Chocolate Eyes & Miracle Baby

My time in Indiana is flying by… I can’t believe its been almost a month since I last blogged! One of things I felt like God wanted me to do during this season of rest was to take time aside to create. It has been a long time since I have been able to set aside time for that. I quickly realized that I have way too much to do around the house to create while I am there (and the couch in front of the television is soooo comfy!)… I started asking around and talking to fellow artists about the challenges of setting time aside for art in the midst of day jobs, families and other ‘responsibilities’ and ultimately decided to start and art group. We have been given a free space to use in the old Goshen Theater which is also home to my church, Downtown@808. Once a week, we meet for a few hours to create… painters, writers, quilters, and more. Sometimes we talk the whole time and other times (like tonight)… the only sound is the traffic below, my keyboard, and the sound of pins being picked up by Anna as she plots out a blanket she is making with T-shirts aka memories from the past. Earlier, I listened to people from the Hoops in Motion class, running and spinning across the floor in the ballroom above me… creating rythym out of footsteps and snatches of music coming down the staircase.

We call ourselves Creative Community… only time will show us will come of this group of artists. Tonight, I felt a pull to write some of my reflections from the last few days. My thoughts have been wrapped up in contemplating the Father, the original artist, the most amazing creator of all. The creator of life itself.

This weekend was awesome. I worked late on Saturday and it was about 7:30pm by the time I arrived at my friends house. I was greeted outside by Jaquie and Zekie… “Is that your car? How big (old) are you? Are you same big as I am? Why not? Are you same big as Mom? Are you going to be our girlie now? What is your name? Why is your name Ruth?” Both Jaquie and Zekie have chocolate eyes, adorable as all git out. Mama Gloria was inside, holding baby Isabella.

I was amazed this weekend as I got to hold baby Isabella in my arms… Isabella crying in the car unless I gave her my finger to hold onto, Isabella drinking a whole bottle, Isabella smiling! Isabella is a miracle baby.

In December, I was on the phone with Isabella’s mama a lot… especially late at night when anxiety threatened to overwhelm. Gloria’s pregnancy was in danger and the doctors gave very little hope of a good outcome. But God came through and helped Gloria carry Isabella up to 23 weeks! That isn’t very long in a typical pregnancy, I know, but it was part 1 of a miracle. Isabella Raine was a fighter from day 1.

The reason I celebrate Isabella drinking a bottle is because I remember being cautiously excited when at 1 week old, she was able to eat about ¼ teaspoon every 4 hours! She was up and down right around 1 pound for awhile and now she is so healthy! Praise God! Thanks to all of you who prayed for Isabella!

Here are a few pics of then and now…

Family

shining through the darkness

Austin, the conquerer. (not sure how he got up there).

Plain and fancy.
Showing a video of their cousin Lindsey and I playing in the pool in a few weeks ago. They only get to see her a few times a year. Sweet Baby

All Aboard!

*family photos, all rights reserved*

All in one day: quilts, blueberries, and groundhogs

The stillness is slowly becoming 'normal' and is less creepy every day. At first, it felt like the quiet moment in a movie before all hell breaks loose... causing me to wake up all crazy in the middle of the night trying to figure out what woke me, only to realize the cause is the absence of sirens, traffic, horns, people talking and the train at the end of my street. Even weirder is the pitch blackness of the night, strange after being in city that is never dark. I am feeling more rested every day as I adjust to being in the country, where hearing frogs and crickets is common.

I woke up early today and went into town a few hours before I started work. It was so peaceful to watch the town wake up as I sat in a rocking chair on the porch of the mercantile, journaling and praying for today. The local flea market was open early and I found some of the BEST blueberries... and randomly saw my Aunt who was visiting the flea market from Ohio.

I had a great day at work, sorting through stuff and making piles for things we want to sell at our tent sale this weekend. I am enjoying conversations with customers and getting back into the groove of customer service. Working with my sister has been fun and thankfully we agree on most things related to the store and has given me her permission to rearrange anything I want. :)

After work, my brother picked me up at the house to take me to pick up the car he is letting me borrow for a week. We took a few detours... past the house we grew up in so he could check on some of his land in the woods behind it. He pulled a rifle from behind the seat of his pickup, explaining he was 'getting it ready'... what?! "Your driving around with a loaded rifle!?", looking around to see who sees us (typical urban reaction). He was loving the shock value. We were both laughing by now and I was trying to figure out what he was getting ready for... Apparently, the farmers in the area know he likes to hunt and give him free reign to shoot groundhogs he sees on their land. lol. Off we went, bumping around on country roads keeping an eye out for ground hogs, doing u turns and pulling off into the ditches to get the groundhogs. We saw a few but he had to wait to shoot so that he wouldn't scare the horses as they pulled buggies down the road... and then it was too late. I didn't mind missing out on that. He did show me one that was hanging on a fence from earlier this week (gross!) as well as pictures on his camera phone from a few he shot earlier today. I don't think I ever gave much thought to groundhogs today... except for groundhog day. Never saw that coming.

