Dream Time & INVITATION

Most mornings we wake up by 5 am, sometimes as early as 4, to get ready for our busy day. I teach Bible Study Class (Old Testament this year "Daily Seminary" to 10 regularly attending teenagers). They come early for hot chocolate and sit around our dinning room table and talk, then troop down the stairs to the basement where I have tables set up for them to gather around. We sing a hymn in our croaky morning voices, they take turns each school day of one of them praying and giving a short devotional, and then the time is mine to teach them.

(Students using shield of faith to keep firey darts of Satan=mini-marshmallows--from harming them.)

The next 10 days is Spring Break. No school= no seminary=I-will-miss-the-students= sleeping in-which-I-am-thrilled-about.

Today, Saturday, Suzanna has a field trip to NYC to see Phantom, so John had to drive her over to the high school by 5:15. AM. My body on my usual schedule needed to use the facilities (have I ever used the word "toilet" in this blog?).

But then back to bed. John came back, warmed up my rice bags in the microwave so my toes were warm, I tossed around trying to get comfortable, and finally went back to sleep.

And dreamed: I was in high school, just moved, and joined a Christian after school club, since there was no LDS seminary class to go to. Things were going well, I was making friends, until we were on a field trip and I waved to some Mormon Missionaries (Elders, in their white shirts & ties) and the girl next to me asked me why I would do that. I told her I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she freaked "You mean Mormons? They aren't Christian. You do NOT belong in this club!" I told her I was looking for a group of teenagers who obeyed the commandments in the Old Testament, who believed in the teachings of Christ in the New Testament, and told her I loved Christ and wanted to be more like Him and to know Him. I asked her to give me a chance to explain how The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, helped me know Him better. The teacher in charge of the club went one by one through the students and let them vote to see if I could stay in the club or not. The girl beside me said she felt so betrayed, she couldn't believe she had let me be her friend and wished that I had said something right away. She shook her head and left. The teacher kept going through the other students. Some didn't care if I stayed or not until an African American guy said "I don't know what to think!" I told him with tears streaming down my face that I didn't want them to be prejudiced against me for my religion, the way we shouldn't pre-judge anyone for who or what they are... And he nodded, knowing what I meant. I woke up wanting to explain and show the club who I was, why I wanted them to give me a chance to explain what I believed.

Today is an amazing day for us: General Conference! Starting at noon Maryland time LIVE STREAM, for two hours, with a two hour break, then again at 4pm-6pm and then again tomorrow for four hours (plus Tabernacle Choir singing for half an hour starting at 11:30 am) we get to listen to talks, counsel and advice from President Thomas S. Monson, the man who believe is a prophet. 12 men we sustain as apostles of Christ will also speak. At least one woman from one of the general presidencies (Relief Society for women 18+ years, or Young Women 12-18 years, or Primary children 18 months-12 years) will also speak.

Sometimes there are visual aids, or short film clips. There are always beautiful flower arrangements inside the Conference Center displayed around the pulpit.

And guaranteed, Christ will be mentioned. He will be sung for, testified of, His scriptures will be quoted and applications made to our modern lives. His words will be heard.

I know it. I have felt it. My heart swells with memories and I am full of faith that today will echo those experiences. I have been spiritually fed at General Conferences in the past. It is worth the 8 hours of sacrificed weekend time.

And it is open to the public. Available to the world.

You can find out for yourself, live, TODAY and TOMORROW while it is being broadcast, or you can read/listen to archived past conferences.

We invite the world to know, and see for yourself. And then judge, with knowledge.

Dots DOTS Real Red Dots

Sealed and finished, in spite of lousy spring weather that turned rainy and COLD. Do not paint under 50 degrees! Sewing room make-over is done!

Sherwin Williams paint "real red" over Jersey Cream.

For Deborah: Sky Blue Interpretation

Hopefully this will help:

LIGHT sky blue, range of colors will be nice. Not too dark, more like a light version of Crayola "cerulean blue" or search Pantone 14-4318.

For Emma: Blue & Red

Happy Birthday to our oldest! She reminds us how long we have been married... we are old and she wimply graciously ages.

Everywhere I go, my eyes are open for sky blue with red accents, Emmalyn's wedding reception colors of choice.

And I have overdone it, a bit. Thinking of family, thinking of sharing, and outfitting an army of love to surround our daughter and her future husband.

Extra sky blue skirts, blouses, a beautiful blue shirt that will fit my brother JOHN perfectly, tutus I have created for his girls. Hair bows and bracelets in red...A lightweight sweater for my mom.

