Music Monday: "Lonesome Dove" and "The Dance" by Garth Brooks

Ok, so this is the best YouTube video I could find of this song. There was one video that actually had Garth Brooks singing the song, but it had some pics on it that I didn't want on my blog. If you want to hear the "real" version, go to YouTube and minimize the video. That aside, this cover is pretty true to the original :-)

This song makes me swoon! I know that sounds a little ridiculous, but it's true! The Crochet family are still fans of Garth, but back in the day, you know, waaaaay back when my parents were dating, newly weds, and had young kids, we listened to Garth a lot! That being the early 90s could have something to do with it :-) Anyway, my parents went to a Garth concert when my mom was pregnant with me, so I guess I'm destined to always have a little bit of Garth in my musical diet!

I just have to share another real quick Garth/Crochet family story. Moma was pregnant with me "The Dance" came out on the radio. She was sit and listen to it and cry, and watch the music video and cry. So now, I watch the video and cry!



GARTH BROOKS - THE DANCE by travhart

When my dad was younger he looked A LOT like Garth Brooks. So much so, that when he'd often have to travel to OK City for work he at least daily have someone ask him if he was Garth Brooks or at least tell him how much he looked like the Country star!

Ok...enough rambling :-) Do ya'll have a favorite Garth song?

Purity Takes Precedence: Modesty Fashion Show, PTP 2011

                               (Photo Credit: JBenavides)
I'm about 3 weeks late posting this, but I got home from Polishing the Pulpit and life happened! Anyway... This year I was so blessed with to opportunity of helping organize and model in the Modesty Fashion Show at PTP! Before talking about the actual event, I'd like to rewind a few weeks and reminisce on how this opportunity even came my way.

About 3 or 4 weeks before the event, we received our PTP booklet in the mail. I was flipping through and noticed that Cindy Colley was doing a Modesty Fashion Show!
   "Why don't you send Mrs. Cindy a message and let her know you'll help out?" Moma suggested.

So that's what I did.

The basic gist of the message was, "Hey, I'd like to help out any way I can. Here's my number. Let me know what I can do." Well, Cindy and I set up a time to talk on the phone, and lo and behold, she was willing to basically hand the project over to me! For those of you who aren't familiar with the Colley family, Hannah (Glenn and Cindy's daughter) was married this summer. So of course, the Colley family had a BUSY summer! Cindy also had 16 sessions at PTP! Yes, one week, 16 sessions. Needless to say, she was one busy lady!

Back to the phone conversation... Cindy would be the final say in anything that went for the MFS, but I was the administrative assistant. Well, when she handed this honor to me, she asked, "Do you think you can handle this? Is it too much?" Well, of course when given the opportunity to help out with a fashion show, I am NOT going to say no! My answer was, "Yes, I can do this!" while the little voice inside my head was saying, "Lori Lynn, are you downright crazy? You know NOTHING about organizing a Modesty Fashion Show! And this is PTP. There are going to be a LOT of ladies there. If you mess up, you're going to make Cindy Colley look bad. You are crazy!"

Well, I told that little voice to be quite.

God uses many different opportunities to grow us. Sometimes they're thrust upon us and we have no choice but to endure, others are thrust upon us, but we have the choice to say yes or no. I am so thankful that I said yes!

The next few weeks were crazy busy! Working, babysitting on my days off, getting Rodge ready to leave for school, teaching a Wednesday night Bible class, getting ready for PTP on top of getting everything together for the MFS was very ...  interesting :-) Let's just say that those were the busiest weeks of my life! Mrs. Cindy was so great about answering my questions! I REALLY wanted to represent her well, but I didn't feel that I could do that without calling her every 5 minutes :-)

Finally, the week before PTP had arrived and it was time to put together a slide show, and I came down with a really bad I-don't-feel-like-moving sinus infection. JenBen came to my rescue! I sent Mrs. Cindy my bare bones slide show and JenBen really made it look beautiful!

