My Favorites

Now that I'm finished with Drawing Lab, I've gone back through all the labs and picked my 12 favorites:

1. Lab 2: Taking It Further in Color, 2. Lab 6 TIF, 3. lab11-black-and-white, 4. ink girl1, 5. mindi portrait, 6. sean portrait, 7. Dr-Seuss "ish", 8. finding-balance, 9. scribble-dancer, 10. shy-green-dog, 11. dragonfly, 12. tired-bird-in-book

I feel like I've accomplished something... learned a lot... and tried some new things. All good stuff!

Can't wait for the The Art of Silliness 2 workshop with the author of Drawing Lab to start! Mary and I plan to work on it together along with a couple of other friends. :-)

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Seven on Sunday

I AM...

1. ...AMAZED at our friends from Canada who were down visiting this past week. They came to church with us and then to lunch.... with their four children... three foster kids and one soon to be adopted 3-year-old... and them both in their early fifties, I suppose... and after they've raised three children of their own... and after he's been through a hard, hard bout with cancer... and then heart surgery. Amazing people. Blessed to know them and encouraged by their walk... their generosity and their love.

2. ...GLAD Mary is going to do the old-fashioned snail-mail thing with the above friend's 11-year-old foster daughter, Tamika. I had a pen-pal when I was her age... Susan in Olivet, Michigan. :-)

3. ...EXCITED that eight women signed up so far for the Ephesians Bible study I'm going to be leading.

4. ...SCARED that eight women signed up so far for the Ephesians Bible study I'm going to be leading. It's been a while since I've done this.

5. ...LOOKING FORWARD to going to The Girl's house tomorrow night to help get invitations out!

6. ...HAPPY that I finished the Drawing Lab workshop I've been working on for the past seven or eight weeks. I've learned so very much.

7. ...BLESSED. Goodnight, all, and Happy Sabbath.

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Ai Yi Yi - What a Week!

Almost a week and no post! Yikes! This week has been a doozy and it wasn't until last night that I slowed down and picked up a pen and brush and did a little artwork.

I finished this journal page. Love the picture of Agatha Christie. Not really a fan of her writing, but I just thought the photo of her in The New Yorker magazine was awesome. She just looks wise! Anyway, these were some of my thoughts on relationships...

And after lunch yesterday, this little guy appeared. I colored him with pastels last night. I was waiting for yet another meeting to start and was so tired, I couldn't even spell "bird" right! Ha!

Then, this morning I did the last lab for Drawing Lab's Unit 7 and the Tired Bird showed up there, too. He made it into a few sketches/painting this morning, but this one is my favorite. The book I chose to draw in is Faster:The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick. I thought it was an appropriate choice after the week I've just had! (Great book, by the way.)

I'm still not finished with the whole project, though. Still have to make-up the nature walk from Unit 6. Perhaps I'll get to that this weekend.

So, today has been quiet so far... Matt was off early for a bike ride and then to a seminar at church until after 2pm. Doing laundry, working on the Ephesians Bible Study I'll start leading early in October (gulp!), and just generally piddling! Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday, bloggy friends!

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Seven on Sunday

Happy Sabbath, bloggy friends! Here's seven for you:

1. I had a girl sleepover at a friend's house Friday night! It was really an "art" sleepover. CD had put paper down on her dining room table and loaded the lazy susan up with a ton of art supplies. (She says that's really her hobby - collecting art supplies!) We stayed up until 1:30am and then I slept the latest of all.... which is most shocking! I didn't get up until 9:30am!! After coffee and some awesome pastries, we hopped over to our picturesque downtown area, browsed a book shop, and had lunch at a favorite resteraunt. Then back for more arting around until about 3pm. Wonderful, wonderful time. Thanks, CD! If she would ever post on her blog, you could see how talented she is!!

