If you'd like a little ramble...

Disheveled glam. How do we manage it?

The funny (and wonderful) thing about families is the fact that even when I am gone, they go on. That being said, when I come home from my travelings, I jump back in with both feet and a right good will. Father's Day is this weekend! I've been so busy I hadn't even realized it! That being said, we've got a family fishing trip planned for early tomorrow down at the farm-pond. The fishing trip will, supposedly, include Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Technically I am supposed to be off flour and sugar, but I might make this diversion. I don't know. We shall see. We will then proceed to make an awesome, Southern dinner for Dad.

Excuse me for a moment: DAD. If you are reading this, I'm sorry but you'll have to come back sometime AFTER tomorrow and finish reading it, because there are spoilers coming and I won't have you reading everything beforehand and acting surprised when it comes up later! ;)

I have plans to make three different clean-eating pies for dessert tomorrow night! Since Dad is off of sugar and has been for the last year or so, I wanted to make him something he'd love...I couldn't decide over the three of these so I'm just making them all. Since they are freezer-pies they will certainly keep and I know there isn't a single person in this family who will balk at the idea of left-overs! As soon as I finish this post I will be off to the kitchen to make Samoa Girl Scout Cookie Pie, and No Bake Peanut Butter Pie from Chocolate Covered Katie as well as Avocado Key Lime Pie. Can't wait to see how they turn out! I love a good cooking challenge--always have--so all of these clean-eating recipes are right up my alley. :)

I forget if I mentioned where I've been the past two weeks: I'm sure I have but you never know. Especially when you consider the brain-overload I've been in the grips of recently. At any rate, for the first week I was counseling at Generation Joshua's iGovern East camp, which was so neat. The Gala, the DC trip, the scenario and the chapel times... :)

Sarah's room: Shayna, Bethany, Sarah, and Heather...lovely girls!

God directly answered so many prayers in so many ways, and I was privileged to be able to have ten girls in my wing for whom I was responsible. I also acted as the House Secretary which meant I got to read all the arbitrary and/or thoughtful bills aloud for the congressmen and women to vote upon. Such fun. I was a lobbyist for Disney and had a blast playing up the part:

I kept the guys laughing with my inventive ways to bring Mickey Mouse into the hair-styles... :)

It was so great to be able to spend extensive time with Daniel, who we hardly ever get to see anymore. I loved working alongside him, getting to know his people and places and just hanging out with my big bro. I've missed him. :)

Daniel and his cohorts (Glenn, Fergie, Jeremiah, and Joel) did a boy-band parody for Friday Night Live (they called themselves Hack5) and it totally grew wings and flew.

They had asked me to be the crazy Fan Girl up front (with Josie and a couple other gals) so in the Epic Video (clink link to watch) that crazy woman you see? That's me. And halfway through I lost my balance and toppled over, landing with my head in the lap of one of the camper guys. It was totally embarrassing and totally hilarious. I laughed my stinkin' head off, and so did the Hack5 guys.

We are seriously trying to make them go viral just to tease key members like Joel Grewe and Jeremiah Lorrig who find themselves with (to quote Nick) "sudden cases of dignity". And actually, it has spread through the entire HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association) office till Mike Smith, The Higher Up Man has given permission to print Hack5 t-shirts because right now it's looking like the kids at camps will totally buy them. :D I am still laughing over the irony of it! What started as a joke is now an actual project that might soon be making money. Anyway, you can like their Official Page or the Fan Page on Facebook and encourage the whole ridiculous thing! During the week I made the first fan-art since I was, after all, the first Fan Girl. The silhouette actually turned out pretty well!

The second week, Abigail Taylor and I were staying with Tatum and Brittany (sweet gals!) in the room Tatum rents from a couple. We spent the days working in the GenJ office when needed, as well as rummaging about Purcellville. Tropical Smoothie figured largely in the offing.

*Squint*

Poor Brittany. I made her squint into the sun. She's such a peach.

I found the darned cutest little bookstore (or, rather, sought it out after Daniel told me of it) and bought Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse as well as a No-Fear Shakespeare "As You Like It" (so neat because it has original and simplified text) and The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. It makes me feel literary! I felt like I was on vacation, getting to just hang out with the awesome people of Generation Joshua & Co. I swear, there are probably very few offices in America wherein you can find such wonderful people in so tiny a space! While up in NoVa we saw Star Trek 2 (Benedict Cumberbatch makes a SCARY villain. And no, Jeremiah and Josie, I am NOT a fangirl!), and we had a gourmet, healthy-amazing meal made by Lucas Mason. and we sang "Wagon-Wheel" in beautiful harmony with a mandolin and guitar completely spontaneously at midnight. And it sounded so cool.

Annnnyway. I need to get to my pie-making and leave you to your other more important-things-in-life-than-reading-Rachel's-blog. I hope you have a lovely evening, and please please pray for the families effected by the wild-fires in Colorado. Brittany and Nick's family's home was almost burned, and Jeremiah Lorrig's parents/family AND grandparents lost their homes for certain. Colorado-strong, people.

