Craving More Devotional

Welcome back! What days do you want to put in for the due dates?

Hey! Thanks so much for putting this together! How do these dates sound? Do they work with your summer plans? If not, let's rearrange! :)

A) Complete Days 1-7 by (7/22). ( I am on a quilt retreat 7/13-16)

Complete Days 8-14 by 8-5

Complete Days 15-21 by 8/23 ( I am on a Cowgirl Quilt Retreat from 8/27 to 9/2 in Montana! :)

Ack!!. Oh, my. Oh, my. So Montana is a place I want to go ... AND ... I'm putting together a book proposal about cowgirls on a ranch (twin sisters).

ANYTHING you can pick up for me about that topic while there would be HUGELY appreciated, and a copy of the newspaper wherever you are would be great.

Oh, and the swap dates are fine. :)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!??!?! That is so awesome!!! I went there two years ago for this same retreat! It is at the Nine Quarter Circle Montana Dude Ranch in Gallatin Gateway, MT. Our Cowgirl Quilting Retreat is the last week the ranch is open for the season. Georgia Bonesteel is one of the quilt instructors and she is amazing!

I'll grab everything I can! :) We ride horses and quilt!! What could be better? :) I can't wait to read your book!!! xxooxxoo

Dude ranch!!! That's what I'm placing the story around! One sister owns it (secretly).

Thanks so much. Got the sunflower tip-in today! And yes, we do have Country Register. As a matter of fact, SABT, I have a Virginia one set aside to tuck into your birthday box! :)

Yaye!! I am so glad you got your tip in!! :) I can't wait to see the Virginal one!! It is such a fun magazine!! I love it! Have a fabulous weekend!! I am off to visit a sunflower farm, which is two minutes from my house, so I am excited about that and I have lunch with my girlfriend and her baby, Bailey!

I mailed a Craving More note to you yesterday so this message won't make much sense until you get it.

I got I Am! Went to Lifeway last night. 15 mins before closing. The cashier gave me a 40% off coupon that I could use right then! Woot!

Hey!! We are totally Sisters separated at birth! I put a package in the mail to you Friday!! :). And, by the way, I received an amazing package from you!! I'll send you a picture of my Birthday table on the regular phone!! All of our Christian bookstorez in Madison have closed! I wish I had a LifeWay!

Just like the craft stores, all of our independent Christian bookstores are gone. We have the two chains: LifeWay and Heaven & Earth.

Just sent you text pics of my Week 2 journaling for this swap!

Hey there. Sorry to have interrupted the party. Had so much to say, I thought calling would be more expedient. :) I'll aim to be brief here.

Terrific day. God really moved in amazing ways.

The LifeWay Bible Journaling event was today. They had two identical sessions, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. I went to the morning one. There were about 10 people there. Nice event. Mostly beginners. You and I could have taught much of the class! LOL!

I FINALLY learned how to do tracing with the vellum tracing papers. I'd seen them, but didn't understand the concept.

The Lord moves in mysterious ways #1: At the end of the 1 hour class the instructor was letting people play with the products and folks were chatting. Someone asked to look at my Bible. Your ocean page and the deer glitter page got, as the hipsters say, mad props! :) The lady sitting next to me hadn't seen the Illustrated Faith panel strips before. She saw one in my Bible and asked how I did it. I had my set in the Bible case pocket so I pulled it out and gave her the one right on top. Then, something said, give her another one. I pulled off one on the bottom and gave it to her. A moment later, she burst into tears!

The strip on the bottom apparently said something about JOY AHEAD. (It must have been part of 1 Peter 1:6, which I looked up later.) Well, she was crying because she said her husband died a month ago and that she didn't think she'd ever have joy in her life again. She said that strip was a word from the Lord for her that joy would be ahead for her.

Hallelujah!

I immediately prayed with and for her. What a glorious moment.

Now, onto some good news for you: I asked the instructor if I could have a booklet for you. She said yes. :) So I have that to send to you. Of course, after the class everyone hit the store to shop. I got something else for you ... that I thought would be a great Christmas present. BUT, there's no way I'll hold out that long. :)

OK. So much for a short note. LOL!

Much later in the day, I opened my Day 2 in the Week of Happy Envies swap. I have a SB newbie. Day 1 was awesome with a cute little bag designed, she said, to hold all of my treasures for the week. :) Well, Day 2 today had a little community newspaper (the contents sort of remind me of The Coffee News, all positive, uplifting or funny content).

The Lord moves in mysterious ways #2: So I'm going through the newspaper and see a little item that just rocked my foundation. It was MY turn for a message straight from the Lord. I took a picture of it and texted it to four girlfriends who are going through some things, as I am. (I texted you right before that because I was so excited I wanted to tell you since it applies to you to with your appointment news -- sidebar: SAB twin, more on that later!)

Are you ready for it?

"When you are going through something and wonder where God is, remember, the teacher is always quiet during a test."

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! NO reason to apologize for texting!! :) I wish I could have spoken to you!!! Silly birthdays!! :) What an AMAZING AMAZING Day!!! I love it when God just moves in and uses us to bless others!! What an amazing blessing for the lady who lost her husband! She must have just felt so loved and cared for in that moment! God is awesome and He just swooped in and used you right there!! Love it!!

So glad the two sparklie pages got mad props!!! :)

Ok! I got chill bumps and teary eyed when reading the "are you ready for it" part. That is perfect for this season. I am printing that out!!!

I can't wait to hear the SAB twin, more on that later part!! :)

How funny that you picked up a little something for me yesterday!! Because I put a package in the mail to you yesterday too!!! Wow!! We are so in tune!!!

I am leaving this weekend for my Cowgirl Quilt Retreat in Montana, and really, I am not as ready as I thought I would be! YIKES! I have made three lists that I need to do and it seems to be getting longer instead of shorter!! :) I'll forward the e-mail to you that has our projects we will be working on, so you can see what i am doing. Now, in two years, I will be going back, so I think you should plan on making that trip with me!!!! YES!! I did just say that!! I love how my brain works!!
Have a wonderful day! Love, Shannon :)

A packet is on the way to you!