Thankfully, I was well before it came time to leave for PTP. Friday night I got to meet many of the models for the first time!

                               (Photo Credit: Kara M.)

I had been keeping up with all the models on Facebook, but most of them I had never met in person. Honestly, that was probably the scariest part for me, planning something like this with people I've never met! Everyone was great! They did so much better than I could've asked!

Saturday finally came, and time was ever nearing for the MFS. We gathered in our changing station, ear to the door waiting for the runway music to begin. It was thrilling! And also a little strange. The point of the MFS was to show a "before" aka, immodest and then an "after" aka, modest. Well, my before was a too short, strapless dress. I'm not going to lie, it was very strange going up on stage in front of 300 women wearing something that covered about as much as being wrapped up in a beach towel. (**Note** There were ONLY ladies in the room while the MFS was going on). The "after" though, was much more comfortable :-)

There was so much positive response from the MFS! Here are some comments shared with me on Facebook:

Meagan (one of the models): "I really enjoy doing things that may be out of my comfort zone and that was definitely one of those things. haha. But I actually learned so much doing it.

You would think that as a model, I would always know how to dress and cover up, but the truth is that us girls are probably the worst at judging that. It really made me see that we can't always trust our judgement and sometimes the best thing to do is to ask a brother or father. The whole reason we dress modestly is to help our brothers not to stumble, so it should be THEIR opinion that matters, not ours. Girls and guys think very differently, so it makes sense that sometimes what we may think is modest may cause them to sin. That's why we have to be SO careful!"

Sharla: "I LOVED the fashion show! I learned so much! I usually cry when shopping for clothes, but not anymore! ... I now look at shopping for clothes as a fun challenge instead of punishment :) ... I was really excited about all the different things that we could make modest."

Cindy F: "I appreciate the fact that the one-piece bathing suit was shown as immodest. You wouldn't believe the number of Christian women I know who think it's modest. Anyway, loved the whole show!"

Diane: "I LOVED everything about it! And especially the finale with the wedding dress; as this is becoming an ongoing look on Facebook and an "ignorant" ?? view of thinking this is modest and appropriate for one day... I think not."

I have truly been blessed by this experience! God has helped me grow so much through this! And now, if anyone wants to put on a MFS and need help, email me, I'll gladly help you out!

After Polishing the Pulpit, I was reading in the September 2011 issue of THINK, there was a quote that really reminded me of my experience with the MFS, "General Schwarzkopf, the commander of Operation Desert Storm, was once quoted saying, 'When placed in command ... take charge!'"

When God places you in command of a situation...take charge of it!

I'd like to personally thank all the models in the MFS...

Marrisa T.

Meagan T.

Melissa C.

Marli R.

Memory R.

Mattianne S.

Miriam S.

Alyssa C.

Natalie H.

Emily A.

Holly S.

Rosa W.

Kara M.

Jessica B.

Song N.

Ya'll did a wonderful job! Thank ya'll so much for agreeing to be in the Modesty Fashion Show!

Thank you Jennifer B. for the lovely slide show! You literally rescued me!

Thank you Mattianne, Melissa, Kara, and Cindy for helping me figure out who to ask to be in the MFS.

Thank you Gratt T. for putting together the music for the MFS! It really kicked the level of greatness up a notch!

Thank you Mrs. Cindy, for overseeing and presenting the MFS! You are such a great inspiration and teacher! Thank you so much for allowing me to help out with this!

And most of all, thank you Father, for allowing us to be used by You to spread the message of the importance of modesty to any of the ladies that were able to attend the MFS.

Music Monday: "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart

I don't know why....

...but this outfit reminds me of the song "Sunglasses at Night"! I guess because Moma tells me that the style of vest I'm wearing was popular in the 80's. That's the only logical explanation I have!

We had a let's-not-plan-anything-and-relax kind of Labor day, which was great! So this is LurlynnCrochet all natural, no make and unwashed hair!

