Linda Israel

Multi-Media Artist

On Friday February 11, 2011 a Suburban full of Toastmasters set out on a journey around the greater Oklahoma City area to give due recognition to businesses and individuals that are great supporters of Toastmasters.

Toastmaster Lark Doley, DTM Region III Director from Toastmasters International was visiting us from Texas. It was a pleasure to meet her Friday morning in the lobby of the hotel where she was staying. She is so very friendly that  it is easy to like her charming personality.

District 16 Lt Governor of Marketing, Ed Engelke, his wife Janice, Lark Doley and I decided that we would proceed to our first destination early. Since it was also the place where I am employed. I had some paperwork I was going to pick up that would help Lark with the rest of our visits and it also gave us some time to contact a few of the members in the building for a quick chat before the presentation.

9: 25 a.m. I let the Executive Secretary to the President of Oklahoma Farm Bureau know that we had arrived and were waiting in the board room for his arrival. Mike Spradling arrived at the designated appointment time and we made the introductions. Two of the club members were able to attend: Alexis Thompson and Meghan Padgett, they are also employees at Oklahoma Farm Bureau. We all talked for a moment then moved to the front of the room where we had the club Toastmaster banner hanging. Then Lark gave the presentation of the award to Mike Spradling as we all watched. Mike being the gracious person that he is turned the talk back to Toastmasters and how OFB appreciates that Toastmasters is helping the OFB employees and the community to become better leaders and communicators. Just when we thought we were taking OFB, Mike turns and thanks Toastmasters. lol… And this is only our first stop! lol

Oklahoma Farm Bureau

We load up the “bus” and head North towards our next appointment. Lark told me several times before we left the hotel; if you know of any place that we should make a “cold call” just pull up to their building and we will give them Toastmasters materials. Well as I was driving North I spotted a building that said Delta Dental. I said, hang on we are going to make a stop, because I know people in the building and I know that they don’t have a club and they need one! Everyone laughed and said okay here we go! We drove around the parking lot looking for a place to park and when we found one I said, ok here is the deal. I know that at least five people have been involved with Toastmasters. Four people were members of my home club and the other a member of a club that has folded. I know that they have busy schedules and it is hard for them to leave the office so I think they need a club here. Lark said, okay I have a pack we can leave, lets go inside. So we went in and I asked for the person I knew at the front desk and we left the pack for them. I need to follow up with them this week. It was fun doing that cold call. But I think it was fun, because I kind of knew the people! lol.

Our next appointment wasn’t for another 50 minutes so we made a stop at a Starbucks to get a caffeine charge. lol This also gave us time to discuss how the next call would go. Since the next appointment was also an inquiry for a new club we discussed how Lark would explain how Toastmasters would help them, the costs involved etc. I was glad she shared with us the plan, it was easy to understand how things would work before hand and we looked professional when we walked through the door. I learned a lot on that visit. I do hope that they will form a new club. I’ll share more when I know more.

12:00 p.m. Since it was now lunch time we decided to take a quick lunch close to our next appointment. District 16 Governor Bob Campbell had joined us on the last appointment and we made our way to the Olive Garden on Memorial Road. We all agreed that soup and salad would be a quick, lite lunch. Hopefully we could eat and get out the door for our next appointment, we didn’t want to be late! We discussed our morning appointments and the plan for the next appointments. Thankfully the food arrived – the soup was super hot! – and we were able to leave on time. By the way, Thanks Bob for lunch!

1:00 p.m.  appointment Cox Communications. There is an office on North Pennsylvania that I think is the support office for Oklahoma City. We were escorted through secure doors and down long halls to the meeting room where we met up with  Frank Jackson the Club VP of Education, Jonathan Hall, Project Manager and others from Cox Communications. A very nice group of people. Cox is very supportive of the club and it shows by the group that showed for our meeting. Again Lark made the presentation and photos were taken. We loaded up for our next destination, but Bob departed on a secret mission, he would join us later.

