What a week!!! (Catch up from last week...)

What a wonderful week we had in Minnesota with our teenagers!  God has blessed us with a great group of kids.  We were able to see so many different things while we were in Minnesota.  The Como Zoo, the Sculpture Gardens, the Mall of America, a comedy show, but most of all we got to see the great need that people in our own country have.  The need of Jesus.  We were able to minister to 3 different Salvation Army's, church's, schools, homeless shelters, as well as even minister to each other.  I know James filled everyone in on the goings on of the beginning of the week, so I'll do my best to fill in the gaps.  I will also share what God did for that boy and I shortly after James posted.
Thursday was our "fun" day.  We took the kids to the Basilica of St. Mary, where they got to sing.  I was pretty jealous of their opportunity.  But then after the ensemble sang a few songs, that boy led our entire group in the Doxology.  I was so pumped to get to sing in such an AMAZING place.  After that, we loaded up and headed to the Mall of America.  The first thing that boy, our friends, and I did was face some fears.  Ok, so maybe they were more he & I's fears, but we did it!  We all got harnessed and did some great little (or big) walking acrossed ropes, wires, to get to the end result of walking "the plank".  It was HIGH... and kind of terrifying, but I DID IT!!!  Apparently, I did it at least looking confident because that boy is pretty convinced that I'm not scared of heights.  (Thanks mom for the many years of gymnastics... lol) It was good for both of us to be able to encourage each other across various places.  I was quite pleased to be back on the ground though.  We rode a roller coaster (the only one he can do) then headed to ride the log water ride.  It was so fun!!!  We had a great lunch then separated boys and girls to do our own shopping.  We then got to visit the Aquarium.  We had to separate again when the 3 of them went to the Mirror Maze.  The flashing lights were a concern for me, so I opted to go visit ARCHIVERS.  Oh, how I love that store.  I really wish we had one, but I enjoyed my short trip through there.  :)  We joined back up as a group and headed to Buca di Bepo's where we enjoyed some delicious Italian food and some interesting pictures.  Then we headed to one of the best comedy shows I have seen.  I love improv.
Friday, we packed up all our things and headed toward Windom, where Matt grew up.  I was pretty pumped to get to see the places where he lived and meet the people who had such an influence on his life.  Even better was the fact we were able to share the gospel in a public school.  The kids performed an incredible concert that night bringing tears to my eyes.  I was able to enjoy dinner and the concert with that boy's parents.  After the concert, we loaded up on the buses and headed home.  Our bus broke down, delaying us several hours.  God was good and brought someone along who had connections and ended up getting us out of there a lot sooner than it could have been.  The kids attitudes were fantastic.  They had a great time being stranded.  We finally had to tell them it was lights out time.  haha... We spent a grand total of 26.5 hours on the bus.  It was a lot of bus time.
The kids performed their final concert at our home church that night.  God was glorified through what they did that night.  I had my breaking point when the seniors were brought on stage.  I love that group of kids and sure am going to miss them next year.  I'm excited to see what God is going to do in their lives next.
As promised, here's what God did shortly after the last post was written.  As our students were singing in the concert that night, I recieved a text.  During the concerts, I normally ignore my phone, but this time I checked it.  It was my realtor telling me we had an offer on my house!  She asked me to call her and explained the offer was low, but we could counter.  That boy and I discussed it and opted to counter back full price and offer to pay 1/2 of their requested closing costs.  It was Thursday morning after we sang at the Basilica, that I recieved a text stating that they had accepted my counter offer!!!  It put us at losing the least amount of money possible.  God has been so good to us in our housing situations.  It's been in the PERFECT timing.  All of this, of course, is riding on the home inspection.  This will happen tomorrow evening.  I'm a little nervous, but God's seen us to this point, so He'll see us through this part too.
I hope you will forgive my lack of crafty postings.  My craft room is mostly packed up and the furniture isn't put together in the new room yet.  I'm hoping to get a couple more wedding crafts completed soon.  Quite frankly, packing and wedding planning are trumping the fun crafts right now.
I hope you all have an enjoyable Easter weekend.  Don't forget the real reason we celebrate.  Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, rose again the 3rd day to give us eternal life with Him.  This is something we should always be celebrating!

Minnesota '11

What up peeps?? Des is out right now so this is James (her trusty, awesome, amazing personal assistant). We have been on a trip since Saturday with the youth choir that Matt leads at Whitesburg. We started with a twenty-two hour bus ride overnight and arrived Saturday evening at our hotel. On Sunday, we went to Westwood Community Church where the students sang in three morning services and did an afternoon concert. The students (including me) did fantastic!! That evening, we sang in our fifth performance of the day at the River of Life Church. We got back to the hotel, greeted with well-deserved sleep. On Monday morning, the students sang at the Minnehaha Academy (I didn't though because I have a sinus infection and I almost lost my voice) and played with the children at recess. That night, we went to the Union Gospel Ministry and did a concert for the men there. Apparently, it was the first time that the men there actually wanted to hear a program. On Tuesday, we went to Feed My Starving Children where we packed enough food to feed 55 children for An entire year. After that, we proceeded to the Marie Sandvik Center where we did a block party for the entire neighborhood. It was really cool because I got to use my Spanish skills to talk to a little kid for about twenty minutes in only Spanish. That evening, we went to eat at a mall that had only two fast food restaurants but half of us went to Cheesecake Factory and other restaurants to get carry out. That night, we had debriefing and everyone was ready for sleep (except me because I was on an extreme sugar high). To end the night, Des tucked me into bed (well not really because she didn't feel like going into the room; she just opened the door and said goodnight). Well, now you are caught up to today!! You can follow the rest of our tour at www.wbcswat.blogspot.com. See ya!

-James

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New Item in the Store!!!

After many requests, I have posted a new item to our etsy store.  We've re-priced a few things as well, so take a moment to check it out!

Here's a photo of what's been posted:

I'm making them in several different sizes and colors, so for more information feel free to message me!

Ring Bearer Pillow

I've been on the hunt for a long time looking for the PERFECT ring bearer pillow.  The problem was I just didn't know what I wanted.  I searched all the local craft stores and even the wedding supply stores, but just didn't find anything that really fit.  Until I accidentally ran across this blog.  I fell in love with the pillow, but kinda assumed it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to make.  However, I was determined to at least give it a shot.  I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?  It didn't work?  Why not give it a try?

My friend Malea over at I Make Stuff was kind enough to make me the initial 8x8 pillow with some scrap fabric and "fluff" she already had.  I covered the pillow in black satin.  After that, I took a strip of turquoise satin, burned the edges with a lighter, and attached it around the pillow using Heat N Bond.

Then I took an 18" (in diameter) circle and a needle and thread and stiched around the edges.  Before I notted it off, I pulled the thread to gather it.  Making it look like this:

I attached it to the pillow using my favorite tool- the hot glue gun. Once it was attached, I added a brooch for the center of it.

The brooch may change, but I tried to use one I already have.  It was much simpler than I thought it would be and it looks so elegant!  I love it!