Glitterati

I made a couple projects for the Human PinBall today. These are centerpieces for a wedding reception.  I sent them to Brides Magazine.  Think they will like them?  They are full of pretty glitter!

The glittered rose is my fav.

Normal Girl

Shamed by a Pregnant Woman

I have been dragging it around all day, fighting a developing case of bronchitis, trying to breathe without coughing....with a general lack of energy.  But, I went to Michaels with a new project in mind.  When I got to the checkout, a very pregnant woman was ahead of me.  She was a mess.  She was dropping things she could not retrieve, she could not focus, it was taking her forever to get checked out.  When she grabbed her belly and grunted, I found out why.  She was having contractions.  OK, I have not had a child, but do you really have to go to Michaels for scrapbook paper while you are in labor?

Avoidance technique or Type A Preparations?

Normal Girl

This is Why We are Going

I have no doubt that the Divine Design mission trip was set up for us by God.  But, I have had some trouble figuring out how I was going to ask people to support a mission trip to fix up rooms for college students. Our other Divine Design projects have been for people that have obvious needs and this felt different.

So, I did some research on their missions and found out that they do amazing things with and for the kids of inner city Atlanta every day.  What they do must be exhausting and it is certainly never ending.  They are helping kids and families and sharing God with them every single day.

Now I know that we are going to encourage a group of college students who deserve a lot more than we are going to give them.  The work they do is real and in the trenches.  And now I see why God is sending us.

Check out my post on the mission trip blog: www.divinedesignatlanta.blogspot.com

Normal Girl

The Life of Donna

I went to Grace Centers of Hope today to take a look at the Divine Design mission trip assignment for the summer.  Happily, I ran into Donna.  We met Donna two summers ago when we worked in a house she was living in at the time.  Donna has since moved into the Children's House (this is her room) and is now in the process of moving into a brand new house on Seneca Street.  Donna came to the mission almost 4 years ago and is now a senior member of the GCH community.  She works two jobs, her two children get great grades in school and she is being rewarded with a room in the brand new house on the street.

Today I stood in this room for an hour listening to Donna tell me about her life.  She told me stories that should be in a book or a movie.  Once she rode her son's bike to the crack house to get a rock of crack.  She had $10 in her hand and rode up to the window...kind of like a drive through for crack....and the guy in line behind her jumped her and beat her up for that $10.  He told her he was going to bite her thumb off unless she let go.  She has the teeth marks on her arm still today.  Then she rode the bike home beaten and bloody to her children.

She said the way she got money for alcohol and drugs was to pick through the garbage.  Once she found a brand new electric razor and returned it to Wal-Mart for $26.  She said you would never believe the good stuff you would find in the trash.

She told me stories of sex with people she did not know, drinking all day long, rolling a guy outside a bar for the $500 in his wallet, taking so many drugs that when she was pregnant, she considered herself not using because she was only drinking and smoking pot......she talked for an hour.

She used to go behind the grocery store to the bins where they put the smashed bottles and cans from the bottle return.  She would collect the glass bottles, and the plastic bottles that can be popped back into shape, and return them again for the money.  She spent three days in jail for that once.

One day she was having trouble with the bottle return machine and had a melt down in the grocery store.  She said when she calmed down, a young man standing there invited her to church.  She went.  The people in the church helped her.  She was living in her car with her two children and they got her a hotel room, and then talked her into going to GCH.  

She told me that she had a clear moment with God when He told her to examine what she was doing to the Mother of her children.  She went through the year long program and then moved to Seneca Street where we met her two years ago.

It is fun to paint and redecorate, and to see the smiles on the faces of the people who live there.  But, the real treat is hearing their stories.  To see the hand of God at work in the lives of people....it is really humbling.  Donna should have been dead twenty times.  She spent her entire adult life manipulating and stealing to be high every day.  She lived a dangerous life.  Now she lives a clean life and gives God every bit of the glory for it.

Amazing

Normal Girl

Round Robin Turn Turn Turn

This bracelet belongs to CG.  Her theme is Turn Turn Turn.  She made the chain and the leaf charm herself.  Impressive.  She gave us this song to inspire.  Music by Pete Seeger, words by God:

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate

A time of war, a time of peace

A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)

And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time to love, a time to hate

A time for peace, I swear its not too late

I attached these charms for her.  The top charm is made on a piece of a diet coke can.  Guess she should turn left.

The charms on the left are from TW.  She added the flower charm for spring because it is her favorite season.  She added the glass heart for "Season of Love" from the song from Rent.

TP added the keys charm because a key is turned to open a door.

