Dots and Dashes Ministry

Dots and Dashes Ministry VBS consulting, children’s ministry support, and Words Worth Giving - custom appreciation wording for anyone who deserves to feel truly seen.

Named after grandma Norma. 🌷

08/30/2026

I love my crazy life.

I love getting hooked on a Freida McFadden book, guessing the whole time who the bad guy is, then getting to the end and going “well I did not see that coming.”

I love scrolling Facebook reels at night convinced that tomorrow is the day I finally get organized, and then spending Saturday scrambling through laundry so we have clothes to wear on Monday.

I love swapping recipes with Rusty knowing good and well I will try about a third of them. And when I do cook, making extra so I have lunch for the week.

I love planning lessons for Children’s Church and Legacy Littles. I love watching my students learn something new and learning more about them right back.

My house is a mess. My car is a mess. Most days my hair is a mess. The laundry never ends and neither do the dishes. Between school, church, soccer practice, and everything else, I am permanently tired.

But I would not trade this life with my husband and daughter for anything.

I would not mind a little more money, a smaller mountain of laundry, and a lot more energy. But the life underneath all that mess? That is the good stuff. That is the answered prayer I forget to notice on the days I am too tired to look.

If your house is a wreck and your heart is full this morning, you are in good company. 🤍

Friends, I've been quiet here for a few weeks.I was in the hospital, and while I was there, my daddy was in another one....
08/15/2026

Friends, I've been quiet here for a few weeks.

I was in the hospital, and while I was there, my daddy was in another one. We lost him. I started a new job the day after the funeral. It has been a season.

But here is what I keep thinking about, and it belongs on this page.

My daddy always had candy in his pockets. Peppermints, butterscotch, caramel bullseyes. He handed them out to everybody he met, for years and years. It was such a small thing that I doubt he ever gave it a second thought.

At his visitation, we filled bowls with candy and set them out. And person after person walked up, picked up a piece of candy or two, and told us a story about him handing them one.

That is ministry. Not the big production. Not the perfect lesson plan. The small, consistent, ordinary kindness you offer so often that people carry it with them for years.

So to every children's ministry leader reading this: the snack you hand out, the name you remember, the high five at the door, the note in a backpack. You may never know which one a kid keeps. But they keep them.

Keep filling your pockets. 🤍

07/15/2026

Mid-July tip: start thinking about fall NOW.

I know, I know - it’s still summer. But here’s the truth:
The children’s ministry leaders who have their best fall seasons are the ones who spent July quietly planning.

Theme. Volunteer needs. Curriculum. Kickoff Sunday. Parent communication strategy.

Pick ONE of those things this week and spend 30 minutes on it. Just 30 minutes. Future You will do a happy dance. 🙌

Need help mapping it out? That’s exactly what I’m here for. 💌

💡 Wednesday Wisdom: Keep encouragement on hand.Here’s a little ministry truth I’ve learned the hard way: the moment some...
07/15/2026

💡 Wednesday Wisdom: Keep encouragement on hand.

Here’s a little ministry truth I’ve learned the hard way: the moment somebody needs encouragement is almost never a moment you saw coming. The text comes at 9pm. The prayer request lands in the middle of a busy week. The teacher, the nurse, the tired mama… they rarely fall apart on a convenient schedule.

So here’s my tip: don’t wait for the moment. Prepare for it.

That’s the whole idea behind Open When envelopes. A set of sealed notes made ahead of time: “Open when you’re having a rough day.” “Open when you doubt yourself.” “Open when you need a laugh.” The gift isn’t just the words inside. It’s knowing somebody loved you enough to get ready for your hard day before it ever came.

It works the same way with a simple blessing tucked in a pocket, a verse taped inside a cabinet door, or a note slipped in a lunchbox. Encouragement prepared in advance is encouragement that arrives right on time.

If this sparked somebody’s name in your mind, I’d love to help. I’m making custom Open When sets and blessing-pocket pumpkins this week, ready by the weekend. Send me a message and we’ll put some love on standby for your person. 💛

Can we talk about what happens when the WiFi is not dependable and you refuse to let it stop you? 😄I needed a way to tel...
07/13/2026

Can we talk about what happens when the WiFi is not dependable and you refuse to let it stop you? 😄

I needed a way to tell Bible stories to my Legacy Littles without depending on a video. So I made this.

The Legacy Littles Big Book of Bible Stories. 📖

Large gift bags covered in kraft paper. Bound together with rope so pages can be added, removed, or rearranged as stories change. Each story gets its own title card clipped on with a clothespin.

The scenes are made from whatever I had on hand:

Blue and white tissue paper layered into ocean waves. Real sand and pebbles glued onto a beach scene. Black paper for the inside of the fish - dark and a little spooky just like it should be. 😄 A sunny sky card that swaps out for storms or night scenes.

The characters are printed images mounted on popsicle sticks. But here is my favorite part - the boat flips over to show the inside where Jonah is sleeping below deck. And the whale opens to show Jonah inside praying.

