Dear Above Rubies Reader,

Blessed greetings to you. I pray that the love and joy of the Lord fills your home today.

ENJOY YOUR CHILDREN

I long that you will enjoy life with your family. Enjoy your children. Don’t get too worried about all the little things. Just relax and enjoy them. You’ll love motherhood far more. Sometimes we try too hard and that makes us tense. It then makes the children tense and the whole atmosphere becomes tense. Instead, relax. Smile. Laugh. Hug. You’ll have much more fun. The children will be happier and the whole atmosphere will change.

MARRIAGE ALBUM

I have just returned from the Above Rubies retreat in Olympia, Washington. Serene (with little Shepherd) and Pearl accompanied me on this retreat. It is always such a joy to have them sing. They sang quite a lot of the new songs they are now recording for their marriage album. The ladies loved them.  One lady said that the words of these songs ministered to her more than anything at the retreat. I especially love the words of one of Pearl’s song, Brave Enough. Here are the words of the chorus …

Brave enough to be meek,
Bold enough to be still,
Wise enough to learn to hold my tongue
When my words just want to spill,
Big enough to forgive,
Strong enough to submit,
Yeah, brave enough to let these hardened parts turn to gentleness.
Brave enough.

HAS IT ARRIVED?

You should have received your Above Rubies magazine by now if you live in USA.  If you have, I know you will be enjoying it. If it hasn’t arrived, wait another week and if it still hasn’t arrived, send an email and we’ll check it out.

WRONG PRICE

The Lullaby CD by Serene and Pearl is advertised for the correct price on the back cover - $15.00 only. However, for some strange reason it is listed as $17.50 on the Response Form on page 30. Please disregard this. We are selling it for only $15.00!

APRIL RETREATS

Colin and I will be ministering at the 10th Wisconsin Family Camp at the end of this month. We then start the April retreats. Here’s a reminder for you:

4 – 6 APRIL, LOUISIANA FAMILY CAMP

Rocky Creek Conference Center, PInevile, LA
Contact: Angela Decoteau, Ph: 225-715-1587
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.laaboverubies.org

18 – 20 APRIL, TEXAS

LADIES RETREAT at Highland Lakes Camp & Conference Center
Spicewood, Texas (NW of Austin)
Register online www.texasrubies.com
Contact: Jeanette Watje Ph: 830-608-0880
(Serene, Pearl and Meadow will be singing at this retreat!)

LOST EMAILS

By the way, between the dates of 28 February and 4 March of this year, 2008, I lost all my emails. If you wrote an important email during that time, and need an answer, could you please re-send it? Thank you.

THE BABY IS NAMED

Can you believe it? After nine months, Howard and Evangeline eventually named their ninth baby. Actually, they knew from the very beginning the meaning of the name they wanted, but it took that time to find the name to match the meaning. Her name is Iqara Deepe. Yes, you would be expecting something unusual, wouldn’t you?

Iqara is Aramaic for the ‘Shekinah glory of God.’
Deepe is Sanskrit for the ‘light lamp’.

For new readers who don’t know our daughter Evangeline, I’ll give you the names of their other eight children—Zadok, Sharah, Rashida, Crusoe, Jireh, Arrow, Tiveria, Sahara and now Iqara who is now one year old. All the names they have chosen have special meanings and wonderful stories about them.

PRAYING RUBIES GIRLS

I now have my new influx of Above Rubies helpers for March and April. What wonderful girls they are –the cream of America.

Each day loads of new subscriptions come in over the Internet and the girls have to print them off. We have a space for the mothers to list the names and ages of their children (if they wish) and to also put a prayer request. We receive many prayer requests and many needs that really need prayer. Up until now, we have just prayed as we are printing the page, but I was so blessed that the current Rubies girls decided, all on their own, that they would take half an hour at the end of each day to pray specifically for all the requests that come in. Oh what a blessing.

It is so wonderful to see them gather around and pray over every prayer request that comes in each day. “Thank you, Lord, for these wonderful helpers.”

COMING RETREATS

It has been, and still is my vision, to have an Above Rubies retreat in EVERY STATE OF USA! I haven’t reached this vision yet. There are many states that have not yet had a retreat. The problem is, that when I have a retreat in one state, the ladies who come want to continue having one every year. So instead of spreading out to other states I am going back to the same ones. As I mentioned earlier, we will be having our 10th consecutive Family Camp in Wisconsin this month (this is a very special Family Camp). We have also had a number of Ladies Retreats in Wisconsin too! We are having our 12th Above Rubies Family Camp in California this year, and have had others besides. And so it goes on.

I have never organized an Above Rubies retreat. I wait for someone to get a vision to put one on in their state and then I turn up to speak! I’ll list the states that we haven’t been to yet. Pray that someone will get a burden to organize one in these states, as I would love to get to everyone around the country.

New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island).
Utah
Alabama
Mississippi
Kentucky
Iowa
Indiana
Illinois
West Virginia
North and South Dakota
Wyoming
Montana
Arizona
I had one a long time ago in North or South Carolina, but I can’t remember whether it was North or South.

NURSING STORIES

WILL I GET MY MILK BACK?

“Our youngest daughter was weaned at four years. Two years later I discussed going back to nursing school to finish my degree. Our daughter said, "Does that mean I get my milk back?" She's almost 11 now and is a normal happy preteen who might be embarrassed if she knew I was writing this!”
Tammie Lasater

EATING BELLY BUTTON

“As I was nursing my four month old daughter, my friend's two year old daughter walked up to me, stared for a moment and asked, "Was Ana eating belly button?"  

Puzzled for a second, I answered, "No, Ana was nursing at my breast." Quite tickled and hoping to alert her mother to the hilarity of her daughter's nursing perception, the mother told me that that is how she has viewed breasts for awhile and she had not taken the time to correct her daughter. I still grin thinking about eating belly button.”

Leigh Moller, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

ADOPTIONS

LONELY TEENS

Kristen Thompson writes … “We have adopted two and are working toward more. We have adopted within our country, through the State Department of Human Services, by foster parenting. It has worked well for us. We hope others will follow us, as we only foster/adopt teens. Babies are so sweet and soft. But those teens need to be loved too. There are about 250,000 teens in this country ready to be loved and snuggled, and cooed over.”

Kristean Thompson, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

RADICAL ADOPTION AGENCY

“There is an agency in Washington State, USA, that is run through a church which provides free adoptions. It is certified and fully legal and very thorough. Please email me for information.”

Holly Loughlin, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Have a blessed week. I’ll write again soon.

Love in Christ,

NANCY CAMPBELL
Editress of Above Rubies