2. So, while I was at the sleepover, I made the art journal page below. CD saved over 300 old family love letters and telegrams from a soldier in France during WWII to his girlfriend that were about to be thrown out! They were beautiful and I grabbed a letter and a telegram and used some of his words on this art journal page. I love the telegram under the horse's legs the best: "EXPECT TO BE HOME SOON DON'T WRITE FURTHER"

3. I also made another art journal page below for a Drawing Lab assignment. You were supposed to write for a bit, then pick photos from magazines to collage. I kind of combined those two things into an art journal page. I've been thinking a lot about grief lately... filling his presence, actually. (Grief is a man to me.) After the loss of my friend two months ago, I don't think I've really let myself grieve over her. I've kept myself too busy and now I feel him lurking around behind me in book stores, watching me in the parking lot at the grocery store, waiting for me to turn to him and let go.

Oh - and here's another assignment - an abstract from bits and pieces found in nature.



4. Guess what I got in the mail yesterday? My very first rejection letter! From Cave Wall. Remember when I told you I bit the bullet and submitted six poems to them? Well, I finally heard from the editor and it was a big no. BUT. The editor included this handwritten note below with suggestions on my writing and another publication to consider submitting to. So, as far as rejection goes, I'm pretty pumped! :-)

5. I didn't put together an entry for this week's weekWORD, but you can still see all the entries for nostalgia over at Christine's here.

6. I actually went to the gym this week and got a strength-building routine set up with a personal trainer! Go me! And I've gone through it twice... I'm sore as the dickens, too! :-)

7. Loved, loved, loved this part of an essay titled "On Keeping a Notebook" from Joan Didion in this book:

I think we are all well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.

Here's to not forgetting who we were and where we've been, bloggy friends. Have a peaceful, restful Sabbath.

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Finally Friday: On Bugs, Flowers, & Cannibals

Ah, Friday! That's a good thing. Here are two of the FIVE labs that I need to finish by Sunday for Drawing Lab's Unit 6. (!)

The first is a dragonfly from a lab that required drawing and coloring at least four bugs. The dragonfly is the only one I really liked.




The second is a flower I painted as part of a lab tutorial.

And I'll leave you with some words I read in Piper's Life as a Vapor this morning. This excerpt is a response from a missionary Piper quoted who was going to serve in New Hebrides in 1858 and received some criticism about his choice of people to serve:

A Mr. Dickson exploded, "The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!" ...But to this Paton responded:

"Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer."

Wow.

Looking forward to the weekend, bloggy friends! Hope you've had a wonderful week.

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Wednesday Wanderings

Morning, bloggy friends! Just wanted to share a couple of things with you...

One - I've been greatly inspired by a free art journaling workshop going on at Julie's place. I've always wanted to keep an art journal, have tried just a bit, but decided to finally seriously take a stab at it.

So - I bought the best watercolor spiral pad I could find yesterday (small 6x9 Wind Power) and made a cover for it. I thought smaller would be better... less intimidating. I put down two layers of gesso first, then a layer of blue acrylic, then pasted (with matte medium gel) and paint-penned to my heart's content. It was fun and I'm pleased with the result. Well, pretty pleased. Not too bad for a first try anyway, I think.

I had noticed the elephant on the back cover of a magazine a few days ago and then the saying popped out as I was cutting out words. (Believing that tomorrow can be different is always a good thing... the definition of "hope" which will never put us to shame... Romans 5:3-5.) Plus, I just liked the words "race" and "faith" going together... and in that particular order, too. Not sure exactly what it means yet, but I'll be mulling that over every time I go to open the journal. I'm going to prep a few blank pages next.... hopefully this afternoon. Then we'll see what happens. I'm excited about have a place to try out new stuff and to capture thoughts artistically. Sort of a "Commonplace Book" like Sally's that I read about here.

Two - drawing insects for Drawing Lab. Much more fun... and easier than I thought it would be. Now the scary part - color! There's five "Must-Do" labs for this unit. Not sure how I'm going to get those all done before Sunday! Then only ONE more unit before we're finished. :-) It's been good.

That's it. Off to a busy day - get dressed, whip up some banana pudding for tonight, dropping Mary off at school, work, appointment at the gym with a trainer to set me up on some sort of plan =:-O, pick up Mary, and pot luck neighborhood dinner. What does your day hold?

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Simple

FOR TODAY
Tuesday
August 17, 2010

Outside my window... MUGGY: (adj) muggy, steamy, sticky (hot or warm and humid) "muggy weather"; "the steamy tropics"; "sticky weather"

I am thinking... about what to cook for dinner. Hamburgers and onion gravy or cheeseburgers?