You get the idea? I've been thinking about family and this fun theme.

So her happy birthday day is all about Wedding Party getting ready!

Happy Birthday to my first baby!

For Stewart, Service

I just found the photos for your birthday service gifts:

Incognito

I didn't reconize the person walking across the soccer field, looked twice when they started walking across my back yard:

Suprise! Suzanna, slipping home from a French skit in costume!

Cash for Wants?

Every once in awhile I ask John what he would do with extra, not-needed-for-bills cash. Top of my list (after wedding party plans, all the current bills for necessaries, food storage, etc) is tuning our sad little piano. He would augment our entertainment situation with a HD flat screen for films and select programs on-line (but still no cable tv. We love NOT having tv).

Today if I had extra money, this cute Lily & Thistle coloring book is what I would support. How fun would it be to have a little friend paper doll? Cutomized with a contribution of $50+. So many good causes in the world, great projects, creative artists in need of patrons...

I will use my MIGHT to advertise, point you in good directions for good causes!

From Barney to Warp/Weft

Creative licsence is scary/wonderful thing. To have the trust of client to just do whatever, with a few parameters: keep it light, please.

Before:

During (first I had to prime and get rid of purple. I felt the room height needed the ceiling color pulled down to the top 1/8 of the wall to make walls look taller, so I started with an ombre mix of ceiling and wall primer, then it turned into rick-rac! AND TEXTURE, something I have always wanted to try, create a woven fabric-appearance, perfect for future sewing room!):

Almost After (red polka dots on floor & at least 2 coats of poly WHEN IT ISN'T RAINING, or it takes too long to dry!):

Note to self: buy hairnets before I paint floor again. And ones for the cats in the house.

Sock Art Promotion for Selfish Reason

CONTEST! Deadline this Friday. I've been looking for elephant/train socks, and someone, PLEASE design a pair! Winners announced April 6th. You can email your entries by the deadline...

Mission Report

Our oldest son was called to serve in the Billings, Montana Mission. He has been out 10 months, transferred 3 times. As a mother of a missionary I have found great comfort in his email letters. We told him about this assignment to give a mission report, and these are his words to you:

I am participating in finding work most often; I have no baptisms that I can trace to my personal efforts, so I have put a great deal of time into tracting, service, and simply looking for new people. I have been given leadership responsibilities of a district leader, …. I enjoy the chance to drive a 2012 Chevy Colorado, I live in a member's spare bedroom, and we are fed every day. There have been times that I was a little bit cold, but that was due to below zero temperatures and standing still.

I've been stuck in mud; a few months ago when I was still junior companion, we were driving near Fort Washakie (for pronunciation, the a's are both short, as in wash, and the kie sounds like key) and we got into a big mud pit. Fortunately, we were in a truck and [my companion] could just put it into 4 low and back us right out of the bog. The truck was covered in mud, but we were safe from the flying mud clods since we were inside the entire time!

When I was young, I sort of knew that I was going to serve a mission. It's what I told my teachers, my family, even some of my friends. It was never a worry for me. I still needed a moment more recently in my life where I looked at what serving a mission was, the fact that I was donating two years of my life to the service of my God, and feel that confirmation that this is what I needed to do, but I always "knew" that I was going before that, as well. Some of those listening will hear this and think, "Well, I'm a different case. I'm not sure that serving a mission is right. I'm not even sure if I'm in the right place right now." You are the ones that especially need to consider serving a mission. Study what serving a mission is, the things that you might need to use if you do decide to serve, and then ask God if it is the right thing to do. If you do this, I can promise a number of things. Importantly, you will receive an answer to know if you should serve a mission, but more importantly you will receive an answer to know if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God and if you should hold to the Iron Rod, which can include church service.
I tell you to prepare to serve a mission not just because it is the place I have seen so much growth (in myself, those missionaries I've served with, and with every day people I have taught), but also as you prepare for a mission you will be preparing for the most important mission possible: to live life as a worthy member of God's true church, understanding His true doctrine that will comfort you when you are distressed and lift you up to become a better person…

…Some of the greatest advice I have for the young men is to strive for humility. Strive to be able to submit yourself, not only Spiritually but also to rules, leaders, work. The most frequent stumbling block for missionaries that I've seen is pride, especially in the new missionaries that refuse to follow their trainer's good instruction. You can't have humility without also having faith. With faith and humility, however, you can achieve all the other attributes of Christ by putting your trust in Him and allowing Him to change your ways.

