Show Hope Helpers

The unappetizing mess below represents the start of our Black Walnut Ink project. To the left there you see the completion of it. Daniel and the girls collected them on their nature walk, and then we cooked them down all afternoon. It turns out November is the perfect time to do this, since the husks are supposed to be half rotten to make the ink.













After several hours on simmer we ended up with a quart of inky liquid that makes a satisfying, antique brown stain. I found the quills several years ago after a fox took out a goose, and they have come in handy. The girls practiced writing with them for nearly an hour. We think Sapphire writes better with a quill than with a pencil.



Last week Pearl and I were out until midnight on Sunday helping to run the Show Hope table at the Stephen Curtis Chapman concert at a huge church in Lancaster. Show Hope offers grants to families who are trying to adopt, but it also funds orphan care in China. They have some really progressive nurturing centers where they take sick kids and offer them treatment or gentle, palliative care for those who cannot be treated.

Our friend Diane, Pearl, and I handed sponsor cards out to folks who raised their hands just before the intermission when Stephen Curtis Chapman encouraged folks to commit to support the ministry. Then we helped process forms (she was the head envelope stuffer) when those people brought their signed cards to the table. We both enjoyed the whole concert, and Pearl was especially effected by the story and performance of the song "Cinderella" (of course). Afterward we went backstage and met Stephen Curtis Chapman.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy the concert, but I did. The performers had such humble attitudes. During Laura Story's part of the concert, we all just worshiped together, and worshiping with 1,000 people is a treat for someone from a small country church. They each had a neat testimony to share, and it felt like a mini-retreat.