I am thankful for... children. And that they do actually grow up one day! :-)

I am wearing... a white t-shirt and jeans, a favorite chunky heart necklace, and my favorite Fossil bracelet (a Christmas gift from my sister years ago.)

I am creating... insects! From Drawing Lab's Unit 6 - Inspiration from Nature. And thinking of what I'll do for the new weekWORD: "Nostalgic" from Christine.

I am going... to work today and spend the whole morning on a technical writing project, then lunch with a friend, then maybe a quiet hour at the library reading and doing some prep for the Bible Study coming up soon that I'll be leading.

I am reading... 2 Chronicles and 2 Timothy, Life as a Vapor, Drawing Lab, various commentaries on Ephesians, and The Hobbit. (I struggle with fantasy, but really, I should be able to read this one, right? Not getting into it yet, though!) Oh, and I picked this up at the mall this weekend. (A friend asked me a few days ago, "What makes a writer a writer?" Before I could answer she said, "She writes!" Ah - I thought it was just someone who bought books about writing!)

I am pondering... these words this morning from 2 Chronicles 20:12b:

" We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
(2 Chronicles 20:12b ESV)

Having my eyes on the Lord... Yes and Amen.

I am hoping... The Boy does well at Jet School.... He's in the simulator this afternoon for the first time and I'm praying things will go smoothly for him. He's got a very full plate right now: job, wedding, remodeling house, full-time college class load, and learning to fly a JET! =:-O

I am hearing... three snoring doggies... one at my feet, once at my side, and the other across the room propped up on pillows. :-)

Around the house... projects, proJECTS, PROJECTS! Projects that are almost finished. Projects that are half-way finished. Projects that need to be started. And very little time OR money to sink into them right now. Sigh.

One of my favorite things... alright... confession time. I really like to watch Wife-Swap. I wasted about an hour-and-a-half watching it with E yesterday afternoon. It does make me laugh, though. E was pondering what type of wife I'd get swapped out with... hmmm...

A few plans for the rest of the week... work, of course. A potluck dinner with a few neighbors, a dinner for a new friend's granddaughter who is in from out of town, early breakfast with another friend, supper club with our church group...mmmm.... an artsy night/day with CD this weekend.... mmmm.... I promised myself two visits to the gym this week....

For more SIMPLE entries, simply go here!

CONTINUE READING...

Drawing Lab: Unit 5

This unit was on "Imagination" and I thought, "Goodie! This will be fun!" We only had to do three labs, but there were some really cool optional labs that I thought I would easily be able to get to. Well, things didn't go as planned this week...

First, I did the "Scribble" lab and really enjoyed it.

And I did the "Paint Blot" lab, which I didn't think I would like doing, but turns out I did like it very much. Here's one of my new critters. The other two are on smugmug.

But, this is the one that got me. Doodling! When I first read the lab I thought, "No problem!" Especially since doodling is really where I started with art.

But I couldn't do it. I couldn't relax enough just to draw and play around. I couldn't get past trying to make it look like something. This was especially disappointing because what really got me going with drawing was a book called Praying in Color. The whole point was to use doodling as an aid to allow your mind to focus. It worked beautifully for me way back when and I still have a prayer journal full of meaningful (but crude) doodles. Now I'm wondering if I could still do it. After this lab, I'm thinking not.

I'm sad I got stuck on doodling and didn't get around to any of the optional labs. At any rate, I'm still learning a lot and looking forward to the next unit. I think I only have two more before we're done with the book, Drawing Lab.

Blessings, bloggy friends!

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weekWORD: Collection

This week's word is Collection and it was very easy for me to find something about which to post.

As I thought about the word "collections," I thought of all the things I've gathered over the years. (As I'm sure everyone playing along did, too.)

And I was shocked at how many different things I've collected. There's been antique cameras, snack plates, political pins, crosses (the kind that stand up on a shelf), orange seashell shards, canvas bags, good words, old photographs, and (most recently) bees. Of course, there's no doubt my biggest collection - and most enduring - is books. (That particular collection is getting a little scary, actually.)

