And so it begins… hello world!

*taptaptap* Is this thing on?

Welcome to my humble website. My little acreage on the wild frontier of the internet. I’m so excited it’s finally here!

You may think of me as the face of the business, but I am nothing without my better half, Mr. Tea Lady aka Bryan. He built 95% of this website for me, including the pictures, and I could not be more grateful. It is a true blessing when your husband not just supports you in business, but actively endeavors to help, drives you to do better, and takes on part of the load. Bryan is a true gift from God. I often joke he couldn’t be more suited for me if I had grown him in a petri dish. Yeah, yeah, I know we are still newlyweds under the 2-year mark, but honestly, who he is hasn’t really changed in the entirety of our relationship. I say that to emphasis my point: he’s a good man and loves me despite all.

Alright sappiness is over haha. (Or is it…?)

Let me tell you a bit about Cornerstone Tea.

It all got started when my herb farm apprenticeship and my mom’s desire to start a food business happened at the same time. While I was running around and learning about herbs, drinking tea, and cutting my teeth on gardening, mom was formulating a catering business. That catering business eventually bloomed into a family adventure known as Cornerstone Tea.

I still think back so fondly to those times. Needless to say, being around the age of 16 and working with your mom in a stressful food service environment, there were some blowouts. I chalk them up to simply being a teenager. But having a full house of people like during some of our reservation-only events, and my brother and I picking up $20’s off the table as tips, and every teapot in the building full of steaming love, and the rooms ringing with the laughter of bridal showers, baby showers and Red Hat Society groups… those are the memories that really stick for me.

We designated a room to be Ruth’s Room, named after my dearly departed grandmother, my mom’s mom. Her German-made dining room suit, resplendent with buffet, 12-seat table, and chairs that looked like castles was the center of all the good times in that building and took up most of Ruth’s Room. Decorating for the seasons was always so lovely in that place. I still have the OPEN sign my mom made for our front door, and hang it in my workspace, so I always remember where we came from.

Eventually we had to close the brick and mortar, due to no fault of our own. We moved to the WNC mountains soon thereafter and pursued ‘real jobs’, but the entrepreneurial spirit of three generations of women laid like a spark in my heart for around 5 years.

When God removed me from a third and final terrible workplace, I asked mom for a piece of self-made security: I asked to bring Cornerstone Tea back, but different. And she agreed.

Those first few months I was not my best self, and my business reflected it. I was reeling from having what I thought was to be a career ripped away from me (though I am so grateful it was), and stressed trying to make ends meet. I was driving for Uber and Lyft, teaching a class at AB Tech, selling the occasional thing I owned, trying to simultaneously launch a landscape design business, and hustle, hustle, hustle that tea. But with time comes clarity, and I now realize my bad attitude was because I had put my self-worth in my career, where it didn’t belong, and then been stripped of it. Please learn from my pain, and don’t put your worth in something fleeting and failing. I learned the hard way to put my self-worth in who I am in Christ: loved and cherished so much that even when I was His enemy, opposed to Him in my sin, He saw fit to die for me. His death and resurrection wasn’t just some weird Godlike flex. No, He did that so I could be with Him for eternity: I can walk with Him in this life and be in Heaven when I leave the earth. We can only really understand how big a deal that is when we grasp the enormity of how we don’t deserve it. We can only celebrate His sacrifice in full when we understand the depth of our sin.

I asked Jesus to come into my heart and make me His when I was six. Have you ever had that conversation with Him? “Jesus, I want what You did on the cross to count for me. Please help me to turn from my sin and follow You.”

It’s literally that simple.

A few words can change your life. Words that have changed mine include, “You’re fired.”

“You’re hired.”

“I’m going to take a chance on you.”

“I love what you’re doing!”

“I’m so proud of you sweetie.”

“I love you.”

“I do.”

But the words that changed my life the most, and whose echoes reach to the end of life and time?

“It is finished.”

Jesus said those words, took my sin to the grave, and left it there when He rose three days later. He took your sin too if you accept His offer of freedom and free grace. He paid the ultimate price literally just so He could give you this gift.

And that’s how I like to live my life. Knowing that whatever happens in this life, my eternity is safe and secure in Jesus. Knowing Jesus this way doesn’t make life suddenly perfect, but boy howdy, does it make it easier to deal with.

Phew. OK, how’d we get here? I’m rereading and rereading… nope, not gonna change a thing. Every word is true, if a little vulnerable. Take them as you will, but I hope and pray they resonate with you: if not to edify your existing faith, then to perhaps spawn a new thought process.

When you engage with me, this is what you get! A blessed hot mess. But know that I love each and every one of you, no matter how different from me you might be. And I’m always looking to introduce you to my two great passions: Jesus and tea. Ask me about either, anytime!

Future posts will be about the story of tea, how to make tea, how to cook with tea, and so much more. There will be narration on the seasons and sometimes my thoughts. There is going to be LOTS of surprises, including a YouTube channel for Cornerstone Tea, coming in the next few months. I can’t wait to share the journey with you!