One Lucky Girl

Wowzers it has been awhile since my last post....but I have exciting news to share: The Youmans' Family is expanding by one more member this summer! Needless to say we are thrilled and feel very blessed:) I am well into my second trimester now so I have had lots more energy and been feeling much better! This was a large part of my lack of posting...I'm sure all moms out there understand!

Additionally, I took a little bit of time off from my late night sewing (since I couldn't make it past 7pm some nights! haha) after the holidays to enjoy my family, friends, and a little bit of the things I love to do...other than sew of course! I also took some time to reflect on our first full year of Rejoicing DAY. I feel so lucky God has blessed me with this talent and the feedback we receive has been so wonderful. This first year has by far exceeded my expectations and I have had time to set some goals, draw up new designs, and order new fabric. I have got some great new prints in and am enjoying sewing some "test" skirts for Delaney. Now my mom and I are just trying to get a bunch of items in stock to prepare us for the spring and summer. We will have boys ties and some new skirt and dress designs among others. I have also been applying to art fairs and we hope to get into the same ones we did last year. We are also gonna try a few new ones in the later summer/early fall. Keep us in your prayers for acceptance letters! One of my biggest goals for this year is to work on our website more and get more updated pictures on it. We are always sewing and creating but sometimes things sell too fast and we don't get them up on the website.  I always remind customers to email us and I can send recent pictures of what we are working on/in stock. That way you are sure to get the latest!

These last two months have been relaxing, but I have a lot more energy and motivation to get our creations out to you! More than ever I realize how lucky I truly am. I have an amazing husband and daughter who are my biggest supporters, I get to spend quality time with my wonderful mom and talk sewing for hours, I get to use my talent/passion to create items that people love (it still excites me everytime I get a compliment) and I am blessed to have a healthy baby growing inside me....God is so good!!!!

Other than being totally excited for 2012, I will leave you with a few random pictures: a sneak peak of a new skirt, a family pic, and a picture of Delaney in her Christmas dress that I made (the back had a silver exposed zipper - one of my favorite creations! I almost wanted to make one in my size!)

REJOICE!

Grandmas=memories

I subscribe to a daily devotional called Girlfriends in God and one of them in particular really hit home this week. The verse used was from Titus 2:3-5:

Older women…encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home.

The writer went on to talk about how her grandma and all the time she would spend with her when she was young. The time involved no trips to the mall and no fast food, rather they would spend time baking, cooking, or sewing. She went on to tell that she realized now that her grandma was acting as Titus speaks of. Her grandma didn’t leave her a huge sum of money, instead she left her something much more valuable: memories of them doing things together, showing her how to become a woman of God, and leaving a legacy that causes us to “rise up and call you blessed”.

This instantly made me think of both my grandmas: Delores and Adelle. Each summer my cousins and I would spend a week at my Grandma Delores’ house. We would have tea parties with homemade goodies, learn how to bake cakes and frost them with fancy designs, design wreathes, make candles, build tree-houses, pick apples, and the list could go on and on. Another treat was every night as we all sat around our home-made beds on the floor (so we could all sleep by each other of course!) she would give us a foot rub as we told add-on stories and said our prayers. My Grandma Delores has left us cousins with so many wonderful memories and skills that I treasure to this day.

Since my sister and I are the only girl grand-daughters on my dad’s side and we only lived a couple miles away from my dad's parents, we had a little more time to spend with my grandma Adelle. My grandma Adelle was a FABULOUS seamstress. She made all of her own clothes growing up and she made my sister and I numerous outfits including our first communion dresses, a gorgeous pageant dress when I was in the fourth grade, numerous Easter dresses, and even some matching doll clothes! It was always a treat to sew with my grandma because she knew all the best techniques for finishing an outfit with a professional touch. She was also a perfectionist, so every outfit was impeccable. My grandma Adelle fueled my passion for sewing and believe it or not, she always knew the latest styles too! As my grandma Adelle is now resting with the good Lord, I think of her so often when I sew. She, just like my Grandma Delores, were giving me something much more valuable than material objects, they gave me memories and skills that I use to this day.  They both are such wonderful examples of unconditional love to their husbands, families, and grandchildren…just as Titus talks of.

Even more my grandmas are such an inspiration to me. God blessed my grandmas with amazing skills and talents and I am thankful that they shared them with me!  It makes me truly think about the legacy that I want to leave behind for Delaney. I hope that I can instill in her that a life filled with God in your heart is better than any huge inheritance!

REJOICE!