I thought about taking clever photographs of clever arrangements of my collections.... but I'm not a very clever photographer, so that was out.

I thought of writing about one particular obsession, how it started, what season of life I was in, and why it stopped. But, that was, uhm... boring.

I thought of drawing one of my collections, but that would be waaay past my drawing skills, so no thank-you to that either.

But, finally, I thought of one of the most important, valuable, enduring collections I've ever had: all the bits and pieces of life with my best friend, Matt. Tomorrow will be his 45th birthday.... another one of those things that is hard to imagine. Next March will be our silver wedding anniversary. Yikes!

The past twenty-five years have been full of laughter... with a dash or two of tears to add some flavor...

full of joy... with a splash here and there of frustration for visual interest....

I told a friend not too long ago that I've been married to at least three different men over the years.... God has changed him a lot. Yet he's still the same 17 year-old-boy I met in our high school cafeteria. That skinny, curly-headed boy in tight jeans, cowboy boots, and a baseball cap who stole my 13 year-old heart with his joking and sweetness.

So, my collection is all the bits and pieces of this particular man... his quirks and oddities, his good habits and bad... I love ALL the pieces. And I see God still pursuing him, still adding to him, still fleshing him out a little more each day, still finishing His creation. I love this man.

Happy Birthday to my most prized collection of all!

(For more takes on weekWORD "collection", hop over to Elisabeth's.)

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In Less Than Three Months...

In less than three months I'll be the proud mama of a new bouncing married man! Hard to imagine my Boy will be married... a husband... with a ring on his finger... that matches one on the finger of a Girl... who will be my daughter-in-law.... and to whom I will be.... a...

MOTHER-IN-LAW!

Gasp! Scary words. Hyphenated words. Old words.

Here's a couple of interesting definitions of mother-in-law:
1. From a List of Stock Characters in a Comedy: A usually seasonal source of anguish for the son or daughter-in-law, typically ugly and overbearing.
2. From the Urban Dictionary: a horrible beast. Strangely enough the letters in 'mother in law' can be re-arranged to spell 'Woman Hitler'.

Or how about the lyrics to Ernie K-Doe's 1961 number 1 hit single, "Mother-in-Law"? Nice, huh?

They've been engaged now since February, but we knew well before she was The One. I've had plenty of time to prepare my heart for him to leave the nest, for Another Woman to be first in his life... and I'm good with all that. Really. I'm oh-so-very grateful. She is truly an answer to years of prayer for our Boy.

I also think this engagement time has helped me toss this new role of mother-in-law around a bit. (Yes, yes... I know it's really not all about me, but this is my blog, so ....) It's like a pizza dough. I've been kneading it, adding a little water, a little more flour, mushing it around. Now I'm tossing it up in the air, spinning it, letting the idea flatten out so I can really take a good look at it.

Yep.

So, I'll be a mother-in-law. My family has not given me a great example of how to be one. That's a looong, ugly story that I'll not share here. No airing of dirty laundry today, bloggy friends, but let's just say that the only example I've gotten from my mother (who I love, really) was how not to be a mother-in-law. I suppose there's value in that, though.

And a great friend who did model being a wonderful mother-in-law for me has passed away. I always thought she would be able to help me out as I walked down this road... point out the rocks that I might stumble on or the muddy spots to steer clear of. But she is gone and I'm left missing her all the more.

And speaking of missing, I've been missing my mother-in-law, too. Her name was Jackie. She's the lovely gal in the photo above. I believe it was taken while she was pregnant with baby #2 and hubby was deployed with the Marines. Sweet, huh? She was an extremely sweet lady. Jackie was my mother-in-law only 12 years or so before she died. She was funny, loving, and generous. She opened her home and heart to a scared, pregnant, 17-year-old with no questions asked and no judgements cast. Or at least none I ever knew or sensed from her. I don't think I've ever really fully appreciated her acceptance and unconditional love until now.

So, bloggy friends, pray for me as I start down this new road. Pray that I'll be the mother-in-law The Girl deserves, but mostly that God would have me to be.

Life is good.

