Rest Time is Over

I had a very relaxing non-stressful 6 weeks of rest!  All I focused on was my home, my family, and homeschooling.  It was actually very nice.

Near the end of my break, however, I signed up to be a Thirty-One consultant!!!  Now, you may be thinking why would I add such a huge endeavor to my life when I was supposedly taking a break from any and all extra activities?  I agree.  That is a perfectly valid question.  I had been praying about doing this for about a year.  I just love Thirty-One and their products.  I have purchased 10 items in the past few years and I love everything about them and I keep wanting more!  I finally decided that this was something I could sell.  But, I was planning on waiting until May to sign up.  Then, it was brought to my attention that if I signed up before April 1, I could get a full rebate on my enrollment kit if I sold a certain amount in my first 30 days.  The possibility of getting my enrollment kit for free was tempting, so I did some more praying.

I want to say that I am not completely new to these home-based selling companies.  I once sold Mary Kay.  I enjoy Mary Kay products.  I still use it and it is the only brand I use on my face.  But, I jumped into selling Mary Kay without prayerfully considering it.  It was an on-the-whim decision.  I had never used Mary Kay before I became a consultant and knew nothing about the company except that it sold makeup.  When I attended my first meeting, I was so put off by the director.  I did not understand the excitement of Mary Kay.  I couldn't sell it because I wasn't excited to tell others about it.  Shortly after becoming a consultant, I became pregnant with my older daughter.  Throw in the exhaustion and hormones of pregnancy while dealing with a toddler and a new business that I really wasn't all that excited about just lead to failure.  I was in it strictly to make a little extra income for our family.  It required a lot more effort and time and money than I could give or was willing to give.  I made a whopping $42 the entire year I was a consultant and I just let my status as a consultant expire.  It was not worth it to me at that time.

So, you can imagine how leary I was of any home-based selling company that I ran into from then on.  I considered selling Creative Memories - a scrapbooking company, but my family didn't scrapbook and I didn't know where I would find a good customer base.  Then, another scrapbooking company came along called Heritage Makers.  It sounded appealing as well, and since it was an online scrapbooking company, it might be better.  But, still, no one felt like they could give me business.

Then, I attended a Thirty-One party.  I had never heard of it before and I had no idea what kind of a company it was.  As I listened to the consultant talk about the items and passed them around the room, I started to fall in love.  I thought of uses for almost everything in the catalog.  I had my eye on several items, but could only afford to spend a small amount of money at the time.  I bought my first item and left wondering if I would ever have the opportunity to buy anything else.

I soon realized that I was not the only one introduced to this new company.  My sisters had a few Thirty-One items as well.  Perfect!  I had to get more.  I had to find a consultant.  Thankfully, I discovered that my cousin, Deidra Rankin, sells it.  I bought a few items from her and was ecstatic when it arrived.  I was hooked.  Finally, I decided it was time to make it my business.  I didn't join for the money.  I didn't join for all the rewards I could get.  I joined because I love the product and I want others to know what great products they are!  As I learned with Mary Kay, you can't sell it if you don't love it.  :)  So after much thought, a lot of praying, and several months, I joined the Thirty-One career and I am having a blast.  And, yes, I did earn my rebate!!

Last week, I had our spring break.  It was a wonderful end of my weeks of rest.  Easter Sunday was amazing.  The music was absolutely beautiful.  I didn't even once wish I was up there singing with them.  I truly enjoyed just listening and getting chills from the blends and talented voices praising God.  We even witnessed a young girl get baptized, showing the world that she has made a commitment to follow the Lord.  I sent the kids on an unusual Easter egg hunt that afternoon.  Instead of just searching for eggs, they were required to correctly answer a question or complete a task in order to keep the egg they found.  It was very fun.  Later, we made resurrection rolls, representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  This will be an Easter Sunday I won't soon forget.

Then, it was time for me to dive in to VBS planning.  Our theme this year is a kingdom theme.  As I do every year, I wrote a skit to be performed each night of VBS to go along with the theme and reinforcing the speaker's message.  As my Thirty-One business took off, and VBS on my brain, and getting back into school routine after spring break, I think the rest did its job.  Thank You, Lord for giving me the wisdom to step back and get myself refocused on what is really important.

So, here I am, back in full swing of everything I love and everything I am called to do.  I need to stay focused on the Lord and serve only Him.  I need to bathe my day in prayer, asking for wisdom and strength.  I need to forget trying to please others.

For those of you who have no idea what Thirty-One is, you can check out my website at www.mythirtyone.com/lauramh.