nathaniel pulled through. Nathaniel was hospitalized for a couple of days. We went home on Christmas Day. Another gift from God.

I brought a different boy home that morning. He hated being hugged and kissed. All noise bothered him. But, that day we noticed that Nathaniel couldn't stop kissing us and hugging us. He was so loving and that has not changed.

At church, everyone loves the way he is. He's always smiling and shaking hands and saying "God Bless you". They call him "the boy who likes to shake hands". I'm so thankful and I can't stop giving thanks to the Lord for giving me this wonderful little boy. I'm so thankful because the Lord has given him healing. At school, he's one of the top kids in his grade level. He reads a lot. He talks a lot. He smiles a lot. He hugs us a lot.

I can't stop giving praises to the Lord for the blessings He has given me. Nathaniel is just one of my blessings. Later, I will share other blessings. (all my four kids are a walking testimony of how Great our God is). God bless you. If you're going through a trial, I hope this testimony will encourage you to press on for He is with you.

FREE BUSINESS SPREADSHEET

I just found this great free business tool. It's a spreadsheet that shows how to price our items and everything is broken down so neatly and it's just a great business tool. It is very helpful and I'm glad I found it for that reason I'm sharing this with you.If interested, let me know I'll email you the url. I promise you won't regret it. This spreadsheet was made by a jewelry designer, who was kind enough to share this with us.

Have a blessed day!

Maggie

Vintage inspired idea for earrings

Going through old craft and crochet magazines and leaflets my mom was going to throw away, I found an interesting and cool idea. Just a few days ago, I was brainstorming for ideas. I needed a different design for earrings. I have a customer and she is well...eclectic. I had made earrings made of guitar pics for her once. But, this time she wanted something different. Well, going through these vintage magazines, I found one. The leaflet showed earrings made of crochet circles. My design will be of crochet circles but I will add beads and make them chandelier style. I'm sure my eclectic customer will love them. In fact, I think I will make some for me, too.

Have a blessed day.

Maggie

Last week was a week of cleaning and eating at my house. I was having a Thanksgiving "lunch" at my house with my parents and my siblings and their families. With four children, it's hard to keep an organized home. There's toys all over the place; the good thing is that they pick up at the end of the day. So, having company over meant I had to really clean house. Since I had a back injury, I try to do everything slowly. Before, I could do chores within hours. Now, it takes longer. It took me three days to clean and organize mostly everything.

On Thursday, I got up early and started chopping celery and onion (which my family and I love in our stuffing). I had everything cooked and baked by the time my parents arrived around 11:30 am. By 12:30 we were serving our lunch. It's enjoyable having family over. There was lots of laughs and did our kids have fun playing.

But, there was so much food and boy did I eat a lot. My kids don't really like the idea of eating turkey again the next day. I made turkey sandwiches on Friday and there was complaining: "Turkey again!?"

This morning I trying to figure out why there's turkey smell in my house. I'm using deodorizers, hope that helps. I feel like I ate too much these past days (guilty). Also,since we have been in and out of the house more than usual this weekend, there's toys all over the place, again. Back to the daily routines.

I forgot, I found this great article on how to stay slim during the holidays, anyone interested just join our mailing list and I will send that to you asap. Have a lovely week.

Maggie

Free earrings

I'm having monthly raffles for those who join our mailing list. Free earrings for the winners every 30th!!

thanks for joining

Maggie

Metallic purple earrings

According to MSN in the fashion section, purples, reds, black and white, chocolate, and emerald green, including metallics are the "in" colors for this Fall. I went ahead and made a cute pair of earrings in metallic purple. I just ordered a couple of strands of beads in the above colors. With the Christmas holiday just around the corner, I'm behind. (Remember I was in the hospital:) I'm working diligently, I promise.

Welcome,

Welcome to Sacred Stones & Gifts Blog

I am very excited having launched my website a month ago. There's a lot of work I need to catch up. A couple of weeks ago I injured my back. I was hospitalized for almost a week. I couldn't walk or get up the hospital bed. That was the worse part for me. It turned out I had a herniated disc. But, thank God I'm better!! I have no need in taking medications, no need for surgery and I'm pain free. A few days ago I visited the specialist and he was impressed in my fast healing. I just praise the Lord for that.

For that reason, I am behind my work. There are many products that need to be added in my website. There a orders that need to be filled plus there are some fall shows I will be doing every other weekend. Boy, am I busy! I'll be adding new jewelry for the fall season in my website. Make sure to check that out. Many other cool products will be added that are just perfect for the holidays, too. Let me know what you think.