Do You Think I'm Beautiful?

Early Saturday morning some friends & I headed to this nice place in Blue Ridge, GA for a Leaders Prayer Retreat for Ladies organized & led by the sweet Mardy Freeman.

There were 15 leader ladies altogether: Moms, a single single, pastor's wives, heads of support groups, the wife of a state congressman, etc. Wonderful women who love the Lord & could use some refreshing & stress-free fellowshipping.

One component of the spiritual freshening-up was speaking to NO ONE except the Lord before 11 a.m. to give everyone plenty of quiet time for prayer, meditation & reading.

Laughing, crying, dancing & singing were optional.

Once I got out of this bed in the a.m. I could help myself to breakfast laid out in the kitchen & wander all around the quiet hills & house but was not supposed to even say "Good morning" to

my roommate, Betty, which, as some of you who know me well can guess, was challenging to my constitution!

The first day there during some free time, I looked through the stack of books beside the bed, glad to see them because I had not brought any extra reading materials with me. I know you are shocked but I tell you true, this librarian brought only my Bible & a notebook.

The little stack of books on the bedside table included one Thomas Nelson published in 2003 called "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" by Angela Thomas, a title this practical person would avoid under normal circumstances. I prepared to endure the book, expecting it to be so girly I would gag. Surprisingly enough, it was good. Interesting. Funny even.

Mardy told us in advance that she felt led to focus her testimony talks (not to be confused with teaching, said she, since she doesn't need stricter judgment - James 3:1) on speaking the truth in our minds. Monday morning as I (silently) read in the Beautiful book, I was astounded to find that Angela Thomas was addressing that very topic. So well did the book apply that I, when Mardy breezed through at 11 a.m. with "Good morning! You can talk now!" asked her if she had planted it in my room.

She sat down & listened as I read to her what I had just devoured a few minutes prior & with tears streaming, agreed that this was planted by God Himself for our additional edification. PTL! He is so good to us!

How valuable did I find the words to my soul?

I am purchasing one for the library AND one for me - to write in! :-)
And I can say with confidence that it really doesn't matter how the world sees me because my Father Who made me, delights in me.

I am beautiful in His eyes.

Doing the Tangelo Twist

When Andrew was cleaning out his snake tanks last week, I held Tangelo. He hugged back.

I forgot how partial he is to small openings.


Surprise! A snake through my belt loop.



I couldn't talk him out of exiting.






I walked into the dining room wearing my fancy corn snake shorts ornament.

Then he wiggled around front & found another loop - while still residing in the back loop. He really looked like a belt now.

Andrew listened carefully to Tangelo's tale of being a fashion accessory. The bright lights & loud music were just too much for him.

Houston, We Have a Link-up

I was impressed this a.m. at the Rebelution site to read about three teen siblings taking the initiative this summer to organize a benefit concert to raise funds for combating human trafficking in Houston . Click here to read.

Now, I can hear some of you blonds, "Yeah, the traffic in Houston is so horrible, so many accidents & traffic jams that like something really should be done."
No, no, no.
No.
We are not talking automobiles. We are talking PEOPLE.

HUMAN trafficking is modern day slavery. And yes, something should definitely be done about it.

Thus my notice of these siblings.
Their concert is featuring not a garage band or two but acclaimed clarinetist Håkan Rosengren, concert pianists Rick Rowley, Caleb Harris, and Andrew Staupe, and violist Luke Fleming, a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the renowned Julliard School in New York City.
It will be held at Jones Hall on August 29th and is entitled Broken Cords. For more info & to obtain tickets, click here.

Closer to home:
Gator fans, Tim Tebow is featured in World Mag blog. Click here to read.

Creative Destruction

I messed up.

There is no "before" photo and I refuse to put that ugly orange carpet back so that I can take one. Deal with it.

Here is Jacob's room devoid of furniture, carpet & curtains. Rachel & I had just finished pulling up all the little board monsters with teeth that hold the carpet in place from around the room's edge. She was sweeping up splinters and all the little parts of our fingers the carpet monsters chewed off. But there was no blood so don't gag.

Stan plans to install wood laminate flooring. I know the concrete would work & may currently be fashionable if stained the proper color but I need that wood laminate out of my workshop so I can turn it into a craft room. 1+2=5!

Hoping to hide that around-the-edge required spacing , we decided that the wood trim needed to be pulled. I went to figurin' & decided that marking the boards & wall so that we'd know from whence each piece came could make the re-install easier. But how to mark them? Numbers? Too boring. Directions? Which way is north REALLY?

