Currently Reading Coaching the Artist Within : Advice for Writers, Actors, Visual Artists, and Musicians from America's Foremost Creativity Coach By Eric Maisel see related

Dear Friends:

How are you?

I have just been appointed the first Team Leader of the new Arts Fellowship at my church. Isn't that cool? My team is called Tabitha Team, after Tabitha in the Bible. We will be making quilts and afghans to be given away to the poor -- both here in our city, and when we go on missions trips or disaster aid teams. That doesn't sound like it would fall under Arts, but that is where it ended up.

I'm so happy to be the first Team Leader! My church is growing into its position as a leader in the community. Eventually the Arts Fellowship will have several divisions: music, drama, visual arts, etc. Tabitha Team will be in the Crafts division, along with things like Scrapbooking, Sewing, and Woodworking. These teams will hold outreaches to bring people into the church (Scrapbooking Class, Quilt in a Day Seminar) and create things that glorify God in various ways (such as the blankets that my team will distribute to the poor).

I have to have my team pulled together to start in March. I'm also assembling materials for them to create with: yarn, fleece, calico,etc. It is interesting work for me; I am an avid quilter and I also crochet, so the materials are like my old friends.

I'm also proceeding rapidly in developing a home business. We're acquiring an embroidery machine in a few days! I can't hold down a "real" job because of an old injury. (Yes, really.) Having a home business will allow me to work at my own pace. I'm looking forward to being productive again.

Friends, please pray for me in the areas of business and ministry. This is a time of big opportunities if I lay the foundations correctly. I want them both -- business and ministry -- to glorify God.

Sincerely, NuGex

Currently Reading Coaching the Artist Within : Advice for Writers, Actors, Visual Artists, and Musicians from America's Foremost Creativity Coach By Eric Maisel see related

Dear Friends:

Forgive me for being gone so long. I am involved in climbing a step higher in my ministry, and it takes all my brain cells. Please pray for me to learn wise marketing of the charming Christian product that I make.

My husband ("awwww, you're married?") has vacation til after Christmas, but he's still not home much. Our church is a three-building complex, and it takes him and several other guys to keep it in good repair. They are all working hard while they have some time off.

Several people told me that my name was on an "abandoned property" website. When I finally got around to looking, I found that someone owed me $1678.88! How wonderful! Praise God! I am sending in my claim as soon as possible.

Lots of wonderful Christmas cards, from nearby and far away. Many people sent photographs. Their pictures make me feel very fat. I wouldn't dream of sending someone a picture of me.

Okay, here is my Official Online Christmas Card. Are you ready?

My Christmas wish for you is that you would have stars in your eyes:The gleam that comes into your eyes when you think of your family, The soft glow of starry-eyed love, The steely glitter of eyes that see wrong being done and set out to make it right, The eye-shine of satisfaction when you finish a job, The faraway light of memories of those who loved you, The beam - whether dim or bright - that draws you back home, And the brilliant reflection of the Star of Bethlehem, when you look upon the Lord at Christmastime.

Sincerely, NuGex

Dear Friends:

I am currently reading fascinating book called The Bones of Saint Peter, but it is so old that it won't register in the Currently Reading zone. The part about Mystic Cryptology was the most interesting archeological tidbit I've read in years.

I spent most of the day quilting, trying to finish the Remember 911 quilt so that we can fold up the quilt frame to make room for the Christmas tree. I also spent an hour fussing with the pieces of a large tote I'm trying to make. It's a complicated design (many pieces), and every single piece has to be interfaced. I don't want to spend the money for fusible interfacing, so I'm interfacing the pieces the old-fashioned way, with leftover fabric from other projects. My favorite is a wild Christmas fabric that my neighbor gave me. Far too gaudy to be used for the outside of anything, but it is sturdy and heavy-duty, perfect to interface a big tote bag. And no, you tekkies, this interfacing has nothing to do with computers.

Sincerely, NuGex

Currently Reading The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations see related

Dear Friends:

More snow. So inconvenient.  My scientist-friend says that now that nano-tubes have actually been invented, the potential exists to build temperature-controlled domed cities. I want one.  (Please don't write and ask me what a nano-tube is; I am not scientific enough to understand it myself.)

I hate to sell, but I have two corresponding goals that could be met by selling: 1.) get out of debt, and 2.) reduce the clutter in my life. So I am stepping up my eBay selling and researching other selling venues, such as antique stores and knick-knack shops. Soon I hope to have the clutter reduced enough that I can actually operate an eBay trading business full-time.

Sincerely, NuGex

Currently Reading Thriving as an Artist in the Church : Hope and Help for You and Your Ministry Team (Willow Creek Resources) By Rory Noland see related

Dear Friends:

Snow. I hate snow.

I am printing up new copies of my little poetry book. It has been around since 1999, and I have already given away over 1200 copies of it. One of the poems was read on Night Sounds, so you know its okay. It rhymes and everything.

The printer is being a pill: it won't pick up the paper correctly because the old-fashioned rubber platten (very old printer) is dried out. We used to use a product called Rubber Rejuvenator for that, but it's a little hard to find. The Printer guy at Office Max says most people just get a new printer at this stage, but it seems like a waste of money when the only thing that's broken is the rubber surface on the platten. So I just stand there and monitor it, ready to hand-feed the paper when it can't suck it in. So boring. Sometimes I have my prayer-time then. Sometimes I pull up a chair right in front of the printer, and work on my crochet. (Double crochet, chain two, durn #%=]!~ printer, double crochet ...)

Once I get the pages printed, then I trim them with my handy-dandy paper trimmer (kids, don't try this at home) and sort them into sets of pages. Then I match each set with a colorful cardstock cover (so alliterative) and staple them together at the the spine, creating (Ta-Da!) a cheap, goofy-looking homemade book, ready to be handed out to friends and strangers, anyone who will answer Yes to the question Do You Like Christian Poetry.

Someday we will have elegant hard-cover poetry books, with suitable illustrations and a forward by Someone Important, available from a magnificent website that takes paypal and has a cute picture of a shopping cart to put the book into. Until then, if you can answer Yes I Like Christian Poetry, you may ask me for a silly home-assembled book of some really pretty good poetry.

Sincerely, NuGex