Cox

2:00 p.m. appointment Boeing, now for those don’t know, Boeing is in Midwest City and we were on the North side of Oklahoma City! Thankfully traffic was light and the Boeing office wasn’t too far from an interstate. We arrived before our appointment, yeah!  And we were greeted at the door by Karen Mata, Software Engineer and Boeing Plane Speaker’s President. It was wonderful to see her at the door with a big smile on her face. Since Boeing is kind of off the beaten path she knew that we were there for the meeting. Shortly after we arrived Nancy Anderson Director of Engineering and Mission Assurance for GS&S arrived in the meeting room. We decided that the foyer had a nice backdrop for photos and asked if we could move out there for the presentation. Lark gave the presentation to Nancy and photos were taken. It was nice to see Nancy again as it had been 2 years since I’ve seen her. I was one of the mentors for Boeing Plane Speakers. We finished thanking them and loaded up the “bus” again.

Boeing

2:45 p.m. Integris Hospital – Baptist, yes cutting it a little close, I’ll tell you why in a moment.. So we had to hurry from Midwest City to North Oklahoma City again. But we were lucky, traffic was light and we were able to find a good parking place. Bob Campbell was back from his secret mission and meet up with us in the lobby. We proceeded to the basement atrium, just off of the cafeteria. By the way the food in the cafeteria is really yummy, good place to eat, not like most “hospital” food. Jim Porterfield was already in the atrium waiting for us, he was early. Introductions were made and while we were doing so, more people started to arrive.  Joe Acosta, Billy and a couple more members arrived. It was hard for me to keep up with all the names. lol Jim was so very nice, just like many of the others that we thanked, he said thanks back to us for the work we do to improve others. Time to load up the “bus” again…

Integris Hospital

3:30 p.m. Oklahoma State Capitol, Governor Mary Fallin. We made it through security, up to the second floor, I stopped by the Governor’s office and said to the receptionist we are here, do we wait right next door? The door is locked and they said the blue room? She said yes so I went back out into the hall and we waited and we waited. Finally Bob’s phone rang and it was one of Governor Mary Fallin’s people asking “did we get lost?”… well sort of.. lol.. we were standing outside of the wrong door! So we walked down another hall to the correct “blue” room and waited a moment then the Governor and a couple of her staff arrived. Governor Mary Fallin is so nice and she is funny. This time Bob had a special presentation for her and gave her a plaque (this was what his secret mission was about). We talked for a while and took photos. It was an awesome encounter.

Gov Mary Fallin

I’m so glad that I got to be a part of Toastmasters Giving Recognition on Friday.  It felt good to give thanks to each of the people we met and I hope that they understood the sincerity that was given with each presentation. It was a lot of work coordinating the day, but well worth every effort.

Thank you Ed for giving me the opportunity to help you. I had a wonderful day.

One of the OFB ATC groups theme this week was If I Could Change One Thing About Me.

I decided to do a Google search and landed on the following website successfromthenest and I liked the post it got me to thinking what would I change about myself. Well first I really need to change inward and I decided that my “focus” in life needed to be more on God. I took a photo that I felt depicted what I wanted and I used that as the front of my ATC. I then printed a note I wrote for the inside. I think the rest is easy to figure out what I did to finish up the card, using some stickers and Tim Holtz Distressed ink…

Now back to my change. I have decided that I would read the bible daily and I signed up for youversion Everyday it shows a few chapters to read and I can check these off as complete.. So it is the first step in changing me and then I can start making changes in the environment around me.

So what one thing would you change about yourself? Ready to get started? Please share your thoughts with me.

The following is from the book:

One Hundred and One Legends of Flowers

by Elizabeth Todd Nash

The Christopher Publishing House, Boston, USA 1927

A Greek legend tells of the origin of the sunflower and why it is the symbol of constancy and adoration. “Clytie was a beautiful water nymph of Hellas. One day she left her home among the waves and went to Olympus, where she saw Apollo, the sun-god, and fell in love with him. Apollo,  however, was enamored of Calliope, the muse of epic poetry and paid no attention to Clytie. So she sat on the ground gazing at the sun from the minute it appeared until it dropped beyond the horizon. For nine days Clytie sat and pined away, refusing to return home. Finally her limbs sank into the earth and became roots, her body a slender stem and her beautiful face became a flower resembling the sun and following its course all day long.”

“The heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets

The same look she turned when he rose.”

~ Thomas Moore.

I picked up the book One Hundred and One Legends of Flowers at the Oklahoma City Friends of the Metropolitan Library book sale a few years ago and have enjoyed reading the legends. The cover has packing tape holding it together, inside there are markings for the various libraries that the book had been housed and more packing tape..  One of my favorite features of the book is the embossed velum pages that are selectively added to the book with illustrations depicting one of the flower legends preceding the image. I paid all of $3.00 for this book and I feel it has so much more to offer for the small price that I paid. Over this next year I’ll share a few of the legends, I hope some will bring joy to you, maybe inspire you or cause you to ponder what you do in your life…

Let me know if you want me to find a story about a particular flower and I’ll look to see if it is in this book and post it on my site… Make sure to leave a comment, ask questions or just tell me that you liked the story…

Blessings

Linda

It was one of those days that I wasn’t feeling well.. So I found some old craft magazines and flipped through them to see what might inspire me… It is funny what is in these magazines.. Some of these were published in 1996, 1999 and 2000.. Hard to imagine that these were popular crafts and at the same time many of the projects are the same today.. I think we just reinvent things that have already been done, we just put a new spin on them and hopefully make them better. There were a few projects that did interest me and I just might go ahead and make up some of the projects, or a variation of the projects in the future.

So what do you do when feeling a little under the weather? I hope you find your comforts in the things around you and the people in your life as I do and am thankful for.. My dogs were very happy that I stayed home with them today.. lol…

Blessings…

Linda

I decided that coasters should be the next project I would share.. I have a lot of scraps of fabric and couldn’t decide what to do with all those little bits when I saw a coaster and though hey there is an idea that I can make… I started cutting bits of fabric into 1 1/2 strips then sewing the strips together. Once I had enough to make what I thought would look nice I cut sewed strips into four so I could make a pretty set.. I’ve completed two sets so far and I have a lot of strips cut for many more coasters. I will have the coasters out at Loving Touch this week. I will create custom coasters in the colors you would like, just tell me what you are looking for – blues, reds etc.. As I make more coasters I’ll upload the photos…

What  have you productive today? Maybe you cleaned out the refrigerator, cleaned out a junk drawer that was getting way over full… Don’t coast through this year, do something productive, even the smallest of things will make a difference, before you know what has happened you will have made a big impact on your life and you’ll be coasting along happier…

Linda

Happy New Year! 2011 is finally here and away we go!  I’ve been busy sewing and I’ve got 2011 in the bag! lol.. I use little bags in my purse to hold small items so I can transfer from purse to purse quicker and I thought I should make and sell some of these little bags… The three in the photo are about 9 by 7 and are lined. The bags will be out at Loving Touch next week.

Now that it is a new year, do you have it in the bag, do you know where you are going this year? I’ve got some big ideas and plans… The biggest for me is to be consistent, to follow through with the plans I have made and keeping doing things on a regular basis.. For example, I want to be consistent in updating my web site with posts, photos and news…

I think I have a great start.. I’ve told someone about my plans and I’ve created a new post.. So I’ve got 2011 in the bag, how about you?

Linda

While reading some quotes regarding Christmas I found the following quote by Billy Graham:

“One response was given by the innkeeper when Mary and Joseph wanted to find a room where the Child could be born. The innkeeper was not hostile; he was not opposed to them, but his inn was crowded; his hands were full; his mind was preoccupied. This is the answer that millions are giving today. Like a Bethlehem innkeeper, they cannot find room for Christ. All the accommodations in their hearts are already taken up by other crowding interests. Their response is not atheism. It is not defiance. It is preoccupation and the feeling of being able to get on reasonably well without Christianity. ”

Billy Graham
Billy Graham Organization

As I sat there reading that quote I couldn’t help but think of the time period that Billy Graham would have said this to whomever he was talking to at the moment. At that point in history those people were busy, had busy schedules, places to go, people to see and things to do immediately. Now with today’s mind set and technology I would think that this quote would apply even more so than before.  If a person didn’t already know Christ, didn’t have someone to teach them how to live a Christ like life then the person would continue on with their life, texting, twittering, facebooking etc with no regard to their salvation. To them there is nothing to worry about, live for today and don’t worry about tomorrow.

So how do we make a difference in today’s world. In the realm we live in today. With technology I can reach thousands of people with the click of a mouse, but do I have any real clout with these people? Do they know me? Can they see Christ in me and have the desire to want to know more?

Some time ago a lady that I became Facebook friends with (because of a game) contacted me. She contacted me because she saw from my profile and from the posts that I made that I was a Christian. She began asking me questions. I began answering the questions to the best of my ability.  She was going through a rough time in life and didn’t understand why. Why were things happening to her? What did she do wrong? It wasn’t that she did anything wrong, it is the world in which we live, the prince of darkness has a hold on this world and wreaks havoc where ever he can. Because he wreaks havoc in people’s lives this causes them to doubt. I think at the time I was put in her life to restore her faith, to give her a little pat on the shoulder and a little reassurance that life can and will be better.

I think that if we make the effort to show that we care, that we care for more than our own little world, just as Christ has called us to do, then we will make a difference. You don’t have to run off to a foreign country and save the “lost”, you can make a difference sitting where you are now, just by showing at least one other person you care.

When was the last time you picked up a phone to call that friend you haven’t talked to in a while? Written a letter by hand?  I was so blessed to have both of these things done recently.

First a former boss called me not just once but several times over the past couple of months. Just to tell me how much he appreciated me. He didn’t want something from me, he wasn’t trying to get me to do something for him, no he wanted to tell me how much he cared about me. He called to tell me how much he appreciated our friendship.

Second a friend sat down and wrote a three page hand written note. She took time to tell me about the little things in her life and asked how I was doing and that she appreciated our friendship. She could have written an email or posted on my facebook wall, but instead she hand wrote a letter to me.

Do something special for those around you this Christmas, so that they can feel the love you know and feel from your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you don’t know this love I’m talking about, lets talk…

The small acts of love that you perform for others will cause them want to know more  and before you know what happened you will have planted a seed of Salvation in their heart. Then there will be room for Christ to come in so that He can show them how glorious life can be with Him. Take time today to find room…

Merry CHRISTmas!

Linda

Today I made something that I haven’t made in many years!!! A friendship bracelet! One of my coworkers sent a link to me yesterday and asked? Could you show me how to make one of these bracelets? I said Sure I can! lol… I went home and dug around in my craft supplies and found my box of cross stitch tread and crochet thread and brought some of the items to work today.. Then John came to my office and I showed him how to make a bracelet.

What is amazing to me is that I remembered how to make the bracelet and how many people stopped John and said, hey I remember those, we made those back in school for all of our friends!!! lol…

When I was in school I made them for my friends and then kids asked me to make them for them to give to their friends.. Well I started selling them. I wasn’t going to be making dozens of these bracelets for nothing! So I made a ton of these bracelets for the kids at school and I had money in my pocket most of the time too!

Thanks John for bringing back those good memories. I hope you have fun making the friendship bracelets…

What childhood craft do you remember? Have you taken the time to teach someone else how to make something? If not, it isn’t too late to start today!

Linda

Today I spent a couple hours updating one of my booths at Loving Touch Marketplace in Yukon Oklahoma. I should have taken some before photos, but I didn’t think about that at the time.. I was just ready to change things up and hoping to bring more light into my booth…  So I dismantled my booth step by step, boxing things up so I would have room to move around and while I was putting things away I had two customers top and pick things up and buy! LOL.. I guess they were thinking I was leaving! lol  Nothing like the fear of something walking out the door to cause someone to buy! lol… Oh I forgot to mention that before I went to the marketplace that I had to assemble the shelf unit and that took almost an hour to do by myself.. The instructions they put with items kill me! Well actually it is the lack of instructions. There were photos with arrows and no wording to tell you to hammer or screw the necessary parts together.. ugh! I should have known it was made in China! lol… But I digress…

Once all of the items were cleared out of the booth and I vacuumed I was able to install the new shelf unit and anchor it to the support wall. Then I started loading things back into the booth. I kept pulling things out of the boxes and thinking ok I’m done, then I would turn around and would find another box. Good grief, how much stuff was in that booth? lol.. By the end of a couple of hours I finally got what I wanted back in the booth, cleaned out all of the trash and got the camera out and took a couple of photos…

Now it is time for people to stop by and purchase items… If there is something you are looking for in a particular color or style, just let them know at the counter and they will contact me, or you can send me an email via the website… I will take requests for custom orders…

Looking forward to filling the shelves again (hint, hint, lol)…

Linda

A friend sent the following story to me today. I liked the story so much I thought I would share this with others, in the hopes that you to might like the story and maybe it would touch you in a special way…

I showered and shaved………….. I adjusted my tie.

I got there and sat…………… In a pew just in time.

Bowing my head in prayer………. As I closed my eyes..

I saw the shoe of the man next to me…… Touching my own. I sighed.

With plenty of room on either side….. I thought, ‘Why must our soles touch?’

It bothered me, his shoe touching mine… But it didn’t bother him much.

A prayer began: ‘Our Father’…………. I thought, ‘This man with the shoes, has no pride.

They’re dusty, worn, and scratched. Even worse, there are holes on the side!’

‘Thank You for blessings,’ the prayer went on.

The shoe man said………….. A quiet ‘Amen.’

I tried to focus on the prayer……. But my thoughts were on his shoes again.

Aren’t we supposed to look our best. When walking through that door?

‘Well, this certainly isn’t it,’ I thought, Glancing toward the floor..

Then the prayer was ended……….. And the songs of praise began.

The shoe man was certainly loud….. Sounding proud as he sang.

His voice lifted the rafters…….. His hands were raised high.

The Lord could surely hear. The shoe man’s voice from the sky.

It was time for the offering…… And what I threw in was steep.

I watched as the shoe man reached…. Into his pockets so deep.

I saw what was pulled out………… What the shoe man put in.

Then I heard a soft ‘clink’ . As when silver hits tin.

The sermon really bored me………. To tears, and that’s no lie.

It was the same for the shoe man…. For tears fell from his eyes.

At the end of the service…… As is the custom here.

We must greet new visitors, And show them all good cheer.

But I felt moved somehow………….. And wanted to meet the shoe man.

So after the closing prayer…….. I reached over and shook his hand.

He was old and his skin was dark…. And his hair was truly a mess.

But I thanked him for coming……… For being our guest.

He said, ‘My names’ Charlie……….. I’m glad to meet you, my friend.’

There were tears in his eyes…….. But he had a large, wide grin.

‘Let me explain,’ he said………. Wiping tears from his eyes.

‘I’ve been coming here for months…. And you’re the first to say ‘Hi.”

‘I know that my appearance…………’Is not like all the rest.

‘But I really do try……………..’To always look my best.’

‘I always clean and polish my shoes..’Before my very long walk.

‘But by the time I get here……….’They’re dirty and dusty, like chalk.’

My heart filled with pain………. And I swallowed to hide my tears.

As he continued to apologize………. For daring to sit so near

He said, ‘When I get here…………..’I know I must look a sight.

‘But I thought if I could touch you..’Then maybe our souls might unite.’

I was silent for a moment……….. Knowing whatever was said

Would pale in comparison… I spoke from my heart, not my head.

‘Oh, you’ve touched me,’ I said……’And taught me, in part;

‘That the best of any man……………’Is what is found in his heart.’

The rest, I thought,……………….. This shoe man will never know.

Like just how thankful I really am… That his dirty old shoe touched my soul…