Oh, my dear friends, we have so much to catch up on.

First and most important – I am officially opening a little Etsy shop. Emphasis on little. I feel like such a big girl, sitting down with a CPA and going over all of the steps to make my little business legit. And to protect me from being hauled away from the IRS, which the rule follower in me is just a tiny bit worried about. But lucky for me my husband believes in hiring professionals to do important things like file taxes, so I’m all set. So in the meantime I have a logo to design, shipping information to research, and fabric to buy. I can’t wait to debut my little shop to you, my dear friends, first. Who knows, maybe you’ll buy a little ruffled pillow and think of me?

Speaking of husbands, can I just brag on mine a moment? My sweet husband has been so supportive of my entrepreneurial endeavors, even though it means a little time and seed money to get started. I married a man who wants me to dream big dreams, and he works hard to help me to fulfill them.

Speaking of big dreams… I’ve been praying that God will make me a visionary. Because I am not – I am great at doing things. Implementing other peoples’ visions. When someone comes up with a big plan, I’m the one with the notepad making to-do lists, figuring out how much it will cost, weighing the risks and benefits, the return on investment, mentally calculating how much time and energy it will take to make someone else’s dream a reality and mapping out a schedule on my calendar. And so often I find myself thinking, “That will never work.”

I don’t want to be that girl. I am realistic, but I serve a God who’s bigger than my to-do list. Bigger than the budget. Bigger than the resources available. I love people who dream big dreams and then God blesses them.

And so I’m praying that God will give me vision. Vision to see further than what I know to be safe and doable. Vision that requires miracles. Vision so I can support my husband’s vision and not sink into the quicksand of the “how will we ever do that?” questions. I want vision so that God can use me to do big things for him.

Is it a coincidence that after I started praying this prayer, a few very unexpected opportunities fell in my lap? Maybe. Or maybe not.

But enough of the deep talk. Tomorrow night we’re hosting 25-30 people for dinner at our house to celebrate July 4th, and I need to prop up my feet and dive into Netflix and turn off my brain so that tomorrow I’m ready to throw my party. Did I mention the party includes fireworks? Our city puts on a great show and there’s a great viewing area just down the street. One of my summer bucket list items involves kissing while watching fireworks. I’m pretty sure I’ll be crossing that item off tomorrow’s list.

I promise to post pictures of my party decorations later. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to whip up a few red, white, and blue goodies on my sewing machine so my guests feel special.