Transitions

So our lives have been going through many transitions. Until recently our family was in full time ministry. My husband was a full time minister and I was involved with the children's ministry. Ministry is in our lives and we love helping people. However, our time came to an end after seven years of service. After many months of discussion and prayer we came to the difficult decision to step away from ministry. We came to this decision because of the combinations of my husbands illnesses, stress of ministry, and my mother in law became very ill. We made a 13 hour emergency trip to Oklahoma to help care for her. This need to be closer to care for our family and the need to step away from the stress of ministry (which influenced my husbands illnesses) confirmed the need to make some changes.

In order to make a career change we needed to move closer to the university my husband has been attending to complete his master's degree. We are hoping that when he finishes in the next few months he will be hired as a professor. At the same time he is working on being teacher certified for 8th-12th grade math. So, to recap my husband went from solely working to solely studying in order to find a job so that we can move closer to family.

I went from a stay at home mom to a working/learning mom. I now work at a day care and attend online classes to become and Early Childhood Education. However, I recently found out that the current degree I am pursuing will not get me into the public school systems. It is only for day cares. This is not something I am interested in. While I was procrastinating my homework, I was on facebook and saw that a friend of mine became a Compassion Entrepreneur for Trades of Hope. I had seen many of her posts and could tell that she was selling handmade items that other people had made. I asked her what it was all about. She explained to me that the company is a part of the Fair Trades Act. Trades of Hope makes it possible for women and their families to sell their items in order to make a living. This enables them to be free from slavery (of many different kinds), provides for their communities (clean drinking water, schools, medical needs), and provides a way for them to provide for their family and keep their family together (otherwise many children are given up for adoption or slavery because they cannot feed them).

I have a website up and running... www.mytradesofhope.com/amyjosims
Hopefully I will be able to have contests and doorprizes in the future that I will share with you. When we are finally in Oklahoma I hope to go to trades shows, have home parties, and have others host parties to support these women supporting their families.

Well this is the start of my journey to starting my own business and supporting others around the world! I am supper excited about this and can't wait to this going. I hope to post my journey with you as I learn and set goals. This will help keep me on track and will also encourage you to take the chance and support something bigger than yourself. Join me on this journey!