GirlfriendGazette Spring 2012 Spring 2012

Make a Scarf

out of a T-shirt!

Your Light

Endowed Thru Color

Deborah Miller

The Girlfriends Tell U

s Their

Thoughts on Beauty

Hope For The Flowers: Hope For The Flowers: Hope For The Flowers:

A Book Recommendation

A Book Recommendation

A Book Recommendation

And More!

{ Page 4 }

Featured: The Girl With The Blue Feather Pen

{ Page 20 } Goes To Philadelphia Goes To Philadelphia Goes To Philadelphia

Your ‘Light’ Endowed thru Color Deborah Miller

On Beauty Just a little bit about beauty from the girlfriends.

Beauty Around You

{ Page 10 }

{ Page 16 }

{ Page 18 }

The Stained Glass Window

Monica Miller

“You should clothe yourselves instead with the “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty beauty

that comes from within, the unfading that comes from within, the unfading beautybeauty of a gentle and of a gentle and

quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the ho-quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the ho-

ly women of old made themselves ly women of old made themselves beautifulbeautiful.”.” -1 Peter 3:4-5

I am super excited about pub-

lishing this issue for you! So many

young ladies have given of their

time to make this possible….I

think you’re really going to love

what they have for you!

I think as we look at the topic

of beauty in so many of it’s differ-

ent aspects it is so important to

keep our eyes focused on the

One who created beauty. When

we take our eyes off of Him

beauty becomes something shal-

low…something totally different

than He intended it to be.

I am convinced that God is a

big lover of beauty. What time of

year proves that better than

Spring? The whimsical rainy days,

pink cherry blossom trees, lilac

bushes, birds, barefoot days, bud-

ding trees and plants, NEW life

bursting, blue skies...everywhere

we look creation is crying “life!”

and “beauty!” and bringing praise

to the creator!

And that’s what it’s all about…

isn’t it? Bringing praise to His

name.

{The cross is the most beautiful

story ever told…God taking on

the form of a man and taking on

our sins so that we could be one

with Him. } [One with Him.]

I bless you, that this Spring

you may see in a new way how

much you are loved, that you

could see how beautiful you real-

ly are, and that you would be able

to create beauty wherever you

go.

(and now that I have officially

babbled your ear off I will

stop….on to the rest of this is-

sue! :) )

Blessings to you in this beauti-

ful spring-time ~Monica Arlene.

Winner Of the last GIVEAWAY is Karlita Yoder!

(Karlita Please send your mailing address to thefly-

ingchrochet@gmail.com before May 1st, 2012 to claim

your prize.)

Announcement Board:

NEW GIVEAWAY!: Send a picture to me from one of your favorite vacations/trips (anything will do… maybe it’s last summer’s trip to see your grandma...the time you went to NYC...or Africa!) Send your entry to girlfriendgazette@gmail.com (along with your address, name, age and location of picture!) by June 23 and get a chance to win a special item from

a far-away land! Come on, join the fun! {winner will be picked at random}

The Lord has blessed my family with a trip to Israel —along

with some of our dear family friends, the Gaylord Barkman

family (you would know Christy...the Girl With the Blue

Feather Pen!)— with a trip to Israel!

We have started a blog for the trip and I would love if you

would follow our adventure!

www. m-bark17.blogspot.com

The Stained Glass Window

radiant beauty in broken pieces When I was seven years old my Dad purchased a hundred year

old piano. Its mustard yellow paint (yes , yellow!) was chipping

from its longevity and it desperately needed a good tuning. I t

was easy for litt le f ingers to find middle C because the key was

chipped. I stil l remember it parked in our garage as my dad dil i-

gently worked at removing the paint. Eventually he varnished the

old upright unti l it shined. It has adorned our l iving room for

the past f ifteen years and faithfully bursts with music.

Recently, I sat at a piano in a cathedral. As I played, I looked up

to notice a beautiful stained glass window. The sunlight was

spil ling through the deep colors of glass into the quiet sanctuary.

I realized my l ife greatly resembles that stained glass window.

A stained glass window is made of pieces of g lass. Our l ife is of-

ten made up of what seems like pieces . Some of them hold tears

and are deeply painful. Others are shining with laughter, joy,

and treasured memories. We wince at the chipped pieces from

our mistakes and sin. Some pieces are exciting adventures, and

others s imply the mundane of li fe. Some of the glass st i ll needs

to be broken.

I saw all those pieces lying before me. I wanted to sort the bad

ones from the good ones. They were ugly to me. Sometimes I try

to do that with beauty too. I l ike to decide what is beautiful. I

base my definition of beauty on what my culture is defining as

beautiful . I see it as the happy moments. You know - the roses,

chocolate, and summer skies. I want to separate everything else

that is diff icult and repulsive. When I’m facing hard things,

when I don’t measure up to my peers, when I cry tears, and when

I don’t feel beautiful - then I tend to believe that beauty ceased.

But it hasn’t.

