teaching: the titus 2 advantage . . .

Tonight's the night that Todd and I are leading a conference based on Titus 2. We'll have thirty minutes of general group time (during which we are going to do a funny skit), and then Todd will teach the men, and I will teach the ladies.

I've worked, studied, and prayed really hard over the subject and materials, and I'm excited and a little nervous. Two of my favorite resources have been the Women's Evangelical Commentary: NT and Jaye Martin & Terri Stovall's Women Leading Women: The Biblical Model for the Church. Both were instrumental in my preparation. As a reward for all my hard work, Todd gave me the go-ahead to get the Women's Evangelical Commentary: OT, which just released this month. I've been waiting for it for ages!

For my part, I'm covering six advantages (it's not the exhaustive list) of women teaching women in Sunday school (small groups, life groups, whatever your church calls them):

1. It's Scriptural
2. It's a Comfortable Environment
3. It's Relational
4. It's Physiological
5. It's Effective Ministry
6. It's More Fun!

My notes are complete as is my handout -- complete with fill-in-the-blanks! I'll spend the rest of the afternoon in prayer for the whole thing! Yay!!

Tomorrow I'll finish up on to-do list benefits. And then . . .

Who knows?

:)

design, smezzign . . .

Yes. The following is an old picture I've already posted. But my motives are good . . . I'm auditioning quilt designs for this BOM, quilt-as-you-go project. I really need to get started on the quilting end of the BOM if I'm going to be able to put it together when the BOM ends.

Which, by the way, was one of the reasons I chose to not put this quilt together like the shop sample. *Sigh* Life happens. Can I use EQ for auditioning quilt patterns? I haven't done that yet. Perhaps I'll try at some point today. Like when my Sawyer naps! (If I'm not napping also.)

[*Note: One thing I'd really like input on: should I quilt all 16 blocks the same, or should I do them differently? On my last BOM sampler, I did each block differently. I don't know on this one if I want to stitch-in-the-ditch or do a single design throughout.]

I'm sure there are just TONS of quilters out there with NEW photos on their blogs (and new work on their walls). Just head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to check it out!

Tonight, one of the young women in our church is opening up her home for a basketball championship party! I'm pretty sweet & sour meatballs. Yummy!

Oh happy day!

:)

backwards glance . . .

I've been so captivated by the snow and the wildlife (and then getting back to work), that I almost forgot I wanted to share my fun Saturday!

It started with a good-sized crowd of ladies at Fried Green Tomatoes, a little diner out in Ardmore, TN. It was our sweet church's monthly ladies' meeting, and we also revealed secret pals. The first woman sitting down on the left was my pal -- she was such fun to do things for!

We really did have a great turnout, especially for an early Saturday morning fellowship. I think most everyone got the breakfast buffet, and as you can tell be all the empty plates and smiling faces, the buffet was good!

From there, I hustled home to get ready for Jocelyn's baby shower!

Kim did such a magnificent job on everything. I loved the banner for the gift table. And she did a beautiful job setting up the refreshment table, too!

She made all these yummy goodies!

I think my favorite were the cupcakes, with the darling little owl toppers on them . . .

She found the toppers on etsy. Just the perfect touch for Joc's shower (considering Everett's room will be done up in owls)!

Here's my beautiful girl, sandwiched between two of her dear friends, Amy and Adelle!

And of course, what party (in my life) would be complete without my little boo?

He was very interested in what his Aunt Jocelyn was wearing. He loves necklaces!

Evidently, he also loves chocolate! His mommy & daddy had made the wise decision to keep sugary snack from him, at least until his first birthday. Sawyer had other plans. Kim was holding him in the sling on Saturday, frosting cupcakes. Sawyer reached around and found the container of frosting and helped his little self to a handful . . .

Bless his heart -- that fistful went straight to his mouth (and all over his face & mommy)! Of course, he was so *tired* he could barely see straight! Or is that glazed look an immediate sugar buzz reaction??!

I also wanted to share the favors Kim made for the baby shower . . .

Little owl egg warmers! Aren't they precious?!? I actually have them sitting over tea lights. Sawyer had given us the little sign for Christmas -- I thought the dear little owls fit under it just perfectly!! Too, too cute.

I need to finish up the bumper pads, curtains, and quilt for Everett's nursery. Five more weeks . . . guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend!!!

And I'll *like* it, too.