I hope God blesses all of you tonight. I'm feeling so blessed because I got the chance to sit in a rocking chair in the dusk and the night smelled like good things growing and honeysuckle and roses blooming and there was a whippoorwill and a sliver of a moon and one solitary star. *sigh* It's so good to be home.

Various, Sundries, and Oh LOOK! I'm going to Florida!

Yes, yes I know. I've spent the whole of this spring traveling from one place to another. I can't say I'm sorry! I love to travel--I love the adventure of it, and the excitement of it, and the squished airplane seats with the stewardesses that smell like disinfectant when they walk by, and the popping in my ears when we rise off the ground, and then the landing when you are pushed out with a tide of passengers into the belly of a complex airport. And I especially love the time spent in new crazy places. All the new sights and sounds and experiences.

Orlando might not be Romania, but it should satisfy my wander-lust for a week or so. ;) Abigail Taylor and her sister Rebekah blessed Sarah and I beyond belief by paying our way to Sovereign Grace's Transfer Conference, and we are headed down this weekend. *eep!* I've never been to Florida, funny enough. I'm more of a European/mountain chick than a beach-bum, so I've never had a burning desire to go. But where a conference calls, I shall answer! Even unto 100% humidity! Mama says when she went to visit Florida where my Uncle Lon was going to college, it was so humid her hair never dried all day after her shower. O.o

"I'm melllllllttttiiiiinnnnnggggg!"

But more than travel, I'm excited about this conference. Excited to spend a weekend with thousands of other young men and women who love Jesus. Can't wait to see what God will teach me/show me while there! :)

 We just got back from a family camping trip with you can hear all about here! It was our first family vacation in 6 years so very well-deserved. ;) We camped at Chippokes State Park on the lovely James River. I love places with history, and being able to dash down the road a couple miles and take the very across to Jamestown and Williamsburg is thrilling!

Let's see. I am currently loving Laura Osnes' voice in Broadway music! It's so clear and sweet and there always seems to be a smile lurking somewhere. If I had a better voice and was on Broadway, I bet it'd sound like hers. :P

I discovered yoga pants a couple weeks ago! :D I had never owned a pair, but being stuck away from home and having forgot my overnight bag, I headed to Walmart to buy some pajamas and lo and behold, a love affair began with that impossibly soft garment! You need to get some if you haven't already. I'm serious!

After watching Nicholas Nickleby for the first time, I can't stop quoting Fanny Squeeers: "Deah Mistah Knuckle-boy..."

We are indoctrinating Levi with Broadway songs. He already requests "Stars" quite often and can hold his own in the "bum-bumming" parts of "Master of the House", "At The End of the Day", "Seize the Day" and "Carrying the Banner". :D

I updated my "About The Lass" page so go check out Take Two!

And last but not least, I'm going to be gone on and off through the middle of July so if this blog is a little spacey during that period of time, don't think I've abandoned blog-dom. I'll simply be jawin' with all the muckity-muck and blowin' my dough and goin' deluxe. ;) Actually, I'll be counseling/working at Generation Joshua's iGovern camps! There are three: one each at Patrick Henry College, in LA, and in Colorado Springs. Travel Travel Travel! :D Yes, I'm a busy, crazy, delighted girl over here, and I ought to sign up for frequent flier miles because for HEAVEN's sake, if I had

Jiggity-jig

Here I am again, back in VA with another week of camp-counseling under my belt. I can't decide whether I learned more from the sessions, discussions with people, or the actual counseling. Suffice it to say, the Lord definitely taught me, reminded me of, and encouraged me with several things. Perhaps later on I'll type up the main highlights of the sessions, but I think one of the best parts was simply hearing my girls memorizing Psalm 139 and listening again and again to God's promises for my future.

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You have hedged me in behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it...

I had the best cabin-ful of girls in the camp, I believe. Not only did I have the liveliest girls, but they also loved the Lord and personally challenged me with their passion and determination to seek His will and to please Him. I got to spend some time also with friends who I grow to love better with each day I spend around them. I honestly think that God put each girl in my cabin for a particular reason, and brought me there for a particular reason so that we each might come away with something. Good stuff.

Oh yes. And I had my stage debut as Miss Hannigan in "It's a Hard-knock Life," only my girls and I changed the words a bit and added a couple acts so they yelled, "WE LOVE YOU, MISS HEFFINGTON!" ...it was pretty great and I got to traipse around the stage with bright red lipstick, every necklace I owned, over-stated rouge and bright blue eyeshadow. Oh yes. Once we get pictures uploaded and/or the videos, I can post some here if you are interested in seeing them.

Life did not slow down while I was gone. Not a bit, actually. I was greeted on the ride home by the news that another good friend was in a relationship that I'd "marked my words" about at least nine months ago, though I'd been thinking about it longer. :) Every one's growin' up and goin' off to save China! *cue Mu-shu voice*

*sigh*

Life just doesn't stand still, does it?