I've definitely gained a deeper sense of faith. [Before my mission] I could say I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I'm grateful for that. Now I can also say that I know Christ has atoned for our mistakes, and because of his infinite Atonement we all have the very real ability to become perfect, something we can start to realize here in this life (notice it was "start," which implies a journey beyond this life). I can now say this, but also feel it deep within me. I've been able to look at my faith, and understand what I believe and why but also what that really means to me.

Cool service projects: we've chopped wood, bucked hay shoveled walks. The coolest project would probably be the time we helped get wood for the Bishop's storehouse from the mountains. A fun morning of moving logs and watching the elders quorum wield the chainsaws.

The other week we were in a lesson with a part-member family, and the wife hadn't had a strong Mormon child-hood and needed just as much teaching as the husband did. We were teaching the plan of salvation, and we were talking about Jesus Christ and his Atonement and how we can return to him through repentance. The husband asked a question, "what does that mean, repentance?"

Since I'm good with doing things in order, I wanted to finish the Plan of Salvation lesson, and then get into repentance as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, I started to give a quick answer so we could get back on track, but it turned into a longer answer as more questions were brought up. I then heeded the council to "teach people, not lessons" and we spent the rest of the lesson on repentance and how true repentance is a turning from sin, a change of heart and mind. It turned into one of the best lessons I've had.

[Then I read excerpts from my favorite blogs of his from GEEKS, GAMES & GOSPEL. His mission is one of several chosen as a pilot program for missionaries to spend an hour each day prosyleting on-line, using technology to do the work of bringing people to Jesus Christ.]

Info-Graph

I like visuals. Here is a good, official one, I saw bigger (I need to learn how she did this-I tried and kept making it fuzzy) on Stay-at-home-Artist blog:

Source happily given here!

Becky's Quilt

I failed to mention they did hang one:

Even after my pouty day, I still feel sad about the whole show. I sent John down to pick up the 3 quilts they didn't hang. He said Becky's quilt is over the doorway as you enter, up high so nobody will touch it. Hanging through end of April, if you are in town and want to see it.

Official Letter of Disappointment/Anger

Received this email TODAY--not even 24 hour notice before the event.

"Greetings,

I have had such a fun week setting up the Family Ties Textile Exhibit with many other helping hands. All of you are such talented people. Your creations are beautiful and inspiring and touching. Thank you so very much for sharing!

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 10, the exhibit opens. From two until four PM we will have an artists reception. You are invited to bring your family or friends and come. It will be fun to see all of the wonderful items and to rub shoulders with other fiber artists. Please come!

Unfortunately, with an exhibit such as this, there is only so much space. We have tried to show as much as possible without creating chaos...."

WHAT? Oopps?

No room? Isn't that the point of a juried show? It didn't say, bring all your stuff and we will see in person what we want to hang up for the show.

My early bragging was in vain. I've been asked to pick up my quilts. The congratulatory letter of acceptance was a lie. I am feeling cheated, hurt, and embarassed that I publically mentioned this show.

I will NOT be attending the reception, but licking my wounded artist-ego and finishing up another commissioned quilt at home.

Happy Body Day DAD!

I am thankful this morning for my daddy, his goodness, his service, his example, his teachings, his smiles and eyebrow wiggles.

I've been making birthday crowns for gifts--hard to mail, but this is an example.

Hats off to you!

For this I cancelled Seminary: Family Adventure

I could have gotten a substitute, but it would have meant a different location for class, and the logistics were crazy.

It looks like we are standing in front of a dirt field...

John's work invited employees to bring family to see the reclaimed island, that had eroded down to 7 acres and is now....huge! We were packed like sardines into a boat and rode out to Poplar Island. They use the sledge dredged from the Bay and pump it on the island, making wetlands for the birds. Seriously intense eco-management project.

Another employee asked John if all his boys look just like him?

We got to hold the turtles. Like a cheeseburger. That was the instructions, hold it from the side, not with your hand in front of its mouth, but the way you would hold it if you were going to take a bite, like a ....

We had dessert first, at a "SWEET" bakery!

We had to leave before seminary would have started, drive for hours to the Eastern Shore to the boat dock to go to the island. There were hearts attatched to the public utility poles, a town fundraiser? My favorite one near the end of town said "(girl's name) tolerates (guy's name)"

Unexcused absence from school for three children. Seminary students caught up to Psalms on Monday 6 am. Educational field trip. Worth it for family good memories!

Week of Stewart!

More of our son as a missionary:

Look at that smile! He looks content, joyful, energized!