This uber comfy outfit is perfect for a rainy Labor Day! We watched movies and just enjoyed each other's company! It was great and so relaxing!

One Lovely Blog Award!

Thank you Naomi for this award! The rules of receiving this award is to tell 7 random things about myself and award it to 15 other bloggers :-)

7 Things:
1. I love to read and crochet! I've done both from a young age.
2. I LOVE modest fashion! Can't ya tell from my blog? :-)
3. After far too long of having irregular Bible study patterns, I recently started a new Bible study method created by Cindy Colley. If you're interested in this method, you can go to her blog or the Facebook page :-)
4. I'm 20 years old and live at home with my parents and two little cousins.
5. I was recently blessed by being given the opportunity to help organize the Modest Fashion Show at Polishing the Pulpit (blogpost about it coming soon :-)
6. I love my drive to and from work. Not too long, not too short. I love blarring music from my granny car :-)
7. I aspire to follow in the footsteps of Christian women such as Cindy Colley and Shelia Butt, not only as a writer and speaker, but also as a wife and mom.

And I award...
India
Amy A.
Kristen
Melissa L.
Chelsea
Lisa
Dawn
Amber
Kris
Ashlyn
Deirdra
Lois
Julia
Jennifer
Patsy

Lazy Day Hair

When you're hair looks like this...

Do this...

 I was off yesterday and didn't want to was my hair or do my make up (my hair was clean, just messy :-) So whenever I've got messy hair my want to look somewhat decent, a French braid is the answer! I like to do mine to the side of my head, rather than straight down the middle. A quick and easy fix!

Music Monday: "Harder Than The First Time" by BarlowGirl

Wow, this song REALLY fits my week! Digging Deep in God's Word has taken off like wildfire! I've never been more excited about Bible study! Let me say that I was really excited about this Bible study before I formed the group. In fact, I formed the group because I was so excited! I wanted to share it with people on Facebook! My Bible study habits haven't been what they've need to be in a long time. I'm so thankful for this push to get back on track! If you're wanting to dig deep to the meat of God's word, check out the Digging Deep group on Facebook or check out Cindy Colley's blog for a great  month-by-month Bible study method that inspired the group!

Recap of Come Fill Your Cup Podcast

                                   (Photo Credit)
Let me say that listening in live and participating in the chat of today's episode of "CFYC Espresso!" was not only encouraging and uplifting, it was also a ton of fun! Erynn Sprouse interviewed Mrs. Cindy Colley about the Bible study method that inspired the Facebook group "Digging Deep in God's Word." Cindy talked about the Bible study method, the Facebook group and answered questions from the chat room. I feel like I'm rambling here, but I'm just so excited about the Bible study method she's come up with, how fast the Facebook group has grown, being able to listen live and participate in the podcast! I love it!

The actual podcast was very encouraging, but so was the chat that was going on while the podcast was being recorded! One of the questions I asked was how would Cindy suggest one to get started writing and speaking. Some of the ladies in the chat room were like "Great question!" I mentioned that writing/speaking is a goal of mine, and then BAM! some of  the ladies were encouraging me, saying that they could see me speaking and suggesting ways to get your writing out. It was great! A little bit of encouragement goes a LONG way! Thank you so much ladies!

I want to share a quote from Cindy today:

"Okay, it's just a promise from me. If you do this study for a whole year, you will never again say, 'I don't know how to study the Bible. I just don't know where to start,' because you will have so many unanswered questions; and God has the answers. He has all of the answers for all the issues of life in His book."

If you aren't reading Come Fill Your Cup or Bless Your Heart you are missing out on much encouragement and blessings, so go read them :-)

Come Fill Your Cup Live Podcast!

                                       (Photo Credit)
Come Fill Your Cup is doing a live podcast with Cindy Colley on the Bible study method of Digging Deep! And you can join in on the action (to join the chat click here)! The live podcast will be taking place on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 9am Central time. So, if you're interested, go fill your cup tomorrow morning :-)