Changes, changes...

Some of you may have noticed the changes on my blog. Well, a lot is happening to do so.

1. If you want to keep up with my re-enactments, go to it's own specialized page, newly made for your convenience!
2. I am a writer, so my blog might be a little more literary minded this school year. Including my study of Shakespeare's works for my Brit Lit cred. :D
3. The new name. Don't worry, the url is still the same. But I've come to a realization this summer. God has equipped me with a talent for words, and I intend to use it to tell stories of grace, hope, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Some times that means I have to dip into the real world for examples of sin, despair, cruelty, and deprivation. Understand that this is real writing. Not some fairy tale. Not a lovey-dovey story that makes you feel good and your innards warm. As a friend of mine once said, "I want to be God's frying pan and go around whacking heads. People have got to wake up." Wake up indeed.
4. Pictures.....ah yes. Those lovely things. Weeel, the laptop crashed, so posting pictures is difficult now and editing them is near impossible. I'm working on that. ;) Re-enactments are hard to come by in the summer (when it's 99 degrees for a week straight). But trips aren't! :D And I have plenty of those coming.
5. Sewing Projects!!!! I have yet to update that page (or develop it for that matter. ;) ) I have several projects done, and finished, that I would love to post and talk about! Check out that page soon for some awesome stitching!

To keep you all up to date, here's a look at what this year is bringing:

• NC trip (#3 of this year) and trip to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.
• Several re-enactments. Including the Fall Encampment, Red River, Yule Fest, Daniel Smith Days, and possibly Fort Loudon, which I am especially excited about.
• The usual Thanksgiving Trip to NC.
• A "talked of" Christmas trip to....Texas? O_o

And in addition to:

• School!
• Novel deadline (August 15th at midnight)
• New novel!
• Graduation! O_O There's a shocker for ya. ;)

Some updates on my life:

1. The Kansas trip went great and I had a blast! Learned so much from the people there and can't wait to go back next year.
2. Contacts?
3. A new impersonation for re-enacting. Drumroll please!!! : It's a young widow. Hoohoo! There's gonna be some fun with that. :D
4. This is a little more serious. I have felt God leading me into the mission field after (and during) college. For quite a while he has placed the people of Europe on my heart, where religion there is a culture, not a relationship with God Almighty. Please pray for me as I find out what God has planned for my life and prepare for His calling.

So, anyways. Lotsa going on. And more to come. ;) (Don't worry, patience isn't a virtue I possess either. XD )

Updates galore! Part 2

Oh for the love of butter! Well, Spring Encampment was a blast and my main employment was in the making (and cleaning) of butter. Sam and her sister Marci were my main helpers. Here's how it works.

I churned the butter for about an hour. Depending on the temperature outside, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to and hour and a half (from my own experience) to make the butter separate from the butter milk.
Luckily, I had plenty of friends to keep me company while I churned. The giant apron I'm wearing was made with the sole purpose of making butter with it. It's wide skirt completely covers my petticoats and the bib keeps the butter cream from splashing up on my jacket front. Making butter isn't the cleanest occupation. ;)

When we finished, I scooped the butter out and ran water over it in the colander, until the water drained out clear. We then filled the bigger mold (in the background) and began to fill the smaller mold which Sam is holding. The bigger one can be seen in the background. The bowl in front is an 18th century pottery colander. We used it to wash the butter.

Pushing it out!

Popping the larger butter cake out of the mold. Marci was such a good helper!

Releasing the first mold. This one was kinda messy as the larger mold wasn't as good quality as the smaller one.
Getting the second layer out of the mold. This one was trickier because the suction was better. Sam's other sister, Vanessa is in the foreground.
Putting the two layers together...
Molding the butter.
Rubbing the two butter cakes together...
Picking up left over pieces of butter to fill in the cracks...
Here Sam explains to Marci how the butter mold works.
Smoothing extra butter around the edges...

Marci learned a lot about churning that day..

TADA! Butter! Here we are draining excess water off the plate before replacing the butter cake.
Getting all the butter off our hands...
Cleaning the butter molds. That's Lee in the background.
Washing the dishes...and ourselves! :D
Drying off our hands on my huge butter churning apron...

