Finally! Brave Girl Camp ... HOW WAS IT?

Get ready for some rambling musings. I've tried to organize my thoughts and words in answer to that question and I just can't seem to do it as eloquently as others I've read. Bear with me. Life changing experiences are tough to put into words.

So ... Brave Girl Camp - how was it?

It was beyond LOVELY in every visual way.

I was surrounded by BEAUTIFUL people, beautiful ART (this part was pretty intimidating!).

Melody and Kathy and their incredible friends were THOUGHTFUL and GENEROUS beyond belief.

We were PAMPERED at every turn and served the most incredibly DELICIOUS food all week.

But it was also hard, very hard and very brave for me to be there at all.

I'm an introvert (classic, quiet, invisible middle child!) and flying from Illinois to Idaho all alone knowing not a single soul was truly brave. No wonder it was hard when I got there.

But maybe it was hard to the part of me who doesn't want growth and change in my life? I was elated to be there, to be a part of something this BIG, but I couldn't shake the role of observer rather than active participant.

It was hard to see so many women in need of caring and compassion and give to them when I'm so very nearly tapped out of both after this past year and a half. But ... dig deep and it's there - that immense capacity to love we women possess. I have felt it even more since my return home.

It was hard to believe that women could possibly bond so quickly after only a few days together. I want so much to believe that is possible though. What beautiful women they are! What lovely souls! What inner strength I witnessed! I want never to forget them. I want more moments together somehow to grow what began at Brave Girl Camp. Time will tell ... but the country feels a bit smaller knowing Brave Girls are scattered all around me.

It is hard to tell where I will go from here - as a woman trying to find a new direction in life, as an artist trying to find her niche, as a mother and wife trying to be the best she can without losing sight of herself in the process. Here I go anyway. I am a Brave Girl.

It will take many weeks to process all that I experienced in that one. But I am so grateful to have had that one incredible week.

www.bravegirlsclub.com.

Brave Girl Camp - How was it!??

Forgive me as I'm still processing my incredible Brave Girl Camp experience.

LIFE has also had a way of intruding (how rude of it to continue at the same frantic pace upon my return as it was coming at me before my trip!) on my thoughts and my time.

More details coming soon ...

Farm Girl Goes to Art Camp

I don't believe I've shared this here yet but ...

I'm about to go on an adventure.

I'm heading to Brave Girl Camp in Idaho next week for 5 art-filled, girls-only days in the mountains near Eagle, Idaho. This shy Michigan farm girl is going to spread her artsy wings and see what she's got. I'm incredibly nervous, super excited, ready for the break from routine "duty", a bit nervous to go alone knowing NO ONE that I'll be there with, hopeful that all that won't matter and we will become fast creative friends.

Have a gazillion things to do before I head out on Tuesday but for now I'm on Cloud 9 and trying to feel brave.

Warp Speed - HIGHLY overrated!!!

Life is traveling at warp speed around here these days and, the sad thing is, I don't think it's likely to change any time soon.

Hold on - I'm sure something creative is bound to spin off soon. Maybe if I gave up sleep!?

Settling in ... and Summer

We are finally in the house!!! Yay!

It's been 2.5 weeks since we moved in and things are starting to look like we actually live here. My goal this week is to get more than one room totally box-free! Each one still has that one last box in it full of stuff that I just don't know what to do with. So ... I'm almost there.

I'm trying not to rob the kids of too much of their summer settling in to the house though. Our June has been super busy but come July I'm hoping to kick back and enjoy the season.

My studio, you ask? Well ... it's sort of unpacked. There are only a couple boxes left but it is really just simply unpacked (OK, sort of the equivalent of having the boxes spontaneously explode into one room is more like it). I have no idea how I'm going to organize the room and haven't had the time to devote to it yet. I'm itching to finally PLAY again though!

Looking forward to posting project pics again soon! Until then, enjoy your own piece of summer!
Jill

OK - back up, here!

I just want to make sure that those few of you who check this blog be sure to get your money's worth.

I THOUGHT I was being really organized one day when I uploaded about 3 posts worth of photos and wrote blog entries to go with each of them. I did them all on Wed. April 28. When I went back to edit and then post each one days later I couldn't figure out how to change the date so ALL of them got posted April 28. However, they're in some goofy order ...

so ... please be sure to scroll down to check ALL the posts dated April 28 since there are some pics definitely worth looking at.

Thanks and sorry for my technical inability.

Jill

Guess what my girls are up to ...?

Counted cross-stitch!!! Can you believe it? The '80s have been revisited by my little crafty souls. Mackenzie is doing her name in a cool calligraphy font for a wall hanging in her new room. She's so into it right now that she's choosing it over TV! WOW!



Paige went with us to get Mackenzie's Aida cloth and didn't want to be left out. We picked up this teeny kit for her and she's really taking off with it.

The girls seemed a little skeptical at first about my ability to teach them cross-stitch. Then I showed them these beauties ...

... my 1980s Amish works. Still love them even though they are so country and so dated.

Mackenzie noticed the dates and my initials on them and asked why I don't do this anymore. Well since most of them were done pre-1990, I'd say that 4 kids, 4 moves, my degree, rubberstamps, scrapbooks, photography, and a whole lot of LIFE have gotten in the way. I'll pick it up again though, especially if the girls keep at it.

I'm so proud of them! So happy they are finding pleasure creating something by hand.

Jill