True beauty, the kind of beauty that will come from deep inside

of you and shine out, often comes in broken pieces. Through the

things that don’t feel beautiful at the t ime. These pieces some-

times look like crushed longings, bad experiences, unfulfil led

dreams, hurtful relationships, fai lure, or physical limitations. Do

you have some broken pieces? What do you see as ugly and

harmful?

Mary Klassin says “the miracle of restoration compounds the

beauty.” In my words: “the process of something broken becom-

ing beautiful is what truly makes it beautiful .” My Dad took an

old, peeling, yellow piano and it now makes music. The artist

The Stained Glass Window

True beauty...often comes in broken pieces.

radiant beauty in broken pieces The Stained Glass Window

took the colorful array of broken, stained glass and made a fantastic mas-

terpiece. God takes everything in your life, even the shattered pieces, and

puts it all together.

Because He is the One who Restores – it is beautiful.

His heart is: “to give unto them beauty for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of

praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they

might be called trees of righteousness, the

planting of the LORD, that he might be glori-

fied.” [Isaiah 61:3]

When He shines the radiant, extravagant beauty of His holiness against

our “stained-glass window” - it is breathtaking. He will look at it and say,

Beautiful. Others will be drawn to it. It will be an inviting, warm, and

attractive beauty. It won’t be based on how you feel. It won’t be based on the

world’s standard of beauty.

It is a beauty from the Creator of beauty Himself.

2 Corinthians 4:7 is awesome: “But we have this treasure

in earthen vessels (our frail, human, broken pieces!), so that

the surpassing greatness of the power will

be of God and not from ourselves.”

God will take all your pieces, my friends, and create a splendid stained

glass window. Or, if you prefer, an old piano that creates beautiful music.

Because He is the One who restores— it is beautiful.

Radiant Beauty

Teresa Miller

Beauty

noun \ˈbyü-tē\

The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : Loveliness

Beauty: As According To Webster

1: You will need:

A solid colored T-shirt (This

one is size M),

A pair of Scissors,

Paper plate,

and a Marker.

2:Take plate and trace 4-6

circles on t-shirt.

3:Cut out all the circles.

4:Then cut them all in spi-

rals

5:Line them up

6:Cut a 4" Strip of fabric

Double knot it in the mid-

dle of the row.

And your done!!!

Savannah Knepp

1 2 3

4 5 6

….g

irlho

od..

Creating Beauty around my

neighborhood or my house is al-

ways an enlightening adventure

and it is fun seeing the smiles on

the faces of the people who’ve re-

ceived the beauty of something I

did. Creating Beauty around your

surroundings doesn’t have to be a

chore or work, but it can be super

exciting to make some one’s day

become more beautiful than it was

before. Creating Beauty around

you can be simple act or it can be

unique and exotic. Whatever mood

you are in . =)

Below, I am going to share with

you some of the things I do to cre-

ate beauty around me.

I love doing random acts of

kindness. Random Acts of Kindness

is doing something for a person

with out them knowing who did it

to them! =) Here is an example of

what I had done in the past. My

neighbor and her two kids were

outside. The kids were playing

around and she was trying to mow

the lawn! (she was interrupted

quite a bit, though.) After a while, I

pulled my coffee cake out of the

oven and the batch of iced coffee

was ready to devour. I wrapped a

piece of coffee cake and grabbed a

cup of iced coffee and sneaked it

unto her porch! She told my mom

later that day, “I was blessed by

someone today. That was an awe-

some surprise at my porch.” Per-

sonally, I thought that was so much

fun and it was great that she appre-

ciated it!!! =)

You can create beauty around

your house by dropping notes at

different places. Try doing it some-

time! It is really cool to have your

brother, sister, mom, or dad say, “I

got the note today, and it came at

the exact time I needed it!” You

could even get something in return,

like a candy bar on your bed at the

end of the day. =) Creating beauty

like this can be extremely fun and it

can make someone else’s day go ten

times better than before the ex-

traordinary thing you had done for

them.

Some simple acts of beauty

could be like these:

-You could have a meal ready for

your busy mom, aunt or grandma.

-You could brighten up the house

with an arrangement of flowers

that are in season.

-You could clean your ever-so-

junky house or bedroom without

being told to at least six times=)

-You could use REALLY nice eating

accessories for your Sunday lunch,

just because it is Sunday.

-You could help out and older lady

at a grocery store with all her shop-

ping bags and cart.

In my opinion, those are some

of the best things to create beauty

around your house and community

with. Creating Beauty is rewarding

to watch the persons gratefulness

or their expressions. You should try

creating beauty around you; it is so

much fun !

Simone Weaver

Beauty Around YouBeauty Around YouBeauty Around You By Simone Weaver

Oh, The Beauty In…. ….laughter.

...creativity.

...music.

….g

irlho

od..

...a well spread table.

..the light of the eyes.

…spring time.

To embark on the subject of beauty,

clothes, modesty, femininity, and

how our God ever so faithfully gov-

erns even this part of our lives, is al-

together a joy. I do it and am myself

challenged and inspired, realizing

what a responsibility we have as

women to represent Heaven, King,

and Bride.

