Seven on Sunday

1. I took the "E" from my "Mouse" yesterday and colored it in Photo Shop and added it to my collection at Letter Playground. The color palette came from COLOURlovers.

2. Happy first day of the Advent Season!

3. Handel's Hallelujah Chorus:

Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!" (based on Revelation 19:6, 11:15, 19:16)

4. I want to put together some kind of simple Advent Calendar for the girls, maybe just small envelopes with Scripture and tiny gifts to string along the mantel. I have until Wednesday!! Here's nine Advent Calendars to stir up some ideas!

5. I'm thinking of getting tickets to Handel's Messiah next week.

6. I think Mary and I are going to see The Nutcracker today!

7. Here's an interesting blog from a very talented illustrator. Catching the end of it, but maybe she'll do something else for 2011!

Happy and blessed Sabbath day, bloggy friends!

CONTINUE READING...

weekWORD: Lacuna

I've found weekWORD again and decided to play along. The word was given by Carmen at Tails of a Biomouse and is lacuna. Albeit a little late, here's my entry.

Huh?

Well, one meaning of lacuna is "a blank space or missing part", ie a HOLE. This led me to thinking about "holes" and looking for quotes containing the word "hole." And, tada! I found one from a favorite poet - George Herbert. (To read some of his works go here.) And it seemed quite fitting that I use this quote since our hostess for weekWORD is a mouse herself!

I stumbled upon this artist's site and was admiring her typography this morning which made me want to play with letters myself. So, the word "mouse" in the quote above is mine while the other words come from the font Ma Sexy you can get yourself here. I drew the mouse in ink and scanned him in along with my typography... put them all together and voila! A quick and dirty weekWORD!

However, as I was drawing and doodling, I did think about the "holes" in my life... the escape routes I have when things are getting tough... when the devil, the world, or my own sinful heart tempt me to do or say the things I should not... or when I am simply tempted to be the person I know I am not meant to be. What are those holes and do I have more than one?

My holes are prayer, the Word, husband, friends.... or in other words places I can find the Truth. But there's also writing, drawing, walking... things that get me up and going... things that get me outside of myself which is usually a good place to be. :-)

What are your holes?

For more interpretations of Carmen's great word, click over here. Oh, and there's always great stuff to see at A.E.D.M.

CONTINUE READING...

Advent, Ten Lepers, and a Sketch

Happy Thanksgiving, bloggy friends!

Guess what? Sunday is the beginning of the Advent Season (check this link - great resource)... which means it's the beginning of the new Christian year... which means it's kind of like the New Year Holiday (my most favorite of all holidays!)

Advent is a time of anticipation, expectation, preparation and longing. This year I want to do something special with Mary and E as we look with anticipation to Christmas Day - the remembrance of the First Advent of Jesus. Not sure what I will do, but whatever it is it will be different for each of them... they are both in such different places. E is busy with work, school, boyfriend, and college preparations. Mary is still a sweet little pre-teen spending a whole day sewing stuffed animals for her friends. (I'll be posting photos soon of her new "Pouch Pal" line she's designed, made, and is now planning to market. *Smile*)

And for me for Advent? I know I'll work through this devotion book again. And I this one, too. Oh, and there's these Scripture readings I want to do, also.

I'm reading through C.J. Mahaney's Christ Our Mediator in the mornings. Much food for thought. Today's chapter was titled "The Divine Dilemma" where he discussed the problem of how God could reconcile His Holiness with our Sin.

He referenced the story of the ten lepers in Luke -

"Luke tells us of the time while Jesus was "on the way to Jerusalem," and He encountered ten lepers. From a distance, they begged Him for mercy. Knowing of their condition, we should easily understand their desperate cry. yet our own innate condition is far more serious than leprosy."

This made me go to Luke and read the story myself. You can read it here. It's a pretty good Thanksgiving passage, actually. All ten were healed. (By the way, they weren't healed instantly but only as they were on their way - obeying Jesus - to tell the priests they were cleansed.) Only one of the ten turned back, praising God, and thanked him. Jesus then went on to tell this one that his faith had made him well (or saved him as the note in the English Standard Version says.) I find this link between being thankful and faith interesting. To truly be thankful to God for our blessings means having faith that He is the One who has provided for us.

