Apple Hill & Fall Ministry Prep

I love going to Apple Hill. I went for the first time last year, and we liked it enough that we went back this year. It's the main way I really embrace and enjoy where we live - close enough to quaint fall treats like Apple Hill. Both years, we have gone with my friend Connie and her family - we've been friends since I was 11, and now she is married with two kids, the youngest of which is only 4 months older than Sam and about as close to a girlfriend as he's gotten so far! And as close as he's gonna get till he's at least 30.....

...Things are going really smoothly for fall creative arts prep. We have a definite of Cooley - we can choose between two spaces there, wahoo! We got board approval to order a dance floor for the secondary room we are using at Harvest, and we have having steady sign ups for both our classes this fall, and for ministry supporters so I can keep on keepin' on. Last but not least, the wonderful Brandi and Russ lugged two enormous mirrors from College Park to Roseville so that we can have some interim mirrors in the spillover dance room, too.

...I also met two LOVELY women last week that are going to serve as fall dance teachers for some of the technique classes, and I am so so so excited to serve with them!

....Last but not least, my awesome friend Sharon invited me to her ladies' night to share my ministry vision with a big group of women - I think it went fairly well. The more I speak about what God has placed on my heart, the more real and confident it becomes. I like that.

Anyway, here are some Apple Hill pictures.


Sam's first face painting


Hanging out at the Teddy Bear Picnic


This is Sam's "wow it is hot outside" face


Flirting.


Results.




Sweet friend


Nice day.

A Big Whopper of a Woot!

Dancers, this post deserves a woot!

There was absolutely nowhere to have our big show this spring. Seriously no where. Not a professional theatre, not a community theatre, not a high school, not a college....NO. WHERE.

So as a last ditch effort, I called Cooley....I pass it every time I drop off Sam at the Valeros....and today I found out we can have it! It has a stage bigger than Harvest's, which is the main goal. Lots of floor space for us to do fun and creative stuff like maybe have a pumpkin carriage or something.....and...drum roll please....

It's free!

Yep, we just saved $3000 because we are a non-profit and Cooley is nice to us! Sure, it isn't super glam....but now that money can be spent on outreach and more meaningful stuff for the show - which is such a huge blessing.





I love it :)

Jesus you are so nice.

Woot!

God is always cool....but sometimes he is REALLY cool!

So I have to share this story. It may be silly, but it's these little "I love you" moments from God that make full time ministry totally worth it.

I have been lamenting to myself about creative arts ministry and money - everything costs money, and when performances are being planned, those dollar amounts are always in hundreds, and usually have a few thousands thrown in. Costuming is one of the biggest expenses, especially now that we are going to be doing Cinderella, which involves a lot of random costumes (mice in dresses?) and sets to make it look good. I am so excited for Cinderella, because it is so familiar to people, that it is going to be EASY to sell tickets and be a GREAT outreach opportunity for others to hear the message of Christ.

ANYWAY, so as I was saying...I have been whining to myself that costuming is going to be astronomical, especially for Cinderella, who herself will need at least two dresses. Costumes from dance stores are very expensive, Halloween stores only get you so far, and there are really no savings in having a seamstress do it as fabric can get so pricey.

Sam is with his grandparents today, and so I took the morning to wander over to The Children's Orchard. They are a gently used kids clothing store in Roseville and they always have gorgeous stuff. If I do say so myself, I have a very well dressed baby, and I do it for under 12 bucks or so a month because of the families that sell their hardly worn Baby Gap, Ralph Lauren, etc. castoffs to this shop.

So today was the day they rolled out their halloween costumes and winter coats. We are going to Apple Hill next weekend and so I went to find Sam a fall jacket...and they were having this big kids event and who do I run into? Cinderella!

She was wearing the most GORGEOUS ball gown ever, and she is the average size a lot of the Turning Point girls are. The dress must be worth at least $500, and so without even thinking, I ran up to her...."Excuse me WHERE did you get your dress?"

"My fairy godmother made it for me!"

Oh boy.

So I asked a few more questions and she finally looked around to make sure there were no kids around, and told me she is a professional actress who worked at Disneyland and now does character parties in our area. And.....drum roll please....she is a CHRISTIAN and YES she will LOAN US THE GORGEOUS DRESS FOR OUR CINDERELLA SHOWS as well as ANY OTHER COSTUMES SHE HAS ON HAND THAT WILL FIT IN!!!

Thanks, Jesus. Thanks for saving us a gazillion dollars....you are so nice :)

So inspired and energized by that little miracle, here is a list of prayer requests for our OTHER potential miracles:

1) To keep up with the amount of dance participants we have, we are converting a room in our church into a secondary dance studio on Tuesdays and Saturdays. For this we need to raise the funds for a portable dance floor and some mirrors. The floor is about $500, and the mirrors are about $300 each (ouch).

2) We need to find a dance studio within the area that we can rent for our extra large dance rehearsals at the end of spring as we are doing show runs. Somewhere near our little studio :)

3) We need people! Children! Adults! Teens! To fill our technique classes! Art classes! Photography Ministry! Our audition days! Our outreaches! We always have plenty of participants for Turning Point's mainstage productions....now there is a desire to see that replicated in all other areas of ministry we are starting this fall.

4) We need seamstresses for what magical wonderful actress costume girl cannot provide.

5) We really, really need a venue for our show. It is very difficult to book a theatre in late spring with festivals, high school productions and college events happening all over town.

