Saturday at Louisiana Camp

These really cute little girls at the Talent Show!


She was not happy!

I tried to carry a friend's baby, in the carrier, but she did NOT like it!


Me, enjoying the Spring in Louisiana

Beautiful, Tropical Mercy!

My Grandpa and I

My grandma and I

My fried alligator

Mrs. Campbell speaking on Saturday morning.

Saturday, Mercy and I went to check on Mrs. Campbell. She had had a bad night I think, but she was still so smiley! We had pancakes for breakfast. At the Louisiana camp, the people putting on the camp do there own cooking for everyone. Mrs. Campbell, still managed to teach the morning ladies' sessions, even though she was in pain. Before lunch, my grandparents came up to see me. We went out to lunch at a nice seafood restaurant. I had fried alligator, which was so good. I also had crawfish bisque, and seafood fettuchine. Such a wonderful meal. It was fun to be able to visit with my grandparents. After we ate, we drove around, and found a little flea market, where they sold interesting things. My grandma even bought me a pretty necklace. They came back to the camp, and my grandma came to our room and met Mercy, and visited with me. Not too long after they left, Mercy and I were just hanging out in our room, which we shared with organizer of the camp. She told us we needed to go outside and talk to people, because we were famous (well, I am not famous, I don't think) and she said people wanted to talk to us. So, we went and noone seemed to want to talk to us, so Mercy and I did a photo shoot of each other. It was fun, then we found some people to talk to. That night there was a talent show, and more speaking. One of the awesome things about the camp, is that I got to meet the Getreaux family. They are farmers, and they have 10 beautiful adopted children, around the same ages. Mrs. Getreaux was sweet, and a real inspiration! It was a great day!

-Hannah

Louisiana Camp

Jessica, Erika, and I

A bridge over the mighty Mississippi

The camp was pretty


The lodge where our room was

Mr. Campbell speaking during the evening service.

Mrs. Campbell speaking during the evening service

Entering Louisiana.

So, we arrived in warm, sunny, Louisiana, of which I happen to be a native. Our destination was Pineville, Louisiana. The camp was the Nazarene Camp there, and it was very nice, with lots of trees. It was a family camp, so families began to arrive. Children were everywhere! These people had lots of children! I think most families probably had around five children or so. We had a hot dog supper, and then Mr. and Mrs. Campbell both spoke in the night service! They did an amazing job! After the service, there was a snack time, with nachos to eat. I helped work at the book table, and ate nachos. I met two really sweet girls, one was Erika, and the other was Jessicca. They were so awesome, and we had a blast talking! After I was done working at the book table, I was outside, and some of the ladies came up to me, and told me that Mrs. Campbell had fallen, and really hurt her shoulder. Evidentely, she was walking along the sidewalk by her room, and one section of the sidewalk was higher than the other, and she I guess tripped and fell, and fractured or broke her shoulder. Angela Decateau, who helped organize the camp, decided Mrs. Campbell needed to go to the Hospital, so off they went. They didn't get back till really late, and Mercy and I were already asleep. Thus ended our first evening of Louisiana Camp.

-Hannah

Louisiana Bound

Me

Mercy getting ready for bed!

Our Beautiful Hotel Room

I am now the only Rubies Girl at the moment, hence the reason I am doing all of the posting! I am currently as of today with the Campbells on the way to the Louisiana "Above Rubies" retreat. We left somewhere around 5 aclock last evening, and drove down to Grenada, Mississippi, where we stayed at a Super 8 Motel. Mercy and I have our own room. A very happy thing for me is that they have High-Speed Internet! So I was able to catch up blogging on here. I am excited that I will be able to see my Grandparents while I am down in Louisiana. It will be fun to meet other new people, and probably work at the book table, and sell Aprons! Here are some pics of our hotel room, and Mercy and I. Good day, and may your day be filled with Joy!

-Hannah

Good Bye Lindsey and Chloe!

Saying Good bye to Lindsey and Chloe


Lindsey and Chloe went back to Michigan on Tuesday. They are very missed. They were both sweet and godly girls, and they made beautiful aprons for Above Rubies, as well as being very willing to do whatever needed to be done! They were also very wonderful piano players. The last week they were here, we were invited to sing, "Wonderful Merciful Saviour" at the little Methodist church down the road. It was a very interesting experience, as the occasion was "Ash Wednesday." I have talked to Lindsey since she has been back in Michigan, and she says they are having a wonderful time with their family. I love you girls! It was so wonderful getting to know y'all! By the way they are the most hilarious mimickers! To hear them talk in my Southern accent is so funny! The peanut butter is not getting eaten nearly so fast at the Campbells anymore, since y'all are gone!



-Hannah

Poem and Cookie Night!

A group of the children

Tivi did a great job!

