I was helping a customer at Macy's today. I found a pair of jeans for her that she really liked but couldn't afford yet. I asked her to write down her contact information for me so that I could call her when they went on sale. I looked at her email address and it was "servantwarrior2004@yahoo.com." I asked her if her email address had come from the book Servant Warrior. She said that yes it had and then I told her that I hadn't actually finished the book to which she responded, "well the abridged version says 'love Jesus, love others." Then I asked her if she had any places or connections to places to serve. That's when I found out that the City of Phoenix actually has a director of benevolence (or something like it, I can't remember what her official title was) on its board. The we started talking about Love Inc. (which she hadn't heard of . . . and which I didn't really know too much information about
surprisingly) and then she told me that the reason she was buying long skirts was because they spent a lot of time in Africa doing relief work, then I told her that my sister in law was working for Wycliff, in the Congo, to make dictionaries, to which she responded that she had just gotten back from being in the Congo. The she started talking about how she has been looking for a person who could talk to former prostitutes about the importance of dressing professional ( I thought she was talking about Arizona at this point) - to which I said that I had a degree in fashion and could probably talk about that for her if she ever wanted me to. Then she started talking about people had randomly started donating sewing machines to her and how she had 30 sewing machines waiting for people to learn how to sew on-but needed someone to instruct them- to which I said that I had been sewing since I was 8 and had made the skirt that I was wearing. And then I realized that she was talking about teaching women in the Congo how to sew so that they could make a living other than by prostituting themselves. So perhaps I am going to the Congo, I don't know. I already feel so blessed by this woman. During the beginning of our conversation when we were talking about places to serve she said, "well, you're already doing that, you are serving us now" and that really broke me down. I just finally feel like I can actually serve the Lord with the talent He has given me and that just never seemed possible until today.
And she wants to talk to the fashion department at Stephens College. And her name is Peggy (of course).
Here is the dress that I made out of some old curtains that a lady at work gave to me. Wearing old curtains or an old bedspread is a great way to go green. Of course all the 4-H judges and leaders have been in on that secret for ages. In fact I think 4-h'ers started thinking globally long before it was popular. . . what with the whole, ". . . for my club, my community, my country and my world" pledge.
This is a swimsuit cover up that I made in exchange for a facial. She wanted something breezy, flowey and fun that was no hassle to get on. She also wanted it to dry quickly and maintain its shape. The fabric is some sort of poly chiffon so it won't wrinkle and should dry quickly. The sleeves can be scrunched or worn kimono style . . . or a mixture of both. The best part about this swimsuit cover up is that I discovered a pretty cool fabric store in the process of making it. They have sales where they sell fabric by the pound. This fabric was $2.99 a yard. . . which is pretty good.
