Spoon Rest!

This is something I made awhile back! I friend and I went to one of those awesome pottery place where you can pick out what you want to paint, paint it, and then they fire it for you! We went to celebrate her birthday! I chose this little trivet b/c I decided I would use it as a spoon rest on my stove. My new dishes are that dark blue color that the "S" is.

I also trimmed it in yellow to give it a punch!

Mainly it is just fun to sit and and talk and paint with a friend; but is also nice to have something useful for your kitchen!

I'm kinda love making things with "S"'s right now to enjoy my new last name!

:)

I love my Green Chair!

Friends, here is my latest creation. Last week I finished my last chair and this frame. I painted this chair much like the two with the brown cushions. I sanded the chair, put wax on it and painted with paint/primer. Then I sanded of the areas that I waxed. this leaves some of the wood exposed on the chair and makes it look old and extra loved! :) Then I sealed the chair with a polyurethane like finish. I coved the chair cushion with this pretty green fabric made by waverly. If you look closely you can see there is this beautiful swirly texture to the fabric. Sorry the picture is so bad. I took the same fabric and put it in the black frame that is next to the chair. Both are in our bedroom. I'm adding this green color in our mostly blue bedroom. The thrird picture is a Benjamin Moore Paint Color that depicts the color of the fabric so you can see it better.

The last pic is a close up of just the chair cushion so you can see the pretty fabric!!

That's what I've been up too! I'm determind to finish my painting that I've been working on for quite some time now! It's just a bunch of color blocks. I was bored of it for awhile, but feel inspired again!

I guess when you are planning a wedding it kinda takes all your creative energy and I am starting to get some of it back again!

Interested in Do You want to Get into the Fair for Free or Cheap?? See these Deals!!!

Participating North Texas KROGER stores
Advance purchase General Admission tickets are $13.50. A Season Pass is $29.95. They may be purchased at the check-out counter or at the service desk.

Opening Day-Sept. 25--Bring a full 20 oz. Coca-Cola product for donation to the North Texas Food Bank containers at Fair admission gates and enter the State Fair for $4 per donation per person.

DART Combo Ticket – Available at Kroger Food Stores. $16 buys one general admission t o the 2009 State Fair of Texas and round-trip transportation on DART the day of your visit. The Green Line drops off at the front gate and a second station is located within easy walking distance to the MLK entrance.

Dr Pepper $3 Tuesdays--Every Tuesday, bring an empty Dr Pepper can and enter for $3. Most rides (excluding the Thrillway, Texas Star and selected other attractions) are 5 coupons.

Dr Pepper $5 after 5 p.m. – Bring an empty Dr Pepper can to any State Fair admission gate after 5 p.m. and enter for $5.

Kroger "Three for $1" each Wednesday--Admission is $1 for each visitor bringing 3 cans of food for area food banks.

Coke $4 Thursday--Bring an empty 20 oz. bottle of a Coca-Cola product and enter the Fair for $4 admission.

HealthSpring and Mature Texan Magazine sponsor of Seniors Day. FREE Thursdays--Senior Citizens 60 years and older get in to the State Fair FREE each Thursday.

FREE Thursday admission with a Cinemark Theater ticket stub.

KISS-FM “Fridays at the Fair”- Half-price admission and half-price rides after 5 p.m. on any Friday. Must present coupon printed from KISS-FM website for admission offer. Half-price ride wristbands will be distributed from KISS booth outside Midway Arch from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. on Fridays only.

Dickies – Friday, October 16, wear and show your Dickies logo clothing item at the staffed tent outside the gate and receive a voucher. The voucher is for FREE admission on Friday, October 16 only.

Any Day--McDonald's offers $4 off General Admission with one of their State Fair coupons (available on tray liner or bag stuffer) any day of the Fair. A free child ticket (with purchase of general admission) coupon is also distributed by McDonald’s. Offer may not be combined with any other offer.

Ethiopia Trip Update!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as I went to Ethiopia. I wanted to take some time to just update you on some of the amazing things God did while we were there. It was such an amazing trip and I am still processing each day all that happened. I am so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to have gone.

I want to share with you two amazing stories (read one or read both!!) of what God allowed me to be a part of while I was there and also share some continued prayer requests for Ethiopia!


Story One

Each day that we were in Ethiopia we took a van out to the village that we were going to. Our team broke up into little sub-teams and paired up with in-country translators and disciple-makers who live in the villages that we worked in. Disciple makers are locals that we partnered with that follow up with those that decide to begin a relationship with Christ. They also begin planning churches.

On our second day with our team we headed to a small village directly where our disciple maker Solomon was from. Right when we got there, we began playing soccer and painting the woman and girls (and boys!!) finger nails! Soon after Tesime, a translator, and I gathered a group of woman and children together to begin sharing the story of the Paralyzed man which demonstrates just one of the many miracles that Jesus Christ performed. Directly after the story, we shared the Gospel and began asking if anyone wanted to make today the day that they would place their hope and faith in Jesus Christ. A woman from the back raised her hand. The translator and I thought she was ready to make a decision, but in reality she was already a Christian. She wanted us to go back to her home where her mother had just gone back to b/c she had been sitting in the crowd, heard the Gospel, and wanted to make a decision to trust in Christ in her own home!

