Dear Loved Ones,
God bless you, yours and your ministries today!
I'm sorry for neglecting you all lately, but everything I've done lately, I've done lately.
The reason is because I am getting used to a new job after being a full time artist for 6 years. The good news is I have a pay check. The bad news is I have less time to paint.
The job is working at Sensations Memory Care Residence as an Activities Director. The people and the work are wonderful. I can honestly say that I love my job.
My stepson, Rob, owns the business so he is my boss, but really God is my boss. I try to do everything I do to please God. When I am comforting a resident I am comforting Christ.
I live for the smiles that the residents give. I love helping a person make something and then see them smile at it with intense pleasure. There is nothing like it.
Many of the residents are in need of guidance to find their way around the facility. Their non verbal responses to the love I offer to them is very gratifying. They eat up the least little amount of affection and kindness.
Yesterday we constructed birdhouses and decorated them. One woman absolutely fell in love with hers.
This feels right for this time in my life. I still paint at least one day a week and hope for the day when I can easily afford to do it full time again.
Love, Sue
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Lost in the Woods
Dear Loved Ones,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Once a week I try to do something fun for an hour or so as a favor to myself. This week I went for a walk in the woods with our dog and got lost. I loved being lost because it felt like an adventure and as long as I didn't get tired I knew I would find my way. After about a half an hour of hiking I recognized a land mark and came back to reality.
It was very satisfying to my soul to get lost and then find my way again.
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Once a week I try to do something fun for an hour or so as a favor to myself. This week I went for a walk in the woods with our dog and got lost. I loved being lost because it felt like an adventure and as long as I didn't get tired I knew I would find my way. After about a half an hour of hiking I recognized a land mark and came back to reality.
It was very satisfying to my soul to get lost and then find my way again.
Love, Sue
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Prayer Shawl
Dear Loved Ones,
God bless you, yours and your ministries this week!
My darling aunt knitted a prayer shawl for a friend of mine who was homeless for most of her adult life. Now my friend has an apartment and is pulling herself up by her bootstraps.
My aunt never met this friend and yet she was happy to spend days knitting and praying for my dear friend. Auntie said that she felt blessed as she did it in a letter to my friend that was given along with the shawl.
When I delivered the gift my friend put on the shawl, sat down, read the letter and cried tears of joy. She felt as if she were wrapped in God's love.
We were at an art fair and everyone admired the shawl; in fact they couldn't keep their hands off from it!
God's love can come through people. It's a blessing to be the recipient, but even more of a blessing to be the channel.
Love, Sue
God bless you, yours and your ministries this week!
My darling aunt knitted a prayer shawl for a friend of mine who was homeless for most of her adult life. Now my friend has an apartment and is pulling herself up by her bootstraps.
My aunt never met this friend and yet she was happy to spend days knitting and praying for my dear friend. Auntie said that she felt blessed as she did it in a letter to my friend that was given along with the shawl.
When I delivered the gift my friend put on the shawl, sat down, read the letter and cried tears of joy. She felt as if she were wrapped in God's love.
We were at an art fair and everyone admired the shawl; in fact they couldn't keep their hands off from it!
God's love can come through people. It's a blessing to be the recipient, but even more of a blessing to be the channel.
Love, Sue
Monday, May 9, 2011
A Mother's Dream
Dear Loved Ones,
God bless you, yours and your ministries this week!
On Mother's Day at church I met Maria who is the adult adopted daughter of my friend Karen. Maria had not been able to attend church before because she is a paraplegic and her van was in need of repair. Maria is a delightful person with a beautiful smile and we fell into a conversation about art, then she surprised me by telling me that she is able to draw landscapes by holding a pencil in her mouth so we are going to get together to make some art.
At the table with us was Kara who is Maria's beautiful birth daughter. Kara is seven years old and also an artist, so she wants to make art with us too.
One of Karen's other adult daughters, Helena, was there and she is also an artist, so she wants to join in the fun as well. I always say, "The more the merrier!"
Our conversation turned to adoption and then Karen told me the most incredible true story! She and her husband were in line to adopt a blue eyed blond boy and just before the adoption, she had a dream about a dark eyed, dark haired girl who was to be their daughter. She told her friends about it and they all said she was just overly anxious about the adoption and not to worry about her haunting dream. So they went through with their adoption and were very happy with their new son.
