"Just My Life,"This Is My Story!

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I didn't use to believe the above saying, because I always believed that there were many, if not most things in life that I couldn't do. Oh yes, I had good reasons why not, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to be content with being a housewife and mother. However, after returning to England in 2000, with the start of a new century, we settled in to a church where we were encouraged to dream big and stretch our horizons. I gradually started undoing some of the lies that had really prevented me from moving forwards and before long I had at last recognised where my passion lay. I discovered that I loved working with young children and decided to enroll on a college course where, despite not having any work experience with children (I had done everything on a voluntary basis) I was accepted on a year and a term's NVQ3 in Early Years Care & Education.I remember that day! We had had one of the worst storms in Kent, which had blown a tree over the railway line causing the trains to be cancelled. I felt tempted to give up getting to the college for the enrollment and just going home, but managed to jump on the first bus I saw and I got there just 10 minutes late! This reminded me that I had to fight for this because I had spent my life until then believing that I wouldn't gain any qualifications. I also attended a few workshops, including one on music and rhymes for children and a parenting course. After I completed my course I started to write about parenting and ran a group myself. I also ran a creche and a parents and toddler group. So here I am, still writing about these things (and including a few others), such as A parents guide to being a good role model and Secrets of healthy eating for children
What else have I learnt to do that I'd never trusted myself to do before? When one of my sons announced that he was getting married, they asked me whether I would make their wedding cake. Although I had always made a much simpler version in the form of our Christmas cake each year, I had never made a wedding cake! However, after much research and a practice run, I managed to put together a 4 tier rich fruit cake with royal icing. The end result was well received, but mainly I knew that I had crossed another hurdle and through deciding to believe that I could do it, I did!

The job climate was difficult where we lived and one Christmas we realized that we actually had a potential business at our fingertips. For some years my husband had been filming private events including friends' weddings. Combined with his computer skills we saw the potential and two years later this has become a business where he films and edits events, producing beautiful presentation DVDs and also designs and produces websites. I have been able to bring my administration skills to the business and it has been very satisfying to provide such a service! It has been a challenge at times to trust myself that I could make this work, but with the added help of completing a business course at our local university I have learned so much and it has become another string to my bow.

In addition I have also become a Jamie At Home Party Consultant, which combines some of my hobbies and skills:

My New Venture- A Party Idea
At home parties are all the rage and especially now that so many people just don't have the time to organize a party on their own, yet they love the idea of ...