Two fifteen hour work days on solid concrete. That describes my weekend. And as exhausting as that sounds (and I assure you it was) it was also exhilirating.
Friday and Saturday we were set up as exhibitors at the 2011 Women in the Church Amazing Grace 360 Conference. That's our booth...booths...up there at the top. We filled two spaces with KANZI and Ornaments4Orphans.
Fabulous.
This conference also happened to be in Atlanta, which is my girlhood home, so I had lots of chances to meet up with ladies from my home church.
And I got a new book! For free! Y'all know how I love books.
Covenant Theological Seminary was giving away these:
I am excited to see what Jerram Barrs is going to say about God's perspective on women in the Bible. I can tell from the first few words of the introduction that I like where he is going.
It was not only a great weekend for me, but a great weekend for the ministry. We sold bagoodles (that's a real word) of KANZI products and connected with lots of wonderful women.
We sold out of corn husk nativities within the first few hours.
Completely understandable.
And we sold dozens and dozens of Christmas ornaments. Dare I say hundreds.
It is very exciting to watch Ornaments4Orphans grow. Which reminds me that I should remind everyone that now is the time to sign up to be an Ornaments4Orphans coordinator for 2011. The only cost is your time, and by volunteering to set up a tree and sell ornaments from your church, school, business or home you are making Christmas a little brighter for some wonderful children in Uganda.
More info at www.Ornaments4Orphans.org or just email me: jamie(at)pearlministries.org
It was a weekend for reflecting, some brought on unwittingly. Digging through this bin of woven ornaments at the booth transported me back in time. Almost exactly one year ago to the day I was curled up on our couch, losing another baby, and tagging hundreds and hundreds of these ornaments. I wanted to feel useful, yet could physically do so little. So I determined to tag every ornament I could while on bed rest.
The sight of all those ornaments piled in the bin took me to a tender place, an ache tucked up inside the quilt of God's grace. He has been faithful. And I am truly thankful for the little triggers that remind me of what I have passed through, because they show me the God who passed through them alongside me.
Now..
Selling lots of product is fantastic, but it means we need more. Scott left for Uganda this afternoon and will be there ten days visiting with Ranch on Jesus and rounding up our latest craft order. He has A LOT to accomplish in LITTLE time. Plus he's coming off of an extremely trying week. So please pray for him.
I am holding down the fort here in Alabama. So I guess I need prayer too. But I am headed into this time with a spirit of optimism and trust. Nothing reminds me so much that I am not alone as when I am alone.
2 comments:
You would LOVE Jerram, Jamie. Or do you already know him? His book, Learnng Evangelism From Jesus, is so refreshing. He's a real favorite of everyone here. I haven't read this book yet though. He taught it to our STL church's women's Bible study last year. Amazing, so I heard.
We heard him speak at Briarwood's missions conference this year. Loved it. He used Ruth, Esther and the Woman at the Well as his main talks. What I'm loving about this book is that he explicitly states he is not even going to get into all those prohibitive passages. His intent in the book is to show who women ARE in God's eyes and what we CAN do. Lots of people have covered Ephesians 5 and the stuff in Corinthians. He wants to draw the conversation to a place that honors women.
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