God Moments in the Gulf

Our group (left to right): John, Zanosha, Kayla, Sara, Me, Tisa, Gabrielle, and Aubree.

    I just came back from my first-ever mission trip and all I can say is ‘Wow!” It was such a

great trip. I traveled with a group from BCM down to Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, Alabama, to work with a group called ‘Barefoot Believers.’ The week included serving pancake breakfasts to folks in the RV parks, beach outreach (passing out water/salvation bracelets, doing face painting/hair wraps, and walking the beach talking to people), and helping with a low income after school program in Aaronville.

Here’s a quick photo montage of some of the things we did throughout the week:

     While I could go on about all the things we did, the two biggest blessings for me probably weren’t as obvious to everyone else. God used the week to reteach me and remind me of the power of prayer and the blessing of community.

     Before we left, we were asked to find at least 3 prayer partners who would pray for us before and during the trip. We were given a list of things we should ask them to pray for (like safe travels, good health, unity, etc.), but we were also told to include any personal requests they could pray for too. Here are the exact words I sent to my prayer partners almost a month before even leaving for the trip:

My personal needs:

- Emotional/metal strength, and words! I am extremely introverted and I will need to be extroverted and willing to talk/share with people for the entire week.

- Rest/health/preparation. I am working the several nights prior to the trip and after we get back (12 hour night shifts). Pray that I am able to get rest when needed, and be packed/prepared to go on time.

Talk about answered prayer! I was able to get enough rest to keep me going, and even though we woke between 5:00am and 6:00am every morning (which would normally make me a walking zombie), I was alert and ready to go for whatever the day held. There was only one morning where I felt super tired. I might also mention that I was not only packed and ready to go on time, but arrived at the BCM house to find everyone else still waking up/getting ready to go!

As for my mental/emotional strength, it was also a prayer answered in a big way. Nowadays when I spend lots of time around people and am very busy, I feel drained by the time I’m actually able to get some ‘me’ time. I was also nervous about talking to random people - about anything, let alone approaching them and talking about spiritual things. Because of the prayers of my prayer-warriors, neither of those things was really a problem. Oh sure, I didn’t go running enthusiastically up to every person at the beach, or sit down with every person at breakfast and have deep spiritual conversations with all of them, but when I did talk to people I felt (for the most part) at ease. It was not perfect, but it went far smoother than I ever dreamed it could.
     The biggest blessing of all, though, was just having a week to hang out and fellowship with other believers, friends. Working a rotating night shift and being very introverted, it’s incredibly hard for me to develop close relationships with other people. My very closest friend lives hundreds of miles away. I’m also one of those people who tends to believe I can make it on my own; that it’s safer that way. It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve had a normal ‘friend’ relationship with anyone. So the biggest blessing of the trip actually came in all the in-between times, not just serving side by side, but talking in the van, sharing stories over dinner, laughing together, and sharing bits of my life/story (and listening to their stories too). Despite my life being very busy, it’s often a lonely one, and for a week I got to live and breathe and laugh and walk in real relationships with friends. That was the biggest blessing of all.

Christmas Illos

A couple of sketches inspired by our Scripture readings the last two weeks at church. We've been camped out in Luke 2.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." 

- Luke 2:8-20

Christmas Shoeboxes

Some of the OCC boxes collected at BCM.

At our house we follow the rule of no-Christmas-stuff-until-the-day-after-Thanksgiving, but there is one big exception. Operation Christmas Child. click here to read more about it. Basically, you pick a gender/age group (2-4, 5-9, 10-14 & boy or girl) and fill a box with all sorts of things from hygiene items to school supplies to toys. The boxes are then collected and shipped around the world to kids in need. I think this is our 4th or 5th year participating, and we always have lots of fun with it. Mom & I usually go shopping for the boxes together and have fun picking out stuff. I enjoy it because I get to pick out school supplies (some of my favorite things!) and buy toys, which I normally don't get to do because I'm the youngest in my immediate family. There's also the fun challenge of seeing just how much stuff you can get in that one little shoebox!

All the stuff to go in the boxes! I chose to do 2 boxes: one for a boy & one for a girl, both 10-14.

With the help of Pinterest, I made up
a little fishing kit for my 10-14 yr old
boy box.

I put in a custom note for my kids.
Maybe one of them will write me back.
Find a similar template HERE.

