Wow. It has been over 2 years since I last posted. Let's see, in April of 2011, the bakery was growing
out of control, I had interns to help control the madness and a building manager that wanted everything but my firstborn child.  That April, I was looking for a storefront to plant our bakery... permanently. We found a great place off of Marrietta Street in Downtown Atlanta, negotiated a great deal, and after two SBA loans, realized that I can't rely on the government to help with my dreams. So I left. I bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco Airport and took a breather from the 2 years I devoted to Apple-Butter Bakery.

I love San Francisco with all my heart. I knew that city is where God needed me to be. I worked at two bakeries with totally different business models; one was a neighborhood bakery and the other did mail-order specialty cakes. Amazing experience at both companies. I grew more in those six months than I did in 6 years of my life. Everything was going great, I had epiphany after epiphany. I fell in love with Jesus in Oakland; the day before Easter. That alone flipped my entire world around. I made amazing friends while I was there too. Long story short, my time in Cali was done. My mission was complete. I bought another one-way ticket back home.

Two weeks later, I met my now-husband, Daniel. You can read more about us at our blog Kingdom Cakers. He encouraged me to start the bakery back up. At this point, I decided that all I wanted to do was serve Jesus and do ministry. I had no idea how I could do that baking cakes. I spent 14 months working at Victory World Church to learn the basics of ministry. Little did I know that I would get life lessons daily and gain the foundations of how to run a business to glorify God. There I learned that I can love people and bless them by doing what I love. I was made to for this... so this is what I'll do.

So now comes October 2nd and my dreams are coming true. After a lifetime of knowing and 4 years of trying, Apple-Butter Bakery will open it's doors for business this month. I'll use this space to post the joys and the struggles for you all to share it with me and to remind me where God's brought me when it gets tough in the days to come.

Thank you for joining me in this journey,

Shellane