Tonight, I went through some boxes my mom had packed for me when they moved and found the doll I used to play with when I was a kid along with multiple sets of Amish doll clothes. I also found a crazy quilt that my Momy (grandma) had made. Good times. And then a good glass of homemade iced tea. Time to hit the hay (not really, I have bed).

City meets Amishville: Culture Shock

I am on my lunch break, using high speed wifi (thank you, Kitchen Cupboard!)... thinking back on the past few days since my move from Chicago to Shipshewana. It is a bit of a blur...

I arrived at my sister's house on Sunday night, unloaded the truck and drove it to nearby Topeka to drop it off. My sister left for work early but had arranged for her husband to bring in me in to work 'later'. Later was 6:30am (5:30am Chicago time) and I was a bit groggy starting off. I wish I still drank coffee, and lots of it... haha. The day went well, I started out in our booth in the local flea market and was there until it was time to open the store. I am so thankful for my old job at Cornucopia! Its nice to be able to walk back into a job that is already familiar. I worked until 5pm and Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same... long hours at work.

Highlight of the week so far:
I went swimming with a bunch of my nieces and nephews at my brother's house. They have a lake on the back of their property complete with a water slide we put in a long time ago. I still remember diving down with goggles on to help make sure everything under water was as planned. Fun times. Mom and dad came over, too, and we had some grilled burgers and watermelon for dinner. Nothing like good, homemade burgers. After dinner, we sat around for awhile and then the kids and I hopped back in for another swim. I ended up in the middle of the lake floating on back, hand in hand with my niece... it was great! She told me later that she had taken a nap while we floated. Life is good.

Normal things that make me wonder...
EVERYONE waves and says hello. Even if they don't know you. I have found myself wondering if I left something on top of the car, or if I should know them...
My sister (and everyone else), leaves her car unlocked with the keys in it wherever we go... and I have come close to locking them in several times by hitting the power locks on the way out. Habit. Can't stop. Besides, its crazy.

Lunch break is almost over...

awkward: say farewell, say hello

Arts camp was off the chain. Sooo much fun... I will post some more photos when I can log on with my own computer (it doesn't have a dial up connection option). We ended with a bang... performances at the nursing home, downtown and Foster beach on Thursday, followed by Six Flags on Friday! Six Flags was great, started out with a performance in front of the HUGE carousel followed by a full day of water park with my chaperone group. I had a blast on some crazy rides with Joseph... I was going backwards in a tube with him and it was scary! Dropping down backwards in a tube in pitch darkness interspersed with flashes of light, allowing me to see Joe's face as he caught glimpses of what was coming. When it was over, we just sat laughing like crazy for a bit. Awesome. Miss that boy. We spent a lot of time on the lazy river... the first few rounds were 'get Ruth as wet as possible' rides. Three against one. They shoved me under every waterfall they could find... I couldn't stop laughing! We also had more peaceful times... holding on to each other's tubes, floating slowly as we talked about the week and my upcoming move... by this time it was starting to sink in and tears were always right under the surface when anyone mentioned my move - already dreading the goodbyes I knew were coming my way on Saturday. I had been busy packing, prepping for camp, working camp... I had been able to push aside the emotional side of it and now camp was only hours away from being over and it was hitting home big time. So glad I got some quality time in with Jordan and Joseph...

On Saturday, I got up early after a few hours of sleep, filled a giant cup with my homemade, iced Soy Chai and headed out to get a cut from hair genius and friend Kyle. I could barely talk... my voice was messed up from all the screaming and laughing from 6 Flags. We sat and brainstormed and shared vision about art and Jesus (this always happens we get together) and he put on some good tunes for us to listen to... a good way for me to wake up (but probably not for his wife, Kim... sorry!). Oh snap! the time! (This also always happens). I ran out the door, and rushed back to the YWAM base to pick up Brad so he could drop me at the truck rental. I didn't need to rush... it took them a long time in a hot and stuffy room to do the paperwork (between long spurts of conversations between the staff), finally hop in the truck and head home to load up. Thanks to Arts camp staff, my truck was loaded in 10 minutes. Wow! The rest of the afternoon was spent wrapping up random things at the base for Brad (boring stuff like canceling phone services, accounting, etc).

The staff had planned a BBQ for me to give me a chance to see people before I left. Such a beautiful time... lots of tears, stories, laughing through my tears, many pictures, good food... I can't describe what I felt... except to say that I was so incredibly blessed to have so many good friends and to have had the opportunity to serve along side such awesome people. Brad made me get up in front of everyone as he shared about the things I had been involved with during our time of working together. I was holding it together pretty good until he started crying and then there was no turning it off anymore, no more denial... just a loud, ripping sound as my heart was tearing in half. How is it possible to be so excited about arriving in Indiana and the chance to hang with family and my church, and at the same time feel so incredibly sad about moving away? The camp kids surprised me with painted fabric squares they had made for me... apparently I had crashed their workshop while they were making them for me and happily joined in, painting away... and they managed to pretend like nothing was going on... :) Thank you to everyone who made it out to the BBQ. I love you all. And I miss you already.



