DANCE!

A word of encouragement from the Lord.  Are you asking "how can that be a word of encouragement?"

The word from the Lord ... Dance!

When we were in Elementary school, my sister and I took dance. I was five years old and then again in late elementary for a year.  That last year my sister, Tabatha, was in class with me. I don't remember being in a recital that year. I don't think I had the flexibility needed.

On the other hand Tabatha continued for several years.   She now attends a church where a few people will dance to the Lord during praise and worship. She has wanted to dance and I have encouraged her to dance but at the last minute ... She doesn't.

Today as Angela autographed a book that Tabatha purchased she added "Dance!" I made Tabatha go back and tell her how the Lord was speaking to her through that simple word. Angela replied that the Lord was talking to both of them.  Tabatha was going to dance and so was Angela. 

God was speaking through your word...

When she left the event today, she was on the way out to California per the request of NBC. Tomorrow she will be involved in the taping of "Dancing with the Stars" as a good friend of hers is competing.  Watch on Monday evening to see if she makes the cut! She is hoping she gets to dance even a few steps on TV. But she had no idea how they were going to incorporate her into the show.

Angela Thomas

Go light your candle ...

A part of who I am is that I sign praise and worship to God. I don't sing. Maybe that is part of my dyslexia? (Bad joke) But I really do prefer to sign as a form of worship.

Among Friends

I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning at a Kathy Troccoli conference. http://www.kathytroccoli.com/  (Details in a later post.) I was signing like regular.  Then at the break a woman came up to speak with me. She told me that her daughters we in Thailand and Malaysia.

The daughter in Thailand arrived just as the government coup happen.  She is a sign language interpreter and is with a group of deaf students. If I understood correctly they are going to schools and helping.   This was her daughters first trip like this.  She mentioned it was going to be 30 days without speaking.  She has been concerned about her daughter. But when she saw me signing a wave of comfort rolled over her.

At the end of the event the last song was "Go Light Your Candle". As usual I was signing.  I didn't see Kathy flagging me to go up front until my sister pushed me into the aisle and said "go up there".

"Go Light Your Candle"

I used to regularly sign with the worship team of a church.  So I am not shy. There was around 200 women in the church and they all seemed blessed because I was willing to go when called. I didn't know all the words to the song but God helped me to hear them clearly. (Normally I would not wear a silk shawl when signing.)

I guess that I'm the hands of God     :^)

What not to do

Learning how to cook high fat is like learning anything.  You need to give yourself permission to fail. Last night I found coconut flour in the grocery store.  So I decided to use it to make the base of my cheesecake. 

Even better (I thought) was to use coconut butter.  What a scathingly brilliant idea! As I worked the dough into the cupcake liners, it looked  too oily.  So I pre baked it for 8 minutes. 

Coconut flour with coconut butter

WRONG! I won't do that again.  I used butter in the next batch  and didn't pre bake.

Oops! What not to do...

Baby fighting sleep...

This afternoon Misty Blue came in from taking Dale for a long walk in the woods. After having her snack, she jumped up on the couch. 

Baby fighting sleep

I looked over at her and she was sitting up so perfect but her eyes fluttered open and closed.  Then her head nodded until she could hold it up no longer.

Misty Blue

This evening we got back from the board meeting in Sauk Rapids. Misty Blue decided to go home with me instead of staying at Dale's.  She came up with a solution.  She propped her head up straight between the couch cushions.

Can this be comfortable?

Garden Man

Actually I yelled "farmer Dale!" He stopped and looked.  Today he was planting cabbage, kohlrabi and tomatoes.

Garden Man

Personally I think it is too early for tomatoes.  But that isn't going to stop Dale.   At least he put cans around the plants to protect them from the rabbits and the frost.

Everything 2 planted just in time because we are getting some good rains tonight.  

Starting to plant already!

I love springtime!  I had about 15 minutes to work on the carving before supper. It is going to take a long time to carve these faces.  Maybe I should add a chainsaw ... naw!

Pounding out some aggression

Shortly after I moved in, I had some trees cut down.  My original intent was to make Mushroom people.  But the trees were so close together that I don't think it will work.

Last summer Dale bought a set of three wood chisels for a different project and never opened them up. He gave them to me instead.

I stripped the bark off from one of the stumps today and I was surprised that I could see the face hiding under the surface.  I sat on the ground for an hour this evening uncovering the face.  Even with new tools, this is going to take a while. I might need to buy some stains to bring out some of the drama of the face when I am done.

Skinny Face

I worked a little more after I took this picture.  But can you see the face hiding in the stump? (I'll give you a clue: the nose is slightly up and to the left of my chisel.  The face is going to be saying "O!" And it is going to have sunken in cheeks.)

I have been a painter for a log time.  But carving is so different. You can't put it back on once you chisel it off. So it will take a long time as I take off thin layers at a time until I become more confident.

60 second sketch

Getting ready for opening fishing

This next weekend is opening fishing.  Yes it is still Mother's Day weekend in Minnesota.  The ice us barely off the lakes in my area of the state.  But the people have been quick to get their docks in and the counties are working hard to get the docks in at the public landing.

Over the weekend we took the girls down by the lake. They were excited that they could walk in the cool running stream and drink it's crystal clear water. 

As we walked through the paths in the woods, a Symphony played. The croaking and mating calls calls of the frogs and or toads in the swamp created a beautiful spring song. Even though the swamp looked dead it was streaming with life in its special exotic way.