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Drawing

Up early this morning, I grabbed a pen and did the first lab in Unit 5 of Drawing Lab. It was simple: make a scribble on a blank piece of paper and then see what you can turn it into. My first attempt turned into a dancing girl. It made me think of my friend, S, who recently died and the words she left us with - "Don't cry for me. I'm singing and dancing in Heaven... two things I could never do here on Earth!"

And my second scribble turned into a mother and child. I think I like them both.

Finally, I added these two faces to my 100 faces collection. They are numbers 6 and 7 and were drawn during a meeting today at work.

Be well, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Simple

For today...
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

It's been some weeks since I've done a "Simple" entry. I suppose life has been too busy to be considered simple around here.

Outside my window... condensation. The air is so full of water outside it's gathering on the windows just begging to be let in.

I am thinking... of the things that need to be done to get our web ministry team kicked off at church. Our website is here! Take a look...input appreciated...

From the learning rooms... Mary is back in school and things seem to be going well there. Getting back into the school rhythms is always a little difficult, but ultimately good for the whole family. The Boy is away at jet school in Texas starting today. And E still has a few weeks before beginning her final year of high school. Hard to believe.

I am wearing... white cotton pants and a black shirt. I never used to wear black when I was younger. As a matter of fact, I hated it. Now I find myself wearing it more and more. Hmmm...

I am creating... nothing really at the moment. I'm starting Unit 5 Drawing Lab. The topic is "imagination." And I'm rolling around the weekWORD from Elisabeth. Hop over and leave a comment to play along with us.

I am reading... 2 Timothy, Chronicles, The Hobbit, Life as a Vapor, and various commentaries on Ephesians.

I am praying for... the women's Bible study on Ephesians I'm leading beginning in September. It's been some time since I've done anything like this and the first time at this particular church. Excited... nervous... apprehensive... willing... feeling unworthy... lots of different things going on in my mind.

Words I am pondering... as I am preparing to teach...

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1:3-7)

From the kitchen... not much happening there. I made yummy chicken pot pie last night.

I am hearing... dogs whining to be let in, dog paws click-clacking across the hardwood, dogs lapping up water and munching on food. Dogs, dogs, dogs! Yes, we still have The Boy and The Girl's BIG puppy still living with us. He's a great, great doggie and we love him. It's just that THREE dogs are ALOT all in one house! :-)

Around the house... cleaning out closets and the laundry room.... carting off bags and boxes to Good Will. Feels good to de-clutter, but there's much left to be done!

Here is a picture I am sharing... my sister's baby donkey and the mommy in Alabama. In addition to these cuties she has another donkey, a stocked pond, ducks, three dogs, various cats, a rabbit, and a miniature hamster. And I complain about three dogs... ? :-)

For more simple entries, go here. Have a simply lovely day, bloggy friends!

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Drawing Lab: Unit 4

Ah! Finished with Unit 4 (Inspired by Children and Childhood) in Drawing Lab. The assignment was to choose 5 of the 7 labs. I choose Scribbly, Contouring Toys, One-Eyed Monsters, Collaborate with a Child: Drawing, and Collaborate with a Child: Words. You can see them all at my SmugMug account here. But these are my favorites:

A sweet purple one-eyed monster

Me and Mary (Mary drew me and I drew her!)

Mary's famous words about her hair! :-)

This week's assignments were harder for me. Not sure why. Maybe I'm just getting tired. It's been a fast-paced week! Still learning a lot, though.

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Book Review: A Drowned Maiden's Hair (Audio)

Ah, time to sit down and type again! Finished mopping so it's time for a writing break again.

A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schiltz and read by Alma Cuervo, Audible Audio Edition, Listening Length: 8 hour(s) and 39 min., Version: Unabridged, Publisher: Recorded Books (December 7, 2007), ASIN: B00112DSU0

Source: Another random public library pick
Rating: 4 of 5 STARS

This is the second book Mary and I listened to on our trip South last month. (The first was Graceling. You can read my review of it here.) We ended up not finishing this one on the trip and had to take an afternoon at home to listen to the last couple of CDs.