So how, we may ask, do we repre-

sent properly? My Father is the wis-

est man I know, and he’s said on

more than one occasion: “You dress

because of the people not for the peo-

ple.” And I expound: We do not dress

for God, ladies, He sees hearts, re-

member? However people cannot see

hearts, so they have to assume that

the clothing you don is an expression

of your heart. We do not fear what

they think, we fear God by asking

ourselves if our dress represents Him

properly to people around us.

“In our initial contact with people,

fifty-five percent of our perceived

credibility is based on appearance

alone!”- Jill Swanson from Simply

Beautiful

Covering of the body should be au-

tomatic for the Believing Woman.

But modesty is what may lack in

even the “covered woman”. (Though

covering is essential and praise-

worthy.) I recently heard a powerful

message on modesty in which the

deliver said this: “Modesty is cover-

ing myself not just my body”- John

Yoder. We are to reflect, bring atten-

tion to, glorify, and represent, HIM,

not us. And all of us nod solemnly

“Amen .Yes sister.” But then the next

thought is this: “HOW??” We need

to wear something! So WHAT?

We have a generation of woman

who “Just want to be beautiful” and

therefore don’t deny themselves the

distracting clothing that they believe

makes them this thing called beauty.

Even “modest” dress can distract

people from being drawn to our face

for many different reasons, whether it

is wrong color, or any number of dif-

ferent eye traps (even if they don’t

reveal skin.). In our dress we bring

glory to God by representing godly

womanhood – being completely in

His design. We cover our bodies, and

then with those things we use to cov-

er we choose style that represents

purity and color that brings attention

to our face.

“The light of the body is the eye: if

therefore thine eye be single, they

whole body shall be full of light.”

Matt. 6: 22.

We’ve all met one, they glow,

right? One that lives sold out and vir-

tuous. I believe we all desperately

want to be undeniably reflecting glo-

ry. And this truly comes from deep

relationship with Almighty: Creator

of all things beautiful. It is the light

of the eyes, the smile on your face

that makes all aware of a Holy Pres-

ence within. Therefore we want to do

all in our power to wear clothes that

bring the viewer’s attention automati-

cally to the face, where His light

shines the authentic beauty.

God so creatively made the world

go through a yearly cycle of four sea-

sons: spring, summer, autumn and

winter. (Yes, the ones you learned

about in kindergarten.) Each one of

you has the colors from one of these

seasons that naturally look smashing

with your, eyes, hair, and skin tone.

(Does that make sense why it’s im-

portant to wear the right colors?

We’re trying to bring attention to the

face, remember?)

Your ‘Light’ Endowed thru Color Deborah Miller

Let’s talk about color, shall we?

When you go to buy paint for your

new room you can’t just walk into

hardware and say: “I’d like to buys

some green paint”, because there are

hundreds of different shades of

green! There will be forest green, true

green, lime green, and moss green.

The key to understanding which color

is “yours” is undertones and shades.

To understand this we must, again,

return to kindergarten. The three pri-

mary colors are red, yellow, and blue.

Out of these colors come secondary

colors with are made up of a combi-

nation of the primary colors. Then

from the secondary colors come

many other shades of colors by mix-

ing secondary colors. This is what

makes the different hues in Spring,

Summer, Autumn, and Winter. An

“undertone” is the dominant primary

color that is the backdrop for the new

shade or secondary color. For in-

stance if you mix the primary colors

yellow and blue you get a true green,

but if more yellow is added to that

green color you get a warmer yellow-

green such as the spring would wear,

therefore I say that that color has a

“yellow undertone”. On the other

hand if you were to add more blue to

that color you would get a cooler

green such as the Deep Blue-Green

of the summer in which case I would

say it has a “blue undertone”.

There are warm colors and cool

colors. Spring and autumn have

warm, yellow undertones, while as

winter and summer have cool, blue

undertones. One shouldn’t say “I

don’t look good in green” one should

rather say “I don’t look good in yel-

low-green or pine green but I do look

good in lime green”. It’s about the

undertones and shades that make any

color look great on you. However

there are some colors that certain sea-

sons have none of. For instance au-

tumns don’t have any shade of purple

that is considered to be “their color”.

Each season has about 30 colors that

when worn make the wearer appear

alive and healthy, making eyes, hair,

and skin come to their full potential.

But there’s even more than thirty col-

ors each season can wear, but those

thirty are the “basic truths” about

your season that you want to live by.

By each season’s description you will

see 16 of the main colors from each

season that I chose to present to you

for sake of the visual. But I would

highly recommend purchasing a book

with all the colors from each season

in, or ordering “seasonal swatches” in

your correct season online to keep in

your purse as you shop. With each

season I also have a picture of some-

one in my life who is in each season.

However don’t confine yourself to

looking just like them, there are many

variations of look in each season, the-

se are just a general example.

