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Isn't She Lovely

Recently, I was a part of leading up an amazing event at our church here in Duluth. We hosted a spa morning and invited every woman we could think of in the city. Most of it was done by word of mouth, which was really fun. One small group Bible study even went to a women’s shelter to paint nails and personally invite them to the big event. The morning was titled Isn’t She Lovely, and it honestly felt like every woman felt that way as they were pampered for absolutely no cost. What an event to be a part of!

Here you can see the coffee bar area ready for serving breakfast. Volunteers (tons of women from the church) and guests ate eggs and muffins and breads while chatting and warming up from the snowy outdoors. It was delish!


Every guest and volunteer had a name tag. Don’t you love the way they were created with the woman’s name in the middle?


Guests signed up for appointment times in order to avoid having to stand in line for services. These babies filled up incredibly fast when the doors opened at 9:30. The most popular? Massages and hair cut & styles.

We also offered foot soaks and pedicures.


Look, magazines to read while they soaked their feet. Someone was thinking!


Another area was facials and make up. This was one area that I oversaw. No, I didn’t apply make up to any of the lovely ladies that morning. I just got lots of things put together, contacted volunteers and leaders, and made sure everything went smoothly during the event.


Everything was donated for the event. It was a.maz.ing to see it all come in. Stylists and make up artists who had never been to the church donated time and supplies. Aveda and Mary Kay make up and hair products, lots of things from Alta and The Body Shop, O.P.I. polishes and so much more.



Manicures and paraffin waxes were also very popular.

How is it even possible to choose with all those options?


Here you can see a few of the women having their hair cut and styled. It smelled and looked just like a salon! And, to be completely honest, I couldn’t help but get teary while watching these beautiful women. The hearts of the stylists were pouring out as they were on their feet racing to get as many cuts done as possible. Most of them even stayed more than an hour past the end of the event to make sure they got through everyone who had made an appointment. And the ladies getting the cuts? I’m pretty sure that many of them haven’t been to a stylist in years, if ever. It was fun to see how much they enjoyed it.


Here are some ladies in the make up area. On the right you can see where women were getting manis.

By the end of the morning, over 370 women had been pampered. Music was playing, ladies were chatting and smiling and showing off their gorgeous looks. Tons of kids got to play in the VineyardKids area and have a blast. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to be a part of the team of leaders and dreamers for Isn’t She Lovely. We’re dreaming up even more for next year. In the meantime, it’ll be fun to reconnect with some of the new ladies I met at the spa.


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Photo Friday: Sprinkles!


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Spring Break Projects

I wasn’t planning on writing at the moment since I sat down to work on homework, but I’m losing the battle to stay awake, so I’m hoping this will help. I feel like I have so much to write from the last two weeks, but I don’t really know how to say any of it. Could it be due to all the academic writing I’ve been doing lately? Sometimes it’s hard to switch from sounding somewhat scholarly to my own voice.

Two weeks ago I had spring break. No classes all week meant I got to do all fun projects. I made a list at the beginning of the week and made it a decent part of the way through by the end. There was no way I could have actually done everything I wrote down. It was merely a way to make sure that each time I checked the list something would catch my eye and fit my mood.

Ella was my creative motivation.

Project One: Miss Ella’s Rocking Chair

I bought this chair at Good Will in Minneapolis at least a year ago. I had high hopes for it but never took the time to work on it. You know how it is. You’d love to work on that special little project but something else comes to mind that actually has some sort of due date, so the project gets postponed. Anyway, the chair cost just $5.


I found the paint in a storage room in the basement when we moved into this house. It was only after I finished the chair that I could tell which room it came from. It’s the basement bathroom. I think it’s a good fit for the chair.


I bought the white paint at Michaels for 88 cents along with a little brush for $1 and the little wooden ELLA letters for something like 50 cents each. I don’t actually remember. I bought them a while ago.


Project one is completed. I do think it’s a little silly that I waited this long to paint it since I finished nearly the entire thing in one afternoon nap time. I’m so happy to have it done. I hope it will be a cozy reading spot for my little girl as she grows.


