New Site for Jewelry and Updates

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I have finally got the jewelry blog up. Just remember that it is work in process though. Please go by and check it out and add me as a contact if you are interested in my jewelry. http://harmonyjewelrydesign.multiply.com/

Once again, it has been a while but we have all been sick over the past few months and then the Friday before Thanksgiving we had to lay Billy's uncle to rest after an awful struggle with bone cancer. They we had and have school plays and concerts it seems every weekend until Christmas. I hope to be able to add some photos and maybe even a short video of the violin concert that Gab had today. I may be able to add them tomorrow after church.

I just wanted to let everyone know that my prayers are with you all during these economically hard times that I think is affecting everyone including my family. My oldest daughter was about to lose her house and one of my best friends received her foreclosure papers on her house.

Wishing you all a wonderful and blessed weekend,

Sammie

Reorganization!!

Hello to all my friends and contacts. I realize that it has been a really long time since my last post, which has brought me to a decision. I am going to leave "My Place of Relaxation" here and post things going on that do not involve my jewelry. I will be doing a new blog for my jewelry and will keep you posted once I have it up and running.

It has been a very busy time for me since my husband and I decided (with much prayer and consideration!) to send our daughter to public school. I have homeschooled from the beginning and would have begun 3rd grade this year. Therefore, Gab had never set foot in a public school before and I was really apprehensive about this decision but decided to trust God and let her go. The experience so far has been wonderful! She is having a little bit of difficulty adjusting to a few students not following the rules and her being the rule police! But all in all she is doing extremely well. She is acing all of her subjects (thank God since that would have been a reflection on me!) and brought home all A's on her first Midterm! She was also given an assessment along with all of the others in the elementary school and scored above average. She lets us know when it is time to go to bed so that she will get enough sleep for school the next day. She LOVES school and being around children on a daily basis. I stay on top of the curriculum that she is being taught and stay in touch with her teacher. I can even email her during the day to get status! I could not do that with my adult children when they were in school! Of course, we still do our Chris Centered foundation building at home since that is not the schools responsibility to begin with.

That has freed me up to get some things done that have been put off through the years because I took my homeschooling very seriously. I started with our recording studio and repair shop. That took approximately a month! Still need to paint but it is now organized. Then I hit the storage areas. We have two upstairs on each end of the house and one in the hallway upstairs. I never knew what a pack rat we were until I went to organize these areas. That took an entire weekend! Needless to say we are Fall cleaning!

Pets - This was Blackie

Last week was not a good week for me! I am an animal lover and I have/had 12 dogs, 4 cats, and two fish. My 15-yr. old dog (Blackie) developed vestibular syndrome last November and due to the fact that he was blind had a very difficult time trying to recover. For about a week there I had to give him water with a syringe and feed him by hand. He eventually got to the point that he could drink and eat on his own but still had the head tilt that accompanies the syndrome. Well, ever since we had all of the dogs vaccinated last month he had been declining. Thurs. afternoon we had to say good bye to Blackie. This was very difficult for me. Then we noticed that his son whom is 12 is showing some of the same symptoms. Beaty still has his sight so far though. And then on the same Thurs. morning we had to take the newest kitten for the second round of vaccines. By Sat. he was lethargic and would not eat. He is finally beginning to act like himself today. Now, with all of that being said and knowing that my 4 cats are inside and all of the dogs are contained in a fenced in front and back yard, needless to say I will no longer support vaccines! I will do the rabies since that is required by law but I would advise all of you pet owners to do the research on the vaccines before you subject you pet to them again. My oldest cat that was 22 years old in Aug. has been to the vet three times in his entire life. We also feed them all holistic food which we purchase from "Animal Supply House" here in the Carolinas. You may also want to do research on the foods that you are feeding your pets. Some of these foods are made with animals that have been euthanized and they are all taken to a place where they are used as food. This includes any collars they had on, any flea preventative that may have been used on the pet etc. The list goes on...........

Many Blessings To You All,

Sam

Summer Updates

Jewelry

I had ordered wire in bulk and have finally received it. I have sterling silver and copper. Now I can get started on some Fall and Holiday jewelry. My sister-in-law had me make some earrings for a conference she is having in Columbia at the end of this month. The earrings are going to be door prizes and the conference is on a book called "The Pearl Earring". She not only did this because she likes my jewelry but she did it to help me get some exposure. I so appreciate this and am eternally grateful to such a wonderful sister-in-law. I am also going to be adding rings to my jewelry.