So, all of this led to a sketch in ink on watercolor paper, colored with Prisma Color markers, scanned into Photo Shop and touched up with the blur and burn tools. I like the way they turned out.

So may we all have faith to thank the One who have so wonderfully provided! Off to finish cooking a few dishes to take to The Girl's parent's house this evening. Life is good.

CONTINUE READING...

Really Short Stories

Last night, a friend told me about this site and then this one.

The idea of a 30 word story (and contest!) grabbed me. I wrote one submission last night and another two this morning while taking a walk. I think I'll let them marinate a few days before submitting. Regardless, it was fun.

Here are my three as they stand right now. The first is an idea for a story I've had for a good while. The last two were pictures that just came to me.

The Sleep Makers
They’ve never figured it out. Most dream, but a few don’t. Some sleep the sleep of death, but others (like me) toss and fret and make war with the night.


Bearing Witness
When the waters finally came they slithered like Satan low on his belly, seeping under doors and then clawing up my pale blue walls. I stood motionless. Waiting. Bearing witness.

Curve
I watched as they pulled my body from the car.

“She never saw the turn.”

“No,” I thought, knowing I was beyond speaking and they beyond hearing, “I saw it.”



What to try? The guidelines are here! Fun exercise if nothing else.

CONTINUE READING...

Seven on Monday

Good Monday Morning! Here's Seven -

1. I played around with doodling and some fonts Saturday night while watching Swamp People with Matt and Mary. (In case you're wondering from a Louisianian's perspective if this show is realistic, the answer is a definite "yes!") I ended up with the frame above, scanned it in, and have colored it just a bit in Photo Shop to see how it would look. I think I might copy it over to watercolor paper and see what I can do with it.

2. Guess what? A sample of wedding pics are posted on the photographer's website here! BIG SMILE!

3. Yesterday during worship we sang Matt Redman's song "You Alone Can Rescue." A phrase in the lyrics caught my attention - you led us out of death. That struck me because I've never thought of death as a "place" so much as an "event." But death as a location... and - in my mind - a location here on earth, not just Hell. Hmm... I suppose we live in a place of death when we are chained to our sins, when we live without hope, when we find ourselves utterly immersed in the great shadows of Darkness and Evil. Psalm 9:13 says:

Be gracious to me, O LORD;
See my affliction from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death...

Yes, Lord.

4. Here's a video for "You Alone Can Rescue." Good music for your soul this morning.

5. Highly recommended: The Photography of Zee Longenecker. Take a look. Really.

6. The Dog has gone to live with The Boy and The Girl! *SMILE* Truly, we will miss him but I think he'll be much happier and better cared for with them. We'll visit.

7. I am liking this gal's bags. I've been perusing them and trying to decide on one to try. Maybe this one? In paisley?

CONTINUE READING...

Immeasurable

We are a people of measurement. I took a Physical Chemistry class in college and learned to calculate the speed of an electron. I remember wondering how in the world I would ever use this skill. And guess what? I've never had a boss yet ask me to calculate how fast an electron was whizzing around an atom's nucleus. Go figure.

But we are captivated by putting a number to things. We like to know how many there are...

• There are 6.88 billion people in the world
• The University of Hawaii has estimated that there are 7 quintillion 5 quadrillion grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. (That's 75 with 17 zeros behind it!)
• There's about 10 billion stars in the Milky Way
• It's estimated that we have 343 billion billion gallons of water in the oceans
  

We also like to know how fast things are...

• The Earth spins on its axis at 1000 miles/hour
• It zooms around the sun at 67,000 miles/hour
• And our solar system flies through the universe at a whopping 600,000 miles/hour!
• Then there's light which travels at 186,282 miles per second
• And sound meanders along at 768 miles/hour
• Our hair only grows about 0.5 inches per month

And more and more we are captivated by the very small. A nanometer is the usual unit of measure for these sorts of things. How small is a nanometer? Take a ruler, flip it over to the centimeter side and imagine putting 10 million dots between the "0" and "1" mark. The distance between each of those points would be a nanometer!