Six months later Karen received a call from her social worker who said, "I have a Christmas gift for you!"
Karen replied, "Well it had better be a girl" (because she came from a family with all brothers.)
When Karen went to look at Maria's file, she started to cry because the girl in the photograph was the girl she saw in her dream!
I can relate to Karen's story because our adoptive son became my son in the instant that I heard his name spoken to me over the phone by our social worker. I would have laid down my life for him. We were involved in several other failed adoptions and I never had that feeling for any of the other children.
God takes a hand in our lives. Many adoptive parents will agree.
Love, Sue
God bless you, yours and your ministries this week!
On Mother's Day at church I met Maria who is the adult adopted daughter of my friend Karen. Maria had not been able to attend church before because she is a paraplegic and her van was in need of repair. Maria is a delightful person with a beautiful smile and we fell into a conversation about art, then she surprised me by telling me that she is able to draw landscapes by holding a pencil in her mouth so we are going to get together to make some art.
At the table with us was Kara who is Maria's beautiful birth daughter. Kara is seven years old and also an artist, so she wants to make art with us too.
One of Karen's other adult daughters, Helena, was there and she is also an artist, so she wants to join in the fun as well. I always say, "The more the merrier!"
Our conversation turned to adoption and then Karen told me the most incredible true story! She and her husband were in line to adopt a blue eyed blond boy and just before the adoption, she had a dream about a dark eyed, dark haired girl who was to be their daughter. She told her friends about it and they all said she was just overly anxious about the adoption and not to worry about her haunting dream. So they went through with their adoption and were very happy with their new son.
Six months later Karen received a call from her social worker who said, "I have a Christmas gift for you!"
Karen replied, "Well it had better be a girl" (because she came from a family with all brothers.)
When Karen went to look at Maria's file, she started to cry because the girl in the photograph was the girl she saw in her dream!
I can relate to Karen's story because our adoptive son became my son in the instant that I heard his name spoken to me over the phone by our social worker. I would have laid down my life for him. We were involved in several other failed adoptions and I never had that feeling for any of the other children.
God takes a hand in our lives. Many adoptive parents will agree.
Love, Sue
Monday, May 2, 2011
Needful Things
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Life was crazy busy with the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival this weekend, but in the midst of all of the commotion I had a magical moment. I was at church leading children's worship, sitting next to a toddler who was painting my hand with face paint. After my hand was covered he started in on his own using every color he could, so it ended up looking like a Jackson Pollack painting.
The joy in his face was amazing which warmed my heart. This was his first time ever coming to church and he loved his experience, partly because of the attention and encouragement that I gave to him to be creative.
Of all of the things I have done in the last few months I believe that this was the most important, because someday that little boy will grow up and face hard times. I want him to feel that he knows and can trust God to help him to "navigate the rapids that rise up along the river of his life."*
Love, Sue
*lyrics written by Michael Franks
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Life was crazy busy with the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival this weekend, but in the midst of all of the commotion I had a magical moment. I was at church leading children's worship, sitting next to a toddler who was painting my hand with face paint. After my hand was covered he started in on his own using every color he could, so it ended up looking like a Jackson Pollack painting.
The joy in his face was amazing which warmed my heart. This was his first time ever coming to church and he loved his experience, partly because of the attention and encouragement that I gave to him to be creative.
Of all of the things I have done in the last few months I believe that this was the most important, because someday that little boy will grow up and face hard times. I want him to feel that he knows and can trust God to help him to "navigate the rapids that rise up along the river of his life."*
Love, Sue
*lyrics written by Michael Franks
Monday, April 25, 2011
Mistake in Time
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Those who know me understand that my head is usually in the clouds where I am often confused.
This malady struck hard last Thursday when I accidentally dismissed my painting class for kids a half an hour early.
I will be giving an extra class at the end of the course to make up for my mistake at no cost to students or the Art Center of Battle Creek.
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Those who know me understand that my head is usually in the clouds where I am often confused.
This malady struck hard last Thursday when I accidentally dismissed my painting class for kids a half an hour early.
I will be giving an extra class at the end of the course to make up for my mistake at no cost to students or the Art Center of Battle Creek.
