Are you preparing your heart for Sunday?

It's Saturday. Are you preparing your heart for Sunday? 

Are you worried about Sunday morning drama? 

Are you anxious about facing that certain someone in the foyer? 

Are you afraid you won't measure up to those sitting next to you in the pew?

This ONE THING is all you need.

Trust in the Lord when the drama descends.

Trust in the Lord when that friend approaches you in the foyer.

Trust in the Lord for courage, wisdom, grace and joy! 

He really can help you get through Sunday. Actually God can do more than get you through. God can fill your heart with Joy and Love for the people around you. Won't you stop right now and prepare your heart for Sunday?

I love you all so much! I'm so glad we are ...

... Under the same wing!

-Joleen

#IFGathering

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Keeping your head on Sunday

If you're a PW then you totally get the title of this post. If not, then hang on to your hat as things are about to get busy!

Sunday's are unbelievable at the "Blue House" Let me walk you through.
Don't worry, I'll tell you how to stay steady and sane on the way!

8:45a.m. My friend, Chi, arrives with food for the B&B college ministry

*B&B = Bible &Breakfast

9:00 a.m. the church bus pulls up to our door to drop off eager friends

We eat breakfast and look into the word of God together. 

How do I keep my head this early in the morning? 

#1. Get someone else to bring the food. Thanks Chi! You're awesome!

#2. Clean and prep the house the night before.

 Expecting to get up in the morning and be ready is a serious mistake.

#3. Get a good night sleep the night before if at all possible

#4.. Pray for the students the night before. The chalkboard in my entry way helps me find out great stuff about each student.

10:30a.m. Church

Okay B&B is over so let's walk across the parking lot to church. Oops first let me throw the chicken and potatoes I prepped the night before into my oven so we have food for our lunch guests. 

Okay, now we can go to church.

How do I keep my head? 

#1. As I walk across the parking lot, I pray for peace and sometimes strength to be a blessing to the people inside God's house. 

#2.  I also, pop a breath mint!

11:45a.m. Lunch guests

We don't actually have lunch guests every Sunday.  But when we do it's often international students from Wheaton College. 

How do I keep my head?

#1. I serve buffet style on this "island" in the middle of my kitchen. This keeps things simple

#2. I  serve a meat, a starch like potatoes or rice, a hot veggie like peas or corn and a lettuce salad. Desert is often store bought cookies and ice cream. 

2:00p.m. guests are gone! 

Let's Nap! 

Truly one of the best ways to keep sane on a Sunday! Take a 20 min. nap!

Now the evening comes and I know this is crazy but we have two small groups that meet at our house on Sunday night. 

The first group arrives at 6:00p.m. and stays until 7:30p.m. This is an important group to me. They are the ones with whom we share most deeply. Keeping my head with them is easy! I lean on them and they pray for me. They lean on me and I pray for them.

7:45p.m. Jane & Tea night

By now, you'd think I'd be dead dog tired! Nope. Every single Sunday God gives exactly what's needed.  This is actually one of my absolute favorite activities! Friends come over and we drink tea, create some sort of simple craft and watch one hour of something we're into. Right now, it's the six hour version of Pride and Prejudice. 

How do I keep my head?

#1. Greeting the girls with joy and being honest about where I'm at physically. Sometimes, I spend more time on the couch than they do.

#2. Put out simple snacks.  I've even served tea and toast to great approval! 

10:00p.m. Fall straight into bed and sleep like a rock! 

I will admit two things that are true about me right now. 

#1. I have older children at home. 10 and 17

#2. I sleep in on Mondays and spend most of my time on the computer creating posts and resting.

 So whatever your Sunday's look like, I hope you'll find ways to stay organized and be prepared ahead of time for whatever God may have in store for you. As one dear friend said to me once, "Joleen, I suggest you pray, pray, pray some more!" 

Dear PW I say the same and I pray you can keep your head as Sunday approaches. 

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HOW TO HOST A JANE & TEA CLUB

 "Do you like tea?" and  "What's your favorite Jane Austen story?"  If these two questions could keep you chatting for hours then this post is for you.

  

Several years ago, a dear group of women in PA started a Jane & Tea night. We would gather for tea and watch PBS renditions of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. A little Charlotte Bronte's, Jane Eyre and a dash of Dickens with Bleak House rounded out our year nicely. We felt Jane would understand. 

My original Jane & Tea club friends developed a love for tea parties and china. So much so, we would often meet at local tea shops to celebrate our birthdays. We even began purchasing a particular blue and white Spode tea cup for each other as it reminded us of those viewed in Pride & Prejudice. 

When God called my husband and I away from PA to IL,  my dear friends threw me a party and gave me an entire tea basket filled with Jane inspired items.  I treasure these items as they evoke golden memories of lively conversation, laughter and love. 

Perhaps, golden memories are best left to glisten on the shelves of our minds. I longed, however, for the connection Jane provided.  So I endeavored to start a new Jane & Tea club.

Since College Students are one of the groups we are blessed to serve, I've invited the girls to join me each Sunday night at 7:45 for a cuppa tea and an episode of Pride & Prejudice.  I hope to inspire them to all things lovely and provide a golden memory of their own. If you live local, you are welcome to join us! You do not need to be a college student. We'd love to have all ages reflected in our club! I think Jane would approve. 