Mercy reciting

Cedar saying his piece

Serene and her children about to sing

Monday night was "Poem and Cookie Night." Many of the Campbell's grandchildren memorized poems, and most of the families present brought cookies for the occasion. I was here for the "Poem and Cookie Night" in the fall too. I think the children have improved even since then. They did a really amazing job! Serene and children sang, " The Star Spangled Banner." Tiveria did a poem, and people kept encoring her. It was so funny! I even did a poem I had written just that day. After the poems, the cookies dissappeared super fast! It was a very fun night!

-Hannah

Aprons!!!

Modeling outside in the cold!

Lindsey and I modeling

Me modeling


Rashida,Chloe, and Meadow modeling

Lindsey and Chloe modeling

Meadow and Rashida modeling

So, Someone recently wrote Mrs. Campbell, asking where she could get aprons, and she also said that Above Rubies should offer aprons. What a good idea! Mrs. Campbell thought it a marvelous idea, and just so happened, that Lindsey and Chloe knew how, and liked to sew! Perfect! So, they set out sewing beautiful aprons from fabric Mrs. Campbell had on hand. They made tropical paridise ones, patriotic ones, country ones, and others too. They did a wonderful creative job! We will sell them at retreats and maybe other places too. So, Lindsey and Chloe, y'all did an amazing job! These pictures are of us modeling the aprons.

-Hannah

Snow Sunday!

Mercy, Lindsey, and I

Mr. and Mrs.Campbell

Isn't it so pretty!

Lindsey and I on the snowy deck

Me, (Hannah) in the lovely snow !

Last Sunday was so special! I pulled back the curtain a little bit that morning, and white, beautiful snow was everywhere! It was so amazing! I was like, "Lindsey, there's snow outside!" I love snow by the way! The little home church in Lyles, where Mr.Campbell had been scheduled to speak, had canceled service, so we went to New River Church in Franklin. But first, we took pictures. Mercy and I traipsed outside so she could take some pictures of me in the snow. Oh, and did I say the snow was beautiful! The day was so pretty and sunny too. On our way up to Hwy. 7, we came across a section of the road that looked like a Winter Wonderland, so we stopped, hopped out, and took more pictures! So glad no cars decided to come. The snow was mostly all melted by that afternoon, so alas, I didn't get to make any snow angels. After church, at Costco, Mr. Campbell, Lindsey, and I (Chloe had stayed home, because she was a bit sick) walked around eating lots of samples. Such fun. At Whole Foods, Lindsey and I decided to purchase Kombucha, it is a very healthy, cultured drink. Tastes vinegary. That was my first time to try it, and I quite like it! Maybe that is because I like sour stuff, who knows! God is so good to bless us with snow! He knows I love it so!

-Hannah

Good Bye Lauren

Lauren (with the bag) about to depart

About a week ago Lauren Worcester went home to Kansas. She had been here since early January. She is quite an amazing person. She was a great help here in the office with her efficiency and great business sense! She is still working on a project about postage for Above Rubies. She was also so great at researching health-related questions. And yeah, she was also great at sitting on my bed (you see, she slept on the top bunk, and I slept on the bottom one!) Her books would drop around me in the middle of the night! Okay, so who sleeps with books in their bed anyway!? Let me tell you, that practice should be banned from the Rubies Girls bedroom! On that note, if cell phones only have one bar left till they need to be recharged, they too should be banned from our room, because inevitably in the darkness of night, with their dying breath, they will be like "diinngg, etc. pleaaessseee charge me!" (Well, okay, thats not a very good impersonation of a cell phone! But you get the idea! So, I have had to escort them into the bathroom to await their charge the next morning, and on one such occasion, I came back to our room, and there was Lauren, sitting up in bed with her flashlight on, staring at me, really quite funny! Anyway, Lauren taught me to make a six-braid challah bread too. She is a very lovely, sweet person, so there ends my eulogy of the living to her!

-Hannah Ardoin

Jews For Jesus Concert

"The Liberated Wailing Wall"

Me and Mrs. Runion

Mary Runion and Lauren

This restaurant looked so cool!

Lauren trying to decide which delectable food she should eat

The same weekend Lindsey and Chloe were with the Willi, Lauren and I also had an adventure. We went with Mrs. Runion to a "Jews for Jesus "concert in Nashville. The name of the traveling singing group is actually called, "The Liberated Wailing Wall." Mrs. Runion took us out to eat at the "Bread Factory" on our way there. It is a very neat place. I had some really good Mediterranean salad, curry pasta salad, and waldorf salad. It was so nice to get to know Mrs. Runion, and her little daughter, Mary Runion better. When we arrived at the church, they had beautiful Messianic music playing on the sound system. What a great way to set the atmosphere! The "Liberated Wailing Wall' did a beautiful job. They played so many instruments. They were quite a talented group! They do concerts all over America, and even other countries, often stopping at Universities, etc. to hand out tracts, and talk about the Messiah, Jesus! How great He is!