Love, Sue
Success of Approximation
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Have you ever almost reached a goal that you had set? How did it feel?
I have spent the last three years actively working to lose 40 lbs.. In the first year I lost 20 lbs. and in the 2nd year I maintained my weight. Then a friend invited me to join Weight Watchers with her. During this last year I lost 14 lbs. and then I hit another plateau, where it seemed impossible to move further.
At the beginning of Lent I decided to complete my quest for health by reaching my lifetime goal approved by Weight Watchers by Easter. I thought that the self discipline of Lent would help me as it has in the past when I needed to improve my health through changes in lifestyle.
There was a pamphlet published by W. W. called "Managing Your Thoughts" which I read and used. It suggested 3 steps toward success: the first was to be a friend to yourself by treating yourself as you would treat your best friend, with kindness and encouragement rather than criticism. The 2nd step was to make 2 columns side by side on a piece of paper, write your negative thoughts about yourself on the left and the opposite positive thought in the column on the right. This activity set me free from some very negative beliefs about myself! The 3rd step was to seek out and spend time with kind people.
Then I wrote notes to myself of encouragement and posted them all over the house. I believed those notes and was able to start losing weight in the very first week, which spurred me on to work even harder. The next few weeks did not produce results for me though and I started to doubt if I could succeed, which led me to regret my decision to set the goal in the first place. The last few weeks were successful however and when I weighed in at my meeting prior to Easter I was within eight tenths of a pound of my goal.
I chose to accept this as complete success rather than punish myself with perfectionism, so I gave away my big clothes and went shopping at Goodwill where I hit the jackpot with incredible bargains! I also visited the hairdresser who turned my odometer back 10,000 miles! On Easter morning I went to church glowing with joy from my recovered health and youth.
When I was a child our mother sewed matching Easter dresses for herself and the 3 of us girls. We all wore hats including Mom who wore a pink pill boxed shaped hat which sprouted with a garden of pink silk flowers! Of course we little ones wore our new white gloves and our slightly worn black patent leather shoes. Those were happy times and it felt good to revisit them by dressing up for this Easter as well.
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!
Have you ever almost reached a goal that you had set? How did it feel?
I have spent the last three years actively working to lose 40 lbs.. In the first year I lost 20 lbs. and in the 2nd year I maintained my weight. Then a friend invited me to join Weight Watchers with her. During this last year I lost 14 lbs. and then I hit another plateau, where it seemed impossible to move further.
At the beginning of Lent I decided to complete my quest for health by reaching my lifetime goal approved by Weight Watchers by Easter. I thought that the self discipline of Lent would help me as it has in the past when I needed to improve my health through changes in lifestyle.
There was a pamphlet published by W. W. called "Managing Your Thoughts" which I read and used. It suggested 3 steps toward success: the first was to be a friend to yourself by treating yourself as you would treat your best friend, with kindness and encouragement rather than criticism. The 2nd step was to make 2 columns side by side on a piece of paper, write your negative thoughts about yourself on the left and the opposite positive thought in the column on the right. This activity set me free from some very negative beliefs about myself! The 3rd step was to seek out and spend time with kind people.
Then I wrote notes to myself of encouragement and posted them all over the house. I believed those notes and was able to start losing weight in the very first week, which spurred me on to work even harder. The next few weeks did not produce results for me though and I started to doubt if I could succeed, which led me to regret my decision to set the goal in the first place. The last few weeks were successful however and when I weighed in at my meeting prior to Easter I was within eight tenths of a pound of my goal.
I chose to accept this as complete success rather than punish myself with perfectionism, so I gave away my big clothes and went shopping at Goodwill where I hit the jackpot with incredible bargains! I also visited the hairdresser who turned my odometer back 10,000 miles! On Easter morning I went to church glowing with joy from my recovered health and youth.
When I was a child our mother sewed matching Easter dresses for herself and the 3 of us girls. We all wore hats including Mom who wore a pink pill boxed shaped hat which sprouted with a garden of pink silk flowers! Of course we little ones wore our new white gloves and our slightly worn black patent leather shoes. Those were happy times and it felt good to revisit them by dressing up for this Easter as well.
Love, Sue
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