Most of you, by nature, know what

colors look good on you. But what’s

really wonderful about learning your

colors is finding new colors in your

palette that look great on you but you

would never have thought to wear. It

will also help you to stay away from

“fad colors” that are terribly “in” but

won’t look good on you. We are

tossed off the color path by the gen-

eral colors that everyone wears, such

as black. Did you know that only if

you are a winter does black genuinely

go with your skin-tone, hair, and

eyes? A weakness is to put on a pret-

ty color, see only the attractiveness of

the color think “this must be my col-

or”. Colors do weird things that may

make us believe they look good on

you. For instance: black slims, and

looks classy, so people assume it

looks good on them. Some good

question to ask your self are “Do peo-

ple see the color or me first?” Or

“Am I wearing the color or is the col-

or wearing me?”

As you look at the different season’s

colors, observe the difference of

shade and undertone with within the

same colors. Concerning whites; note

that winters are the only ones who

can successfully wear pure white,

although there are times when one

simply needs to wear white, I under-

stand. So, if you are a summer pur-

chase “Soft white”, a spring: ivory,

an autumn: “Oyster white”. Most all

people can get away with the sum-

mer’s “soft white”, but summers al-

ways wear it best.

Spring As I write our family

is returning home from

a ministry trip and I look

out motor home win-

dow to see spring un-

folding before me. Trees

and grass in their clear

yellow-green, some

bearing beautiful peri-

winkle blue blossoms

others having soft ivory

buds. It’s all so beautiful,

fresh, and clear. Look

outside this time of year

and you’ll see what to

wear as a spring.

My Mother is a beauti-

ful spring, looking fabu-

lous in peach, bright

coral, clear bright aqua,

camel, and periwinkle

blue (to name a few.).

She used to think she

was a fall because she

enjoyed “warm” colors,

but she would look drab

in most of the deep col-

ors of autumn, where as

the clear, warm colors

of spring make her

“come alive”. Instead of

the autumn’s dark choc-

olate brown she wears a

medium golden brown;

instead of gold she

wears light, clear gold.

Spring and autumn do

share several colors to-

gether however, such as

camel, orange-red, and

bright yellow-green. But

then comes the purples

and blues that autumn

can’t touch and the deep

browns and reds of au-

tumn that springs

shouldn’t do.

My little sister is also a

darling spring pictured

here in Bright Coral.

Her cheeks can be the

most delectable of

peach/ pink color, and

her blonde hair is

brought to life with the

clarity of this spring sea-

son.

Skin:

•Creamy Ivory

•Ivory with pale golden

freckles

•Peach

•Peach/Pink (may have

pink/purple knuckles.)

•Golden Beige

•Rosy Cheeks (may

blush easily)

•Golden brown

Eyes: (Often Spring’s

eyes have clusters of gold

around

the pupil or gold flecks

in the iris.)

•Clear Blue

•Steel Blue

•Green with golden

flecks

•Clear green

•Aqua

•Teal

•Golden Brown

•Blue with white “rays”

Hair

•Flaxen blonde

•Yellow blonde

•Honey blonde

•Strawberry blonde

(usually with freckles)

•Strawberry redhead

(usually with freckles)

•Auburn

•Golden brown

•Red-black (rare)

•Dove gray

•Creamy white

See which characteristics describe you.See which characteristics describe you.

Autumn

Hair

•Red

•Coppery red-brown

•Golden brown (dark

honey)

•Golden blonde

(honey)

•Ash (“dirty”) blonde

•Strawberry Blonde

•Charcoal brown or

black

•Golden gray

•Oyster white

Skin:

•Ivory

•Ivory with freckles

(usually redhead)

•Peach

•Peach with freckles

(usually golden blonde,

brown)

•Golden beige (no

cheek color.)

•Dark Beige (Coppery.

Usually with charcoal

black hair)

•Golden brown

Eyes:

•Dark brown

•Golden Brown

•Amber

•Hazel(golden brown,

green gold)

•Green (With brown or

gold flecks)

•Pale, clear green

•Olive green

•Blue with a distinct aq-

ua or turquoise tone

•Teal Blue

•Steel blue

I am autumn, I live in the

browns, oranges, greens, and

yellows that are on the trees

in the season. It’s been said

that autumns have the easiest

shopping since the colors are

readily available and all you

need look for is golden un-

dertones that can be clear or

muted.

A personal tip for autumns:

buy tan, kaki, copper or

brown skirts verses your tra-

ditional denims, blacks and

whites (though a few of those

are OK). You’ll be amazed at

how much sharper your au-

tumn tops will look with a

tan skirt instead of the denim.

Your wardrobe will also flow

together much more with the

majority of your skirts being

in the tan, brown-line.

Often a give-away from a

spring or autumn is cheek

color. The autumn’s cheeks

will generally be more color-

less while springs will be rosi-

er. However some autumns

do have a more pink cheek

and will easily get confused

with a summer, but, again,

the pink will be more peachy

then a true blue-toned pink.

Autumn’s hair may be

blonde as a child but normally

darkens with age (My story.)