Mumsie had made several loaves of bread in the bake oven and between my butter and her bread, we fed plenty of people that weekend! By Sunday, the butter was entirely gone!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed that little instruction as to 18th century butter making!

Peplum Jacket

Well, I finally got around to making my peplum jacket for Spring Encampment. After getting lucky with a gorgeous piece of fabric, I decided against making another polonaise (having too many, and chose a fitted jacket, with peplum. I love the peplum and it looks wonderful flared out over petticoats.

So far, Mumsie and I have made the mock up. Unfortunately, the pattern made the jacket terribly small in the waist and way to short for myself with a longer torso. Altering the pattern, and then combining it with another, I drew up the finished idea on butcher paper and hope to attack it tonight.

But, since it has been a while from the last time I posted, I thought I'd give you a little tid bit. Here's the mock up, and my lovely fabric! Enjoy!

I took the pics with my webcam, so I apologize for the poor quality. Also, I went ahead and wore my shift, then pinned the jacket to it so you could see how it fits. The edges are raw, since it's just a mock up, and we didn't line it like we will for the real thing. The jacket is supposed to laceacross the front over a stomacher. Here is the back. Notice the peplum in the middle and at the sides.

Here's a side view. I wanted to include a pic of the sleeves, because they are different than any I've ever done. They cup over the elbow, ensuring modesty in the 1700's. ;)

Here's a side view. Notice the slits and peplum on the sides. This gives it a smooth finish over the torso, while keeping it flared over the hips.

And lastly a front view. See how open it is in the front.

And lastly, my lovely fabric. It's a red and blue cornflower on a cream background. Some friends of ours were renovating a house, and the curtains were made of this lovely Williamsburg print, 100% cotton, and ten yards of it!!! I squealed so much! They let us have it...since they had no better use for it and were going to throw it away. Thank goodness we spotted it!

So, hope that keeps you satisfied until I can post the final product! Until then!

So much for keeping on track...

Sorry guys,......again. Things keep going way too fast for me too keep up with stuff. So, some more updates.

1. My Dad had surgery this past Wednesday on his back. Two of his lower vetebrae were sqeezing around his spinal cord, cutting off the circulation to his legs. As a result, his legs were falling asleep when he stood up for a while. Luckily the surgery went wonderful and he is alreay home and on his feet. Please continue to pray that his incessions don't become infected. The incession is causing him some minor pain, but his back is feeling better already.
2. My trip to Florida with Allison's family was soooo much fun! I have pictures and as soon as I can remeber where I placed my hard drive stick, they will be on here! ;)
3. My book is going good, however I will not be posting my book on here for copyright precautions. But, I will be posting snipits.
4. We went to Red River last weekend and had an amazing time. As soon as I get some pictures from Allison, you can be sure I will update extensively.
5. My cousin is now married and both Andrew and Kendall looked wonderful! My other cousin, Nathan will be marrying his fiancee, Robin, in January.
6. Upcoming events include the annual Thanksgiving trip to NC, Yule Fest in December, and Nathan's wedding in NC.


Stay tuned for more details. ;)

July 4th Celebration

Well, my family decided to celebrate the 4th of July in a little different than the normal American family. Especially in the fact that we do re-enactments. So, last Saturday, we went down to Mansker's Station for the day and "par-tehd". :)

This is the official Mansker's Station jam band. Minus Daddy (dead center) who picked up the guitar, sa down and started playing with them. Ms. Laura is on the extreme right. There were guitars, dulcimers, madolins, and a violin.

The Lovely Daddy. Pardon the Sprite cans. The site fed the volunteers lunch. :)
Here is Janessa (in the blue jacket, dead center) dancing a dance called the Whipporwill. This is one of our favorite dances and it has a lot of twirls. Sam is in the background in the blur dress.

Here I am (in the red jacket) and so is Sam. By the way, that jacket is brand new and I love it! It's a long gown that I made from a linen tablecloth. It has two pleats in the back and tripled pleats at the side. Very fashionable. ;)

Me and Sam again.

Me in the background with my partner. Now you can see me from the front.
This is one little pic I like to call:

Clash of the Centuries

We have an Abraham Lincoln impersinator new here and they had him come and speak. He was very good and we all love him. He is very funny and sweet. At the dances, he tried to get partners for the standing girls left. One time he has come out and borrowed 18th century clothes and fought in an Indian Skirmish we had. It was a lot of fun and he claimed to be representing Abe's grandfather. ;)

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful 4th of July.

