Category: By Her Hand

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The Ladder

Genesis 28:12 KJV — And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

John 1:51 KJV — And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

According to Pastor Chuck Smith, Jacob “was sort of stuck between the fear of the past, and the fear of the future.”

I’m fortunate to not experience a lot of fear, but I do feel a tension between the past and the future. On a household level, my past parenting mistakes are manifesting in destructive and selfish behaviors from my younger son. On the subject of the future, my relationship with my girlfriend and the growth of our business look increasingly bright.

All of our building energy is matched by a material crumbling in another realm of our lives.

It is a puzzle, but I can’t help but believe that recent spiritual wins are marking a new dawning of peace for our quiltwork family.

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New Business Struggles

We had a successful day catching up on weekend messages, booking clients, and creating art…until a snag.

Now, instead of blogging, I’m tracking down an email bug that has our main communication medium frozen.

For now, enjoy the initial peony additions (double line cleanup to come) Kristen worked on today:

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1,007

When we opened By Her Hand Tattoos in May of 2023, Kristen brought an amazing core of clients with her from Dover to Wilmington. In Delaware, it is no small feat to convince someone to drive 60 minutes out of their way for anything but french fries on the boardwalk.

We’re slowly building a local reputation and the number of people getting their first tattoos from Kristen has been remarkable.

We haven’t leaned into social media, except for the fact that Instagram is the perfect platform to show off Kristen’s creations.

As our main outlet, it was exciting to approach a milestone like 1,000 followers. At 999, I made a short request on my personal Facebook page to recruit a couple more friends to follow. Most of my FB friends are real and local and it was encouraging to see our number pop up to 1,007 (the banner pic is already archival).

We’re not obsessed with metrics, but we are proud of an organic growth that is bringing us to light in the community.

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Rookie Season

This year has been a parade of novice excursions: business ownership, living in a blended family, continuing my white belt journey in jiu-jitsu, and taking on goaltending as a primary position in soccer.

It’s an exciting place to be as I approach my mid 40s. New challenges are constantly arising: fixing a clothes dryer, installing a dishwasher, and various other repairs were other first-times this year.

The process is rarely comfortable and never smooth, but the results compound to make me more capable to face the next obstacle.