The hair of the autumn usual-

ly has golden or red high-

lights. Redheads are most

often autumns, with the ex-

ception of a few due to deli-

cate skin that makes them

springs.

If you’re an autumn don’t

limit yourself to brown as I

did! J There are beautiful

greens, oranges, or yellow

colors that can be worn dur-

ing spring and summer sea-

sons that don’t look like

you’re always in deep fall col-

ors. But do buy brown, warm

beige, or oyster white under-

shirts instead of white and

black, these are the best

completions to your outfit

and you’ll wear them over

and over again.

See which characteristics describe you.See which characteristics describe you.

I feel as though I’m entering a

whole new world after we’ve

talked so much about “warm,

golden, brown, and yellow

undertones” we are now

speak in the world of “pink,

cool, gray, and blue under-

tones.”

When I spoke of spring I

mentioned the beautiful life

that is going on around us in

this amazing change of sea-

sons. I used to think that sum-

mer was the “bright colored”

palette, but I was quite wrong.

If you think of summer, all the

crisp colors of spring turn into

muted pinks, greens, plum,

and the sky is softer and not

as contrasting with the earth.

This is summer; muted and

powered colors.

Often summers are the

ones with beautiful pink

cheeks and raspberry lips.

Some may be pale lacking

cheek color, then there are

the ones with rose-beige skin,

others may be very high in

pink color, there are also

those that have beige, shallow

skin which makes it hard to

discern the blue undertones.

But no fear, something along

the line will reveal your true

colors. J Hair though it may be

brown or blonde in many dif-

ferent shades, has an ash, gray-

ish cast to it. This is a large

differing factor from the au-

tumn or spring that has a red

or gold cast on her hair. The

soft white speaks that can

appear in the summer’s eyes

differ from the harsh con-

trasting white speaks that ap-

pear in the winters. They are

just that: softer.

No one in our family is a

summer, but I shall tell you

about my friend who knows

her summer and wears it well.

She has hair about my color,

but with a gray cast while

mine has a red. Her cheeks

are always rosy, and lips deep

raspberry. She’s so attracted

to gray, silver accessories, and

says she’s always in powder

blue or pink. Just today I was

in a thrift store and found a

shirt that I only wish she could

have been along to see. It was

raspberry and carried lots of

ruffles that would have fit her

to a tea. She looks so alive and

beautiful in her summer, mut-

ed colors.

Some may glace at the sum-

mer palette and think

“boring”. But trust me, when a

summer dons any of these

muted tones, they look like

the most exciting colors on

earth!

Summer

Skin:

•Creamy Ivory

•Ivory with pale golden

freckles

•Peach

•Peach/Pink (may have

pink/purple knuckles.)

•Golden Beige

•Rosy Cheeks (may

blush easily)

•Golden brown

Eyes: (Often Spring’s

eyes have clusters of gold

around

the pupil or gold flecks

in the iris.)

•Clear Blue

•Steel Blue

•Green with golden

flecks

•Clear green

•Aqua

•Teal

•Golden Brown

•Blue with white “rays”

Hair

•Flaxen blonde

•Yellow blonde

•Honey blonde

•Strawberry blonde

(usually with freckles)

•Strawberry redhead

(usually with freckles)

•Auburn

•Golden brown

•Red-black (rare)

•Dove gray

•Creamy white

See which characteristics describe you.See which characteristics describe you.

Hair

•Red

•Coppery red-brown

•Golden brown (dark

honey)

•Golden blonde

(honey)

•Ash (“dirty”) blonde

•Strawberry Blonde

•Charcoal brown or

black

•Golden gray

•Oyster white

Skin:

•Ivory

•Ivory with freckles

(usually redhead)

•Peach

•Peach with freckles

(usually golden blonde,

brown)

•Golden beige (no

cheek color.)

•Dark Beige (Coppery.

Usually with charcoal

black hair)

•Golden brown

Eyes:

•Dark brown

•Golden Brown

•Amber

•Hazel(golden brown,

green gold)

•Green (With brown or

gold flecks)

•Pale, clear green

•Olive green

•Blue with a distinct aq-

ua or turquoise tone

•Teal Blue

•Steel blue

See which characteristics describe you.See which characteristics describe you.

When considering yourself

to be a winter, look for blue or

blue-pink undertones in your

skin. This may work to no avail

since winters are sometimes

shallow and the blue undertone

indistinct. Don’t be disheart-

ened, your other features well

tell you what you are. If you’ve

heard the term “olive skin” and

consider yourself to have it then

you’re probably a winter. Olive

skin appears golden but actually

has blue undertones. My mother

used to think she had olive skin

because she considered olive to

be the definition of “warm”

skin. Orientals and blacks are

usually winters, though some

are from any other of the sea-

sons as well.

When I was a little girl, I

thought I looked wonderful in

black and wanted very desper-

ately to be considered a winter. I

remember well this darling little

black shirt that I thought was

the prettiest thing in my closet.

My daddy liked it too, and so I

felt that I was, indeed, a winter.

