Monday, October 26, 2009

1st Newsletter!!


       Hello! We hope that you have had a great year! This is the first newsletter from Our Chosen Heritage Clothier (formally know as Crafty Sisters 4 HIM, we’ll explain this in more detail later))! We hope that you enjoy it!

       After the 2008 LEAH convention in Rochester, NY, Crafty Sisters 4 HIM focused on completing the orders that we had received there and then we started to rebuild the inventory we had sold. The LEAH convention blessed us significantly! Throughout the rest of the summer after the convention we continued building up our inventory and fulfilled additional orders we received. During this time, Cora started teaching herself web design with the goal of developing a website for Crafty Sisters 4 HIM. It is still a work in progress! My big excitement during this time was the purchase of a serger sewing machine!!! I have enjoyed learning how to use the serger tremendously! It finishes raw edges beautifully and I don’t know how I lived without it before!
            At Christmas time we considered having an open house or being vendors at a local craft show but the Lord closed those doors. Though we didn’t see the reason for it at that time, we are now so grateful that He didn’t allow us to be vendors at any of these opportunities. During November and December my doggie’s health began to go down hill. Red died naturally on December 21, 2008 at eighteen years of age. I was extremely sad that she died and have missed her dreadfully. I know, however, that she is with God in heaven now and is happier than she would’ve ever been with me.  
            2009. The fun begins! So these are a couple of things that I had in mind for my life and Crafty Sisters 4 HIM to be accomplished in 2009: 1) get the website completed, 2)finish and publish Williamsburg era book, 3)increase my inventory to make sizes 3-14 available, 4)go to a lot of craft shows, 5)have an open house, and 6)have a Crafty Sisters 4 HIM photo shoot.
I think you are getting the picture…..I had a lot planned!! Very happy with all of my plans, I expected God to be happy, too. Thank goodness God can see everything and has a unique plan for everyone because His answer to what I wanted to do was, “That’s great… But I have something even bigger planned.”
Our entire family has been apprenticing at a local farm for the last four to five years and had planned to obtain some property so that we could start a self sustaining farm sometime in the future.  My mother partially owned some land with her siblings and an aunt down in North Carolina in a little town called Pilot Mountain. After a lot of praying and going down to look at the property numerous times, we decided to buy it! Out of the eighty-seven acres we bought, half is wooded and half is fields. We also own a pond on the property! There is no house on the property, only an old tobacco barn.
         Now that we owned the land, selling our house was the next top priority. We have always sold our houses by owner so after ‘freshening’ up the house a little we stuck a couple signs out, put the house up on a couple free websites, and waited on the Lord.  
      Within the first week and a half we received a call from Cora while Mom, Aaron, and I were at a piano lesson. She said that a lady had left a message on our answering machine and wanted to come see the house that night! Quickly, I gave mom the phone and she got the ladies number and gave her a call. As it turned out, we got home from piano at around 5:45- 6:00 pm. The couple was coming at 7pm…..YIKES!! To make a long story short, the first couple who looked at our house bought it. Praise the Lord!!
The closing date was June 26 which didn’t give us much time to get everything down to North Carolina….and that would be another problem…. North Carolina let’s see…no house on the property which means no place on the land to live…tent anyone? I’m kidding! - about the tent that is.
We are all currently renting a trailer adjacent to our land. It is a small space for all 5 of us to be but we are enjoying a new challenge!
 On the land we are hoping to garden heritage seeds, raise grass fed heritage breed animals using rotational grazing, and become as self sustaining as possible. Eventually we would like to have a CSA (community supported agriculture), farm to table restaurant, healthy eating and living seminars, and gift/farm store.  With the future of our nation and the economy in mind, we want to be able to not only provide for ourselves but others as well.  Because the majority of our population is dependent upon others for their food, we want to be able to education the public on how to provide for and care for themselves in  a self sustainable way. (If you are more interested in what we are doing as a family or with the farm click onto our Family Blog to the right of this post and pull up Our Chosen Heritage's blog spot!) 
Around now your probably wondering where Crafty Sisters 4 HIM goes into any of this. We would be part of the gift shop as well as eventually having an online site. We are still hoping to accomplish all of the goals we had set and presented to you at the convention but the goals that Cora and I had individually for the business will not be set before our family goals. This means they will probably not happen as quickly as we had hoped but in God’s perfect timing.
I love to sew but, being in God’s plan is the best place to be. We have also changed our business name to compliment the vision our family now has, our business name is now Our Chosen Heritage Clothier.
  A new feature of Our Chosen Heritage Clothier that was not available at the convention that we know offer is the addition of sizes 3-6 to all of our matching girl and doll merchandise. So now you can purchase a matching girl and doll outfit in any size from 3 - 14! At the convention several people commented to us that is would be nice if we could offer smaller sizes so we hope that this addition will bless many of you!
We also now offer a Work Colonial Dress as part of our 1800’s/Williamsburg era collection along with the Williamsburg Ball Gown and the Colonial Everyday Dress we previously carried! The work dress is similar to the Colonial but has a pleated apron and the cap is edged with delicate white lace. We hope that you will come to love this new addition as much as we do!   

      Well, I hope that you enjoyed Our Chosen Heritage Clothier's first newsletter and blog post!
Leave a comment please!!