Then I hit upon an idea that would make Tom Sawyer proud:
To encourage participation in this portion of room destruction, I declared naming rights.

Rachel loved it! I think she pulled 10 boards before I got back to the room. Maryalow, LaFonda, Cameron, TJ...

Her enthusiasm so impressed me that I named my first board after her then contributed some fruit of the Spirit: patience, joy, peace

to encourage my favorite handyman when he gets to nails the boards back on.

Which will be pretty soon since J & M only have a little over a week left in KY. Remember to pray for them!

And Stan.

As he matches up all those boards with the funny creative names.

NOTE: This is my 200th post. :-)

Dragon Reading

I've just polished off the final two novels in the Dragon Keepers Series by Donita K. Paul and must say that I've enjoyed these allegorical Christian fantasy novels. I like how her varied characters have relationships, grow spiritually, share and learn to live by "principles" based on scripture all while having fantastic magical adventures.

Oh, and the dragons are really cool too.
Wait - make that HOTT. :-)

When I popped over to the official website I was delighted to find, not only info on her materials but a library scavenger hunt (hint: these books are in our church library), advertisement for her newest book Vanishing Sculptor which starts a new series based in the same imaginary land and was just released last month. We don't have it in the library yet so if anyone is interested in donating it...
:-)

Other items to note:
Her resources section which includes tips for writers and links for home educators

Interactive activities including a monthly drawing & the above mentioned library book hunt

Fun stuff including games "for the dilly dallier in all of us"

Her personal testimony
She came to know the LORD through the reading of His Word.
Make it a priority!

Right Proper Reading Material

As I've mentioned previously, I am a church librarian, a voluntary position I greatly enjoy. PTL!

I may not have told you that I compose a monthly library newsletter for our church announcing newly added materials, topical suggested reading, media reviews, memorials/honorariums, etc. Have been for nearly 3 years now. Publisher is the bomb.

What a laugh I had last week when I found our most recently published Beacon in a friend's "reading room". You know your publication has "made it" when it is thusly discovered.

My friend was puzzled when I rushed out to grab my camera whilst cracking-up. When I explained my jovialty, she was good enough to inform me that it was located in this place of honor in case they ran out of TP. LOL!

Last Day of Sewing Camp

Where did we leave the sewing camp crew yesterday?

In the pool!
We really did get out & go home.
Eventually.
But we did not swim today.



We focused instead on finishing up a couple of yesterday's projects.
>>Swimming pool opened at noon yesterday.
Priorities!
I'm sure you understand.






Then the girls made full size pillowcases.

Got the drill yet?
Select & cut fabric to specific sizes.
Rachel had cats.

Iron.

Grace & Veronica had horses.





Iron some more.
Maybe do some pinning.

Sew.
Show off with flair the lovely creations ready to adorn girly bedrooms.

Ms Peggy thought a wall hanging incorporating some squares from fabric brought by each girl would make a nice memento. She & I put together this one for Ms. Linda & sent home with each girl a stack of 6 squares.

Sewing camp homework:

Make your wall hanging.

Other Sewing Camp memories:

Non-campers watching movies on Ms Peggy's portable DVD player.






Learning to use the sharp rotary cutters.







Ms. Linda of the Sew Diva Kids Camp & many encouraging words.
She SAID "no helicopters" to alleviate hovering.
But I know the TRUTH.
I think she enjoyed seeing the mom's working with their daughters as much as she liked teaching the girls. :-) This camp provided an opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding, and I'm not talking about the inter facing.



Brownies!
Courtesy of Christi
And let's not forget the marvelous fruity muffins baked fresh daily by George. Yum!


New friends to pal around with.








Sewing Camp: $40 plus materials, time, energy, effort and some frustration.

Spending time with friends, learning some new skills, discovering part of the Great Designer in yourself
- we are made in His Image after all:
Priceless

Sewing Camp Day 4

We kicked off our shoes and jumped right into today's sewing project: a cloth basket for the bedchamber.









Measuring & dissecting fabric into 9.5 X 13.5 pieces - 2 of each, the girls once again chose some coordinating colors and practiced their skillful use of the rotary cutters.


The boys, having discovered this blog, clamored for some equal time.


Boys happily jumped on the trampoline.







