Dawn Camp |

Decorate Your July Desktop!

July 2, 2020 by Dawn Camp Leave a Comment

I had the marketing call for my new book It All Began in a Garden last week and I was a little nervous. {You’re going to FLIP over the pre-order bonuses!!} COVID threw life into a tailspin—we all get that—but I imagined I’d done everything all wrong already. (Is this more of an Enneagram 3 thing or does everyone put this much pressure on themselves?)?

I grabbed my camera and walked around the yard photographing flowers, and then I grabbed my macro lens and did it all over again.

I needed to slow down and find the inner peace waiting on the other side of that lens. To get the big picture, I needed to look at the small. In this case, the macro. ?

{I love thinking about the words: to find the micro—the extremely small—we use the macro—very large in scale—lens. It magnifies the minute.}?

Looking through my lens calmed my mind and then I oiled up for all the things: Valor for, well, valor. Clarity for clarity. Last but not least, my CBD Calm roller for—you guessed it—calm. (See a pattern here?)

After the call, I sat down at my computer and played with the photos. A few months ago I bought an editing software that works with Artificial Intelligence (Luminar 4). Mind officially blown. SO FUN!

How do YOU calm down and relax when you get the jitters?

{Find details on my camera and lenses on my Camera page.}

Download July’s Desktop Calendar!

Enjoy!!

Regaining Your Sense of Peace at (in)courage

June 12, 2020 by Dawn Camp Leave a Comment

I’m almost embarrassed to admit what prompted me to set foot in a grocery store again after two months of home delivery. It wasn’t increased feelings of security about entering public places or statistics about a decrease in COVID-19 cases in my area.

It was queso — pure and simple.

The queso my family loves doesn’t appear on Costco’s site for home delivery, and believe me, I check every time I place an order. It was when my desire for queso overwhelmed my fear of going into the store that I put on the required mask (my first time) and ventured inside for the hour before closing on a Friday night.

What did I find? More queso than I’d ever seen on the shelf (I tried to explain to a passing employee that this was because it wasn’t available for home delivery) and a stronger sense of peace than I would have thought possible a month or two ago.

I roamed the store looking for special treats for my teens. I restocked the ice cream bars I’d become fond of in the last month. I bought plants for the small raised bed my children and husband built for me on Mother’s Day.

I spoke to everyone because it made me sad the last time I was here when people seemed afraid of each other.

The mask kept me from touching my face (which seems to be a problem for most of us), but I removed it as I walked out of the store. I’m careful, but I no longer clean our groceries like a surgeon sterilizing scalpels before an operation.

Regaining my sense of peace has come slowly, bit by bit, in stages. It began on the night I wrote about in my last post, when I had done everything I could and knew it was time to trust God to do the rest.

Please visit me today at (in)courage to read the rest of this post and join the conversation!

Regaining Your Sense of Peace

June’s Desktop Calendar & Thoughts on the Golden Rule

June 3, 2020 by Dawn Camp Leave a Comment

A few years ago we planted two magnolia trees, one on each side of our front yard. I remember the large magnolia whose branches hung low over the wooden fence of my childhood home and how people sometimes knocked at our door and asked to cut a few blooms for a wedding. I wanted some of that lemon-sweet southern comfort at this home too, where we’ve lived for almost 15 years.

The tree on the east side of our yard has grown tall and fair, with fragrant blooms from top to bottom. The one on the west side, now dwarfed by two trees who’ve outgrown it, is much smaller and currently has only two blooms, drooping near the ground.

We’re told to bloom where we’re planted: to live and thrive in our unique location and circumstances. But my magnolias show me externals do make a difference. What attitudes have I absorbed from the culture, pervasive as this honeyed scent in the air? How do I filter which beliefs take root in me?

Can we chose the family, the zip code, the ethnicity, or the financial status into which we are born? Of course not. But we do make choices that impact us and those around us.

{Interestingly, hardship can grow a person like my east-facing magnolia while apathy can stunt us like its sister-tree, a few yards away.}

There’s a reason Jesus’ words at the Sermon on the Mount, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, are known as the Golden Rule and not the Golden Suggestion. How we treat others is a defining piece of our humanity.

Acts 10:34-35 tells us God is no respecter of persons: that He views us without partiality or favoritism. Thank you, Lord!

Let us examine our hearts daily and treat others with the same respect and dignity with which we wish to be treated.

Download June’s Desktop Calendar

Enjoy!

DIY Insect Repellant

May 26, 2020 by Dawn Camp Leave a Comment

Spring has arrived but unfortunately so have the insects! If you’d like to enjoy the outdoors with fewer pests, try this DIY insect repellent using natural, plant-based ingredients. No DEET!

When I made individual spray bottles for my teens to take to camp one summer, they said girls asked to borrow it to wear as a perfume. It smells that good!

DIY Insect Repellant

6 drops Young Living Citronella oil
1 drop Young Living Rosemary oil
1 drop Young Living Geranium oil
1 drop Young Living Spearmint oil
1 drop Young Living Thyme oil
1 drop Young Living Clove oil

Combine oils in a 2 oz. glass spray bottle and fill the remaining 2/3 of the bottle with distilled water and 1/3 with witch hazel. Shake well before using and spray on feet, legs, and arms to keep away the critters!