Total cost? Almost nothing. Everything came from what I already had.

This Wednesday my two Legacy Littles are going to watch Jonah run from God, board a boat going the wrong direction, get thrown into the sea, get swallowed by a very friendly looking whale, pray in the dark for three days, and finally obey God when he got spit out on the beach.

And they are going to see every single bit of it.

No WiFi required. 😄

If you want to make your own Big Book of Bible Stories for your ministry I am happy to walk you through it. Just drop a comment or DM me.

Because this is exactly the kind of thing that makes kids lean in and never forget the story. And that is the whole point. 💜

07/12/2026

We are deep in the thick of summer and I just want to check in on my ministry people.

How are you doing? Not your ministry - YOU.

Are you resting? Are you refilling? Are you letting somebody pour into you for once instead of always being the one doing the pouring?

Summer is a gift. Even for those of us whose brains never fully turn off 😄…and YES I am preaching to myself right now.

Rest is not laziness. Rest is preparation. God rested on the seventh day and He doesn’t even get tired. So what’s our excuse?

Take care of yourself this week. The kids need you whole. 💛

07/12/2026

Some Sundays you walk out of church and the weight of what people are carrying just stays with you. 🙏

Today was one of those Sundays.

I am not going to list names. I am not going to share details. But I am going to pray. And I want to invite you to pray with me.

If you are a children’s ministry leader, a Sunday school teacher, a VBS director, a nursery worker, a volunteer - you know that ministry means you carry people. Their kids. Their families. Their hard weeks and heavy hearts. You show up every Sunday and you pour out. And sometimes you walk away full of things that only God can handle.

So today I am praying Romans 15:13b over every single person who needs it.

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

Not just the people in my church. Yours too. The ones on your prayer list. The ones who slipped in quietly this morning and slipped back out. The ones who did not make it today at all.

God knows every name. Every need. Every heavy thing.

And He is still the God of hope. 💜

Drop a 🙏 in the comments if you are believing with me today. No details needed. God knows.

Can we talk about teachers for a minute? In a few short weeks, they’ll be standing in front of classrooms full of our ba...
07/11/2026

Can we talk about teachers for a minute?

In a few short weeks, they’ll be standing in front of classrooms full of our babies, giving everything they’ve got. And somewhere around mid-September, every single one of them will have a day where they wonder if any of it matters.

So this year I made something for the teachers in our life: Open When envelopes. Five little envelopes on a ring, each one holding a note for a specific moment.

Open when you’ve had a hard day.
Open when a lesson flops.
Open on a Friday.
Open when you wonder if it matters.

The envelopes and ribbon are the cute part, but hear me: the notes INSIDE are the gift. Don’t copy something off the internet. Write what you’d say to that teacher if you caught them in the hallway on their worst day. That’s the whole thing. A coin envelope with real words beats a gift basket with generic ones every time.

This works for more than teachers, too. Your children’s ministry volunteers, your Sunday school teachers, your VBS crew… anybody who pours into kids has “open when a lesson flops” days. Ask me how I know.

And if the words trip you up, that’s what Words Worth Giving is for. Message me and I’ll write them for your person. Want the whole thing done for you? I’ll happily make the complete set, envelopes to ribbons, in your school’s colors.

Make Heaven Crowded, friends. Sometimes that starts with reminding a weary teacher that the seeds they plant still grow.

07/10/2026

Can I tell you something God is doing in my life right now?

A few weeks ago I accepted a position as a paraprofessional in an adaptive classroom. At my daughter's school. With kids who experience the world differently than most - and who need somebody in their corner every single day.

Here's the part that still gives me chills: I had applied for this position once already and heard nothing. Crickets. I figured that door was closed.

Then I applied again. And this time, the principal pulled me aside while I was substitute teaching one day and asked if it was really me who applied. She wanted to make sure. She had been watching me in that building and apparently God had already been doing something in that room that I wasn't even fully aware of.

And I said yes.

Now here's why I'm telling you this on a children's ministry page:

Because ministry is not always a stage and a microphone and a VBS theme song. Sometimes ministry is getting on the floor with a child who communicates differently than you expected. Sometimes it's learning a whole new language - literally, through AAC devices and picture boards and patience you didn't know you had. Sometimes it's celebrating progress that the rest of the world might walk right past without noticing.

God doesn't always open the door the first time you knock. Sometimes He wants you to knock twice - so you know for sure it was Him who opened it and not just good timing.

If God is opening an unexpected door in your life right now - even one that took a second try - I want to encourage you to walk through it.

He doesn't make mistakes with assignments. 💛

"

07/08/2026

Struggling to keep kids engaged in the summer heat?

Move the lesson outside.

Seriously. Grab a blanket, find some shade, and take it outdoors. A change of scenery does something magical for a child’s attention span.

Object lesson with sidewalk chalk? Yes. Worship dance on the lawn? Absolutely. Scripture scavenger hunt through the church yard? Game changer.

The walls of your classroom are not the limit of your ministry. Get outside this summer. ☀️

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Atlanta, GA

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