VCM Made the News!!

Check this out:

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/53871957.html#

The last girl talking with brown curly hair, wearing a white tee shirt is Lily! She is awesome and is such a joy to our ministry!

The Gospel According to Lilly!

I love bright colors, anything pink and green and anything preppy. I love Vera Bradley, seer sucker and palm trees. But I really love Lilly Pulitzer clothes! (I can't afford them though!) I only bought one dress for myself in college which was a size 2 which I thought I could lose some weight and get back down into it. Well that never happened and I have filled out some more since then! But I did have two dresses that looked liked Lilly dresses and wore those things out!

Well back this spring, our church had a women's conference. The main speaker was Elizabeth Stewart and one of my favorite stories she told was on how God knew the desires of her heart. She told about how when she and her husband and little girls lived in Guam years ago they didn't have a whole lot. She said she loved nice things and couldn't really afford them. Well she had a love for Lilly Pulitzer clothes too that started for her back in High School when she bought the fabric and made her own dresses (Like the Proverbs 31 woman), (Lilly no longer even sells fabric b/c people sold knock off dresses). So anyway while in Guam, she learned that Lilly Pulitzer clothes were manfactured in the Philipeans, not too far away. Well somehow they had a connection to get Lilly dresses for $9! (That is a great deal! The dresses sell for $140-$260ish!) She said when she came back to the United States dressing her little girls in Lilly that people looked at her like she was squandering the Lord's money. But little did they know that she got the dresses so cheap! :)

The story really spoke to me about God's faithfulness and how He will provide for your needs and some of your wants and knows the desires of your heart (He put them there, so you know He knows them! :> ). I went up to her and told her so and she looked at me and made me turn around and asked me what size I was! My friend Stephanie was there too and she asked Stephanie if she wanted some Lilly clothes too and Stephanie told her she didn't know what they were and Elizabeth said "well you really need some then!" Ha! So anyway, I guess you have figured it out... she sent us some Lilly clothes! I ended up with two pairs of capris and one dress! I did have to do a few alterations but it was worth it! :)

Afterwards, I felt so loved by God that He cared enough to send me Lilly clothes. I felt like He was saying "I want you to have nice things even though you can't buy them for yourself." What a sweet testimony and an even sweeter Daddy we have!

Summer Reading and the Beach!

I have a lot to write b/c I have been mia for a few months! But tonight I thought I would just post what I plan on reading this summer. I am excited to be going to the beach this week for a long weekend. Hopefully getting down at Wrightsville Beach Wed. night through Sunday the 5th. (Can't belive it's almost July, where does the time go!)

So I am getting excited, thinking about the things I need to pack. I've got the sunscreen and bathing suits but I don't have anything in my hands to read. So this is what i'm thinking: Never the Bride and Trouble the Water. Both books I have seen on Denise Hildreth's (my favorite author) website. Never the Bride I will have to pick up in Wilmington at the Barnes and Noble (called there last week for them to order a copy for me). I am praying Trouble the Water I saw at Shepherd Library downtown and hope it's still there when I go by tomorrow.

Hope they will be good and that I get somewhat of a tan! :)

From One Southern Girl to Another

One of my partners supports me through working on my car! (How great is that?!) Well the car place is in Chapel Hill and while I was get my car worked on I usually eat lunch and look in a few stores. Yesterday, I looked through a cute pottery store that always has unique items. I found these really cute tee shirts. The brand is called "Sweet Tea." The shirts have sayings like "I Swanee, " "Lawd, have mercy," "Hissy Fit," and "In a tizzy." They even have cute children and babies clothes. I just love the idea!

The story behind the tee shirts is great too. Two women from the North married Southern boys and got a kick out of their sayings! Check out the website: http://sweeteashirts.com/

I can't wait to order the "I Swanee" shirt. That is one of my favorite Southern sayings that I love to hear white haired ladies say!

Have a good one!

Depression Cooking with Clara

I saw this lady on the news last night! I was just too precious not to share. Clara is in her nineties and she tells stories about living through the Great Depression. She shows how to make the recipes that kept her family alive. The cool part is that her grandson taped her and created the website. She even has dvds for sale!
Check it out: http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Depression_Cooking/Welcome.html

Straight No Chaser

Hey y'all! Straight No Chaser is a men's acapella group from Indiana. My sister just told me about them today! It's a little late for the holidays but still worth checking out! http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kYEK-pxs_A&feature=channel

(I love the 5 golden rings part!)

I also like their: Sitcom Medley and Teen Sensation Medley! Check them out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMj1ZaWVc-8&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkerzEpY-PM&feature=channel

:)

something i realized today!

So I've been raising my partnership team this summer to go back and work in campus ministry at East Carolina. It has been an amazing ride and I have learned so much already just through 3 months of raising my team.

I am happy to say I am at 38% of my goal! The past two weeks I have been contacting businesses which has been great and totally stretched me. Well last night as I was making phone calls I had a peace. This is kind of not normal for me because I am usually so nervous making phone calls. I finally knew something in my heart that my head has known for years.... God is in control. I realized I can either be stressed out the rest of the summer or I can let God be in charge. I fell like God has been saying over the past few weeks that if I was faithful in doing my part (making phone calls and meeting with people) that He would finish my team for me! Well it has been great because today I felt the same peace while making phone calls.

God will bring the increase, I just need to wait and be faithful. It's amazing how when you let go of something that you have been holding onto so tightly, how much relief you feel. It takes effort to hold on tight to something you weren't meant to hold in the first place. God wants to bring us into a place where we just relax and let him do all the holding.