My "Why"

I was recently at a work conference in Rapid City and attended a breakout session on Attitude. This session was right after lunch and sometimes it is awfully hard to keep your eyes open when your tummy is full and your eyes are heavy. I was pleasantly surpised though with our Speaker Mike Oster. He instantly grabbed my attention and held it the entire hour and 15 minutes of the session. Although I could touch on all of his awesome points about how having a positive attitude can make such a huge difference in the outcome of your day to day activities, he brought up one point that really has stuck with me ever since.
As Mike talked about our professions he challenged each of us to ask ourselves WHY we do what we do. He compared it to an inquisitive child who after you give them an answer, they still ask why, and then why again. He went on to add that the why uncovers your true passion in life.  So I want to break down my WHY's of Rejoicing DAY:
I can picture Delaney asking me: "Mom why do you like to sew so much?"
"Because I love creating unique items."
why?
"Because I get to use this awesome talent that God blessed me with"
why?
Because I hope other people love them as much as we do"
why?
"Because I get to spend time with my mom that I will always treasure."
why?
"Because God's gift of you (my daughter Delaney) has inspired me to use my passion and I hope that one day it inspires you to dream big and follow your heart."

I truly feel God working in me everytime I sit down at my sewing machine. Sewing/Creating is my passion; but Delaney is my beautiful, loving, sweet, and perfect WHY:) Without her, I wouldn't be able to share my talents with you!

Why do you do what you do? Make it matter, make it count:)

REJOICE!

God Winks

First of all I have to apologize for not updating our blog in soooo long. We have had one BUSY, but super summer. The reason for my lack of blogging really is legit.
1. my husband and I recently moved into a different house which involved moving 2 times... out of our town house into a temporary apartment, and then from the apartment into our new house! We were busy this summer painting, varnishing woodwork, installing cabinets (well not so much me, but I did help hold some up until my arms were shaking too much!).
2. I changed positions in June and started a new full time job which has been wonderful!!
3. most importantly... we have been so busy sewing, thanks to our fabulous customers, that I figured my time was much better spent creating than typing:)

As I look back at this summer, it has been full of blessings and God Winks that I really want to share with everyone. With each new art fair that my mom and I ventured out to, I am amazed at how God takes care of us and truly watches out for us. My mom and I met some of the greatest people and I want to share their products with you as they were blessings to us:) So in early June, we were off to our first fair in Edina, MN. I know I was probably a little tense with anticiaption of how it would go, how our booth would layout would be, did we bring enough product, would people even like our product...the list goes on! Much to our surprise, God blessed us with the BEST booth neighbor we could ever ask for: Katie with Naptime Treasures. Not only are her oilcloth bags super, but she is so genuine and sweet ...AND gave us the best places to venture out to eat everynight(it also helped she was from Edina!) Check out her website: http://www.naptimetreasures.com/ 
Brookings was next on our list and we got spoiled as my best friend and her husband live in Brookings. So after a long, hot day at the fair, I got to go home to their gorgeous new house and had a huge plate of spaghetti, one of my favorites, waiting for me:) Trish and Jeff were great help too, running to get us drinks and exchange money for us!
Yankton Riverboat Days was at the end of August. This fair was so easy to get ready for because we had the guys to help us set up our booth - since it is my hometown. We had quite the busy weekend aside from the fair..my cousin got married and I had a bridal shower for one of my best friends. So on Saturday I was by myself without my mom and a little nervous. For one, my mom and I have got a system down as far as the flow of the booth and helping customers, and two, if one of us is hungry and craving some fair food the other one can go get it. Well wouldn't ya know it, God was watching over me and sent Sara and her sister Rebekah with Rebekah Scott Designs my way. They were both so great at making sure I had food and water and offered up great advise. Rebekah has been sewing purses for 8 years now and as I got to chat with her, I found we had many similarities! Her start, a lot like mine, was out of love for sewing and creating unique items. Where she is now, is such an inspiration to me...full time designer and mom:) Check out her website: http://www.shoprsd.com/
I also need to mention our booth neighbor at Riverboat Days...Lake Thompson Honey. David and his wfe have the BEST creamed honey. My tub I got at the fair is half gone already! As it turns out, David is a bigtime fisher/hunter like my husband. When Luke came to "help" me for part of the day, he spent more time talking hunting and fishing than Rejoicing DAY! their website is almost finished: http://www.lakethompsonhoney.com/ 

As we prepair for the Sioux Falls Sidewalk Festival on Sept. 10th, I am excited and much more at ease knowing God will have us cross paths with yet another amazing person! thank to all our great customers this summer...it is the coolest feeling seeing girls walking around in our creations and babies wrapped up in our blankets:) Come check out our booth and see some of our new Fall line!!!

REJOICE!

