Extraordinary Women
May We Know Them
May We Be Them
May We Raise Them
Each month I try to feature amazing women. They are inspirational. I call them Women of Hope. Today I am featuring two ladies together. Both are artists. Both are EXTREMELY organized and get things done (LOTS). And both have great compassion for others.
I am always looking for women who inspire (haven’t met one yet who didn’t). If you would be interested in being featured, I would be honored to do so. (I would love your feedback: Do you like the idea of this being a “Woman of Hope” or “An Extraordinary Women”?)
Enjoy reading about Barb and Rhonda.
Holly: I consider you both to be so inspirational. Tell me what hope means to you.
Barb: Getting to the point in your life where you trust your path. Then hope is possible because you know how you will grow. Growth comes from challenges. Hope is the ability to decide. Living with alcoholism taught me to trust. Trust in God. Trust in my having the ability to move in and out of a situation. I learned to never give up hope because without hope we feel alone.
Rhonda: Hope and faith walk hand in hand. The One you have your faith in determines your tangible hope. We all need friends with strong faith, because when we’re down, our friends can give us a reason to be up, count our blessings, show us the way out and we can do the same for them.
Holly: What is your favorite saying or verse:
Barb: Leave good tracks.
Rhonda: Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3: 5-6
Holly: What color is hope to you? Why?
Barb: Hope is all colors because it has different faces.
Rhonda: Purple is hope because it is a royal color and represents the King and Jesus is my reason for hope.
Holly: You are both so creative. What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
Barb: To make something from nothing and to be challenged to come up with something that is different and unusual. Creativity calms my mind. I love photography but getting pictures matted and framed is work, Wood burn gourds on the other hand is relaxing.. It’s fueling to me when people admire your work, but you need also to honor your own work.
Rhonda: I don’t think that I am that creative. The best I can do is improve on an idea. There is nothing new under the sun.
Holly: Weren’t you involved in Country Folk art shows?
Rhonda: Yes, I worked for them for eight years. I was the show manager and then editor for the magazine, “Yippy Yi Yea.” I guess you could say that I am an organizer and planner. When I make something, I work backwards. I think about what people are buying and then I create to that.
Holly: Both of you work together to manage the CrossRoads gift shop and thrift store. Tell us about that.
Barb: What I like best is the people working there. They are all volunteers who are there because they want to be and their positive energy makes people feel better. They help people create income for worthy causes from around the world. Most of our volunteers feel a sense of satisfaction because of what the store represents. It is also fun to do the merchandising and being in charge of ordering new products. Our store is a place of “Hope” as thrift helps locally and gift helps globally.
Rhonda: Can I just ditto that?!
Holly: Tell us what the store represents.
Barb & Rhonda: CrossRoads is a fair trade marketplace. In third world countries artists don’t have a market to sell their goods so they get scammed. World Fair Trade pays them fair money for their products and gives them a place to sell their wares. What the people create to sell has to be be made of sustainable materials. They can’t take from their environment. Many times they use what might be otherwise thrown away or leftovers. Also, we have a thrift area in the back of our store. We send $1,000 monthly to the Mennonite Central Committee to help with programs such as AIDS, diabetes, digging wells, sewing, education in third world countries. This provides a way to empower women and give them hope. We are in a win-win situation. We are a charitable organization that gives twice – we resell goods in our thrift store and the money goes for a good cause. We are helping artists by selling their handcrafted merchandise. We also have thrift customers who buy things to repurpose and recreate cool items.
Holly: I can attest to that. Look at what I just got from them. I can't wait to do something with the pretties. 
(Doesn't this look like fun?)
Holly: Neither Barb or Rhonda is associated with the Mennonite Church but believe deeply in being charitable to others. Just this spring they put together a community fashion show of thrift items to show others just how fashionable thrift can be. It was a lovely luncheon coupled with an auction of goods and, of course, the money went to charity. Barb and Rhonda, you two are AMAZING and INSPIRATIONAL!
Today I am linking with Beverly and all the other Pink ladies at How Sweet the Sound. Please stop over and visit them too!
Today I am linking with Beverly and all the other Pink ladies at How Sweet the Sound. Please stop over and visit them too!