Even as a “tween” I wore lots of

true red, pink, white, and gray.

(I even decorated my new room

in shocking pink and black

stripes.) I really enjoyed loud

contrasting colors. This was

partly because, with my person-

ality, I like to make a statement

with my clothes, but the Lord

has changed a lot of those ideas

and made me realize who He

really created me to be as a

woman in His Kingdom. The

fads and colors of the time also

affected me; I just wanted to be

“in”, therefore bought glory to

myself by wearing loud clothing

that honored me more than God.

This was during the time that

my brothers call my “rumm

springa” or in another word:

rebellion. But when my heart

changed, so did my clothes, and

a search for godly womanhood.

In that search I found the things

I’m writing now, and it’s beauti-

fully freeing to bring honor to

God though our clothes, is it

not? OK…I’m sorry, I wasn’t

panning on sharing my life sto-

ry, more on winters…

Hair is usually dark, with the

exception of white-blondes. It’s

normal for winter’s hair to gray

early, but they do so gracefully

with the salt and pepper look.

My Father is winter, having had

his first gray hairs at age 18, and

now at age 43 he has more

white hair than black. Mother

says it makes him look distin-

guished. J The noble author of

this Girlfriends Gazette is her-

self a beautiful example of the

Winter

So, have you figured out which one you

are? I know how it is to go in circles trying

to diagnose yourself, but once you know

which season you are amazing things will

begin to happen in your closet. :)

It took me quite some time to come to a

very deep knowing of which season I am.

We have an idea, but we also are really

attracted to this and that color, or maybe

someone said they like this shirt on us and

wasn’t in the season you thought you were.

That’s alright; it’s a process to change your

closet and mindset to the proper season. I

knew I was an Autumn for quite some time

before I began buying ONLY autumn

clothing. I would like something so much

and buy it because it didn’t exactly look

“bad” on me, but it also didn’t look “best”

on me. Step by step you begin to enjoy

your season so much and know the colors

automatically as you shop, saying “no” to

anything that isn’t your best.

I would now recommend taking a few

colors from each season, holding them up

to your face and asking the opinions of

your Mom, Sisters, or Friends. Remember

it’s not about the color; it’s about what the

color does to your skin, hair, and face.

Color is one aspect of dressing. God also

created us with personalities that we often

express in our dress; this takes wisdom to

not do whatever we want with our person-

ality, but to also enjoy it. The books I

mentioned above go in-depth with clothing

personality. (Both mention about four or

five clothing personalities you can have,

but I personally enjoy another paper that

I’ve fill out concerning the subject that has

more like eight.) One warning I have is to

see your natural tendency in dress, then

look for its strengths and weaknesses. For

instance the “creative” dresser may be too

creative, wearing so many layers and

unique clothing that it brings more atten-

tion to her than to her face. But she can

also be the inspiring individual that glori-

fies God in her creativity.

Since hair is the frame for your face it is

one of the most important aspects your

presentation. Learning what your face

shape and features are, and how to do your

hair to complement them is so important.

There is also the aspect of the human

mind. You see, the mind works in a certain

way without failing, and by learning how it

works there are key things we can wear at

key places on our attire that will naturally

make the human mind to make eyes look

at your face. Of course, we can do just the

opposite as well. Put together some outfits

walk into a room and ask one of your fami-

ly members “What was the first thing you

noticed about my presentation (Not

“outfit”. As in, did they see the clothes

first or you. I do realize that we naturally

take a glance at a person’s clothing, our

goal is to make that glace naturally go up

to the face.)?” The section on clothing in

the Advanced Training Seminar Book by

Bill Gothard has some wonderful tips con-

cerning this subject; you probably already

have a copy of this book in your house.

Well Ladies, it’s been a pleasure discuss-

ing color and how the proper use of it can

glorify its Creator. I most humbly say that

I have much to learn, and much I know

that I’m still not putting to practice. I am

so grateful to know that the Keeper of Our

Steps will continue to teach all of us His

perfect ways concerning…what shall we

call it? Beauty is quite overused, were not

trying to focus on fashion, and clothes are

the minor aspect…let’s call it “The fram-

ing of His light.”

Blessings~ Deborah Isabel

Information on colors and color names

and shades are derived from Color Me

Beautiful by Carole Jackson.

All Rights Reserved.

Simply Beautiful by Jill Krieger Swanson is an attractive that makes learning more on proper clothing

fun. Jill is a wonderful Christian lady that my Mother met at a conference. She has a spiritual challenge at

the end of each chapter that goes along with the subject discussed. She does colors not by season but by

tone, so it’s a bit different, but I really enjoy her chapters on closet organizing, shopping, and color person-

ality.

Of all things I ask that each of you go on amazon or ebay to purchase Color Me Beautiful by Carol

Jackson. This is an old book that can be easily found anywhere for a good price. Please invest in the book

to see all 30 colors that are the backbone of each season. You can tear out these color palettes and put

your correct season palette in your purse to take shopping with you. The 16 colors I gave you can only

take you so far, but the 30 colors in this book open your color would anew. You will also be able to learn

more about your season then I was able to share with you in this article.