6) We need a "silly nonsense" fund for the ministry, so when low-income girls sign up for events like ministry in southern california, they aren't left behind in the motel room on Disneyland day with their boring old dance leader.

7) I need to raise full support so I can continue on as a missionary and keep on keepin' on with these programs and outreaches.

8) We need the Lord's peace, renewal, vision and passion in all we do <3

Artbeat Unleashed Pictures

I suppose since I just spent the last half hour writing a post about my personal life, I should write something action packed about my ministry life.

I spent a good chunk of my time this week dabbling in some basic graphic design-y stuff and came up with some decent looking posters for our fall programs. Through Artbeat, we found an incredible visual artist who is going to be teaching a Foundations of Drawing class while playing worship music and using God inspired themes, and we are also starting a photography ministry. Wonderful and ever-faithful Sue W has agreed to be my visual arts coordinator which means, once things start rolling, I don't have to do anything. Okay not ANYTHING....but the whole goal is for creative arts ministry to regenerate and grow to encompass all arts genres without my life getting stretched so thin that I have a holy nervous breakdown, and so far so good!

Turning Point is on summer break still, and Cinderella auditions are at the beginning of October. A lot of people have asked me if I have finished writing/adapting the script.....should my answer be.....yes? How about I have thought about getting to it? It's pretty much all I think about because I need to get it done SOON...but other things have taken priority - namely prepping everything else for fall dance and continuing my endless support raising journey. Praise God for a great friend who is going to let me speak at her ladies' get together to drum up more support.

Anyone else want to throw a party and let me crash it for the most awesome 20 minutes of photos and stories you will ever encounter? Wherever you live, I will come!

First weekend in October, nine of us are going down to San Bernadino for the 13th Annual Southern California Christian Dance Concert. We're going to perform there and hopefully do some other ministry things as well. Then Sunday the girls are all going to Disneyland. I really wanted to go with them and spend some fun time with them, but there is no way we can afford that right now.

So I fully intend to just stay in my pajamas and bond with the motel's cable TV I suppose! Mmmmm cable TV....I sure do miss that. But I do NOT regret how close I have become to God through this experience of having no money and living every day for His will and purpose.

Woot!

So anyway, 13th annual So Cal...blah blah...ooooooh I cannot WAIT until we can say 13th annual Artbeat! How fun will that be! But until then, here are some photos of the 4th annual Artbeat....it was all pretty great <3 Randy L. took the photos. Check him out.

A Comically Blessed Life

It was over 100 degrees again today - mother nature shows no mercy for Sacramento whatsoever. I was completely spoiled over the weekend when I went home to the bay area. I got to see Katie's super cute new house, got to watch my kid play with Connie's kids, and visited Elisa and her mom - who is seriously, for lack of a better term, a cancer patient role model. She was in such good spirits, her hope and outlook so strong - I will keep praying. God can do anything.

There are so many things I miss when I go home - the perfect weather, the cul de sac parks all over town that make it so simple to give Sam his beloved playground swing time, the city traditions like the art & wine festival, 4th of July picnic.....Santa Clara is by no means small town life, but when you spend the first 21 years of your life there - visiting your old haunts makes it feel like a small town within a big town. I love knowing where my favorites are, who enjoys them with me, and already getting the chance to wear cute sweaters at the beginning of September.

Oh but then darn it, I admit that I love coming "home" to Sacramento, too. There. I said it. Did you read that Frank? It will never happen again so bookmark this or something.

I love our reasonably spacious house that didn't cost a million dollars, the fact people are friendly in the grocery store, and that this is someday going to be where Sam considers HIS old haunts to be, and so I need to put my best foot forward and find ways to make fantastic memories for him like my mom did for me.

Fantastic memories of this past weekend included a joint family birthday party with my sister. My mother, in typical doting mom style, made us each our own cake, which is just ridiculous and bad for the waistline. But I totally binged on my favorite - devil's food cake with my mom's homemade jamocha frosting and pink icing, of course! God bless mothers - when they get on your nerves, it can be very bad...but when all is good in the hood, there is nothing quite as comforting and wonderful.

For our birthday dinner, my sister and I made the unfortunate decision to ask to go to Sushi Boat. My parents treated the Japanese restaurant like we had forced them to land on another planet. My mother picked up each piece of lettuce and practically every kernel of rice to examine it like poison, and my father managed to dump pink lemonade all over himself. They complained vehemently the entire time and we were the impressively loud table in the corner of a quiet restaurant, acting like raging drunks even though we only had soda....they just despise anything exotic, different or new, while I thrive off of it. I cannot wait for my next adventure - and they can't wait to be in their pajamas at home watching Project Runway.

In other unhealthy food news, apparently my dad has also become the dreaded customer at our favorite local donut shop. We've been going to Stan's on Sunday mornings since I was a toddler (probably before I was born!) and now apparently the employees join ranks when they see my cranky dad come in for his maple bar.

Sigh.

I. Am. Adopted.

My sister thought the whole weekend was hilarious. Our extended family is so broken and indifferent, while our immediate family - those at the sushi table - are just so strange and dysfunctional...my sister is probably right to have a good attitude, find laughs, and move on with life.

But dang, does Mama Hassinger ever make good cake. So no more complaints here.

Life has been easy peasy lately - dance is on break until October, and I am working at the church three days a week for my missions commissioning. The other days, I'm continuing to write some, and Sam and I....we play till we drop - and usually I am the first to tucker out.

I cannot believe how big he is getting.