Home Front

We went to the Annie Moses Fine Arts MiniFest in June which was held in Raleigh, NC. We were there for nine days so that our daughter, Gabby, could participate in this event. It turned out to be such a wonderful and really new experience. It was a music play where the children had parts with their instruments (Gabby plays the violin) and they sang and had speaking parts as well. The play and music was written by Annie's parents and is all Christ centered. It was a lot of running everyday but so worth it. Here is a link if you would like to see some of the photos taken from practice and the production itself. http://richanderson.zenfolio.com/p323067920/

Hopefully it will not be as long as before when I post again. Thank you to all of my dedicated readers (friends) and be on the look out for some pictures of new jewelry.

Newest Piece/Recitals

Wow, sorry it has been so long since the last post. Ending the school year has been overwhelming this year. I must be getting old because I am finding it difficult to do 100 things at the same time anymore! I hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

New Piece

I was able to work on a pair of earrings and boy did these bad boys make my hands heart. Between the corpal tunnel and RA it took me a whole day to make these. The frame was formed from sterling silver wire and the weave was also done with sterling silver wire. The adornments were done with gold filled and vermeil (sterling silver coated with 14-24 carat gold) findings. The vermeil definition was told to me when I purchased my findings so if you have more to add or what I was told was incorrect then please email me. I am very honest about the materials I use in my jewelry and purchase only the best to make my pieces so when you purchase from me you are getting exactly what the description entails.

This was the bracelet used for the raffle that a dear friend of mine (hey Bonnie!) held at her horse show the Sat. before Mother's Day. She held a raffle to help me get exposure and also gave me the proceeds from the raffle. The raffle ended with $85.00. Those of you that know me know that I do not like for people to see me get emotional but when she told me about the raffle and handed me that envelope I could feel my eyes tearing up! By the way, you all can check out her website at http://www.freewebs.com/bonniebeam/ It is still work in process by yours truly so keep checking back to see updates.

Recitals

We have had three recitals: Piano, Praise Dance, and Violin

The piano was in March but my good photos are on the camcorder so I will have to post that as a video. So here goes.......

Piano

Keep checking back, sorry.

Praise Dance

This is where a group of girls use Praise Dance as a form of worship. Mariah, the instructor, is 16yrs. old and did this for our girls as a mission project. Her mother, sister, and a friend helped her with this mission project and I am grateful to them for caring and putting in time with our girls.

Violin

This is Gabby's 2nd year in violin.

Well, that is all I have time for right now. Take care, be safe, be blessed, and have a wonderful day!

Amazing Grace and More

While I was checking my email today a very good friend of mine that I met through a bible study at my church had sent me an email entitled Amazing Grace. Please check it out. It is absolutely amazing! It really blessed me and I hope that it will bless you as well. Thanks Ramona....

http://pjcockrell.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/amazing-grace-just-the-black-notes/

Latest Jewelry

I have been working on some cold connections and some bracelets. I have to tell you that this liver of sulphur really STINKS! Another close friend of mine was kind enough to suggest a raffle during one of her horse shows. I was so humbled at the kindness of this offer. I have been so blessed to have TRUE friends in my life. Anyway, I made the turquoise (chalk turquoise) bracelet with the hopes that it might work for this event. It will be on May 10th and will be held as a Mother's Day raffle so you all, please give me your input. I am working on others that I will post as I finish them.

Cold Connections

First attempt at Filigree.

This is the braclet I had made as one of the choices for the raffle. It is chalk turquoise and sterling silver.

The Fishing Trip

My husband and my dad took my daughter fishing. Just in case you don't know my dad he is a FISHERMAN! I remember going fishing with my dad and I had to be quiet so that I did not scare off the fish. I was also not allowed to fish on the bank while he was using his popping bug. I had to fish in the middle for the bass which was fine with me. My behind always got a little sore after about 4 hours though. lol

This is a lake/pond across the road from our house. My daughter was in hog heaven fishing with her papaw and her dad. Of course, this was her first time in this type of boat and it was so funny. They were using popping bugs and crickets. She did not want anyone to move and of course my dad and husband decided to rock the boat and flip her out. She finally got use to it but I bet that was a site to behold. lol

Well, that is all for now. I have pictures from the mission trip to Mexico so I will post them this week. Wishing you all a wonderful and blessed week.