A Short Story for you

The week up at Daughters of Destiny was absolutely amazing. I made several new friendships that I hope to keep up, was edified, encouraged, inspired, and generally felt as if I left half my heart on the peak of Pinnacle Mountain. :) I'll write more about the week later, but here's something I scribbled one morning [very early] before staff-meeting:

"Nazarene Noon"

 By Rachel Heffington

Mary took the earthen jug into her work-worn hands and turned it over. She felt the familiar warmth of the sun-soaked clay, the same ridges on the rim that had always been there. She smiled--an expression laced with tears--and marveled that the jug could remain unchanged after...Mary put her hand to her belly as a movement, gentle and soft as the spring's first butterfly, reminded her of all that had changed. 
She sighed and ducked through the low door-frame into the hot Israeli afternoon. The cistern in the garden, crowded over with a riot of almond-blossoms from Papa's tree, was where it had all begun. Mary approached the well with hushed footsteps, half-fearing, and almost expecting the angel to be there. She had never been more frightened in all her fifteen years, she recalled. First the blinding, flaming light, then the deep voice speaking in tones far richer than any Abba could coax out of his lyre. Mary had thrown herself to the ground at the first sound of the awesome voice. He told her not to fear, and all at once a deep peace, more encompassing and filling than any she'd ever known flowed through ever fiber in her being.
Then the angel, Gabriel, told her things so wondrous they could not be true, or so it seemed. Mary smiled as she felt the fluttering again. They could not be true, but they were true. She knew that more wholly than ever after the angel had spoken.
It was strange, of course, and Mary felt she must ask the question that crowded her tongue before it asked itself. "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
The angel's countenance brightened with laughter till it shone, no longer like a flame, but with the joyful light of the year's first snow. Then the angel told her the strangest thing yet: the Holy Spirit would come upon her and overshadow her and, well....this.
Mary glanced up at the sun and rubbed her belly. "How are you, my King?" she whispered, then giggle as a tiny kick replied.
She filled her earthen jug with haste, spilling a little on the dusty ground, and returned to the house. She must leave early tomorrow morning to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, of whom the angel had also spoken.
Her cousin, pregnant? Elizabeth--with her wealth of iron-grey hair and deep smile lines, her calloused hands and bent back--to have a son? But if she herself, a virgin yet, was with child, who was she to question it? After all, stranger things had--Mary broke off there. She wasn't sure anything stranger had happened. She would stay with Elizabeth till her cousin's time came--three months at least. She would miss Abba and their quiet home, and Joseph. Oh, how she would miss Joseph! He of the warm brown eyes and gentle smile, the big strong hands that could do such delicate carpentry. Joseph of the courageous heart and just nature, who treated her with love and tenderness! How the news of her pregnancy would hurt him!
Mary bowed her head, the folds of her mantle falling forward and her thick, dark hair almost covering her face. She clasped her hands across her heart and rocked.
"Oh Lord," she sobbed, "Let it be unto me as Thou hast said! If I am never to be Joseph's wife I will not cry against Thee! But oh, do not let me despise me for what has come upon me!" Mary lifted her head and dried her years. Abba would be home soon and she knew he would be hungry.
She mixed flour and olive oil in a bowl, and stirred a pot of stew simmering on the fire. Should she tell Abba tonight? No, she would keep this news from her family a short while longer. She must tell Joseph in just the right way. By the time she returned from Elizabeth's house her condition would be too plain to be concealed.
What a day for the Galilean gossips! But God would not forsake her--she knew that. And despite the bewilderment and anxiety, the deep peace flowed again, and Mary smiled, knowing she was indeed blessed among all women.

Bon Voyage M'Cherie!

It hardly seems that a whole year has passed since last October! However, it has. And I have just spoken a truism and for heaven's sake, of course it's been a year since last October. I don't know what's wrong with me. I must have packed my brains up in my suitcase along with everything else.
Anyway, every October [this is our third year now] many of the young ladies of our acquaintance gather up at Mountain Top Youth Camp in Pinnacle, North Carolina, for the Daughters of Destiny camp for a week of blessed fellowship, bible-study, skill-building classes, and all around good times! I have never been to many camps, but I love this one, for it feels more like a retreat, since the application process pretty much guarantees that most of the girls will be like-minded. :) I've gone twice as a camper, but this year I've graduated to being a Jr. Counselor and co-teacher. I'll be co-counseling in a cabin with two other counselors and we'll be in charge of at least ten girls! I'm so excited about this opportunity for ministry among these younger women! I'll be teaching cake-decorating and counted cross-stitch, along with helping out with the snack-shack with one of my dearest friends, The King's Daughter's Sister. :P
We leave early tomorrow morning for camp in order to get to Mountain Top by 2:00 p.m. for the staff-meeting. Please be praying for me to have energy, health, and wisdom, as well as for the whole camp to be a blessed week! Also, my terrible case of nerves-when-speaking-in-front-of-people is preparing to rear its head since the speaker-woman asked for all of the counselors to prepare their life-story/testimony to share during the morning sessions. O.o But I'll survive and maybe my story will bless someone. :) By the way, would any of you like to read it sometime? Well, I'm afraid this post will be the last for a solid week, but by the end I hope to have an update-post with lots of pictures, things I've learned, and other sorts of things!