This is the first time that Kent is hijacking Michelle's blog to give you an update from 2008. So, it probably won't be as fun and brief as the usual updates Michelle gives, but I hope you'll enjoy it all the same. We would first like to say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive these last seven months during our life changes. Your calls, emails and prayers have meant so much to us.
The major change for us in 2008 was that Scribbles n Such has taken over our home (and life)! It began as a small, home-based company, netting just enough for those fun extra's. Michelle's passion to create unique, hand-designed and personalized greeting cards and notepads grew as she continued to develop new designs and products and saw the joy they brought to customers.
Her long-time friend, Christy Fagin, was a loyal Christmas card customer, except the one year she bought generic cards at Target (she later regretted that decision!). Christy always loved Michelle’s cards and thought there was a market for them. She asked Michelle to go into business together, but Michelle said no. She asked again, and again Michelle said no. But, as they say, the third time is the charm. The third time Christy asked Michelle to go into business with her, Michelle finally agreed.
As Michelle and Christy began the process of deciding their market, their products and setting up the business, they decided they needed someone else. They wanted to do all the “fun” stuff: designing, marketing and selling without having to worry about too many fine details. So, since they figured Kent would not steal from the company, they offered him the job. Kent was already looking for a career change, so he took the job with but one demand: he wanted a masculine business card.
Seven months later, after moving Kent's desk into the den and transforming a former closet into a workspace for Michelle, we are on the cusp of launching publicly. It has been a time of learning, trial and error and more trial and error. We still laugh at ourselves that we are still learning as we go, wondering, "Why didn't we know that yet?" Oh well, live and learn. This has impacted our entire family, mostly for the good. Although, every now and then, Preston is known to ask if we did not get to do something "because you have a business?" We hope that the answer is no, but sometimes we know it is yes.
Madison (Three): Madison is the one that makes us laugh. It is not uncommon for her times of discipline to be disrupted by an attempt to suppress a laugh or smile (by her parents). Madison is also our night owl. Like her mom, Maddie gets her second wind at night and seldom wants to go to sleep. She longs to have either Kent or Michelle tell her stories of our wedding or Christmases past or whatever other stories she can hear. Madison loves Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and Ariel and all the other princesses. She is a great helper in the kitchen, has been in a ballet and tap class since August and deeply enjoys it. We discovered at her first recital that her future may be more in singing than dancing, but we'll see how it plays out.
Preston (Soon to be Seven): Preston, more than anything, is active. He loves to play sports on a team, in the front yard or at recess. When he comes home from school, the reports are less about class and more about what they did at recess. He's played soccer, basketball and baseball on teams. Other than sports (is there anything else for a little boy?), Preston has done very well learning how to read. He reads every sign he sees and most books he picks up. This caused Kent and Michelle to abandon their habit of spelling things in front of the kids. Preston began to know all the things we were spelling, so that came to a halt. Maybe pig latin is next? We are so blessed for him to be at The Covenant School where they are regularly memorizing scripture. So far, he has memorized Psalm 1, 100 and 150. Preston got to throw out the first pitch at a Texas Rangers game and was selected to play in the All-Star Game in his baseball league. In September, along with both granddads and all of his uncles, he went to New York. As good fans of America's Game, we were obligated to sojourn to the mecca of baseball, seeing games at both Yankee and Shea Stadiums.
Michelle: Michelle's year has revolved around Scribbles n Such, Kent's career transition and being a loving mom. Michelle has spent much of the summer and fall working on the 150 or so designs that Scribbles will launch. Each one is hand-drawn by Michelle and then hand-painted. It has been a tedious process, but Michelle has pushed herself hard to continue to be creative and diverse. She will be glad when all the final versions are finished. Take a look -www.scribblesnsuch.com One good thing: though there have been some "marital moments" directly related to working together, Michelle can still say to Kent, "I'm still glad we are doing this together." Michelle continues to be involved in impacting women. Together, Kent and Michelle have had the privilege of doing pre-marital counseling and marrying two different girls who were a part of the junior high group at Northwest. And, there are two more couples to meet with and marry in 2009. She is also a great encouragement to other women as well as listener and giver of good advice.
Kent: This past year has been one of transition for Kent. It was clear that after 13 years on staff at Northwest Bible Church, it was time to leave. A two-year process, that often felt like a desert experience, culminated in the switch from full-time ministry to full-time business. Though Kent often has no idea of what he is doing, he loves helping to get Scribbles n Such up and running. People often ask is Kent thinks he'll work in a church again. His response: "Either this thing will fail, and I'll have to find something else or it will succeed and I'll stay with it or we'll hire someone to run it." Really, Kent has no idea. One of the challenges of moving into full-time business for Kent was the emptiness he felt at not being able to regularly impact lives that he did while he was in ministry. So, he has taken steps to be involved in people's lives, discipling two high school students, involvement in developing a spiritual formation plan for Preston's school and attending a weekly Bible study at Grace Bible Church, where we now attend church. Grace was a natural choice of church for us after Kent got to know the pastor well, Preston and Madison enjoyed their Sunday school classes and the smaller, family-like nature of the church openly welcomed us.
One thing we have clearly seen over the past couple years, but especially in 2008, is the hand of God on our lives. Though we felt like our lives were a dessert experience, God continued to guide us through all our disappointments, questions and frustrations. He used the time to show us what it means to truly depend on Him daily. It was not always enjoyable, but we are so thankful for what God taught us and for where He has us. One thing we continue to know is that God used you, our friends, to be an encouragement to us. We hope we can be the same to you.
Merry Christmas to you and your families - The FOUR Lawrences
