Last Pumpkin painting and other stuff

I finished the 5th in my Fall Harvest Series of mini-pumpkins. I enjoyed doing these.

Yesterday's Bible Study brunch was fantastic. Look at the spread!
We've titled our big group gathering times "Paradise Cafe" with the theme of "To know Him is paradise" and we followed a French theme. We meet like this twice per semester.

Yesterday, our class hosted the group "project". The morning focused on prayer with several women sharing and then we did our project. We were asked to take 10-15 minutes of silence and ask God this question: "What would you like me to talk to you about?" As we had thoughts come to mind, we wrote them down. They could make sense together or may not have a theme. We then had trays of beads in front of us and we were asked to choose beads to represent each of the things that came to mind during our time of quiet. Then, we strung them together with a cross. This tool can be used in prayer time similar to a rosary, but ours is smaller and personal. Here is mine:

Starting on the left side, here are the things my beads represent as things God wants me to talk to him about.. and to listen for a response to:
orange bead: my marriage
shell: His love for me (it's symbolic for me being a shell... another story)
long red bead: forgiveness
green swirled bead: Husband
red barrel bead: trust issues
smooth stone: reminder to be still
hematite circle: remember to keep God in the center of all things
forked pointed bead: my thoughts
blue claw bead: my fear
Initial beads: my boys
Cross: remember Christ's love, sacrifice and forgiveness and a time for repentance
The blue spacer beads are a reminder of God's ability in all things... or, in other words, Hope.

I love my little thing and I want to do a necklace similar to this using some vintage rosaries I purchased on e-bay. They are beautiful but wouldn't it be wonderful to have a necklace made where each bead represents something and while you are wearing it and fingering it throughout the day, your thoughts go to those things?

This project was extremely well received and having a room of 70 women sitting in silence for 15 minutes is nothing short of a miracle. ;) And it was amazing to go around each table and hear the women share about the things God brought to their minds and why they chose the beads to represent those things.

And, last but not least, this use to be my studio! Boo hooo! I don't recognize it any more!
Great progress is being made and I'll be glad when they finish so I can get all this extra stuff out of my tiny house! There's barely walk space through our main living area! Eek!

Today has been a relaxing day though, and I needed it. I walked for 45 minutes this morning, got the kids to school, came back and cleaned up in the kitchen, ate breakfast, etc... and then went to yoga. Today focused on back strengthening and boy, I'm sore already! I came home and ate lunch, put away a load of laundry and finished up my little painting. My kids have early release the rest of the week due to parent/ teacher conferences so I picked up Max at 12:30. Sam is now over at his best friend's house. I'll pick him up at about 3:30 and have him put on his swim suit so I can take them back to the Y for swim practice. Sam got his neck hurt in P.E. yesterday so I think I'm going to have him just be in the water trying to work some stiffness out instead of making him swim laps. He can barely move his neck but I think being in the water will help loosen up the muscles some. I've been up since about 3:30 or so and I think by the time we come home from swim, I'll be heading down hill.......