This year I found even more ideas of what to put in the boxes thanks to Pinterest - if you search for 'Operation Christmas Child' it comes up with all kinds of stuff. I also ran across this blog Clip with a Purpose that has the motherload of ideas and info about what to put in the boxes, as well as tips for buying stuff year-round (when it's on sale) so you can get even more stuff to put in the boxes! I will definitely be doing that this coming year. Of course it's awesome to know that somewhere the box I pack is going to make some kid's day. This will be the third year I've put special tracking labels on our boxes, and I can't wait to see where they end up this year. Last year our boxes went to the Dem. Republic of Congo, and the year before that they ended up in Ukraine!

If you've never participated in Operation Christmas Child, I encourage you to do it in 2014. It's easy and super fun, and it blesses a child who really needs it!

Ready to go shoeboxes! Where will they end up?!

The Wingfeather Saga Trunk

Board to explain what my trunk was,
since most people wouldn't be familiar
with the theme.

Warning: long post!

Also: Click on the pictures to make them bigger!

I haven't posted anything for a while because I've been feverishly working on my trunk decorations and costume for my church's annual Trunk or Treat. As usual, my OCD-crafty-self got somewhat carried away, but the results were, as my friend Jess would say, EPIC. Not to mention a fitting fan art tribute to one of my favorite book series: The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. (Peterson is also my favorite musician, but I'll save that story for another post). For several years now I have wanted to do a trunk inspired by the Wingfeather Saga, but I could never figure out how to do it. Turns out I was over thinking it, making it too complicated. So I simplified, and finally came up with something wonderful and doable.

The pic to the left is actual what started the whole idea spinning in my head (aside from loving the books). I always find the fact that Leeli's grandfather Podo carves her a crutch that says "LIZARDKICKER" in book 1 highly amusing. Basically, I wanted to find an excuse to dress up as Leeli so I could walk around with a crutch that said "Lizardkicker." Hence, the need to design a trunk around it! (Trunk or treat is kind of the only legitimate excuse I have left for dressing up in costume.) Though it was one of the last pieces I finished, you can see in the pic that I indeed created the infamous crutch. I used my Cricut to cut the letters out of vinyl, then stuck them on an old crutch we had stowed away in the garage. 

The rest of the idea came from rereading the books and taking copious notes about character and scene details, writing favorite quotes down, and then sketching out my idea in the notebook I use to design all of my trunks. 

Below are my original idea sketches for both the trunk and my Leeli costume: 

There were 3 main components to my trunk: the book poster, the sea dragons, and my costume. I started by using my notes to sketch out some of my favorite scenes, as well as some I thought might be intriguing to someone who had never read the books. I ended up with 11 sketches, plus a couple I had drawn a few months back. I drew in pencil, inked with my trusty sharpie pen, scanned into the computer & cleaned up, and then colored them using my favorite pastel settings in Painter. 

Here are just a few of my favorite sketches (click to make larger):

Left: The Sea Dragons and Nugget the Brave

Right: Janner and Tink opening the door in Anklejelly Manor

 Left: Leeli touching a seadragon

Right: Beneath the Moonbright Heavens (the saddest and most beautiful scene out of the 1st 3 books - I bawl like a baby every time.)

I had my mom print out the sketches, then I glued them onto a giant book poster I made out of matte board and posterboard. Then I added several of my favorite quotes from the books. 

Next came the sea dragons, which I made out of pool noodles, egg cartons, paint, construction paper, and lots of glue (hot glue melts pool noodles by the way!). Then I used my glimmer mist from my scrapbooking supplies to jazz them up. I used bricks and bailing wire to create rigs so that I could pose them in the 'sea' (the inside of my trunk draped in blue sheets). 

Two of the finished dragons:

For my costume, I got my wonderful amazing mom to help me (she is a much better seamstress than I am). She hemmed the sleeves of an old chemise for me, and made a mediaeval Russian style tunic with no pattern and next to no instructions (so I could wear it again the next time BK invites me to a SCA event.) Mom is also a potter, so I showed her the picture of Leeli's whistleharp from the back of one of the books - and she made that out of clay for me too. Like I said, she's amazing. I still have to tinker with it to see if I can get the whistle part to actually play, but it looks almost identical to the picture in the book!