LM added the nautilus charm because of the twists and turns it makes as it forms.  The little leaf is because leaves are a sign of the turning of the seasons.
MR added the peace sign and the stones.

Just a couple more bracelets to go!

Normal Girl

Contents Under Pressure

Right now, this could be me.  I feel like my head could explode at any time, between homework, 3 bible studies, planning two mission trips, a set for Easter and lobby redecoration.  So, for now, while I try to keep my brains inside my head, please enjoy the following video.  DT, this is especially for you. I hope you like this version better than the original.

Normal (ish) Girl

Free Refills

Yesterday while I was spending hours in the IKEA in Atlanta, I witnessed something interesting.  It was lunchtime so I got in line for the $2 lunch special.  I took my drink to the soft drink station.  There was a woman there ahead of me, so I stood next to her waiting my turn to fill my cup.  She put ice in her cup and filled it up.  Then she took a drink and dumped the whole thing out.  She refilled with ice, a different kind of pop, took one drink and dumped it all out.  On the third filling of the cup, I walked away.

When I was done eating, I went to a different drink station for a refill.  A different woman was there at the machine ahead of me and she did the very same thing!  Do no Mothers in Atlanta ever teach "waste not want not"?  IKEA must go broke at the soft drink station.

What if we applied that principle to all consumer goods?  

I buy a new SUV, drive it for one day, I am not sure I like it so I push it into a lake, and go back for a convertible.  We would have to institute the Department of Consumer Waste and they would clean up the streets and lakes all day long.   They would need to hire a lot of people to get the job done.  THe economy would be fixed!  Except for the price of cars going to $987,234,783,628,343.23

Normal (fixing the economy one step at a time) Girl

Looking Much Better than the Last Time I Saw It

Maybe you remember the last time The HumanPinBall and I went to NYC.  We did some shopping for Weasel and carried 98743 pounds of fabric all over the city in the pouring rain.

Here is the fabric!  It is now on a cool daybed in Weasel's basement.  I was cursing that fabric the day we bought it.  I guess it was worthwhile....  

Normal Girl

We Are All Adults

I spent the afternoon in the apartment house in Atlanta that we are going to work in on the Divine Design mission trip.  College age kids live there.  College kids: not quite children, not quite adult.  This made me laugh.  They still love Miley Cyrus but live on their own and call themselves adults.

Normal (I have no pics of Miley, I guess I am an adult) Girl

I am Quitting School

Look at the women, aren't they pretty??

Normal Girl

Girl's Night In - The Musical

Tonight was Girl's Night In at Grace Centers of Hope.  It was suggested that we do a performing arts night this month.  So we did!

Women from the mission sang...... and women from our own church sang......

We had instrumental music.....

Praise in Motion danced.....

And the middle school drama team was there.  They did a powerful skit called Everything.  You have probably seen the YouTube version.  If not, check it out, it is worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA  

Girl meets Jesus.  Jesus gives her everything she needs and life is good.

Girl walks with Jesus.

But then, temptations and evils sneak in to take her attention from Jesus.

Remember that most of the women at GCH are in the mission because of substance abuse.  They have lived this skit.

Here are all the evils blocking Girl from Jesus.

Girl realizes she needs to get back to Jesus, but the evils fight her.

Do the evils win?

No!  When Jesus came in and protected Girl from the evils, the women in the audience jumped to their feet applauding.  They know how it is to have Jesus pull them out of a life wrecking place. There were not many dry eyes in the house.

The message tonight came through loud and clear.

Normal Girl

The Inner Slap

The Human PinBall made this for me a couple years ago.  Isn't it nice that she thinks those things about me?  She designed these little frames for a manufacturer that sells them and now she is a millionaire and doesn't have to work anymore.  HA!  If only.  Anyway, she filled this one with a collage for me.

This is the other side.  Isn't it nice that she knows me so well?  

This is how my week has been.  Every day.  I find I have grown a little over the years. During meetings I no longer doodle my slapping desires on my notebook.  I confess, I did think about slapping once today.  My inner slap is calming down with age and wisdom.  I hope.

Tomorrow is another day,

Normal Girl

Involved or Psycho?

• I'm tired, but I don't want to go to bed
  
• I can't remember your name, but I can remember all the words to the Green Acres theme song
• I like to write but a structured writing format makes me scream out loud
• I want to lose weight but I don't want to stop eating chocolate pudding
• I like to travel but I hate airports and cannot stand to ride in a car longer than 3 hours
• I am really good at the administrative details but it bores me to tears

This list could go on for days, but my short attention span is putting an end to it right now.

Normal Girl