We followed her back to her home, a beautiful clay hut with straw. As we were on our way there she shared that she was Solomon’s, the disciple maker, sister, and her mom was Solomon’s mom. Solomon had been praying for his mom for many years and today was the day!! As we got to her lawn, she greeted us with much kindness. We explained the Gospel again and she placed her faith in Jesus Christ. As soon as she did, she decided that we needed to go inside her home and tell many more of her family members the good news of the Gospel. We then shared the Gospel with one of her daughter who also placed her faith in Jesus—as soon as she did--- she told me that her husband would be home soon and that we should share with her husband and her dad. As we awaited their arrival they prepared coffee by fire in tiny china cups. They treated me with such love and compassion. As soon as the husband we shared Christ with them as well. The husband had many questions, but he also trusted in Christ that day. The father was not yet ready, but we are praying for him.

After the day was over, Solomon’s smile was so big b/c so many from his family came to faith that day and so many from his village also came to faith as others from my team were sharing the Gospel as well. I think the village went from 8 believers to 32 in 1 day!! We left that day praising God and still are!

Story Two

On our very last day in Ethiopia our entire team of 16 went to the same village b/c we only worked a half day b/c we began our travel home that day. We did not have as many translators with us that day and I think I went into that day with the thought that much was not going to happen. As we got to the village though, there were so many that came around us and that were ready to hear and I began praying and asking God to help us make an eternal impact with the rest of our time.

The very last person that I shared with that day was a young man who just finished serving in the military. He has been in service for 5 years. He is married and lives an hour’s walk from where we were that day, but somehow ended up with us that day.

Five years ago, right before he went into the military, he heard of Jesus but he was going into the military so he pushed away any desire he had to pursue a relationship with Christ and just decided to follow his time in the military thinking it wasn’t possible to be in the military and follow Jesus as well.

Then when he got back from the Military he did not understand or know what it looked like to follow Jesus or how to gain access to him. The translator and I got to share the Gospel with him and answer all his questions about what the difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus Christ looks like. He prayed that day to trust in Christ, then he immediately began the walk home to his home to share the good news of the Gospel with his wife so she too could have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

How to Pray!
· Pray for those that make decisions to trust in Christ while we are there, that they will grow strong in their faith and share their faith
·Pray for the disciple makers as they build up these new believers and start new churches (home churches)
·Pray that the message of the Gospel would grow strong in Ethiopia. Many there have heard of Jesus- but grew up in a religion called Ethiopian Orthodox which is based on tradition and earning your salvation – and not a loving grace filled relationship with Jesus Christ. Also many are Muslim.

A little something I have been up to!

Lately, I have been fixing up some chairs! It has been so much fun! I took some old brown chairs that I basically got for free. They were not so cute so I decided to work on them. I found an article

in Cottage Living that had these chairs that were painted ivory so I decided to follow suit! I usually go for a collor or a brown tone, but this article gave me a new idea-- that I probably wouldn't have thought of.

I also decided to attempt to cover some chairs for the very first time. It went very well. I loved using the staple g

un. I found this great brown fabric that looks kinda suede

The chairs are comfortable and they are a lot cuter to look at. Here are a few pics . . . taken by i-phone so they aren't amazing-- but at least you can get a glimpse!

Enjoy!

Heading Out On A Plane to Africa on Friday!

Hello Friends and Family

On Friday, I will head out with the rest of my team to Ethiopia! I am so excited to see what is in store for this trip! We will spend our time in Asela ministering to the Arsi Oromo people there. This part of the country is about 90 percent Muslim.

You can visit this blog: http://watermarkinafrica.blogspot.com where you can read updates every few days about how our ministry is going and what we are doing while we are there. Team 1 is already (I am on Team 2) there and you can read updates about how the first few days of the trip have been for them.

We have several little sub-teams on our team including: a children?s ministry team, a men?s ministry team, and a women?s ministry team. I will be working with the women?s ministry team where we will teach on health related issues like AIDS, washing hands, and potentially infant care. We also want to encourage them through fun things like painting their nails, braiding their hair, and making jewelry with them. Pray for us as we do this and remain flexible to what is appropriate to their culture. Ultimately, we will share stories about who God is from the Word and our own personal Testimonies.

Personally, you can pray for continued focus for me this week as I prepare to head out on this mission. Please pray 2 Timothy 1:7 for me, ?For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.?

Please also pray for the people in the villages that we are going to meet, that we can share the Truth with them. Psalm 33:8 ?Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.?

Looking forward to sharing with you the Lord?s faithfulness when I return. I?ll post photos and stories!

Africa Update!

Africa is less than three months away. Please continue to pray for me as I prepare to go on trip.

I was reading Psalm 43 today and wanted to share this . . .

Psalm 43:3

O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.

Continuing to pray that the Lord will send out his light and his truth and prepare the way to Ethiopia as our teams prepare to head over there.

Please pray that I can continue to allow the Lord and his truths to lead this time and I won't try and do things on my own effort . . .which is fruitless.

Please also continue to pray for my financial support for the trip. Through many friends and family . . . . the Lord has provided about half of what I need. I am so grateful for that support. It means so much to have people behind me and supporting me on this mission. Please pray for the rest of the support and that I can be creative in how to continue to reach my goal for the trip.

As many know, I am getting married just about a month before going on this trip. I am so excited and cannot wait for that day. Please pray that I can continue to pray for the trip and the Ethiopians during these next few months and I don't only focus on wedding stuff and preparation for that trip.

Thank you so much for your prayers!