If you would like to host your own Jane & Tea Club here are a few ideas for you:

#1. The Menu

Keep it simple but pretty. 

Tea is essential. Check out my Tea quotes page for some ideas!
fruit, and breads or cookies make a nice spread.

If you are hoping for the traditional scones and clotted cream you can find many scratch recipes on line but, I love these ready mixes. If you live local you can find these at Serene Teas downtown Wheaton.

#2. The Decorations

A spot of tea and a beautiful smile are all you need.  But if you're inclined to do more, I suggest a pretty tablecloth and a small bud vase of flowers.  

#3. Crafts

I love this book from my local book store. 

It's called So Jane: recipes and crafts for an Austin inspired life. It's full of great crafts and recipes. 

I also love the templates in the back of the book!

I have a few craft ideas of my own of course. Like mod podge and old music papers on letters we buy at a local craft store.  I think we'll make the word TEA. 

Here's an example of some ABC letters I did for my music studio

so there you have it. The last thing you need is great conversation starters. 

It's easy! Simply ask,  "Do you like tea?" and  "What's your favorite Jane Austen story?"

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IF:Gathering = NOT normal

Saturday Feb 6th, 2016

I've spent the last two days at #IF:GATHERING here in Wheaton, IL.  It was not normal. It was not what I expected. It was not your run of the mill, fluffer-nutter, Christian women's conference. 

This gathering challenged my, not so missionary, never left the continent and I like it that way, heart. 

This gathering stretched my comfy pants way out there into the UN-comfy zone. I didn't like that AT ALL.  But did I need it? YES! 

Every session was a call to action. Action! Each session felt like an, "in my face" kind of challenge. 

I heard the call to spend less time crying out to God and more time simply deciding to DO SOMETHING WITH GOD.

I'm a pastor's wife for crying out loud. I'm always doing stuff. I have a list of stuff I did just last week that would blow a lay person's mind. I won't even attempt to write it all down it's ThAT Massive. 

Okay picture break while I catch my breath! I was on the planning team and brought most of my house to decorate! 

So, today? Today, my world was rocked by one word. 

I don't even remember which speaker said it or even if they actually straight out said it. But, I came away from two days of challenge with this word in my head. 

What IF I am so busy doing things 

FOR God 

that I've forgotten what it looks like to do things 

WITH God?

What's the difference between the two? 

Yeah, I believe it's a  night and day kind of difference. 

If I'm doing things for God, It's possible He hasn't even asked me to do the stuff I'm doing. Like a mom who does all the laundry and all the dishes and but forgets to sit down and look her kid in the eye and say, "What would you like to do together." 

If I'm doing things WITH God, I'm pretty sure He and I are in looking eyeball to eyeball and heart and to heart and He's saying, "Joleen, this is what I want to do together!" 

Oh Lord! I'm asking it right now! "What do you want to do WITH me? Forgive me for being so caught up in doing things for you that I forgot to ask you what you want. 

Fill me up with your living water, Fill me up with your thoughts and your will and your way. Show me how to walk WITH you. I want to be arm and arm from now on. Amen"

Okay, so it's true IF:Gathering was NOT normal it was EXTRAORDINARY!!!

Thanks IF:TEAM 

Creating an heirloom from your "art"

Few people know I have a degree in English Literature. During my undergrad years, I fell in love with Shakespeare, Wadsworth, Whitman and Dickinson. Yet, of all the famous literary figures, Emily Dickinson is the poet who most captured my attention and imagination. 

Emily's somewhat solitary life is folded up with the warm ideals of hearth, home and wandering over hills in the afternoon. It's said she kept many active correspondences and often enclosed poetry with her letters. She even hand bound forty volumes of her nearly 1,800 poems. She actually made them out of stationary paper that she folded and stitched together.

I love that. Even though she was not famous during her lifetime, she valued her own work enough to document it. This idea has inspired me. What will my children and grandchildren know of me? Yes, they may eventually own one of my three bibles with notes in the margins and drawings throughout.

But what about the other things I love like recipes and poetry and drawings? I guess, I could hope they'd find my FB files someday. But, I've decided to compile as many of these precious things into a notebook as possible.  I'm pretty sure no one will find them and try to sell them on ebay like Emily's  manuscript books  But, I do hope they will become a treasure of memories and thoughts for the next few generations. 

So here's where i've started. I bought a spiral bound multi-media book of paper. Multi-media just means you can use watercolor, pens or colored pencils. I've started with simply creating pages of my favorite birds and flowers. I plan on adding a favorite scripture verse or one of my original poems to some of the pages. 

One of my poems is inspired by Emily Dickinson's entitled HOPE.

Here is Emily's original poem: 

"Hope" is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops - at all

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest Sea 

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of ME.

So, I'll keep you posted on this little project, though I suspect it will be lifelong. In the meantime, share your ideas about documenting your "art" how will you create an heirloom for the next generation of your family? Share below. I'd love to hear from you!

WHEN I COLOUR

When I colour, I ponder

I ponder

 Easing through the door of creativity

My heart slows

 My thoughts turn towards God

We sit

talking and sharing

He listens through the colours

He speaks into the silence

I hear

I smile

I colour

-Joleen

Ready to ponder? www.colormecards.moonfruit.com