About
I have worked in jobs I didn’t enjoy, in cities that I could never return to and not miss, and faced and beat cancer. Surviving. Now find myself in a place of contentment, in love with where I live, and fulfilled with the life that I am leading. Planning, frugality, environmental consciousness, faith and hard work are the stepping stones in the path that took me from Surviving to Thriving.
I am a Wife. Mother. Daughter. Sister. Survivor. Business Owner.
That’s me in a nutshell. The chapters of my life vary in length and are still being written. My closest companions on this trip are my dear husband, and the arrival of our amazing daughter in January 2009. They are often referred to here as HandyMan and GBaby.
I’ve had friends ask me how I got to Thriving and thought it’s time to share what I know. For HandyMan and I, Thriving was a choice as he was looking for a job, post grad-school. While he was in school, I worked to pay the bills and for that season, survival was our objective. The next step took us right to the edge of a cliff as I was diagnosed with cancer and faced four months of chemo and radiation treatments. Survival was still our objective. Faith and friends held us up and kept us from a tragic fall.
After grad-school and cancer, we began to plot out how we wanted our long-term life to look. I placed a higher value on my time and found that I really didn’t want to work for someone else. I really wanted to start my own business and work from home if we could sustain ourselves on HandyMan’s salary. With HandyMan’s full support I started Charity’s Candles and with his input fully manage our household. It’s my job to budget and plan so that his job will pay our bills.
My hobbies and interests vary by the season. In no particular order I can often be found
Cooking. Baking. Sewing. Crocheting. Candle Pouring. Crafting. Mothering. Walking. Gardening. Fund raising.
As is the life of a stay at home and work at home mom there’s always lots of
Laundry. Diapers. Dishes. Cleaning. Shopping. Bookkeeping.
Welcome to my site, take a look around and please feel free to comment, ask questions and explore this corner of the internet where I reflect and share my experiences in the journey from surviving to thriving.
Credit where Credit is Due
I have found many great resources online that have helped me along the way. I link to these often as I have found that in this busy life there is no point in reinventing the wheel.
Disclaimer
Information on this site is meant be enjoyed, adapted and hopefully learned from. This site represents my opinions and I am not paid to endorse any products or methods displayed on this site. Charity’s Candles and Crafts is my business and I am the owner and operator of that venture.
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Oh my Sara I can hardly wait to see this site take full form and get filled with what you have for us!
I love your motto – choosing family, frugality and contentment; they so describe my reality too, though I am not gifted in the same areas as you (book-keeping… aka The Horror). I love your one word descriptions of daily life; to some they could sound like drudgery but to me they’ve become words that describe what I like to call “life in the Shire” – peaceful & quaint. It’s what I thrived on growing up, being raised by a grandma who was always there, always had food ready and usually had time for us. I had to get to the place that I am today in order to see those activities as gifts, as desirable even, fulfilling and therefore definitely something to be chosen over working for someone else, away from our kids. I love the fact that you are the 21st century version of the stay-at-home country mom – who sews and bakes but also is on Twitter! 
You sound great in print
I would love to hear more about crocheting and sewing………. what have you made lately?
I haven’t done a lot of sewing or crochet since GBaby arrived -those projects usually come around in the winter
Sara,
This is my first time reading your site, I loved it !!!!!!!!!
It was truly blessed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I was looking for a simple receipe for baking bread in my bread machine using all purpose flour and have had a hard time finding one, because I don’t have my manual book. I have a franklin chef bakers’s oven model# fbm2000. If you can help me I would greatly appreciate it. Blessings
Congrats on being a survivor and everything else that you are doing with your life. It’s my first time to your blog and I’m planning to take a peak around. Happy Blogging!