Marlene and I stopped by at a friend's rooftop party to say goodbye to a few more people and stopped for some ice cream on the way home... I am soooooooo glad Marlene was in Chicago my last week there. Without her influence in my life, I can honestly say that I would have accomplished a LOT less during my time in Chicago. She has become one of my closest friends and it was such a comfort to have her there. Mar, thank you for EVERYTHING!

6am on Sunday seemed to come extraordinarily early... time for Arts With A Mission staff to hit the road... more tearful 'see you laters' and a couple more hours of sleep... then I loaded the rest of my stuff in my cute little 10 foot truck and said some more hard 'see you laters' to Brad, Jordan and Joseph... headed off to brunch with Eric, Jessie, Libby, John and Glenn. Glenn had to work at O'Shaughnessy's and I'm so glad... otherwise I might have never learned that they have the best Black Bean Burgers EVER.... Jessie asked how I was feeling... happy? The honest answer... I have no idea. I already miss these good people a ton. I made brunch last as long as possible, took a few pictures, a round of hugs and I was off...

As I rolled down the highway and saw the skyline in the mirror, the tears started to fall. I loved living in Chicago. I also love my family. So the awkwardness continues... sadness and joy, tears and laughter... and culture shock. Haha. More on that later...

a day in the life of ruthie lou: frosting & hugs

whew! first day of arts camp was fantastic and flew by way too fast! it was great to reconnect with participants... some i hadn't seen since last year, others i get to hang out with quite a bit. another one of the students (age 12) just surpassed my height. i remember when she barely reached my waist. "hi miss ruth! (hug) is it really true? Are you leaving? But you can't leave. Mom said you're leaving, but are you really?" (she takes a deep breath) I jumped on the opportunity to get a word in... "yes, its really true. i am leaving but i'm still coming to visit. before i go, we're having a bbq, wanna come?" the smile comes back. "yup! ok, miss ruth... i guess its ok. you can go if you want. i'm gonna miss you." so... i guess i can leave, i have permission. :)

we got there early to try to get a quick staff meeting in but it was first day of camp! first day of camp means everyone wants to show up WAY early! can't wait! it was great fun. a short time of worship and prayer followed by lots of laughter as they learned new choreography, reunited with friends, met new people, met in their small groups and went to workshops. we added a few new workshops this year... cake decorating was a hit!

they got to mix their own colors and experiment with different techniques and designs. and of course, eat frosting. they also had workshops in drawing and vocals. they got to help plan, act and film a commercial. they shot a lot of the footage right outside the door of where i was working on boring stuff like performance scheduling, emergency contact sheets, etc. i heard lots of laughing followed by forced quietness while someone acted or delivered lines and occasional outbursts of laughter as they cracked themselves up. silly is good. laughter is good for the soul.

at the end of the day, we learned that miss harmoni's baby got to graduate from the icu to a normal hospital room today!!!!! we were whooping and hollering, laughing and jumping around, praising jesus! miss harmoni had helped with the camp for 5 years straight when we first started out. her and hubby antonio had baby Eva-Camille on May 6 and she has had a rough time. they were even told by the medical staff that there was only one option left for her and she was too weak to be moved to hospital where she could get the treatment... but it wasn't too late for God! she survived the transfer, she coded and started breathing again... everything that should be wrong with her, isn't. the doctors said she is beyond a miracle. so we ended the camp day by celebrating!

one camper said, "i feel happy, and excited and that is a good way to feel." hope he will still feel like that in the morning when the soreness starts settling in after the first day of dancing.

first post: cross eyed bear

this a blog that i am calling ruthie lou unedited... so if you are looking for neat, precise thoughts that have been mulled over and are prepackaged and easy to swallow this is not the blog for you. life is messy. and fabulous. and in my case, life is usually slightly out of control.

why ruthie lou? it is a nod to my brothers from another mother. you know who are. you have taught me a lot about love, sacrifice, and many other things we won't go into here. haha. thanks for dropping unexpectedly into my life. miss you already.

i am starting this blog at a time when life is about slow down (i think)... a time of change... a time of going back to my roots, a summer filled with family, working the 9 to 5, and hopefully a time of creativity. *if your just now hearing about my move, I will write more later.* everything i own is packed and ready to go... even my clothes. this week i am living out of a suitcase as i help run the 7th annual arts camp here in chicago. what a weird week. a time of lots fun in camp and many sad 'see you laters'. earlier today, during team time we were doing an activity where we had to pick out a picture to explain what this week was going to be like and i picked this...
no, i'm not cross eyed. but this is how i feel. like i am trying to balance myself while juggling camp, friends, good byes, tears, laughter, responsibilities and the list goes on... like i said, weird week. camp is monday through friday. going away party is saturday. i move on sunday and start work on monday. here's the thing, though... if i didn't think it was possible, i wouldn't be doing it. it is possible and i intend to live it up and have a blast. since camp starts in 8 hours, i better stop writing and catch a couple winks of sleep.
peace out, ruthie lou