God Bless.

Soooo Sorry!

Wow! It's been a while and I apologize. Things have been really crazy and will continue to get worse this summer. (Worse in a good way. I like being busy!) My friend Allison mentioned on her blog that I was starting a new phase in the calling God has placed on my life. While this is true, and I want to post about it, I can't get a video that explains everything up on here, so you will have to wait on that until I can get one of my tech savy friends to upload it. But first I have some announcements:

1. I will not be doing the next WIFD. Things are a little too hectic as is without having to take pics of myself every morning and post them. Sorry! You can still enjoy what the other girls post if you follow the link on your right.
2. I will be gone starting May 30th for my cousin's graduation until June 8th.

Now for things to look for in the near future:

1. Allison and I are now going down to Manskers by ourselves, so look for pictures of that.
2. According to the countdown clock on the right, my next re-enactment is coming up. I will also have pics of that.
3. As soon as I can load that video, there will be information regarding The Least of These, my mission group I am starting.
4. School is out! Summer pics will be flooding this blog!

Lastly, I have a few things I would like you to petition the Lord about on my behalf.

1. The Least of These. While on to a good start, I am encontering some spiritual war fare regarding this. Please pray for strength and courage. While I may be headstrong, I am not bold; I am a people pleaser and this isn't helping.
2. Two of my cousins are getting married! Yay!!!

Thank you all for being so patient. I will try to post more reguarly as soon as all this clears up a bit.

Au Revior,

Janae Janna

Spring Encampment

Finally! A picture for you guys! Thanks for being so patient. This was scanned out of a newspaper which explains the funky quality. There is a story behind how the photorapher caught me this way. I was actually watching the militia muster and raising of the flag early Saturday morning. Something caught my eye and I looked away, right into the lens of the camera guy! I jumped and apologized laughing. He laughed and said it was alright. Then he asked me to "re-pose". So I did. I had no idea he worked for the newspaper! I thought he was just a tourist! Oh well. This the bake oven up at the house. From left to right: Janessa, our friend Evan, and Mumsie. My mom runs the bake oven and we do make bread, cookies, biscuits, cornbread, cakes and cobbler all inside. It works quite well and the food is of course delicious!

I borrowed this pic from my friend Jessica over at http://anthonycourter.blogspot.com

We (mainly I with a lot of help, since I was the only one who had made it before ina churn) were making butter. Janessa (on the left) decided to give it a try. From left to right: Janessa, Jessica, and Me. We did this on the porch of the house. It took about an hour and a half to make about four cups of butter from a gallon or so of cream.

I love doing this. Churning butter and baking is one of my favorite things to do at Mansker's. By the way, we were also making baked apples during this time and Jessica was making cooked greens. So much fun!!

I know, I know....

I know, I was supposed to post pics of Spring Encampment....two weeks ago. Sorry. My family decided to start Spring Cleaning and the entire house has been pulled apart and put back together. (not literally *grin*) We have organized, gotten rid of, cleaned and now we are in the midst of a gigantuan garage sale. Fun fun. Oh well, I ahve made some money, so that's always nice. I am tring to post a cool little tidbit for you, and it will probably be up some time tonight. Anyways, everyone have a wonderful Good Friday in the remebrance of what our Savior sacrificed for our freedom.

Change

Happy April!!! I love April. It's such a nice name and everything is so pretty. You probably have noticed that I changed the blog background again. Sorry, but the other one just wasn't workin' for me. I like changing things up allthe time anyways. Ask anyone of my friends and they will confirm that I re-arnage my room about every other month (or oftener) and every once in a while, I change my handwriting. I am constantly changing my hairstyle too! :) I just like to be *unpredictable*. :) Pics of Spring Encampment are coming up. Stay tuned!!!

WIFD Day 5-7

Yay!!! Finally back with technology. To those who guess, yes I was at a re-enactment! Good answers!!! I didn't have a bucket load of pics like I promised, but I might get more on my blog when people start sending me pics they took. Anyways here is one that my sister took of me in the cabin we stayed at this weekend. No one was looking so we snapped this one real quick.

