DIY Scarf

Made this today. Thought it was cool. :) Its from a DIY tutorial found here

I love that I can recycle my old t-shirts. This one was a bleach stained ill-fitting blue shirt. Makes a cute necklace/scarf! You can even add a brooch or make a rosette from

the same fabric to attach to it.

Crafts, Please!

So I have gotten a bit crafty lately. And I started an Etsy store! It all started last Christmas when I really wanted to make something special and homemade for my small group girls. I had bought a cute feather headband at a store and realized I could totally make them! I started experimenting and after a trip to Hobby Lobby, I found a fun cathartic activity! Since then, on and off, I have made some fun creations!

Here are a few pictures of what I have... all of them are on sale here

Mod Podge Fabric Covered Journals

Pretty Pink Flower Rosette

One Year Later

Hello 2011! Wow, it has been almost exactly one year since I posted on my blog last!

A lot has happened.... and a lot hasn't happened. I enrolled in, suffered through, and finished my TESOL certification to teach English overseas! I have a new (almost one year old!) nephew! Isn't he the cutest??


I had a boyfriend, didn't work out, now I'm single! (yay? no.) I am involved in the church I have gone to my whole life through being a small group leader to some AWESOME girls. I am an ESL tutor at a local English Language School where I've been investing and making friendships with many Saudi Arabian women. (yay!)

And I have also found a heart and knack for creating! I have started my very own etsy shop to sell my handmade feather headbands, custom coasters, fabric hair clips, and fabric covered journals! Visit my shop here.
(lovelytomme.etsy.com)

Here's a little taste of whats up there! :)

Here's a Magenta Hair Clip modeled so beautifully by my sista.

Tree Inspired Journal

Mustard Yellow Rosette

Black and White Paisley Coasters: DIY tutorial to come!!

Much love,
Mon

Let's Look at the Future

So. I just graduated from Moody. A Bible college. You may be wondering what am I going to do with my life?? Yes, I am asking that same question. Last week, I was going to go to Korea. This week, I am a full-time nanny.

I have been job searching ever since I got back from my internship in France. I had a little job for two months working at a camp, but if you have seen the weather outside right now in Michigan, people aren't really going to camps right about now. So that temporary job has finished and I have searched and searched and searched to find a job remotely in what I feel called to do. My dream is to work overseas sharing Jesus. But right now I have no life experience or financial independance or real direction from God to warrant me jumping on the first available ship to Timbuktu (is that really a place?) (ok, apparently it's in Mali...) I am sort of a skitzo when it comes to real life future plans, so when I feel a nudge to do something drastic, my family is always reigning me in, trying to make sure it's really God's will and not crazy Monica on another adventure tangent.

I really don't know where I am going with this post, but I do know that I have finally gotten a job! (yaaaay!) and with that, comes the commitment of at least a year with these kids. I will be working 55 hours a week (eek!) taking care of a 2 year old and a 6 year old. Girl and a boy. I am pretty excited about this, it will give me the time to really seek the Lord on His direction for my life and give me time to save for either: Grad School, TESOL certification courses (or both).

I am really believing at this point that I need a solid skill to go on the mission field with. Graduating with a degree in International Ministries and Bible goes far with mission agencies and churches, but the rest of the world barely thumbs their noses. I want to be a missionary in a country where people see me as helping the way they do life, not just someone who's sole objective is to shove an ideology down their throat. Even if that ideology is the difference between eternal life and eternal damnation. I want to work with refugees, the hopeless, the poor, the dissillusioned of this world. If it is overseas, praise the Lord, if it is here in America, praise the Lord. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9.

There are many things I don't know, but one thing I know for sure: I want to serve the Lord and be a contageous Christian wherever he plants me.

Josh Groban and Tofu

I shall update you on my wonderful weekend of Josh Groban!

(Like anyone actually reads this...)

Just a short update and then on to something more interesting, tofu!

So my sister and I went to Chicago to see JOSH GROBAN! You know, like the most glorious man to ever walk the earth who has the more angelic voice ever. I think I just sounded like a brace-faced Justin Bieber fan.... Oh well. For HIM I will do that.

We bought his new CD, Illuminations (Buy it!)

And we went to Border's on State street for him to sign it. We got to talk to him for about 40 seconds, get his autograph, and then we were ushered away. But it was 40 seconds in Heaven!

Train Ride: four hours
Train Tickets: 60$

Time in line: three hours

40 seconds with Josh Groban: priceless.

Does that make me a fanatic?

