two months later... and counting!

hey all,

i know it's been FOREVER (again) since i've updated and i'm moderately ashamed of myself b/c of it. only moderately, though. (-; this summer has been quite an unusual one.

i worked @ a job for awhile that i believed i would keep for awhile. i was wrong. i am now a regular temp agency worker and it's really not that bad. i very much appreciate the flexibility of working or not working depending on the schedule of my life. i'm also working early in the mornings doing catering & marketing @ a yummy little bagel shop that has honey almond cream cheese. enough said. (-;

i went to visit my momma in washington and got to meet all sorts of cool people. we did a dream seminar and they actually gave me the microphone, if you can believe that! (-; we hit up little towns and did a marathon drive of the state in a hot little convertible. i've got the tan to prove it. i sold a week's salary worth of jewelry and i very much appreciate everyone that purchased. one day, we went to a small town farmer's market and i was super surprised when i realized that the man in the booth serving "texas style" bbq sauce was indeed my uncle chucky. go figure! of course, the bottle is signed by charlie but i know the truth...

i found out that i wasn't accepted to 2nd year and i'm very thankful for that. it took some time to process the whys of my lack of acceptance, but i sort of think i knew ahead of time. i felt obligated, in a sense, to apply since i knew i was staying in redding. i think god knew what he was doing by not giving me the option later to say "what if i had gone to 2nd year." now, realizing it wasn't my next step b/c i very much know that god is sovereign, i can just look forward and enjoy the healthy suspense of what is to come this year for me. i was sort of excited about 2nd year, but i was really excited about the thought of building this year. traveling and building is what my heart longs for right now...

on that note, i've decided very much to focus wholeheartedly on creating right now. i'm working on redoing my 2nd piece of furniture right now. as soon as it's done, you'll be able to view it @ www.chrystalyn.etsy.com under the listing of vintage. i've also expanded into doing some other things w/ my jewelry. it's all still under the chrystalyn name, but i'm moving beyond strictly authentic gemstones and into some fun vintage found objects as well. these pieces, though still under chrystalyn, are catagorized in my shop as parallel. this section will be more expansive in materials, but no less quality work. you'll also notice that i've got an entire section devoted to vintage reworked, which is exclusively vintage in origin and maybe just done up in a more "now" way. overall, i'm just focusing on expansion as a whole. i'm pursuing the idea of elevating my creativity into a new level past hobby status. i'll also be booking holiday shopping shows for anyone who is in the area and would like to be a hostess. and just for the record, there are rewards for hosting...

in the last few months, things did not play out as i would have thought. i wanted to have my job as soon as school was out and being able to put back money for either 2nd year or for a new creative project. that did not happen, but i am very thankful for the way things have played out. if you had asked me a few months ago how my 1st year experience was, i might has given a slightly jaded expression and it probably would have taken me awhile to knit together a few breakthrough laced strings of events. i'm happy to say now, though, that i have received the vision for this past year... only backwards and in hindsight. i had vision coming out, but i must say it was exceptionally colored by the ideal world that my brain loves to reside in. ironically, god doesn't ever seem to manifest that world through my circumstances. in fact, and on the contrary, i think he very much enjoys simultaniously showing me what a incapable thing i am and how amazing i am all @ once through high pressure incidents, and often one after another. i'll admit that used to bother me. it bothered me until i realized that i wasn't really able to successfully foil the unthinkable plans of the creator of heaven and earth. this revelation both humbles and comforts me. and if i'd not learned anything else in the last year but only that, i'd enthusiastically agree that this was a good thing to do...

all of this is to say that i am in a good place and i think it's beginning to show in amidst my countenance as it's not shown before. if that's not proof of progress, i don't know what is!

love and miss,
chrystal lynn

school's almost over!!!!...

so school is almost over. we've got about 3 weeks left. i did apply to 2nd year, but i've not yet had my interview. also, i still need about $1000 to finish paying off my school bill.

if you feel so inclined, feel free to send some support by way of the paypal link in the left margin or by check to the church if tax deductible is an issue.

i've been working some part time side jobs lately that make me really appreciate the idea of some stability coming up in my life. i've done taste testing promotions and temp work mainly. i'm thinking that i'll probably temp all through the summer as it's quite flexible. i'm seriously considering a newspaper route too. anyone you know ever done that??? the hours are crazy, but again, i like the idea of lots of random jobs that give me a well rounded collection of income streams. of course, i've always got chrystalyn jewelry. if you've not yet checked out the keychains, do so immediately. the wings are selling like mad!

as for the summer, my immediate plans are to stay here in redding through the summer w/ the exception of some much needed traveling. i've not been to texas since i moved here during the middle of september. i'm also hooking myself up w/ some ministry opportunities here @ bethel as i think it's very important that i stay in a posture to pour out to others right now.

in fact, i'm completely psyched about the healing rooms. i'm taking a class right now that will enable me to work in the healing rooms by the time school is out. healing is the one thing right now that i just feel god dangling out before me like a carrot on a string. i've determined to not leave redding until i see some serious breakthrough in this realm. and really, i know this conviction is just an invitation to experience another piece of who god is so i'm very expectant.

our weekly outreach, which is supernatural business, is also going to continue during the summer. this particular outreach was new for the year and our class really had the honor to carve out and pioneer what it looked like. i will definitely continue on w/ this weekly endeavor. god told me in the first week of school that he'd use the outreach time to both cultivate some experience in this arena as well as give me the opportunity to seed into others' businesses. if i did so, he said he'd bless what i did in business also.

oh, MISSIONS!!!! so we had missions week the last few weeks. if you've been reading the blog, you know that i wasn't able to go on the tecate, mx trip as initially expected. i was bummed, but in the same instance, god had been talking to me about being like david's men that stayed behind and still got to share in the spoils. we did have an enjoyable time and i did have some great creative breakthrough. that week, the keychain idea was birthed!!! the photo was the saturday revival we did here in town @ a local park. we did a bbq, worship, carnival, and anointing time (complete w/ fire tunnel). i was so excited b/c my words of knowledge were so on that day!!!



and as a final note, i've just been reflecting a ton this week. my momma is currently here visiting and things are shifting like wild. we're all in this new outfit that we're all kinda tripping over pant legs right now b/c we've certainly not grown into it but we've also not quite learned how to manage ourselves according to it either. it's an awkward place to be and a bright one as well. i'm just thankful that i'm having this chance in my life to set everything aside and really get myself put together again. it's such a massive blessing.

love you...
chrystal