To inform you, I will explain everything I have on from top to bottom. To begin with, I have my hair in afrench braid and the ends done in a bun. I wore my good cotton cap on top. Underneath everything I wear a white cotton shift, kinda like a nightgown and my natural colored linen petticoat on the bottom. The short gown (my top, sort of like a jacket) is pale blue cotton/linen mix and is pinned at the right shoulder. I am wearing a white cotton pin-up apron with the corner tucked in. The red thing around my shoulders is called a modesty scarf and is a cotton gauze dyed in a reddish wine color. The necklace is a red silk ribbon with the key to my trunk on the end. I have a knife tyed to my waist. (everyone on the frontier in 1783 carried a knife.) I have pearl dangly earings on. Althought you can't see them, I have on purple and grey stripped socks and elk leather moccosins my dad made. I made my entire costume and wore this the entire weekend. I love going to re-enactments and taking on an entire new persona. I portray a wealthy young widow who came out west looking for land. (that's why I have jewelry, a rareity) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my little surprise!

To do...

Enjoy the new Spring layout and song. Several things are going to be happening over the next few weeks so look for updates.

Most importantly, next weekend is the Spring Encampment at Mansker's Station and I hope to be able to get pictures. I will be redoing my polonaise (the orange one) instead of making a whole new one (time constraints). Look for pictures.

Next, Spring break is just around the corner and I have nothing to do. Please, send suggestions. :) Also, with Spring Break comes Easter!!!! I'll have info with that.

I hope to post more about the Prayer Day, maybe even a video if I can find time to let it load on here.

Next week I am doing another WIFD. So look for some more cute outfits from a bargain shopper. This time, It is not required to wear dresses and skirts, just feminine modest outfits. Meaning, I may wear some shorts and pants, but they will be modest and feminine. Which is what really counts afterall.

Since Spring Encampment falls on the same weekend of WIFD, some of my outfits will be in petticoats and short gowns and polonaise. Get over it. It's modest and would have been very nice clothing for 1783! :)

Anyways, enjoy the new layout and song and look forward to what is to come!

More pics

Well, I dug through some sources and I finally found some pictures from Yule Fest back in December. Here you go.

This is Me with a group of my re-enacting friends down at Mansker's. From left to right:

Jordan, Rebecca, Sarah, Sammantha, Jessica, Josh, Mrs. Joy, Me, Janessa, and Natalie. My dress was caught up on something and so it looks funny here. ;)

This is the Bowen house, which is right next to Mansker's. They are a site together. Ms. Laura is shown here in the dining/parlor of the house. It is surprisingly well lit for just candles.

And this is me dancing with the visitors and friends. I am in the orange dress and my partner is my friend Gerald.

New Pics

This is me and some friends at a site called Mansker's Station. This is the one we re-enact at the most. This is in October, early in the morning, and we have our wraps on as it was very chilly. Form left to right we are: my sister Janessa, my friend Allison (the photographer), my friend Samantha, and Me. I am not smiling very much in this picture, because Iwas trying to hide my braces. Now, though, I have given up on that since they will be off in March anyways.

This is my family, (minus my two older brothers who don't re-enact) at an event called Red River. We run a resturaunt there and the tent behind us is it. From left to right we are: Janessa, My mother, My dad, and Me.

This in the Spring of 08. From left to right it is: my friend Kelsie, Janessa, Allison, and Me. This is in the doorway of the main block house at Mansker's Station.

This is me and Allison. It was in Septmeber, and remarkably hot, so I had taken off my stockings(Shame, Shame!!). But Allison, being the modest girl she is, kept hers on. This is in a loft of one of the cabins at Mansker's Station. I think we were handing laterns down from the loft, and when we were done, just sat and talked. My mom took this picture for us.

This is Me, with my glasses on, Allison in modern clothing, and Janessa in October. This is at Red River. This pic is my favorite.

Sorry for being gone so long. I was what you could call "fasting" fromt the internet, TV, and going to movies for a week and a half. I was actually able to get a lot done that I had been wanting to during that time. I have fabric for my polonaise now. It will be a rust colored linen with a chocolate linen stomacher. The stomacher will have crewel work in the pattern I blogged about last year. Hope to have some pics of that soon!