On another note! I have decided that I need to get my health into gear. After living on a college campus for four years, I have had my fair share of the ice cream machine, Taco Tuesdays, Big Burger Thursdays, and Starbucks around EVERY corner. (yeah, it was Chicago)

SO now that I am living at home for a time, I have a health nut mother who readily buys anything and everything organic, green, gluten-free, fat-free, fun-free that she can.

So I am now giving this losing weight, being healthy thing a real effort. I HATE gyms. But we are members of the Y (the best gym around) and I. must. start. liking. it.

With that said, I have also decided to be a sort-of vegetarian. Don't get me wrong, I love meat and I believe that God put animals on this earth for us to enjoy, but it is something in my diet that I can live without. I am not going to become a crazy high-maintenance weirdo when I am out with friends or when there is absolutely no option, but when I am at home, I am going to try and not eat meat. The other week I bought this wonderful package of tofu that I wanted to see if I could cook. Well, I tried it tonight and LOVED it!

I googled "tofu recipe" and found this blog with a woman who cooked it. I decided to try it.

I took some pictures. :)

Here are all my ingredients.

I modified it from the original recipe (here) to accommodate what I had in the kitchen.

14 oz. extra firm organic tofu

2 T grape-seed oil

2 tsp. finely minced garlic

2 tsp. finely grated ginger root

1 cup scallions, sliced into 2 inch pieces (Keep white parts separate from green parts)

3 T chicken stock (I know, if I'm going veggie, why kill a Chicken for the stock??! Well, that's all I had. You can use vegetable stock. And besides, they were free-range chickies, at least they were treated humanely!)

1 1/2 T lite soy sauce

1 tsp. Chia life seeds (original recipe calls for sesame seeds, but I didn't have them and these seeds give great omega 3's and fiber!)

Anyway, at the risk of making this a super long post that no one reads, I will just have you refer to the original recipe for the directions. Here are some pictures though!

Yeah, that's me.

The tofu doesn't look to good in its original state...

I also decided to add roasted asparagus to the mix. Grape-seed oil, salt, pepper, dash of soy sauce, lemon squirt. ;)

The finished product!

Chicago

So tomorrow my sister and I are going on an adventure! Well, it's an adventure that I have been on many, many times, but this time its different. I will be with my sista and I will be a non-student, non-resident! Yes, we are going to the most beautiful city, Chicago! Oh I love Chicago.

I want to live there again some day. Maybe I will.

So, why do I love Chicago so much?

Maybe its the city lights

Or maybe it's the many many memories I have made there.

Chicago has so many cool things! Like Improv Everywhere's MP3 Experiment!

Like the summer I house-sat for a super nice wealthy lady in the Gold-Coast (posh neighborhood!) in a million-dollar high rise and got to drive her Mercedes!

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Or like the time when I met the BEST friends ever on Houghton 7-West

Anyway, I am going to Chi-town with my lovely sister to....

MEET JOSH GROBAN! yes, MEET him! Ok, so it will probably only be for about a minute, but we shall MEET him! He is coming to Border's on State street to promote his new album. The album which I just bought and is amazing!!

>>>>Check it out!

Anyway, Bon Voyage. See you lata!

-Mon.

WAR

Women at Risk International

Last year, I had the extreme blessing and heart-wrenching burden of writing my senior college thesis on the reality of human trafficking. While I was doing my research, I came across this most amazing organization called Women at Risk International (WAR Int'l). This organization has its hands in so many different ways of reaching out to men, women, and children in abusive and trafficking situations and people who are at risk of getting into them. I also realized that they are centered in Rockford, MI, right around the corner from me in Grand Rapids, MI. These people have a goat donation program where they donate goats and cows to women in Sudan and other parts of Africa in order to give them status and help them earn a living for their family. By doing this, they are giving them a way out of prostitution.

Many of the women WAR Int'l works with are women who have no way of surviving except to go into prostitution. Even if these women weren't "tricked" into prostitution, they are forced into it for monetary reasons. Other women are rescued from brothels in Thailand and Laos, and given a second chance, working making jewelry that is sold in the U.S. or making jute tote bags and selling them in the market. The possibilities are endless when it comes to helping the vulnerable. My paper last year was about the new missiological approach of BAM, Business as Mission. WAR, Int'l is using this approach in many of their ministries. They use business to bring about the Kingdom of God. They use a for-profit business to get women out of trafficking situations and rehabilitate them.

Its amazing at how missions is changing. It shows that you don't need to be a Bible School educated, seminary graduate living in the desert to be a missionary. You can be a missionary by hosting a jewelry party in your home in Rockford, Michigan, or you can move to Thailand and train ex-prostitutes to make bracelets. All for the cause of Christ.