“The Power of finding Beauty

in the humblest things

makes home happy and life lovely.”

-Louisa May Alcott

Just a little talk about beauty from the girlfriends.

On Beauty

“I like to draw and paint beautiful pictures to

create beauty. “ -Clarissa “Every other Tuesday night some of us

girls from church get together to make

casseroles and deliver them to shut-ins

and low-income families.” -Lanae

“How do you create beauty around you? “

“Being a vessel of God's love and letting it shine through me to other people. As a writer, creating pieces that touch hearts...smiling a from the heart smile...sharing encouragement and being willing to lift people up instead of tearing them down..”

-Kelsi

“ I create beauty by sending cards to people to brighten up their day,

flashing someone a smile in the hall, keeping my bed made and my

room clean so that it’s pleasant for me and others, singing my heart out,

keeping myself presentable and pleasant to look at, cleaning things up

and making something look nice.”

-Sierra

“What comes to mind first when you hear/see the word ‘Beauty?’”

“Flowers!” -Savannah

“ I think of physical beauty but also inner beauty. Some attributes of inner beauty are unselfishness, kindness, gentleness and pa-tience.” -Sharayah (12)

“A pinky-orangey crisp sunset,

my row of books organized by

color, rainy hazy rainy days, a

truly virtuous heart, the panora-

ma view from a mountaintop,

and Autumn.” -Christy (16)

“Purple, Butterflies, Mountains, and Green Trees.”

–Cheyenne (14)

“Beauty? Probably my

mom, she's is one of the

most beautiful people I

know, inside and out :).”

-Brittany

“Stars on a clear night.”

-Sierra Beauty is God working in and through your life.

When He takes the weak YOU, and by His pow-

er and never-ending strength, makes you

strong.

He makes you to fly with wings like an eagle,

enabling you to spread His fame all over the

earth, not for your glory, but for His.

That's Beauty.

It's Jesus dying the terrible death on the cross

for our sins.

Washing you whiter than snow.

Loving you more than can be imagined.

That's true Beauty.

JESUS is true Beauty.

-Janae (16)

“I think of a kind, gentle, and beautiful

young lady!!! “–Londa (12)

The Girl With The Blue Feather Pen CHRISTY BARKMAN

Well, HI!

CUT.

Greetings and Salutations.

CUT.

HOWDY.

CUT.

Maybe I should figure out some new way to

say hello, all the others are overused and

practically recycled.

Ah well.

HELLO.

It's awful swell to write again, I daresay.

(although I'm not too sure WHAT I'm going to

write about.)

What's been going on in my life?

Well.

Starting with what-i-thought-would-be our

little day-trip to Pennsylvania.

My Uncle was being commissioned as a dea-

con in his church, and so we wanted to be

there for that.

Trips in the family suburban are

always interesting.

(A.K.A. crumbs, fights,

snores, music, laughing,

cramped quarters, being too

cold while another person is

too hot, and etc.)

But we finally made it there.

In April (I think) of last year, our

family had done revival meetings

at their church, and so it was fun

to go back and recognize every-

one.

Add little cousins (as well as old-

er cousins) sitting with us, draw-

ing entertaining little sketches

for us, (sigh. the younger cousins, not the

older ones.) thus laughing and creating quite

a little stir during the service, plenty of sar-

casm, glittery shoes, a little meeting with the

elder cousins on the kitchen floor, lunch at

Grandma's house with most of the uncles

and aunts there (including a newly engaged

couple, HURRAY!), and skyping with some

who weren't there,

and I'd call it a pretty swell day.

Not to mention my Cousin James STAR-

RING in their Youth Group's production of

Cheaper by the Dozen as Mr. Gilbreth.

(May I say we're quite proud to have an actor

-cousin for kin, by jingo.)

And THEN, through a series of VERY fortunate

events,

I was allowed to stay with Grandma and the

Aunts for the entire week until they came to

OH.

Let's just say I was a bit excited.

There was a spoiler:

I became quite sick.

(Please gasp in horror.)

*the crowd gasps in horror*

I assure you, it's true.

It was all right though, because I basically just

downed all their garlic, vitamin C, Echinacea,

and another pill that i've forgotten, and was

right as rain in a few days.

(there are rumors circulating that I slept in

until 2:30 the second day. I would like to go

on the record as having no comment.)

(Word of Advice: If you ever go to PA for a

week, make sure that you don't know that

you're staying, hence, you have to go shop-

ping. heh heh.

I must say it feels pretty good to have a

whole new wardrobe from Goodwill.)

After being re-wardrobed, my aunt and I ven-

tured out as tourists in Lancaster City, going

From Here to Timbuktu.

literally.

(no, I'm serious.

There was a store called From Here to Timbuktu.

So, literally, we were from here to Timbuktu.)

My goodness, I almost convinced myself that I could live in the city.

(provided that I had shoes other than boots. UGH.)