In this story, an orphan (incoragable 11 year-old Maud Flynn) is unexpectedly adopted by three wealthy spinster sisters. The sisters quickly tell Maud her presence in the mansion must be a secret and that soon she will help them with their "work." She has to be careful to sneak up the stairs if a visitor comes and to never stand in front of a window. But the sisters treat her well, so Maud complies. Soon, though, we discover their "work" is holding seances to take advantage of wealthy mourners who have lost loved ones they would like to speak to. (Apparently, the sisters aren't really so wealthy.) They eventually ask Maud to play the ghost of a drowned girl to deceive a grieving mother. I'll leave the rest for you to listen to or read. It comes down to Maud having to decide on doing the right thing or having her own needs met. Let's just say Maud turns out to be a great example of someone having good character.

So, as we were listening and I realized the sister's "work" was seances I thought, "Great, I've chosen another inappropriate book for Mary!" I almost told her we couldn't listen to it. But I hung in there for a couple of CDs and I'm so glad I did. This story will introduce the idea of seances to your child, but the story clearly points out these women are frauds and that no one can speak to the dead. It clearly shows seances to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. And yet again, Mary and I had another great opportunity for spiritual conversations.

Toward the end of the book, I thought this was a beautifully written paragraph:

Maud fixed her eyes on the hot green world outside the window. The train was passing a cornfield that seemed to go on for miles: tall green cornstalks, hung with tassels. Maud could smell them. As if they were a thing of years gone by, she remembered how sweet the corn tasted, served with butter and salt. A few weeks ago, she shucked corn with Muffet on the back porch. She remembered the sound it made when she ripped back the outer leaves and they way the sheathings turned from dull green to moonlight white. She liked to break a few kernels off with her thumb and eat them raw.

I would definitely recommend adding this one to your list, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Book Review: A Praying Life

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller, Paperback: 288 pages, Publisher: NavPress (May 15, 2009), ISBN-10: 1600063004

Source: Recommended by LC
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS

Ok, one load of laundry done and another on its way, so I have time for another review! :-) This is one of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday: chore, write, chore, read, chore, draw, and then start all over again!

I read this book at the beach and my copy is all sodden and swollen. It smells of the sea, which makes me happy today. A Praying Life is a wonderfully engaging book with the author's personal life struggles interwoven into the theology of prayer. Practical, real-world, and humble, Paul E. Miller is someone worth reading. The best way for you to get an idea of what the book is about is to look at the section titles:

Learning to Pray Like a Child, Learning to Trust Again, Learning to Ask Your Father, Living in Your Father's Story, and Praying in Real Life.

Bottom line, it's hard to pray. And Miller acknowledges that from the beginning and gives great advice and encouragement on how to deepen (or in some cases even begin) your prayer life. I personally drift in and out of the safe harbor of a meaningful prayer life. I don't know why I let my sails get caught so often in crosswinds that carry me away, but this book helped me batten things down a little better.

From the Introduction: I never started out to write a book on prayer. I simply discovered that I'd learned how to pray. Life's unexpected turns had created a path in my heart to God; God taught me to pray through suffering. (page 11)

Miller takes us through learning to be helpless, dealing with our cynicism, figuring out what it is that we won't ask for and why, and then finding our place in God's overarching redemption story. It's not until the very last section of the book that Miller gives readers some very useful and practical tools for the daily praying life. No, what he's really promoting is more than just a daily praying life, it's a continuous minute-by-minute praying life.

This book is well worth the time to read. I would read it slowly, though. It's not a book to be gulped, but one to be sipped, slowly and thoughtfully.

CONTINUE READING...

Book Review: Graceling (Audio)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore, performed by Full Cast Audio, Unabridged edition (June 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1934180890

Source: Random Public Library Pick, but I think I had read a review or heard of it somewhere
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS

I'm super far behind on book reviews. I think I've got about five I need to write. One goal for this Saturday at home is to get caught up on writing these so, bloggy friend, if book reviews aren't your interest, forgive me for dumping so many here today.

Graceling was one of the two audio books M and I listened to on our "quick" drive to and from Louisiana last month. When we're going home, I usually run by the library at the last minute and grab some random selections then let Mary chose the ones she wants us to listen to together. Out of the five or so I picked, Graceling's description intrigued her the most. I thought, "Ugh. Fantasy." (I'm not a fantasy person... literature, film, notta.)

But.