Updates

This Sunday Morning

Our dogs began barking (all 10 of them) and so hubby got up to see what they were barking at. He couldn't see anything since it was still dark so he laid back down. About an hour later he came upstairs and woke me up to tell me that there was a car in the corner of the pasture across from our house that was demolished. I jumped up and while hubby was putting his pants on I took off out the door in PJs and all. What I saw was so horrifying! You could not even tell that it was a car. There was a lady out there and I asked her if anyone was in the car. She said yes, it is my brother. By then her father had gotten there and I have never in my whole life felt more helpless than I did at that point. My husband and I tried to comfort them and prayed with them. The sister was on her way to work and drove by this scene that had taken her brother's life. The young person in the car was 21 and died on impact. He had slammed into a tree. I always hear of accidents and am saddened but to actually see if first hand was devastating. I just cannot get this young person and his family off my mind. Please pray for this family because they had just buried their grandmother this past Wed.

5 yr. old Laurin Fowler

This little lady had surgery this past Tuesday (15th). They had to travel from SC to AK because no one else would consider doing the surgery and this doctor had done the first one and wanted to do this one as well. He was able to remove 70% of the tumor and Laurin was doing remarkably well later that day to have gone through what she did. She has been recovering very well and I think it is in part to the prayers from people like you. Thank you so much and please continue to keep them in your prayers. Here is the site again if you would like to read her story and the journal entries that her parents have entered.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/laurinfowler

Jewelry For A Cause

We have a lady in our Sunday School class who is fighting breast cancer. Her name is Janie. Janie is going through chemo treatments and it seems with each one the treatments get worse. She is a trooper though and I ask that you keep her in your prayers along with all of the others that are in the fight for their lives. I am listing her link and if you could please consider joining the team or making a donation on her behalf. http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=8645&team_id=286575

Here is a link to the team member that I am helping. Her name is Patricia Ward and she is not only one our Sunday School members as well but she is also a very dear friend of mine. http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeSouthAtlanticDivision?pg=personal&fr_id=8645&fr_id=8645&px=6067172

You may also purchase a Luminaria in memory of someone you have lost or in honor of someone who is a survivor. https://secure3.convio.net/tacs/site/Ecommerce?PROXY_ID=286575&PROXY_TYPE=22&FR_ID=8645&VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1733&store_id=8769

I thought about making some earrings to sell for this cause. I would love your opinions. If they pass approval then all of the proceeds (excluding materials) will go toward this team.

Well, that will about do it for right now. God bless you all.

Sam

Jewelry in the works/Other

Jewelry

I had to wait on my order of wire but have been diligently working on a few pieces at a time. They are not at a place for me to take pictures yet so you will have to wait on those. I am considering teaching classes in my area. Would any of you or anyone you know be interested? This is just a ponder right now because I am trying to find out if there would be enough interest for me to invest in the necessary tools and inventory. I don't know of anyone in the Rock Hill, SC area that does this outside of a few in Charlotte, NC. Please see the attached Poll.

Other

We are about to wind down with this school year and prepare for our summer activities. I was looking at my youngest child (the only one still at home) this past Sunday and was amazed at how she has grown this past year. It just seems that I notice things so much more being an older mom than I did as a young mom. Maybe it is because I am not concerned about what I am missing out on or maybe I just have more of an appreciation for life the older I get. I pretty much grew up with my first two children and have a lot of regrets about some of the things they had to go through from living with a single parent at that time. I was ecstatic when we (my second husband and I) decided to have a child and God found it in His heart to grant us this wish. Granted, not every school day goes smoothly but I would not trade this experience for anything. I know people that are having to deal with routine ER visits w/their child due to health complications the child was born with. People that are having to deal with brain tumors in their children and others having to deal with other types of cancer and yet others that are having to deal with the loss of a child. The amazing strength that I see in these parents is such an inspiration and makes me realize that my problems are a mere needle in a haystack compared. Listed below are some links to some of these people that I have mentioned. If you have a spare moment please take a look at these sites and keep each and everyone of them in your prayers. I know that there are many more out there but these are the ones that I have had contact with.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/laurinfowler

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ashlynhunter

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rileyfriddle

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull?emc=&m=3883395&v=1027093589&l=1

Blessings to you all until next time.

Back to normal

My husband left last Tuesday for a mission trip to Mexico and he is due back home tonight. Boy am I glad! This has been one long week and we have missed him so much.

Anyway, I have been busy making a few items. The earrings were gone before I had a chance to take a picture of them but here are some of the bracelets that I made. Oh yeah, I wacked my finger with a rubber mallet in the process! Boy did that hurt. It was my index finger at that. Don't worry though, I have a band-aid on it now while making jewelry. I am keeping this thing covered and CLEAN.