Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair 2008

Kelly and I had a great day in Hillsboro on Saturday! We met a lot of interesting people and made some really fun connections.

For example, one customer asked me where I was from and somehow we put it together that she is my parents' new neighbor!

I got to see an old friend who lives there in Hillsboro---and talk more with him and his wife about how life is going, where we've been, etc. I got to see his cousin's wife and their 3 beautiful girls. It did my heart good to see all of them so happy and close in that little town.

I was late to get Kelly (who by the way worked her butt off AND rocked the fanny pack!) because I wanted to find the old black and white photo that my Grandpa Jost took of his blacksmith shop that was in Hillsboro back in the 40's. I really wanted to have that on my table for the day, but I never found it.

Even without the photo, my grandparents did come up once or twice. When I told some of the old ladies that my pendants were poker chips, they were pretty funny about it. One of the women asked where I found poker chips with Jesus on them. I had a pretty good laugh thinking about how my Mennonite grandparents didn't touch a deck of playing cards a day in their lives...and now their granddaughter was back in their home town selling poker chips with Jesus' image on them.

The day itself involved a lot of hard work, and was the culmination of a lot of hard work that came before it. After the last load was put on the shelf (until next month), I was satisfied to know that my original reasons for making the bracelets still remained. There might be reasons I was supposed to be there that I'll never know or understand, but I experienced enough of my own reasons for myself to feel blessed and thankful for the experience.