-Hannah

Weekend with the Willi

The whole clan of us!

Two weekends ago, the Willis family drove down from eastern Tennessee to visit. It was so much fun! The main excitement for me was finally getting to meet 'Angie'! (we've been pen-pals for several years) She and I had become good friends, even though we had never met in person! So it was thrilling to finally meet her. Anyway, they picked up Lindsey and I Saturday afternoon, and we spent the weekend with them. It was so much fun! We toured around downtown Franklin Saturday afternoon and evening, and enjoyed seeing all the delights of the shops (and dodged a few rain-drops as well!) We had a delightful dinner at 'Shoneys' before going and settling down at the hotel. It was a fun evening! Complete with games, hilarious cooking shows, and loud laughter. Even after we girls went to bed, I'm afraid we didn't clunk off to sleep until after midnight!

After breakfast the next morning, we ventured out into Franklin once more. It was an adventurous day...we saw several historic sights from the battle of Franklin, which was so interesting! Best of all was the 'Carnton Plantation,' which we took a tour inside. It was fascinating! (real blood stains on the floors!) The grounds were also intriguing...lovely gardens, an old graveyard, etc. Over all, it was just so cool!

At last it was time to say good-bye, which was sad...but I was so blessed to be able to meet Angie, and the whole Willis family!

-Chloe

Package From Hannah Kratzer

Chloe, Lauren, Lindsey, and Hannah

Our letter and Chocolates!

One day we received a most awesome surprise! A package was brought in addressed to "The Rubies Girls." We all excitedly gathered around to see what was in it, and to read the letter. It was sent to us by Hannah Kratzer, a past Rubies girl. I don't personally know her, but I think she must be a very sweet person to think of us girls, and send us CHOCOLATE! So, THANK YOU HANNAH! YOU ROCK! You definitely made our day!

-Hannah Ardoin

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some of the girls! Back: Lauren, Hannah

Front: Chloe, Tiveria, Lindsey, Clara, Mercy

Our delicious No-Bake cookies! Made by Rashida and Meadow.

Mmm...Here's the cake!

Our lovely table~With Mrs. Campbell's beautiful roses!

Happy Valentine's Day! We're going to have a party!

U R 2 Good 2 B True~ Love U~ U R So Sweet! :)

I think it was almost a month before Valentine's day, and Hannah and I had the idea to throw a party for the girls~ How fun, eh? I have to say, we were really excited about our idea and spent the next few weeks talking and planning for it. At Walmart, we found some beautiful, silver tiara's to pass out to all the girls and made homemade Valentine's for everyone, out of pretty paper. We also bought some tissue paper with hearts all over it and made cute little party favors. We filled them with candy hearts, and little chocolates. So fun!

We decided the theme would be a tea party and we would serve chocolate cake and No-Bake cookies. (I know, I know! Not very healthy...But hey! At least the cookies had oatmeal and some coconut in them!) At Target, we found these cool, heart-shaped, cake pans made out of some sort of Latex/Plastic or something, to bake our cake in, As you can see from the pictures--It turned out to look quite pretty I think.

The evening of February the 14th, we bustled around, frosting the cake, setting the table, getting dressed into our Valentine array! (We had mentioned to all the girls that it would be lovely if they'd all dress in something red or pink or white...or just something festive!) and lighting some candles!

Getting the table set as pretty as possible was our goal, and I think everyone was quite pleased with how it turned out. Mr.Campbell had given Mrs. Campbell some gorgeous, red, roses and it made the perfect center piece for the table. (So romantic!) We set each place with red paper plates, matching napkins, and a party favor and tiara for every girl. We all decided to wear our tiaras and felt quite like princesses!!! So lovely! We sat around the table and sipped our tea and told the engagement stories of some of our family members. One in particular was the story of Aaron Henningsen's engagement. (I know a lot of you past Above Rubies girls have known him!) I love hearing how couples met and fell in love and eventually get married!

After we finished our tea and had also finished off all the No-Bakes, we adjourned to the living room where Chloe and I taught the girls how to play a game called Amish Manners! It is the most fun, but also the most intense, frustrating, exciting game ever! If you don't know how to play it, you should learn some time. If you've ever heard of the Campbell's "Chocolate game", it's actually similar to that. :) But, all you need is one pen and a paper for everybody. I think everyone loved it~ there was much laughing and shouting to be heard in the house that evening!

After a few rounds of Amish Manners, we made some popcorn,and all sat around, snuggled under blankets, to watch our "princess" movie"~~ Ever After! It's the Cinderella story and such a fun, girly movie! A perfect way to end the evening.

It was a beautiful evening~So lovely!

~Lindsey.