Recycled Soap Bound for Africa

Recent research led me to an interesting article about recycling hotel soap bars for use in Uganda. The opening statements stopped me in my tracks. 
Follow the link;;
 http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social-assistance-lifestyle/philanthropy-charities/13202337-1.html

Soap!

Happy December!
It's always such a wonderful time of the year, and with the craft fairs to visit each weekend there is no shortage of aromas in the air. Soapmakers abound and the variety of bars is endless!
We visited 3 small fairs on the weekend and found 5 soapmakers and a vast array of beautiful products. I am very picky about the products we use, especially since I learned that 85% of everything we put on our skin is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. One lady from Union Bay, BC, sold me the best all natural handcream ever. It's amazing and my hands are loving it! I found one of my favourite soap scents, Raspberry, from Michelle in Royston, and a new one for me, Citrus Mint from Finlay Creek Farm, Courtenay.
The house is filled with the fragrance of handmade soap, what a treat and a lovely way to kick off December!

'Grand' band

Manny and Miranda keeping the beat with Katie on a sunny, fun Saturday morning.

Hayden and Brooklyn

Family Picture

They are WAY TOO cute!!!

The new girls, my great-nieces, born last spring into our family

Devon

Brooklyn

Katie's Song

Yaaaay!!!! Katie now has one of her original songs posted at Garage Band.
Check it out at http://www.garageband.com/ and type in the artist name Caeti in the top right-hand search bar. It's a great little happy tune.

Hello dear Readers,

Yet again God has moved in our life in an awesome, mighty way. A crisis which seemed insurmountable back in October has "worked together for good" (Romans 8:28) as God graciously poured out His blessings and provisions and brought peace in the midst of our storm (Psalm 3:3, .Psalm 29:11, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:6-7)

All is well. Our daughter has come home and is doing great. We have been able to remodel our home to provide a suite for her in our basement. We have been awarded the funds required for hiring the staff to care for her complex needs. The only thing better I could ask for her is that the Lord would bring total healing, and I have no doubt that He will in His time. (Ecclesiastes 3)

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer enjoying time with family and friends and surrounded by the perfect peace and love which only comes from above. Thank you for your many prayers which did indeed move mountains.

Joy

http://www.biblesociety.ca/free_scriptures/escriptures/ecclesiastes3/ecclesiastes3.html

Temporarily down

Sorry everyone, due to a crisis with our daughter I am temporarily unable to post, however, as soon as the water calms I'll be back....my sincere thanks for hanging in there.
Blessings,
Joy

Katie and her children's group at camp

Priceless

Soap making day

Shredded soap from the base I made last week. Looks like grated cheese.

Into the mold and set aside to cool.

First batch cut and trimmed.

Second batch prior to trimming.

At last, after a busy summer I have finally managed to get some soap made. It is always a rewarding experience for me and I am forever fascinated at the way oil and water, which we all have learned simply do not mix, come together to produce a hard, cleansing, bar of bubbly soap.

Today's efforts yielded 12 bars, each weighing around 4 ounces, and because there were 3 separate batches I have three different scents. The first one is tangerine & spice and smells like Christmas! The second batch is one of my all time favourites - rose with a touch of baby powder, and the third is cranberry orange spice which is truly spicy and absolutely mouthwatering.

I have been invited to place some soap bars in our local art gallery so I will be testing these ones out over the next few days on various family members and if I get a thumbs up some of them just might make their way into town. I love to experiment and do my own thing so I am always playing around with the formulas and getting different results which may not go over well if I had steady customers wanting a consistent supply. But the art gallery would allow me the freedom to produce something unique each time meaning it would remain an adventure rather that become a mundane job.

Another new baby in the family! Finally getting these pictures up of little Danae - firstborn daughter of my nephew Andrew and his girl Kat.

This artist makes his music available free for downloading. What a great ministry!

http://www.seandietrich.com/All%20I%20Need%20is%20Jesus.mp3

Sobering Words

"Isn't it staggering when you think that one sermon on the day of Pentecost produced 3000 Christian people? And we had some cities yesterday where 3000 sermons were preached and nobody was saved. And it doesn't even faze us. The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it's a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion - we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed - And now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it's ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction. Look, I think this is a critical hour in history, the most critical hour in history; the Middle East is ready to blow up... the prestige of this nation we love has gone down ... As someone said, "We live in a theater of the absurd...When did you last tiptoe out of the sanctuary when you dare not say a word? The church has to rediscover two things. One, the majesty and the Holiness of God, and the other, the sinfulness of sin."

-Leonard Ravenhill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Ravenhill

http://www.ravenhill.org/

Totally pointless but very cute...