Meanwhile, the girls ironed inner facing cut 8.5 x 12.5, rough side toward the fabric so it won't stick to the iron onto the wrong side of one of their cloth sections. Ms. Linda explained that it would help stiffen the fabric so the baskets would stand up. No one wants a lazy, sleeping basket.




Boys enjoyed running around in the yard being chased by the miniature bull large dog who lives there & answers to the name of Duke. Macho name.

As the girls carefully sewed the short ends then refolded and pressed those sewn edges making stripes down the middle and sewed the open long sides.

Some boys were swinging

while some girls carefully measured then cut out two inch squares from each corner

then pulled those freshly cut edges into a straight line and sewed them flat to make bottom basket edges.

At this point the baskets were turned right-side-out through a hole left for that purpose with that wonderful hemostat. What would they do without it?

As one nameless young lady stuffed her excess cloth into her bag I heard Ms. Linda say, "Don't scrunch fabric! I love fabric."

See?

You ARE supposed to fold it to put it away.
Don't look in my bag...

Several of the moms prepared for the next day by cutting out pattern sections.

While the girls were cutting and pressing into shape tabs for the sides, chose two buttons to hand-sew on for decoration then

TADA!
The finished (or nearly so) products.

Don't they look great? I know you are wishing YOU had one for YOUR dresser.

Yes, I've made a big deal out of this shot because once again I have failed to secure a photo of everyone with their creations.
Why not?
Because everyone wanted to go SWIMMING!

We're planning to have more fun tomorrow.

There's More to Life than Sewing Camp

Espcially for Andrew who broke down on his way home from work Tuesday.

For the past two days, Stan's been trying to get Sport back up & runnin' from where it died. He's researched, bought new parts & scavenged in a junk yard. He got it started earlier today.
Briefly.
Bruummm. Cough. Choke. Silence.

I got to drive the Beast (I think we keep it as our own personal tow truck) to drag Sport home.

Only lost it once.
On 214.

The sad part about that was that Andrew had to call me on the walkie to let me know they were adrift on the road since I was looking ahead rather than keeping my eyes on THEM at that time. I didn't go too far.
And I came back for them.

The REALLY SAD deal is that Andrew just got Sport home after having major work done on it & our mechanic's job has taken him out of the country.

You can see why Andrew is not so "all about" Sewing Camp.
But he thought the >$16 he pulled out of his car coinage stash was pretty cool.

********************

Caleb is at Boy Scout Camp this week and will probably be greatly surprised at all the cool things Rachel made this week because even though he knew she was going, I expect he's not given his sister's activities a single thought.
Would YOU were you at Camp Daniel Boone engaged in all manner of Boy Scouting?
I thought not.

********************

What about Jacob & Maryn you ask?
I'm glad you mentioned them.
You HAVE been praying for them, RIGHT? :-)

I'm not sure they know about sewing camp even though I mentioned it in an e to Jacob. They are very busy you know.
OH! Maybe you don't since I've not recently updated you.
Here's the latest from the Big Creek Missions Web Site :

Ramblings of Thursday
Jul 16, 2009 7:51 AM
by Volunteer Editor
We have made it to the last two days of missions training for week 7 here at Big Creek Missions. As we approach an overcast Thursday, we pray that God would truly reveal himself in this day!

Daycamps are planning a wonderful Friday Powersource service for all the kids. If you aren't familiar with our Fridays, we always bring the children from daycamp to our facility. During this time we host a special GPS themed worship service and have fun games for the kids. Tomorrow we will be having a reading day-where we are picking the classics from Dr. Seuss and other known childrens books...we are even having green eggs and ham!

Construction is continuing to have a highly successful week with repairs, roofs, and other much needed home projects. Jacob mentioned the other day that the porch his group is building is coming along.

Community visited the Hazard Nursing Home, Hazard Community Center, Horizon Senior Center, and God's Closet. Our kids really get the chance to learn alot about what loving people in "everyday living" means. Pray for them today-this ministry is hard, tiring, and at times discouraging.

Maryn mentioned last week that she led a worship service at a Senior Center and earlier this week she worked in God's Closet.

She is not a doctor but she plays one on TV.

Tomorrow night we are excited about attending bluegrass "pickin and grinnin" outdoors in downtown Hyden.Have a great Thursday!~Hannah

Thank you for praying for them. They have just over 2 weeks left in KY.

And keep your shirt on - Sewing Camp Day 4 will be coming up shortly.