• A hair is huge at 100,000 nanometers in diameter
• A germ is a mere 1,000 nanometers
• And molecules released while cookies are baking? Less than 1 nanometer! Their smallness allows them to float easily and nimbly through the air and fill our house with that wonderful smell! :-)

All of this to say what's been on my mind lately. I mentioned earlier that we're studying Ephesians chapter 3 in Bible study this week and we ended on the note that God is able to do all that we ask... even more than all we ask or can even imagine. But then Paul adds another word, one he most likely made up in the Greek language to get his point across.

He said God was able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. The word he used for immeasurable was "hyperekperissou" and, in addition to "immeasurable", is translated as "exceedingly abundantly", "infinitely more", "far more abundantly", and "exceeding abundantly beyond."

Can I ever grasp what Paul is trying to communicate about God's ability to answer my prayers? No, not totally.... but if I could understand just a tiny bit... a nanometer's worth maybe...how that would change my prayer life!

Now - to the art above...

I drew the bubbles randomly a couple of days ago and then decided they must be hair. So later I added the face and scanned her in.
Then I colored her and added the word "immeasurable" in Photo Shop. Her eyes are a little weird, but I think I like her. Question for you... How many bubbles are on her head!?! :-)

Have a wonderful Saturday, bloggy friends! And stop by Creative Every Day to see more works of art!

CONTINUE READING...

Seven on Wednesday

Good Wednesday Morning! I am definitely feeling better. Hooray! But (of course) this week has taken off with a bang and I haven't had much (*any*) time for creativity. Today is not looking promising, either. Sigh. But, here's seven things on my mind, the first of which is a project I worked on for The Wedding.

1. As the Parents of the Groom, we had responsibility for the rehearsal dinner. We were able to have it at an old house in The Village that our company owns and had a superb chef cater for us. It was a lovely evening with toasts from the Best Man and Maid of Honor and then sweet blessings and prayers from the two fathers.

A friend made some *INCREDIBLE* table decorations from pumpkins and fresh flowers as a gift just for me! I'll get a photo up as soon as I can.

The only creative thing I really did for the rehearsal was make individual place cards for each person attending with a doodled frame and then their name written in this cool font I found. Inside each place card was a question about The Boy and/or Girl with the answer written upside down. (Like, What is Mindi's favorite movie? "The Patriot") I was pleased with how these turned out. There were thirty people attending and it really didn't take very long to do them. I spent a lot of time praying as I doodled... praying for the person who's place card I was working on, praying for The Wedding, praying for The Boy or Girl, praying for our family.... It was fun to do... relaxing... and a nice, subtle creative touch! :-)

2. The Girl and The Boy made it safely home from their honeymoon in the mountains and are tucked in their comfy little cottage in Aberdeen. Big Smile.

3. I was blessed to spend and afternoon and evening with a good friend yesterday at her lake house... we talked for hours and then went to dinner at our standard Mexican restaurant. Love you, LC!

4. Bible study tonight! We're on the last part of chapter 3 where Paul reverts to a prayer again. He ends his prayer with this amazing doxology:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..."

I've been chewing on this for the last few days... God is ABLE to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we can ASK or IMAGINE.

And it's true. I've experienced it. I think about the ways God has answered some of my prayers in the past... most were definitely NOT the way I asked them to be answered nor even in any way I imagined them to be answered. And often the blessings have been immeasurable more than I thought possible! How about you?

5. Just finished this book and it was good.

6. Can you believe it will be the First Sunday of Advent soon! Where has 2010 gone?? I picked up this beautiful book (with CD) at a used book store a few weeks ago and will be excited to go through it with Mary this season. I also have this great book of devotions that I plan to read again!

7. Time to get up and get going for the day! It's 6:30, Yikes!! Blessings, bloggy friends! :-)

CONTINUE READING...

Perk Your Perker

Blah.

Been feeling a little under the weather.

