Amanda’s Musings

Ok, I happen to believe that God is in control of all things, including technology. I happen to believe that God is much ’smarter’ than our most complex technology. Last week I was extrememly frustrated that I couldn’t get into my blog and post. It had been two weeks of battling with blogger to find out the problem. I had done a fair bit of ’shoot to heaven’ type praying through that time but the night before the blog probs were sorted I prayed ‘Ok Lord, you know how this technology works and you understand how frustrated I am, please sort it out for me’ (as opposed to ‘C’mon Lord, why isn’t it fixed yet?). The next day it was sorted.

A similar thing happened with Etsy. I’ve been asking the Lord to make it very transparent as to whether I’m doing the right thing with these little shops. I was feeling that no sales was his way of saying ‘No’ and then poof, a sale. So, I’m going to say thank you God for making me wait. I’m sure I’ll have to wait a whole lot longer for the next one but thats ok.

I sold two pairs of earrings if anyone is interested (pictured).

I have been working very hard over these last few weeks to promote my little online shops. To date, I’ve had 5 sales in the Aussie shop and a big fat zero in the US based one. It can get very discouraging. I’ve looked at how many great handmade things there are out there and I think ‘why do I bother?’. I know I can create things but so can lots of people! I have this urge to be creative, I have to create something or do something creative every day or I feel like something is missing. I suppose some people get the same thing from sports or exercise.

Anyway, feeling a bit discouraged about it all. I keep getting comments like ‘don’t worry, you’ll get a sale soon’ and ‘be patient, it could take months’. Great. Like anyone, I WANT A SALE NOW!!! Ok, maybe I’m just learning a lesson in patience and perseverance. Like the person who excercises every day, it may take months of hard work before I see any results. I hope I can keep it going that long!!

PS. That happy chappy on the left if Charlie - one of my miniature dolls. He stands at 5cm tall.

Not sure if anyone would have noticed but I’ve not been posting on here lately. I have been locked out for the last two weeks (too much to go into but I’m very excited that I’m finally in!!).

During that time I’ve been very hard at work in my two new online shops. Going to do a whole separate post about those in a bit but at least they kept me very busy.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

WW

The PF theme this week is ’sister’. Yep, it’s very very late but I’ve decided to do this one anyway. I don’t have a sister but I do have a sister-in-law so here’s a photo of us together (Candy and Malachi to the left, me and Keziah to the right) in Cairns recently. We went to a place called Kuranda which is up in the hilly area surrounding Cairns. It was a really nice day with a lot of lovely memories. Oh, and hi Candy (I know you drop by here!). : )

I have been busy listing on my Etsy Shop and there are now 19 items for sale. These range from necklaces to pins to miniatures. The prices on the shop page are in US dollars. If you are a local and would like to buy anything there, please contact me as I am happy to negotiate!

I am starting to wonder if I will sell anything as I’ve had things listed on there for a few weeks and no takers. Perhaps my prices are too high or perhaps it’s just because of the busy Christmas/NY time (or maybe people just don’t like what they see!!). If you think my prices are too high, please leave a comment as this is one area I’m not the best at. I know people are looking though as some items have had over 50 views!!!

Pic: Miniature train listed in my Etsy shop.

What did I think? It’s very honest. It’s very compelling . It’s very graphic. If you are planning on reading Schapelle’s story I would recommend that you sit down and expect some very descriptive and graphic images to be painted as you read. There are some horrific stories about life in Kerobokan Prison and it’s slum conditions. To be honest, I had to skip a story about infant murder that she was told about by another prisoner as I found it too disturbing after having had a baby recently. At the same time I feel that it was vital that Schapelle included these parts of her story so we can understand what she’s living through.

It’s looking more and more likely that she will be transferred to another prison which is a long way away from her family and supporters in Bali. If you are a person of prayer, please remember her. She needs support and people to believe in her and she needs people to read her book.

You can purchase her book online at the QBD Bookshop or Amazon but it is also available to buy in most book stores.

You can read all about her case and situation here and don’t forget, you can still write to her and send her parcels. The address for this is: