The LBD project again??!!

...yes, after more than a years absence, there may be a sequel to the Little Brown Dress!! :-)

There are plans for a Little 'Blue' Dress, which will be worn for 30 days, by three or more people this time. However, at the moment there are some complications (a boss of one of the future participants doesn't want her wearing a LBD at work, etc...), but with prayer and planning we hope to have this project off the ground soon!

I'll keep you updated!

The suprise!!!

Well, here is the exciting update!!!

We did the presentation of the cheque to Asian Aid on the 28th of April.

The amount we raised in total is: *drumroll*......


(scroll down)....





......





.....






.....







.....




......




$1870 !!!! . :-D


Kerryn and everyone else got such a suprise!!!

Here are some photos!:

Talking...




Presenting the cheque






Hugs all round!




Kerryn talking




Praying




Us three girls would love to say thankyou very much to all our sponsors and supporters! The project couldn't have been a success without you!!!

Wow, what a journey……

I am so glad that I decided to do it. It's really hard to explain how much it meant to me to undertake a project like that and now that’s it’s finished I’m sooo glad I did take up the challenge. It’s changed my view on many different things (one being my wardrobe – which I now often look at with distaste!!!) and made me realize that we don’t really need all the clothes that we have.

The response we had was just amazing…thankyou soooo much to all of you who offered sponsorship, donations, support and encouragement.

I would have loved to wear it for another 35 days (!!!) but we have a Youth formal dinner at the end of April and I didn’t really fancy wearing it there!!!

As most of you know, our last day wearing our LBD’s was on the first day of the Youdales Hut Family Camp (6^th to the 9^th of April).

Here is me on the last day of the LBD project....trying (unsuccessfully) to hide from the camera.

Lol, when everyone knows that you don’t really like photos they seem to take delight in getting as many as they can :)

And just to give you an idea of what our Youth Group normally wears on a camp…….

No, I’m just joking….Christie and I were actually part of a play about Heaven and we were being the angels – that’s why we’re dressed like that!!!!

This is some of the beautiful country-side that we walked through...well, actually most of it I would have called "mountain-side"....this was a rather flat part compared!!! That's me in the pink shirt (on the day after the LBD project ended)

On Saturday morning (7^th April) it was the first time in 35 days that I had to make a choice about what I was going to wear...and yes, I’ll admit that I took a bit longer than usual to get dressed.

I am slowly getting used to having a larger selection of clothes and although I am enjoying it I would jump at a chance to do something like the LBD project again!!!

God Bless

Love Layla

...The End!

The little brown dress project is officially over! :-( It was with much regret that we took the dresses off for the last time! It has been so rewarding to do something so unusual!

The response to our project has been overwhelming! It is far and beyond our expectations! We are so grateful to all those who have supported us!

Praise goes to the Lord - he has directed us, and has answered our prayers!

The presentation of the cheque to Asian Aid will be on the 28th of this month so we will be posting how that goes, with pics of course! It will be an exciting day!


For a photo update, here is a picture of the three LBD's at the regional meeting in Port Macquarie:



And a photo collage... :-)




God bless, till next time!

~Bonnie

Updates....

Well, tomorrow marks the end of the LBD project. I just cant beleive that tomorrow is my last day of wearing my beautiful brown dress, sniff sniff!!! Wow, the time has gone so fast and I'm already contemplating wether or not I should do a "victory run"....you know, how the athletes do in the Olympics....No I'm just kidding - but I am sad about finishing. Even my brother Yuri is saying that it is going to be really weird seeing me in a different style and colour!!

We are going camping for four days (tomorrow (Friday) to Monday) so we've been busy cooking, cleaning and packing food, clothes, more food, sleeping bags and......food!!!!!

ok, here is a photo of Nins and I cooking for camp tomorrow.




and here is a photo of me sewing up half of my latest quilt.




the above photo was last weeks pic and I have now finished the quilt and am wondering what quilt to start next. I have made 6 so far and am planning to make 12 before I get married (like they used to in the pioneer days) so I've got 6 to go!!!

Havent done anything spectacular in my dress this week. I was going to hike up the mountain behind our house but due to the vast amount of grass-ticks I decided to forgo the idea until a later date.

Well, I really must go as it's getting late and I'm headed for an early start tomorrow :-)

Remember: To give ones time is the greatest gift, for time is what life is made of.

Love Layla

Me riding Minstrel in a dress?!

Well, guess what - today I rode Minstrel in my little brown dress!!

Lol, I got up at 6.00am! I love riding in the cool of the morning.

Rode him around in the paddock for a while, just doing some slow walk trot and canter.

The first time I tried to get on the dress got in the way but I got the hang of it after that. It doesn't drape gracefully over the horses' back, sadly :-( but it was still fun! It must have looked funny...

The grass is really long, and was very wet this morning, and Minstrel was really grubby, so I was covered in horse hair, mud, water, and paspalum seeds by the time I'd finished!

I got some pics of course!!








Tomorrow is the last day!!! :-( Wearing this dress for 35 days has been a very rewarding experience, and I am so glad I took on the challenge! I appreciate the support of family and friends so much - thank you all!

The blog will be open for a number of weeks yet, as there is still the total of the sponsorship funds to be presented to Asian Aid etc...

A note...

Hello again,

The weekend has come and gone and I do believe it was a successful one! The LBD's attended the Port Regional on Sabbath escorted by four handsome brothers in suits and ties and chauffeur/chaperone Mum. We spoke of our project and duly received donations and many encouraging responses. Pr John Lang even mentioned us three times in Sabbath School, so Mum told us!! Uncle Kim has pics, none of which I have unfortunately.

Now I'm looking forward to camp this coming weekend, although that also marks the end of our journey which I'm not looking forward to! I just piled my bed with clothes to take to camp and realised that I haven't done that for a long time and certainly haven't missed it!! Do I have to go back to sorting out what goes with this skirt and if blue matches with pink roses? Tedious to be sure! This journey has opened my eyes to realise that we must surely waste a large portion of our lives thinking about clothing. Is that what the Lord would have us dwell upon? We need to be aware of this and ask for guidance, so as not to develop clothesitis...

Will make a 'pic post' as soon as I receive some!

Smile, because God loves you. Nins ;o)

Work, rest and play

Hello peoples,
The end of the week has arrived and I'm left wondering what I actually acheived this week! Everything and nothing I guess!! Yes, I did work up at Redhill on Tuesday and Wednesday and yes, my dress handled it well and so did I! I wore tights underneath so I wouldn't have to be freaking out all day and tired knots on the sides to keep it from getting in the way and brushing in the dirt. I've now aquired a new tan (alias sunburn!)to take my through the next season and have enough red dirt under my fingernail to plant a garden with!! I love it though, it beats sitting in a stuffy office any day.
All day Tues was spent planting avocado trees. Thankfully it was an overcast day, so heat was not an issue.The boys dug the holes and I, with the help of the boss' little daughter Jackie, planted them in.



We planted another whole field of avocadoes on Wed morning, had a swim in the pool at lunchtime and then broke our backs over a field of rhubarb for the entire afternoon! We had to walk along under a blazing sun and a coat of sweat, weeding, whipper-snipping and hoeing around and between each bush and row and cutting off the flower heads and pulling off dead stems. At least we could converse together as we were closer to each other, which helps pass the time.



I just have to show you the good looking "scarecrow" that graced the rhubarb too...



...not that any respectable creature would wish to gorge on it! I daresay I'll never eat rhubarb again, never loved it anyway really.
Well, that's been my week. I know there are more then just two days in a week, but I can't seem to recall what mischief I caused on the other four (Sabbath isn't included, because I'm always behaved then!). Oh, I did pull out half the feathers from the Feindish Mama's underside in a wild but successful attemt to capture and relocate her to her day pen. For some reason she has the greatest dislike of me lately and attacks me whenever I venture to close. I feel a little like Steve Irwin, everything dislikes me, but I love them anyway!!

Off to satisfy my hunger cravings now...! Do all have a lovely relaxing, enjoyable Sabbath this evening and tomorrow.

Love Nina ;o)

Happenings.....

Well folks, I have finally got a minute to spare for the computer and thought I'd get on here and let you know how I'm going. First of all I am just loving this LBD project and am looking forward to the finish with excitement and sadness!! The dress just seems to become such a part of you and I dont know about Nina and Bonnie but I'm really attached to mine - it's comfortable and durable, hot in cold weather and hot in hot weather!!!!

As Bonnie told you below, we are going to Port Macquarie church next Sabbath for the yearly Regional and are going to get up and give them a blurb about our LBD's. I'm not that excited about getting up in front of 400+ people but as least I'm not doing all the talking!!!

Well, I must go as I'm starting to fall asleep where I'm sitting....lol, you always feel tired earlier when daylight saving ends - I'm a bit of a "night owl" so it's rather unusual!!!

God Bless you all,
Love Layla

Exciting times!

Well, we've got some exciting news!

This coming Sabbath our church is having a regional meeting at Port Macquarie church. The three LBD's have decided that we're going to speak up the front of church (to 500 people!) about our LBD's!! We're getting excited about it, as it will be a great opportunity to share and witness! :-)
We'll let you know how it goes!

On Saturday night our church had a 'unsual hat' social, so we all had to make different hats, and wear them.

Here is a picture of us with our individual creations!

Wildlife in Pappinbarra (no pun intended!)

Greeting to all our fan club...

....No it hasn't gone to my head or anything, just kinda feels like that sometimes!!! I feeling awesome just now, maybe a little overworked and underpaid still, but happy none the less. My LBD just adds to the current feelings of gratitude and contentment! Honestly, I realise now just how much time I used to spend thinking about what I was going to wear tomorrow, to church etc, etc, and I'm not even a very clothes minded person!! It's truely been awesome and I'm still loving my dress, and.....oh yeah, I found a HOLE! Seriously, it's rather shocking, even if it's a tiny hole near the hem, which I'm guessing I aquired while marrauding around the chook pen early this week.

Here's the story:
Dad, Lay and I at home alone for 5 days while the rest of the family decide to take a holiday to the North. 'Seven Impossible Tasks' were left for us to accomplish, which we did, but with little time to spare for much else! Sabbath was relaxing as I spent part of the day at the creek sketching sage flowers. Then it was work, work, work.............clean the whole house, mop the floor, scrub the kitchen, tidy the deck and.........look after all the animals!! All done in our dresses, but as the camera was in ballina there are no pics. One hen decided to suddenly hatch 5 chicks and when we came home from town on Monday night I discovered one of them hanging from the jaws of a large python. There followed a scrambled rescue opperation to relocate the big mama and 4 remaining chicks to the bird avary. 'Big Mama' is a feindish hen, so getting involved with her each day added an element of danger - I enjoyed it!! Next day, after consuming half dozen eggs as well as the chick, our python felt inclined to sleep them off indoors and annoyed Dad for an hour by trying to come in the top windows where he was working. Dad took it out to the wood tank where it will hopefully stay! I had to relocate a bumble bee from the kitchen and a brown frog from the laundry too. Wildlife Week!!!

Lay and I enjoyed preparing meals for 3, quite a novelty I can assure you! We sewed while watching movies and went for a starlight walk one evening and almost trod on a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on the road. The 3 of us had a lovely time together, but it is nice to have all the family together again.

LBD's have two weeks left, very sad I think! Oh, I have to tell you also that I'm working on Mon-Tues planting rhubarb, so I'll post again later in the week with some pics....

Smile always, it's a reflection of your heart. Nins ;o)

!!!

Oops, long time no-update! Sorry about the lack of new info and pictures everyone!

Life is going well in my little brown dress! I went to Port Macquarie yesterday and felt rather out of place! The number of people wearing scanty and 'fashionable' clothing seemed to multiply, after being used to practicalness and simplicity!

I scrubbed our orange 44 gallon drum mailbox on Tuesday - it really needed a clean! I must have looked funny standing on the side of the road in my apron, dress, and clogs!
Here is it - and I - when it's just about all clean.

Happenings...

Well, time for another update...!

Hehe...some comments recieved from people who have noticed our dresses:

(From a teenage girl) "Excuse me, are you from some organisation?" (then, after I explain) "Oh, that's so cool!"

(From a 12 yr old boy) "Why are you wearing old clothes?" (then, after I explain) "That's neat, you're so nice!"

(From a teenage girl) "Do you two work together or something?"

(From my Great-Uncle) "Now I know why you look so lovely in that dress"


Matilda and I went rowing in our little boat on Sunday so Matilda could catch tadpoles. It was fun, as I haven't done it before! It was interesting trying to get the boat into the dam without getting muddy, not to mention getting out!





Went to the beach yesterday but didn't get any pics. Managed to get very sandy and salty as usual! Enjoyed standing on the rocks with the wind blowing...
George and I saw about eight dolphins swimming together! It was awesome!
I probably got some funny looks as I was wearing my little brown dress and my Akubra, hehe...

Just a quick update

Well, responses to our 'little brown dress' project are encouraging! :-) We now have about 20 sponsors, which is wonderful!

This is the seventh day we've been wearing our dresses.

I encourage everyone to look at the Asian Aid website ( www.asianaid.org.au ) and find out more about what the organisation does.

I am really enjoying my 'brown' outfit! It is very comfortable and makes getting dressed in the morning so much easier - I don't have to choose a whole outfit! hehe...

Cheers,

Bonnie