Here is a journal that I covered and stamped for a good friend. I like that I can choose red things for her because that is not 'my color' but it is so fun to work with. The red represents her 'spice.' The swirls represent her free spirit, the yellow flower represents the joy of our friendship, the brown velvet ribbon represents the richness of who she is, the dangling beads represent her sense of 'fun', the metallic studs represent how God has and continues to polish her heart, the B represents her identity, and the shadow behind the B represents memories of the past.

She is a person that I respect and love. My favorite thing about her is her deep love for God and her depth as a person. This was a true joy to make a handmade gift for her that she would use.

Chocolate Therapy

I was having an extra tough week and so I went to get a piece of chocolate, Dove Silky Dark to be exact. Well, anyone that eats Dove Chocolates on a regular basis knows that the wrapper has a message inside. Sometimes the messages are cute but a lot of these messages have made me roll my eyes and think 'oh brother...' however this time it was a different message. This message said "When you can't control the wind, adjust your sails!" from Brenda in Schofield, WI. That was what I needed to read and it gave the chocolate therapy an extra dose of goodness for the day. So...I am working on adjusting my sails. UH...who tied these knots so tight?

Maybe I should have another chocolate!

An Unlikely Disciple

A month or 2 ago I read An Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose. I have been wanting to write about it but time passes too quickly so I will just give a brief overview. Kevin Roose was a student at Brown University and was tagging along on a trip to Liberty University because an author friend of his needed to interview Jerry Fallwell for a book. As Kevin was hanging out and waiting he spoke with some of the students there and when they found out that he was not an evangelical Christian the conversation changed in an obvious way. So Kevin decided that he wanted to find out about these evangelical Christian students without the boundaries of not being one of them. His university approved a semester off so that he could attend Liberty and write about his experience there. So yes, he entered Liberty as an undercover liberal posing as an evangelical. I think Kevin did a fine job of being open minded and his purpose was not to bash this group of students but to find out about what makes them tick and how they think. He brings up attitudes that really upset him but he is also able to see and experience a lot of the good things about this group. Kevin also was able to interview Jerry Fallwell and that ended up being one of the last interviews before Jerry Fallwell's death. Even though I am a Christian I have never been to a university of this type. I enjoyed this glimpse into life at Liberty University and I appreciate the work that Roose accomplished.