Project Two: Baby Doll Dress

My grandma on my mom’s side did a lot of sewing when my mom was growing up and continued while I was a little girl. I have a stack of adorable doll clothes that she made for my Cabbage Patch. For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to do as my grandma did. I’ve imagined making a dress for my little girl and sewing a miniature, matching dress for her doll.


After finishing the doll dress, I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment and happiness. It was as though I had a connection from myself all the way back to the woman my grandma was when she was my age. I thought about her a lot while I was piecing everything together and stitching each seam. I wish I could go back to the time when she sat at her own sewing machine and watch her. Each stitch and snap and zipper carefully placed. I imagine we would talk about teaching and music and books and baking, all things that we both enjoy. And then we would sit and drink coffee and eat cookies, something we tend to do during each visit. Maybe it’s being a mom and feeling like we have so many things in common that I’ve felt closer to my grandma lately. I need to tell her that. I haven’t. She lives only four hours from me. Maybe I can take Ella for a visit so she can soak up some Grandma J lovin’.


As I was going to mention, I made this little dress for Ella’s doll to match the one I made for her at Christmas. I purposely didn’t use Christmasy fabric so that she could continue wearing it for a while. I’m so glad I did!


I did do other things during break, but these are the two most notable projects. I actually felt like I spent my time well that week. Usually I get to the end of break and think about all the time I wasted. Not this one, though. I’ll be going straight on to May term followed by a summer class, so my next break won’t be until the first week of July. I’m already making a list of projects!


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Photo Friday: Two Burgers


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Puddles

My mama dreams are coming true. My dear little Ella is now old enough to splash through the puddles and completely enjoy it. Last week we went on our first puddle excursion. We started in the yard and stomped through every puddle. Then we moved on to the sidewalk and down the street. We even included mud puddles!



Ella discovered a drain in the alley behind our house. She kept saying, “agua, agua” in her little voice. We spent a good amount of time just watching the water rushing down the street into the drain. Such discoveries really are exciting!



Now we’ve entered the adventure of trying to find rain boots that will fit Miss Ella’s little feet. Not an easy task so far. Every place around here is sold out or doesn’t carry a size 4. I think we’ll end up ordering them online. It’ll be worth it not to have soaking wet feet after each tromp through the puddles. And I know there will be many more tromps. She’s been asking every day since our first.

Nana & Bapa Olsen are here to stay the night with Ella while Pete & I enjoy a night up the shore. I don’t even care what we do so long as it doesn’t involve talk of diapers or timeouts. We’re ready for a little time away.


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Today Is World Water Day

water changes everything.

A couple years ago, someone mentioned to me that simply learning more about a specific topic can open your eyes and heart to it. At that time I felt that I cared about the issue of clean water around the world. I had seen first hand the impact that water can have on a community after living in a small village in Honduras, but after reading articles, searching websites, and talking with people directly involved in clean water projects, I’ve been amazed at how my heart has really opened to the incredible need around our world.

In light of World Water Day, I want to encourage you to take a look at a few notable resources to simply become more aware of the problem our world is facing. It’s not to get you down or push you to donate to projects. I’m only posting these resources so that you can learn the facts. They’ve really changed my own thinking.


A great place to start for very quick numbers is at the charity:water website. Today they’ve posted a page that shows how water changes everything. You may remember that a year and a half ago for my 28th birthday, Pete set up a charity:water page so that friends could donate money to build new wells in Africa. We raised nearly $200 that went directly to clean water projects. Sweet!

A quick fact sheet of water numbers is available from Compassion.


If after reading these resources, you feel like you do want to help on World Water Day, I encourage you to check out this page on the Compassion website. Compassion is a very trustworthy organization that operates around the world to provide care for children and communities in Jesus’ name. Pete, Ella & I have been supporting a little girl in Tanzania for a little over a year and have been incredibly blessed through letters we’ve received from 6 year-old Esther. The page I’ve posted above tells how you can help bring clean water to communities in Tanzania.

As I mentioned, none of this is to make you feel bad or push you to donate to a water cause. Rather, it’s a way to share the importance of the issue. Simply knowing more makes a huge difference.

Top image is from charity:water.

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