:)

celebrate good times . . .

This morning we are headed off to Lighthouse for church, just as we do most Sundays, but today, we're going to celebrate Lighthouse's 15-year anniversary!! And not just fifteen years of existence, but fifteen years of service by our wonderful pastor and his wife, Brother Randy and Miranda. Randy & Miranda have been dear friends of ours for near fourteen years, and we are excited to be celebrating this milestone with them today!! Ah yes, hence the mass quantities of potato salad and banana pudding yesterday!!

We had rain, rain, and more rain last night, accompanied by thunder, lightning, high winds, and a little bit more rain. Once again I found myself wondering if this bad boy would float, if need be! All's quiet this morning, with not a cloud in the sky. The birds are already active out in the yard!

James has taken some new pictures of my darling Sawyer, and of course I thought I'd share them here. I can't believe he's already five months old! He's growing and changing so quickly. His mommy just chronicled his 5-month marker on her blog, The Real Life of the Possible's. Lots of pictures -- I love looking at pictures of him! It's my favorite thing after loving on him in person!!

Look at those beautiful, blue eyes! He's gonna be a lady's man, with that intense gaze!

I mean really, have you ever seen anything cuter?!? Precious, just precious! I've always laughed when I've heard people say, "I could just eat him/her up," but now I think I understand!

I know I do this a lot, but it is what it is . . .

*happy grandma sigh*

:)

flowers make me smile . . .

Yesterday started off on the wrong foot, pardon the pun. I was flustered, running late, unprepared, and in pain. Not a good combination! To make matters worse, I hit my tender foot getting back into the car, from opening the front gate. I was holding on to it just barely when Todd called on his way home, and my dam burst! I'm not even sure my end of the conversation was intelligible! Bless his heart, he is my knight in shining armor. I had been at work for less than an hour and my darling man shows up with breakfast, coffee, and lunch in hand (because in my lateness, I missed all of these things). Plus, he surprised me with these . . .

And just in case, he also brought a little something sweet . . .

FUDGE! :)

Needless to say, with flowers, chocolate, coffee and breakfast, all delivered with a hug and a kiss by the love of my life, my day brightened considerably!

We can be *so* silly at work!

From work I headed to my last physical therapy session of the week. I have three more regular sessions to go and then I have a re-evaluation. They all liked my pretty toes. LOL!

The ice with the electrons is my favorite part. I could sit there for EVER! :)

Yesterday evening, Todd and I headed back into town for the first worship service of a new church start, ignite city church. My daughter and her husband are part of the core group who make up this new church, and Todd and I wanted to worship and celebrate with them for their first service!

Joc is looking wonderful -- she is *glowing* And her darling husband is wearing one of my all-time favorite shirts. I laugh every time I read it!

This is Joc and her sweet friend, Amy, who is the wife of the new pastor, Robert!

And here's my precious girl and her daddy. It's hard to recall how rough yesterday started, when it ended with such sweet fellowship!

Tonight is Friday Night Sew-in! If you haven't signed up and you want to join in the fun, head over to Handmade by Heidi!!! Just click on the button below . . .

TGIF!

:)

for me . . .

Sometimes I wonder who it is exactly I'm blogging for. It seems silly (and incredibly vain) to think that there is a host of people who are particularly interested in what I am currently doing, saying, quilting, experiencing, etc. No, it's okay. I recognize that; always have, deep down.

Blogging started for me as a means for journaling, without having to actually write. This is faster and cleaner. I dislike writing in pencil--much prefer pen--but I also have a tendency to erase a lot (so I can get what I want to say *just* right), so ink is not a good idea. That left typing, and I hooked up with blogspot in 2003, so I've been using this venue off and on (mostly off, in the beginning) for seven years. It works. For one, I don't have to keep up with a journal. Or worry about what to do with a filled journal. Especially now that space is an issue. The blog is here and I can type away to my heart's content whenever I want to.

And besides, I love to write. I like to construct words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and so on and so on, until there's something there of interest to read. For me, anyway.

The thing is, that's just for me. It's so I can get it out of my mind and onto paper, so to speak. I'm not trying to market myself, make myself famous, or turn into the 'Julie' of Julie and Julia. I don't particularly have anything to hide and so I don't mind sharing my darling, precious grandbaby, my quilts, my family, our ministry, our RV life in the woods . . . and if someone is blessed or somehow inspired by what they read, that's awesome!