I drew this background and mounted this little guy on it this morning. Made me feel a little better. I think I'll make myself another cup of coffee and get up and get going! Nothing like a little bit of creativity to help perk your perker!

CONTINUE READING...

Recipes for the Newlyweds

Good Morning from Ohio! A friend's mother passed away this week and me and a few friends drove up here for the funeral. I've only flown to Ohio (Cleveland) before and never made the drive. All was well in NC, but when we hit Virginia and West Virginia my stomach decided it didn't much like all the curves and hills...er...mountains! So, this flat-lander spent most of the time trying to sleep and didn't get to enjoy the view much. Nor did I get to work on all the stuff I carried with me for the long drive!

We're off to the funeral soon, but (of course!) I'm up well before everyone else and am sipping a cup of rather good hot coffee in the hotel lobby. I scanned in this recipe book yesterday just before I left so I could return it to The Girl as soon as she gets home from The Honeymoon. I had the idea as soon as the date was officially set: Gather together the best Southern recipes from all the women who have fed The Boy through the years. The idea to illustrate it came later.

Here's some of my favorite pages, but they were all fun to do. The scans aren't the greatest, but if you'd like to see the whole book, hop over to my Flickr account. The Girl really appreciated it. She loves to cook, but said she needs to get this "southern" style down! :-) I'm glad to have a copy myself - especially to have recipes written in my mother's, sister's, and friend's own handwriting.

(A doodled cover. The photo was from a family dinner at a local restaurant and was one of the first times we really got to spend with The Girl.)

(I love the Sombreros)

(In their wedding attire)

(Their puppy, Dingo, even made an appearance)

These are good days, bloggy friends. Even here in Ohio for a funeral, I see God's grace and hand on everything and everywhere. It's more of a celebration of a life well lived, children well raised, and friends well loved.

Stop by Creative Every Day for more Art Every Day Month entries.

CONTINUE READING...

Step Down

Not sure why I'm drawing girls with crowns lately... But I do like the frame around this gal. Once I finished the color, I flipped through a magazine and cut/rearranged these words.

I guess this choice of words is coming from the verses in Ephesians I'm studying this week in preparation for our lesson on Wednesday. Particularly Paul's great doxology:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." (vs. 20)

As I was drawing her I thought about all the many places of my life where I'm still on the "throne," still in charge, still wearing that crown... places I haven't turned completely over to God. Do I trust Him completely with my children, my marriage, my finances? Completely being the key word.

True, I'm learning... but have far more to go.

He can do immeasurably more than ALL we ASK or IMAGINE. But yet, even with that great promise, I still hang on, still try to control, still try to be Queen.

So today I will try to step down and stand utterly transfixed by His power that is at work within me.

Blessings, bloggy friends.



P.S. I've been linking the last few days to AEDM at Creative Every Day. Thanks for the lovely comments and for stopping by. If you'd like to see some really amazing artists at work, stop by over there and look around!

CONTINUE READING...

On the Shoulders of Giants

This hairy bird flew in last night and brought a couple of friends! Drawn in ink on sketch paper, I colored him (not sure why it's a boy, but 'tis!) with my new Prisma colored pencils. Then I scanned him in this morning and thought he begged to be duplicated. *Smile*

These guys made me think of Isaac Newton's famous quote:

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

I don't know that I've seen "further" but I've seen "more" by standing on the shoulders of my friends... Friends who have taught me more about the Lord than I think I would have learned alone... Friends who have taught me to be a better wife and mother than I know I otherwise would have been... Friends who have taught me to be a better friend because of the way they have loved me... And friends who have taught me to be more creative and open to trying new things.

Praying that we'll all have some giants in our lives to help us see further.

CONTINUE READING...

Silly Bird

This silly fella flew in last night and landed in my sketch book!

CONTINUE READING...

Well...

It's over!! The Boy and The Girl are officially MARRIED! And I made it through without totally embarrassing myself by breaking down and sobbing!!

