Oh what a friend we have!

I have been so busy keeping up with everyday life. I have been under constant fire since I began praying more intensely and reading more scripture. The blessings from this are more abundant than I ever imagined.
I am posting specifically to share a blessing with you of friendship. I have a friend that I met 11 years ago. She was curious as to why my child was on a leash (harness). She had no idea of his special needs and wanted to know more out of concern. We had lunch at her place and we became instant friends. Now so many years later we only see each other on occasion but the love for one another is quite deep.
I have begun to limit my trips to town and to try to do the shopping after church. With school being hectic and the housing project going slowly and so much other stuff to do, I have not been mentally on cue. I had been shopping in Wal-Mart with my two boys and saw my friend and her 16 year old daughter. We talked for about 20 minutes and went on about our shopping. At the checkout I am busy trying to corral my two kids (it is late and they are testing me) only to realize I left my checkbook with my debit card at home on the desk when I wrote a check to pay the guys for their work. I had NO way to pay for my stuff and my kids are driving me nuts and there are lots of people behind me because there are only two cashiers that late at night. So my friend happened to be in the next lane over checking out also. She hands me her debit card and says "Here". I was already on the phone trying to get a credit card number from my husband to try to run with the cashier typing it in. I accepted her offer and of course was and am so grateful for her friendship. Two weeks later I see her again and ask her if she will take a check. She almost asks me what for. Then she wanted to argue that I wrote it out for an even $100 instead of the actual $97 saying that I had always done so much for her and her family. I don't know what she is talking about.
She even cried when I told her what a hard time I have had with the progress on our house since my mother's passing. It has been difficult seeing new things happen and not having my momma to tell and knowing that she won't be here to tell me how to decorate. I am just going to have to talk to God a lot more! I am sure he will enjoy helping me and my girlfriend decorate too. Sometimes our lives change in unexpected ways that cause us to lean more heavily on God. My mother's passing wasn't His doing but I know that the good coming from it will be a deeper relationship with my Saviour, Jesus. I know that those around me can only be blessed by seeing more of HIM and less of me!
Have a blessed day and be "Jesus" to somebody today.

Altered art spoon swap

I thought I would share all the neat spoons that have poured into my mailbox this month! They are all made by different people in the ATC Connection yahoo group. I must apologize to the artists- my photography today leaves alot to be desired.

This lil' doll is a Cellini spiral and a "luna bead" put together with some right angle weave "charms" to make a charming pendant. I had alot of fun playing with all of these different techniques. Thanks to Brad of the DBS, I can finally call this project complete. He encouraged me to not add a thing to it- everything I had tried to add didn't work.

Another praise for the DBS- I managed to secure two classes for the ultimate beader's classes. The very beader who interested me in beading,( unknowingly from her front page artwork on Bead and Button Magazine Dec. 2003.) Yup Uh huh- and they are going to be the same week as my birthday-- talk about a huge blessing. Oh-- the lady who is teaching is none other than Sherry Serafini. You can see her work at : http://serafinibeadedjewelry.com

The DBS also made it into the Bead Dreams Competition with "A chorus of urchins" made with urchin beads from the DBS by Marcia DeCoster.

I am blessed to be amongst such a wonderful group of people. I hope you have found folks that enjoy to do the things you do that you can encourage and fellowship with.