But I don't expect people to feel compelled to read. Or at least, I *shouldn't* expect it. Why should I care how many people read this or how many countries those readers come from? It's not like I'm getting paid to blog! I don't have anything for sale on etsy. I don't have a particular skill or talent that folks might clamor for. I don't even spend a large percentage of my time quilting (at this point in time)!

I'm a wife, mom, new grandma (!!!), an employee, a full-time RVer, a child of the Most High, and sometimes, I quilt. I love to quilt and would love to have more time to devote to it . . . I might even enjoy doing some aspect of quilting for a living, somewhere down the road (haha-on the road). But I am *so* much more than the quilting.

And I kind of feel like I've let myself down here . . . in the effort of making my blog more *quilty* I've forsaken my original intent of blogging. But I don't think it's too late.

* * * *

Today I had a surprise text from a dear friend (for whose husband I do some weekly bookkeeping), who needed a notary's signature on a permission slip for one of her children. I don't charge people I know for my notary services, and encourage those who need a notary to use me when they can! So I told her my work hours (she lives nearby) and she told me she'd be in this afternoon.

Imagine my surprise when she walked in the door with fresh cut flowers and a pint container of fresh berries! That was so sweet of her. I adore having fresh flowers around! And these berries look *so* good!!! I'm so touched by her graciousness!

We have campers coming in again this weekend! They come in on Friday evening and will be with us into Saturday. It's another father/son event. I'm so excited! I didn't get to interact at all with the last group because I was enjoying family. But this time I'll get out there with my MM (mighty man)!

I'm thinking I need a grandbaby fix and soon; it's been a couple of days and I know how fast they change!

I've finally started going through the boxes of photographs. I'm halfway into the second box. I think I'm keeping as much as I'm throwing away. In fact, all I've thrown away thus far is doubles. LOL! I still can't decide if I want to scan these myself or send them out. I guess it depends on what I'm left with in the end. If it's too many, I'll probably send them out.

Lastly, I e-mailed one of the women on the Women's Ministry Team at Lighthouse to see about helping with that committee (informally) for the remainder of the church year. I miss working in women's ministry!

Enough for now.

Ciao!

:)

weekend reflections . . .

Lots of fun this weekend with two baby showers for Kim; one Saturday at her cousin's house, and a church one on Sunday, hosted by Reda. Kim got lots of great stuff for Sawyer! He's going to be such a pampered baby!

Kim is looking radiant and beautiful. It's so cute to see her from the back; you can't even tell she's pregnant! She goes this week for an ultrasound and we should get a more solid idea of when Sawyer will present himself!

The picture with Joc was taken at the Saturday baby shower. Sawyer was being very, VERY active, and Joc happened to catch a kick or roll. Her face was priceless!

Lots of fun food, a darling cake, and PRESENTS!!!

And Joc was responsible for the game gifts. She did an awesome job! I was in charge of games, but I had to leave early. Still, Kim had a darling hostess gift for me; it was an LED candle with a monogrammed P! Fun.

From Saturday's baby shower, Todd and I headed to Grady's B&B in Crane Hill on Smith Lake. Todd spoke on Sunday at Sulphur Springs Missionary Baptist Church. We enjoyed our stay and the church immensely. Grady, the B&B owner, was very effusive. The place was beautiful, too. I thought I had pictures to upload, but I'm not sure where they went! We were not able to spend as much down time as we would have liked at the B&B, and I think we've already decided we'd like to go back for a longer visit.

Early Sunday morning we headed for the church. Todd spoke very eloquently about our ministry and the men present listened intently and even asked some good questions. It always cracks me up -- men always want to know if *I* like staying in the RV at Camp Macoba . . . because it's every man's dream! LOL!

After the breakfast/speaking engagement, we went driving around. I took some funny pictures. We stayed at Sulphur Springs for both Sunday school and the worship service. Their pastor was phenomenal and preached one of the best sermons I've heard in ages. I'll have to detail it out a little, later in the week. It really brought conviction.

Definitely too short of a weekend. Especially since I gave myself the gift of strep. I woke up last night and my throat was on FIRE! I went ahead in and saw the doc and sure enough, I have a strep infection along with a sinus infection (which cracks me up; my sinuses aren't even bothering me). Lovely.

Ah well. Like my son told me today. That's why men don't go to baby showers; so they don't get diseases.

Oh.

:)