Creating

Boy are we busy creating!!!! My mom and I have our sewing machines in overdrive gettin ready for our first big art fair of the summer - Edina Arts Festival. We are so excited, but honestly a little nervous just because we don't know what to expect. This fair has some strict guidelines, one of them being that if you sell out of your invetory you won't get invited back the following year, so needless to say our machines are smokin'! I decided to give mine a rest for the night and update our blog and post some pictures on our facebook page.
This first picture is of Easter...I wanted to post the dress that I made for Delaney. It turned out so cute - I even made a matching flower pin for her cardigan so it all tied together well. I just love the fabric for her dress. I have a few yards left so I will make the rest of it up, but there will only be a limited number of dresses available!

The Youmans :)

I also wanted to quickly reflect on mother's day...I honestly feel so blessed to not only have a mom that taught me how to sew:), but a mom who is extremely patient, understanding, completely unselfish, and unconditionally loving! And now that I am a mom, I hope I can be half the mom to Delaney that my mom is to me. Being a mom is by far one of the best gifts I could have ever been given. God is truly amazing:)
I am suuuuper excited and pumped about our new ruffle scarf that I came up with. It is perfect for Spring/Summer, adds some class to any outfit, and totally does the work itself. There is no fancy way to tie or twist this scarf, it just lays perfect and the ruffles are soft and feminine. I have worn mine lots and always seem to get a lot of great compliments on it!

sneak peak of the different fabrics

a sample of it on...even looks cute with a tank top! I will get a better full shot and post it!

I will keep you all updated on our progress and try to post some pictures of all our creations. We have lots of fun new fabrics with funky patterns and colors!

REJOICE!

rejoice...Rejoice...REJOICE!

I wanted to update and share all of the exciting things going on...so many reasons to REJOICE!

We had applied for 3 different Art Fairs for this summer...and just found out we have made it in to all 3! Praise the Lord!!! I am so excited because I think this will be such a great way to get our name out to so many different people! How fun will it be to share our talents with hundreds of thousands of people this summer! I get giddy just thinking about all those people that will be wearing, giving, or receiving Rejoicing DAY items this summer! (I love exclamation points and obviously use them alot - ever single sentence of this post has one so far...I just wanted you to know how excited I am!) Being a new business it is so hard knowing which art fairs to apply to, how much inventory we will need, and what booth/spot to request.  I would get so anxious opening my mailbox everyday wondering if there would be a "congratulations you've been accepted or Sorry, better luck next year" letter in the mailbox. Each time I would start to worry though, I would just think about Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Ahhh isn't God so good:)

This past weekend was Easter and we had the chance to go to my grandma's farm for one last time (my gpa passed away this fall and she will be moving into town this summer) Although it was sad thinking that the farm we used to go to as kids will now be turned into farm land, it was also a time of rejoicing...It was so beautiful out and as we all stood outside praying before our delicious meal, my cousin and her husband shared their exciting news that they are expecting in November! I find it so amazing that as God takes someone away from us, he gives us a new gift in return!

One last reason to REJOICE... my husband and I will be moving into a new house this summer! We are thrilled to have more space which means that we will finally have a kitchen table again! Our town house that we currently live in has been wonderful for the 2 and now 3 of us, but since Rejoicing DAY has started to pick up the only place for me to really sew is at our kitchen table. Needless to say, it will be a huge time to REJOICE when I will be able to have my own sewing room AND be able to eat supper at our kitchen table!

REJOICE!

Night Owl

It is now 1:05am...anyone who knows me knows that I can fall asleep anywhere and at anytime. I have never considered myself a "night owl" simply because I can fall asleep at 6pm. It usually starts with a "I'm just resting my eyes" and turns into "I just can't fight falling alseep". BUT I have found my one exception....sewing/creating/designing!!! I seriously could stay up all hours of the night. Once I get going my head starts spinning with all kinds of new designs and ideas. In between those design thoughts though, I have found that I really enjoy the quiet time to pray while I'm sewing. Sometimes I think God speaks the loudest to me during these times. I had made a promise to myself that if I were to follow my passion and God blessed me with a way to do it, I would never take precious time away from my husband and little girl. After all, without them the thought of Rejoicing DAY would be non-existant! God works in such funny ways because now I suddenly have all this energy late in the evenings - even after a busy day at my full time job! :)

 My mom and I have been busy sewing and getting geared up for Spring- if it would ever get a little warmer! Everytime we talk on the phone - which is at least once a day - we get so excited with all the super great compliments you have been giving us! We are in love with our Spring/Summer line of creations and are excited to add a few boy items to our collection: Vests, Ties, and Bow-ties! We are trying to get more pictures of our items up so keep checking our website and facebook page for updates. I'll leave you with a few pictures of some new creations...REJOICE!