Well at least not in the middle of the ceremony! I lost it only once - just with Matt and The Girl's parents when we got to see Sean see her in her wedding dress for the first time just before the ceremony for photos. Her mother and I helped her up some stairs with her train where he was waiting with his backed turned. Once we scooted away, he turned around and wow! That was the hardest part for me. Not sure why, but it was. Second toughest was when The Boy cried as he watched her come down the aisle with her Dad... that was pretty hard, too. He's such a softie, but won't let you know it!!

She was a breathtaking bride. I'll share photos as soon as I have some, bloggy friends. All I can say now is imagine a huge white dress, huge blue eyes, and huge red curly hair!! :-)

The rehearsal dinner went well, too, with much help from friends!

Matt's brother and wife and my sister and her family came in for the wedding. That was super good and we all got to go to church together yesterday and then have lunch here at the house. They left around 4pm or so. I promptly put on my pj's, got a drawing pad and pencil, and got in bed... and this little gal appeared. Funny - after being so busy, the first thing I do is draw. Hmmm...

And I think I vote ME Queen for the Day today! Although, there's still plenty of errands to do, work to be done, and family to take care of there's a great lightness in my heart and gratefulness to God for all He has done to get us to this day.

Hope you enjoy your day, too, bloggy friends!! You can be Queen, too, if needed!

CONTINUE READING...

novpad: day 3

Ah - better late than never! Actually, I started writing this last night in my head as I was going to sleep, so I suppose that counts.

So, day 3's prompt at Poetic Asides was to write a "location" poem. Here's mine:

Bed

You are asleep when I get home –
exhausted from a three-day trip.

Turning off the lamp I nudge
you gently to get under the covers

then slip in and fit my head to your shoulder,
knees to knees, breast to back.

I tuck my arm around your chest and
even in sleep you open your hand

to receive mine. We both sigh –
here is a deep gulp of cool water

after a day’s long, hot walk. Your
presence quenches my soul’s thirst.

I pray my girls one day find this too –
a place of wordless rest and safety.

And peace – breaths to match and
hands to hold as they slowly drift to sleep.

CONTINUE READING...

novpad: day 2

...and for day 2: "a ready to start" poem.

This is true. The first piece was good. The second even better! :-)

"Today I Will Start"

Today I will start.
Today I will diet.
Calories to chart!

Banana for ten.
Hot black coffee for naught.
But, oh goodness, then -

Arriving at work
some thin comedienne
(with her skinny smirk)

left in the break room
all good plans to avert,
my darkest black doom -

a CHOCOLATE CAKE
for us all to consume
at our morning break!

CONTINUE READING...

novpad: day 1

I did the April 2009 PAD Challenge.

Every day. I swear.

It was good.

I'd like to say I'll do this one, too. But I'm not so sure of myself right now.

I know it would be good for me to dribble out all these emotions and thoughts, to get them down on page or screen.

Today's challenge was to write a "closing the door" or "turning the page" poem. Wow. How appropriate as we're FIVE DAYS from The Boy's wedding! Definitely turning a page. No one prepared me for the roller coaster emotions.

So...

Asunder

Watching from across the room
I was sure you weren’t feeling well.
It’s those crinkles by your eyes and
the way you lean a little to the left
sitting there on the couch.

Of course if I asked
you would just say,
“No, I’m fine.”

You always do.
You have to be at
Death’s door to admit
sickness.

I know this about you
like I know so many
other things that go
unspoken between us.

Then knowledge hit me with
such strength I took a step back
and leaned against the wall.

A week from now you will be
a married man and another woman
will begin to know all your little signs
of illness. She will see the eyes

and the slouch

and probably notice much more
than I ever have.

“And the two shall become one flesh.”

Yes, that is right.
The right way of the world.

And she is perfect for you -
made to complete you,
to be your helper,
your "ezer", a warrior
fighting by your side
through this wild place
we call Life.

But where does the Bible
talk about the two
who once were one flesh,
mother and son,
but now are
not?

Who for nine months shared
blood and body and breath?

These two that have been slowly-
through the years-
torn asunder?

It is right.
And I am happy.
Yes, grateful.
I am.

CONTINUE READING...