slings

making baby slings this week...

i found a great pattern online - super simple... you can stuff it in a purse, & it won't make you & baby hot! the great thing about these slings is that i've used the same one since he was just a few months old... you just change the way you carry your baby in it.
http://www.mykarmababy.com/pages/BabySlingPattern.php

i'm on a roll, so if you want help making one (or feel helpless & would like me to make one for you :) let me know!!

this isn't a very good pic, but Hudson's in a sling i just made with some cool fabric we picked up in Tanzania...

no computers at publix...

we received this recently in a counselor's email update:

Can I just tell you that I am getting pretty upset with my local grocery store?! For weeks now I have needed a new computer and for weeks now I have gone into that store everyday, sometimes multiple times a day, looking for the computer section and I have not been able to find what I need. I have been getting so frustrated! So a week or so ago I started asking the baggers and checkers where the computers are and they kept saying they did not have computers, that this was a grocery store. But I knew they either simply did not know where to look or were just too lazy to show me where they kept the computers. A few days ago I finally asked for the manager; he told me the same thing. So I left and came back the next day and the next....and he kept telling me the same thing. NO computers.....but would I want to look at their fresh vegetables or fruit, perhaps some newly baked bread or barbecued chicken, even chips or ice cream? Absolutely not, I said, it is a computer that I need. So this morning he informs me I am creating a disturbance in his store and tells me I can never come back again. I guess he doesn't like pastors or retired sailors or something. He probably just doesn't like me. Fine. I will look somewhere else for my computer....right after lunch. Man, I wonder where you can get some food around here?

Alright, the truth is there is nothing wrong with my local grocery store; in fact, my wife is shopping at that store even as I type. But this is the type of word picture that the Lord gave one of my clients recently to illustrate the truth He was giving her about a situation in her life. And here is the principle....we often experience tremendous relational turmoil when we ask or demand that other individuals give us what they do not have; and furthermore, we can subsequently be so upset with the perception that they simply are choosing not to give us what we desire that we totally miss out on all that they do have available for us.

I have seen folks get angry and leave a church because "the pastor does not have time for me." There have been adults that cannot seem to let positive relationships birth and grow because they are locked in on trying to get one or both of their parents (or children) to affirm them. Marriages and friendship sometime languish as wonderful and fulfilling aspects of the relationship are overlooked because one person is giving relentless attention to the inability of the other person to "understand me." Sadly I even have worked with individuals who miss out on all the amazing items in the "ultimate superstore" of God because He appears to not carry the one item they most think they need most.

Over the years I have done many sessions of premarital counseling. One of the critical aspects of those sessions is getting past the warm fuzzy of romantic love and actually identifying the deepest needs and desires of each of the individuals....and then not guessing or assuming but actually determining the ability of other person to meet those. Failure to do this often leads to disappointment and frustration down the road when they discover that "my grocery store does not carry computers" and it can create such turmoil that they can no longer see all the great and life sustaining products their "grocery store" does have.

If I want a computer then the best place to go would be Best Buy, not Publix. If a person needs a place that they can come to share their hurts, fears, feelings and pain without being rejected or condemned; a place where there are compassionate, caring people who have time to journey at a slower pace then perhaps they might consider coming to JMCF. After all, we carry that product. It is very possible that the people with whom they are most frustrated at the moment simply do not have that product in their store. We would sure hate for them, in their frustration, to miss all the wonderful items that special person does have for them.

Pastor Jim GrovesJourney Ministries of Central Florida, Inc."A safe place to heal"www.journeyministriesorlando.com407-737-8730

more fall festival pics...

mike was on the team that put together the fall festival for crusade's headquarters last week.... he was busy organizing activities & food, hauling pumpkins, loading haybails, and building fences & signs (which i painted - great new mom therapy! :) for weeks... and he did a GREAT job!!

here are some more pics from the day... doesn't everyone look happy???
http://picasaweb.google.com/lakehartcommunitylife/FallFestival200702?authkey=MjonBvB46Z4


by the way, people who came to the festival brought food to put in "boxes of love", to be given out at thanksgiving by our inner city ministry in orlando:
http://hlic.org/comp0611_Impact_of_a_Box_of_Love.htm

create

"problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity."
-unknown

the above is from a lovely website with free printable paper creations you "make" yourself... they've done all the beautiful work.. all you need are glue & scissors.
http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

here are some other websites & blogs that have been inspiring me lately:
http://www.papress.com/designityourself/index.html great tips if you want to "design" anything... business cards, t-shirts, etc.
http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ fun times on the farm... yummy recipes
http://www.maizehutton.com/ check out the "diy" & "blog" sections
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=learn-cat&id=cat242&navLevel=2&rsc=mslnav you don't have to like her to appreciate her genious :)

enjoy!

my ring

here's my first silver creation... made while my mom & grandmother were visiting...


here's the proof i did it (i don't quite have the stamp-engraving method down, eh?)...

summer

here's mike & me in our bungalow on Ko Jum... when we arrived in krabi (the closest city to the island), the locals tried to convince us not to go to the island because, "nothing is on Ko Jum... no one is there... it is closed!" what's the problem? we were even more convinced it was, in fact, where we wanted to go. we were often the only ones on the beach, save a few stray dogs. it rained most days, too... we didn't mind.

we had a wonderful visit with my mom & grandmother here... Grandmother said she really felt like she'd been "immersed in Thai culture" :). Here we are on Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand....
and wearing the silver jewelry we made at a local studio... with some training from the master jeweller, we did the designing, heating, flattening, cutting, soldering, shaping, and polishing ourselves!

we've been painting our new office.... the previous color was an appetizing cross between cooked salmon & pepto bismol. here i am jamming out to johnny cash & trying hard to paint a straight line between "brittany beige" & "olive grove" (i'm a freehander). i am also working on curtains... found a great deal on some thai cotton... under $1/yard.

gardening... we've been planting all kinds of stuff.... cucumbers, basil, oregano, LOTS of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, a flower i can't spell (thanks for the seeds Sandy!)... can't wait to make salsa & spaghetti sauce! mike made a lovely garden in one corner of our yard.... but you'll have to wait for pics.

all for now!