I added a few little flairs of my own - I made a pin of the Annieran seal. I was originally going to use it to pin my cloak, but alas, I ran out of time and the cloak had to go. So I pinned it to my belt instead. I also borrowed a stuffed dog (for Nugget) from some friends and placed it on a stool with the actual books. It's all about the details. 

 

In the end it all came together and looked absolutley fabulous. It took a ton of work and more than a few late nights, but as usual it was just another typical project for me. Once I get going on an idea I don't stop. These books are wonderful, and I hope you'll look into reading them. You can find out more info and get the books at http://wingfeathersaga.com. Nothing more to say than to show off the finished trunk, so here it is:

Sketches from Scripture

Tonight at BCM Rose was talking about John 10:7-10 and Jesus being the gate. It reminded me of a sketch I did a few months back about the same verse when my pastor was preaching on the same set of verses. I've done several sketches over time inspired by scripture, so I thought I'd share some of them. I just finished scanning some that have been in my sketchbooks for a while, and I was surprised just how many there were! Some of them I drew during sermons. *gasp* I never thought I'd do that! One of my professors in college said he always did that and I used to think he was crazy. It's just not something I ever thought I would do - I raised or taught, if you will, that during the sermon you're suppose to sit and listen and do nothing else. I've found, however, that it helps me remember later on the story or the point of the message, which is pretty cool.

So below are a smattering of pencil sketches and fully finished art I've done over the last several years. Hopefully if you click on them the images will get bigger. 

Sometimes they're funny, like these two: 

Left: The whale slurping up Jonah              

Right: In Exodus 32, when Moses comes down from the mountain and Aaron had led the people in making the golden calf. It always sounded to me like Aaron was surprised and the calf just came out of nowhere. "It just . . .poof!"

 

I've tried to illustrate Psalm 23 and John 10 a few times. God as our shepherd. I like my cuddly sheep.

And some other well-known and lesser-known Bible stories:

Top Row: David with his slingshot; Hannah praying; the guy that Jesus healed after his friends lowered his through a roof

Middle: Mary Magdalene on Easter morning (left: at the sight of Jesus, right: telling Peter the news); I can't recall the Scripture for this one, but it's one of the stories where the guys are fishing, Jesus shows up on the beach, and Peter just jumps right out of the boat and swims to shore. I was trying to imagine all the weird looks his buddies must have given him. 

Bottom: Mary and Martha. I tried to capture the look on Mary's content face as she's listening to Jesus.

      

Some that don't necessarily have a 'story' behind them. 

Top: Matthew 6:25-34 (Do not worry); Isaiah 40:27-31 (run and not grow weary, soar on wings like eagles); caterpillar struggling to get out of his cocoon (dealing with troubles)

Middle: the widow who gave her last coin; a candle and a lighthouse from a message on being light

Bottom: from a message about service

    

 

Almost done! 2 more. These are 2 of my favorites: 

Exodus. Take off your shoes, for where you are standing is holy ground. A friend of mine once told me she takes her shoes of during praise & worship because of this verse. I often do the same now.

Inspired by the verses in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah sees the Lord.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Yesterday I finally tried a Pinterest recipe I've been wanting to try - homemade Pizza Rolls! You can find the recipe here. Basically, you mix up the pizza goop for the filling, drop it onto wonton wrappers, fold/seal, and bake. I added more cheese than the recipe called for and also added some sausage. You could probably put whatever you want in them. The recipe said to put about a tablespoon in each one, but I couldn't seem to get them folded/sealed with that much in them. I used a heaping teaspoon amount instead. They cook up great, and are quite tasty! And certainly they have to be healthier than all the pre-fab junk that is in the store bought ones. I also discovered they freeze and reheat just fine! (About 55 seconds in the microwave, the same as the store-bought variety.) That pretty much sealed the deal for me! I will definitely be making more of these!

Bon appétit! 

The Wingfeather Saga - Round 1

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite book series. Find out about the series HERE. I just reread it in prep for doing some major sketches for my Trunk or Treat idea this year - working ahead for once! Here's a sketch of the three main characters (from left to right): Janner, Tink (aka Kalmar), and Leeli. The little black dog is Nugget. Each character is holding their gift from their father Esben - the first book, Esben's sketchbook, and a silver whistleharp.

And here's the seal of Anniera:

More to come later!