There were so many wonderful wonderful little shops along the streets filled

with wonderful wonderful random things.

We went to art galleries, a smokey book store, a french pastry place, St. Johns

Church's cemetery,

(I assure you it was much much better than it sounds) to name a few.

It was lovely, in a wintery, gloomy, haunting sort of way.

(that IS a good thing, in case you're wondering.)

My aunt is a nanny to some kids named:

Guess?

Jack and Emma.

Right out of a storybook.

They're quite the darling children.

We had lots of fun with them; Nerf gun wars,

cats, running around in circles around the

table, finger-nail painting, and etc .

We went to Philadelphia.

Gah. That was awesome.

I have hereby decided that Subways are some of the most interestingly confusing plac-

es.

Everything is dirty.

People eat yogurt, listen to music, or text, and all the while

everyone avoids eye-contact with everyone else and ignore the man begging for mon-

ey.

It's really strangely sad.

Everyone is in their own little world, and not wanting to venture out of their shell to

strike up a conversation with anyone else.

Anyway, we went to Independence Hall.

That was pretty incredible.

(I was kicking myself all week for not taking my camera along. The few pictures I have

were taken on my aunts camera, mostly in Philadelphia.)

We were in the buildings that the Founding Fathers wrote and signed the Declaration

of Independence.

There were two fire drills, which were quite confusing.

But during one of them we met a real live grandmother from England . . .

(excuse me, I just dumped a cup of coffee in my room.

Report: The good news is that the coffee was cleaned up.

more or less.

the bad news is that everything in my sock drawer will probably smell like coffee for ever.

Current Report: am now consoling myself with chocolate.)

ANYWAY.

. . . a real live grandmother from England who had a real live accent,

and said she was leaving around 'teatime'.

*happy sigh*

And we also went to a museum.

but I forgot it's name.

ehem.

Then we went to the Signing Room, where we 'met' the Signers of the

Declaration of Independence and posed for quite a few pictures with

them.

(see pictures)

We also signed the Declaration, with good ol' George Washington

looking on.

We then left Philadelphia, and went to a restaurant/shop called

Terrain.

You can look it up, because I can't explain it right.

It was ridiculously gorgeous.

That's all I'll say.

And then we went to Target.

Good Ol' Target.

You see, all week my aunts had been saying that they HAVE to buy me

better walking shoes, because my boots weren't too swell for walking

through Lancaster City and Philadelphia in.

And then, at the last store we went to all week, Target,

they bought me shoes.

(I thought it was pretty funny.)

Then, we came back to Ohio.

(we discovered that Lemon Pound Cake at Starbucks is incredible.)

It was a VERY good week.

This past weekend we attended a Missions

Conference with a theme of Human Trafficking.

Wow.

It was so eye-opening, to realize what's going on around the world,

even right here in Ohio,

and I don't have the excuse of all that horrible stuff just happening

overseas where I am not right now.

To get involved in or learn more about organizations working against

Human Trafficking,

go to www.ijm.org and www.shehasaname.com. You can make a difference.

But first, pray.

That you would be willing, open, and obedient to His voice.

That He would open your eyes to the people in chains around you.

Because it is real, and it's closer than we think.

(After asking Chloe what Beauty was, these were her answers:

What do you mean?

You mean what do you think things that are pretty?

Um. I don't know. Black Beauty.)

Thank you for reading my rather last minute column thing.

Once again, if you want to ask a question, offer words of advice, or if

you just want to chat, email me at browneyed996@gmail.com, or you

can stalk me on my blog:

www.sinkhappysoughts.blogspot.com.

God bless you all, and have a smashing Winter-turning-to-Spring!

“You were given life; it is your duty

(and also your entitlement as a human being)

to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert

and oh, by the way, I was sworn

in as President.

I hope that wasn't too big of a

shock to you, I shall try my

utmost to care for the land and

it's inhabitants.

I should consider growing up—but I still

love storybooks. They are the working of

the ordinary and simple into profound

truth.

The two fuzzy caterpillars, Stripe and Yel-

low, desperately attempt to reach the top

of a massive caterpillar pillar before realizing they were

meant to fly, not climb. They learn that being what they

were designed to be is not something you attain, but ra-

ther something you become.

I scribbled down this quote from the book: “What looks

like dying really is not. Life is changed—not taken away.”

You will enjoy the yellow-themed illustrations and the

author’s creative writing style. -Teresa Miller

Hope for the Flowers—Trina Paulus A tale partly about life, partly about revolution, and lots about hope for adults and

others (including caterpillars who can read)

It’s A Beautiful, Crazy LifeIt’s A Beautiful, Crazy LifeIt’s A Beautiful, Crazy Life

It’s A Beautiful, Crazy LifeIt’s A Beautiful, Crazy LifeIt’s A Beautiful, Crazy Life Snapshots From My JourneySnapshots From My JourneySnapshots From My Journey

This Issue’s Cover Model: Shania, Age 15. This Issue’s Cover Model: Shania, Age 15.