I was pleasantly surprised. Super pleasantly surprised. Great story, great characters, lovely writing. And to top it off, this version is produced by Full Cast Audio. I had never listened to one of their books, but really, it was like listening to a play. Wonderfully, wonderfully done. I don't remember exactly how big the audio cast of Graceling was, but it had to be at least 10! Awesome. I'll be looking for more books produced by them in the future.

Here's a short video worth watching: Behind the Mic: Graceling

There's lots and lots of reviews out there on Graceling, so I'll try to just give you a really quick summary: Cashore has created a world where some people are "graced," meaning they are born with a special gift. It could be as simple as being able to cook really, really well or (as in the case of the heroine) being able to kill. Katsa, with the grace to kill, becomes a tool welded by her evil uncle King. Both parents dead, she is raised as an instrument of death and learns nothing of love nor family. That's where we begin. But by the end, Katsa has both love and family plus she learns her grace isn't really about killing, but something much, much more.

My only caution is this book is marketed for ages 14 and up. I should have read that before Mary and I listened to it. A big part of the plot is the romance between Katsa and Po (another graceling) and there's one scene where Katsa gives herself to Po that is pretty sexually explicit. Well, explicit when you're listening to it with your 11-year-old. My fault.

But - some would see this part of the book as a negative, but I saw it as an opportunity: Po wanted to marry Katsa, but she did not want to be bound to anyone so restrictively, even Po. She wanted her freedom to come and go as she pleased. Po ended up capitulating and saying he would take her in any way she wanted. Overall, the author puts a pretty negative slant on marriage throughout the book, not just in one scene. This part of the story opened a great door for conversation with M about the covenant of marriage, so I didn't see it as a real negative, but if your child is reading or listening alone, you might want to consider this.

Here's a post by Noel and by Sherry that explore this negative view of marriage in Graceling.

So, a definite "listen" in my book. I see there's a second book, Fire. I'll be looking for that one now!

CONTINUE READING...

weekWORD: Balance

I missed out on last week's word: braid since we were in DC. But this week I'm in over at Mary's with the word balance. Check out her place for more entries. I hosted weekWORD a while back and chose this very same word! It's a great word to ponder. It's seems to be something we are all always searching for.

I think I'm still trying to find my balance. But, as I get older, I'm getting a little more steady on my feet.... understanding who I am in Christ, who this woman is exactly that God has created... and figuring out how best to walk out this short time on earth I've been given.

And part of that "figuring out" is exploring my creativity! And I'm having a blast!! I doodled this little fella in an all day meeting on Wednesday. He's got a few brothers and sisters that I'll be posting soon as part of a Drawing Lab assignment. Have a wonderfully balanced Friday, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

Joyful Regret

A friend and I are reading John Piper's Life as a Vapor together. Last week we talked about the first three chapters and we were both most impacted by the meditation on what Piper calls "joyful regret." His question is this - "Will there be regret in Heaven?" Piper's answer is yes, we will remember, but only that our joy may be truly full. He says:

It is inconceivable to me that we will remember our sin or what it really was, and the suffering of Christ for what it really was, and not feel regretful joy. The intensity of our joy in grace will be fed by the remembrance of our unworthiness. "He who is forgiven little, loves little." (Luke 7:47). (page 20)

In pondering that idea, I wrote this:

Joyful Regret

What will I know in Heaven? The beautiful, glorified faces of those I love, I’m sure.

But what else? What will I remember? Only the good things of this earthly life I’ve lived? Spring strolls and good deeds, morning moons and uproarious laughter?

Or will I remember the bad… the ugly… the shameful?

I’m told there are no tears in Heaven. But no, wait. Isn’t it really that they – the tears, I mean – will all be wiped away? So –

it seems to me – that tears will fall, but comfort will come.

He will stop as we are walking and talking, gently turning me to look into His beautiful face. With a kind hand He will touch my wet cheek and wick away my tears falling from whichever regret we are speaking of and say to me,

“That’s why I came down there, love. Don’t you see? So now have joy that I loved you this much.”

Then He’ll stretch out His arms so wide that inside I’ll see the Universe – millions upon millions of planets and stars and galaxies. And I will understand grace...

and mercy...

and love...

as I have never understood them before.

CONTINUE READING...