When my father was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, it felt like a punch in the gut. The man who was the leader of our pack needed to be carried through some very dark days. Being raised Catholic, he turned to the church as a great source of comfort and strength. A friend from church visited him and gave him a small laminated card with the Prayer of St. Peregrine on it. He recited this prayer to himself multiple times a day, especially while going through chemotherapy treatments. My dad battled for 18 months and then we had to say goodbye. The St. Peregrine prayer card was by his bedside every day. Even when he knew there would be no cure he prayed for peace through his journey.

When I started working at CourageInStone.com in 2008, I came across the St. Peregrine Token on my first day and smiled. It may sound silly to some, but I felt like Dad was watching and helped me come to work in a place that would uplift people. I hope you will remember this coin if you or someone you know ever needs a small symbol of hope. The back reads:

Help me, Guide me, in this fight;
Give me courage, strength and might.

~Suzi

One night I had a dream…

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I
noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I
looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life there was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest
times in my life. This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you, You would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child, I love you and I would
never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Our Footprints Pocket Tokens are $1.75/each.

Finding and/or designing new products is fun.  Super duper fun.  It is one of my favorite parts of the job.  It was particularly fun about 5+ years ago when we were really in the prime of finding our niche and narrowing our business model.  This meant going to gift shows across the country (super fun!), scouring the internet for suppliers, and getting super creative with designs.  In the past couple of years though, while we always have our eyes and ears open for new products, our range of items has become very narrow.  But that’s a good thing.  Because we’ve become very, very good at what we do sell and we know our market very, very well.

This is not to say, however, that occasionally we bring in a product that just doesn’t work.  It’s always profoundly disappointing when this happens, because first of all it means we guessed completely wrong (what’s up with that?) and it means we have to go through the process of figuring out why it didn’t work.  Price?  Quality?  Marketing? Similarity with other products? But, because we are so narrow focused it’s not always easy to pinpoint the issue.  And that’s frustrating.  Because pretty much all the time we are super passionate about a new token or stone or phrase.

Take the Miracle Pocket Token, pictured above, for instance.  Beautiful saying:  “You can live as if nothing is a miracle; You can live as if everything is a miracle. EINSTEIN”  Engraved on the front and back of a simple, oval pewter coin.  No brainer, right?  Wrong.  While it does sell occasionally, this token just never took off.  Why?  Quality?  The same manufacturer that produces our number one seller makes this coin, so that’s not it.  Price?  Nope – this is one of our least expensive pieces.  Marketing?  Perhaps.  We didn’t particularly market this coin any differently than any other coin…but maybe it needed an initial boost.  Similarity to other products?  Again, perhaps.  We do have a granite block with these words imprinted…although I’m not sure I would call these items ‘similar’.  It’s just not clear.  But we made the difficult decision to discontinue this item to focus on our stronger selling pieces.  Purely a business decision, but a sad one as we believe in each and every one of our items.  We’re always sad to see one go.

But our loss is your gain…these gems are on sale now for $1.35/each (from $1.50) while supplies last!  🙂

Brenda

Ever have that moment when someone is talking and all you end up hearing is ‘Blah Blah Blah’ because after the first two sentences you’ve tuned the person out and decided you’ve heard the ‘jist’ of what they had to say?  I admit, I am guilty of this on a regular basis – not here at work while answering the phones, dear customers, that would be silly – but in my daily comings and goings as a wife, mom, and general participant in life.  There are many times I definitely decide people are just rambling with some ‘Blah Blah Blah’ that surely doesn’t apply to me!

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make a society rule that if you decide you are done listening to someone, you could hand them a cute ‘Blah Blah Blah’ ceramic stone?  No way would someone get offended by something so adorable and it would help people just get to the point!  A $1.75 well spent!

Alright, hang on a second, I just realized that if I feel this way about people I interact with, they may feel the same about me!  Hmmm.  While I do love these little stones, I don’t think getting cut off this way would go over too well for me or those around me.

Oh well, guess I’ll just have to keep listening (or acting like it) and hope that people keep listening to me. You are still listening right? Hello…?

~ Suzi

Check out a few of the amazing custom designs we have recently created for our customers!

What would you put on a stone?