Tolentreasures

I did not take near as many pictures as I should have on this trip, but I am sure that I will get some from the other people on the trip. We had a very successful trip and saw God working in so many lives. It was great for me to visit and catch up with people that I have met on trips in the past, both Dominicans and Americans and see how well they are doing. I painted some but the murals were beyond my talents. I am not a people painter. I was able to help out and do some lettering on projects. There are always so many stories to tell and I never know where to begin....or end. Part of our group did Vacation Bible Schools and part built a house for a family. Our church was able to fund an addition on the Compassion school that is located there and we were also to deliver bags of food for 75 families in a Haitian Village. We had a baptism service in the river near the center where we stayed and it was an amazing moment to be a part of. I have never seen a baptism anywhere except inside a...

This was the final item in my procrastinator's challenge. I painted this for my granddaughter's toy room. Ann at A Hole in the Basket is having this challenge and it is fun to see what everyone has been procrastinating on and getting done. I finished this a took it to my daughter's house last night. These are a couple of name plaques for the room also. You will see that there is an extra....she needs to get busy and get another "name" for this one. I have one other item finished for the Little Princess but that is a surprise both for her and her Mom so I won't be posting it until after the birthday party My trip begins in an hour. We are to be at the church and loaded and ready to leave by 11, our flight is at 2:55, about a 3 1/2 hour flight, 2 to 3 hour bus ride, we should arrive at the mission center around 9 this evening. It is long day of traveling but I am thankful that it is a non-stop flight anyway. We fly into Punta Cana in the Dominican Re...

My third six weeks of pottery classes started last week after being cancelled the first week because of the weather. The first six weeks was several years ago and my daughter and I took the class together. The second six weeks was this past fall and mother and daughter friends of mine had given the gift of the class to me for the work that I did for the daughter's wedding. Now the daughter makes great items, large bowls, plates, vases and pots, functional and decorative items...hey she's young, they are so much easier to teach, right? My daughter, after all in the first six weeks did much nicer projects than I did. So the third six weeks begins and my goal is to make something bigger than a toothpick holder or ranch dip container. Anything that I could possibly either eat cereal out of or have a cup of coffee out of (and not expresso). The first week comes and goes and I have something that might hold ketchup or 16 Hershey kisses as a candy dish, now I am not even getti...

In a very brave mood I am going to post my painting area of the house. I know that I read somewhere that creative people are messy....I must be the Queen then because I always have a disaster in my painting room. The projects for the challenge are all here, plus a few where the ADD kicked in and I got a whim and had to start them also. This is a little nook/loft outside our bedroom so no one really sees it too often other than us. I do a mad dash clean-up if I am having a group of people here and we are going to have to use the bathroom in our bedroom. (that also means that I have to clean that bathroom) I love this area though and when we built the addition on to our house, I knew exactly what I wanted and had this area added for me. When all the girls were here, it was my area to have peace and quiet, the loveseat was still there for small conversations, but it would not hold the whole "gang" Another almost finished project in the Procrastinator's Challenge. It just n...

Ten days until I leave with a group from my church on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. At basically close to the last minute I just felt the tug to go on this trip. I had thought about it and prayed about it for quite awhile and everything just kept leading me to try to make the arrangements to go. The trip had been booked for the group that was going for many months and at the time that they planned this trip, I had "plans" in my mind to return to Jackson, Michigan this summer and work with New Tribes mission at their school there. I worked there last year and it was such an easy trip, no flying, no hot bus rides, no unusual food, hot showers, and even a swimming pool. There were no language barriers and we put a roof on with POWER tools. How easy is that? (the worst hardship of the trip was when the air conditioning in my car had issues and had to go the Chevy Dealer there to be fixed under warranty) Then I got the call that they were planning two work groups for J...