Just a quickie...I think...

I just want to start off by telling you blogging ladies how much I love and appreciate you. So many prayers going up for my son. It means a lot. I really do cherish this little group of friends. :)

Several of you are doing Autumn or Fall Journals. I'm really enjoying them! Sorry I don't have one, but I felt like I couldn't handle one more art/writing project. I'm so bad about keeping up with what I've already started. But I am doing one thing which is kind of different for me. I've been reading Opening to God by David Benner. In it he's describing his version of lectio divina. I've decided to write out his explanation by  hand. YES. BY HAND! :) Handwriting has become a forgotten art for me. And something that occurred to me was that maybe our minds would retain vocabulary longer if we actually wrote words by hand sometimes instead of typing everything. It sure does force me to SLOW DOWN and think about what I'm writing. I have eschewed handwriting for some time because my hand just couldn't keep up with my racing thoughts, but I think slowing down now and then is a good exercise. So, I'll be copying many pages of this book and then I'll have to find something else to hand write. Maybe that Young Adult novel I've been thinking about for so many years? The cover is unimpressive, but meant to be more utilitarian. If you click on these photos I think you can actually read what I've written...if you care to. :)

The days seem to fly by so quickly! I've been putzing around the house most of the day. I did venture across the highway in Nevis to take a 2 mile walk on the trail. I've worked on some ATC's, spent some time in the Bible and I sort of pray as I walk and as I go about my day. I spent an hour on language study, and a little time on meal preparation. I've gotten into the bad habit of staying up too late (11:30 last night) so I have to take a nap in the middle of the day. That eats up a chunk of the day. Now it's 7:30 and it seems like I just got up! I guess it seems later because it gets dark earlier now. That seems to happen so suddenly. It was 60-ish today and made for a pleasant walk, though I'm glad I wore a hoody!
I think I'll continue reading my book and writing and brew up some chamomile tea. Maybe I will be smart tonight and go to bed earlier? No promises!
Have a good night and a good weekend, everyone! XOXO (Stole that from Pom Pom!)
Shalom!

A hodgepodge and a prayer request...

For those of you who feel led, would you please pray for Josh's wife, Jess? She is probably going to the hospital today because Josh says she has been experiencing "waves of depression" and suicidal thoughts. This is not unexpected considering her mental problems, but still difficult to go through. On a positive note Josh also posted the following article on Facebook this morning. He said this is one part of a 15-part series that he's reading. He said God has been bringing up Lazarus a lot in answer to prayers. I hope this might help others, so I'm linking it here. Thanks for your prayers!

When Jesus Makes You Wait in Pain

Gretchen asked about the three languages I'm studying on the Duolingo website. I heard someone suggest that studying languages might be good exercise to keep aging brains alert. I thought it was an intriguing idea, and I've always wanted to try my hand at another language. Many folks on this website are quite addicted to this activity and are studying multiple languages. I began with Hebrew, thinking it would be a good challenge. I've loved Israel since my teens and this is more a connection to Israel than a language I might actually use. If I should ever visit Israel someday I'm well aware that most of them speak English better than I do! It has been a fun challenge so far. I do a lot of repeating lessons and am progressing slowly. After beginning Hebrew I thought, "Why not Spanish?" It seems like a practical choice, though it's probably more of a game than an actual thought that I will become proficient enough to use it in real life. I took Spanish in junior high, but that was in the stone age, right? Conjugating verbs is so confusing, so I decided that instead of making lists to memorize I would just do it like a baby does. Learn by hearing things over and over and over again! This seems to be the best method for me and things are sinking in very slowly. I added Welsh just for fun! It seems like such an ancient language and I love that part of the world. It does seem to be the one I have the most difficulty with remembering. The words are so "unwordlike"! They seem like crumbs and bits of words and I can't seem to come up with a technique to remember them. I'm taking it very slowly and repeating a lot. Anyway, it's a lot of fun to challenge myself this way each day, so I hope some of you might join in the fun. It's free so you have nothing to lose! Please blog about it if you do!

Duolingo 

The other day I decided to drag out all of my ATC making supplies and just leave them out so I could sit and work on cards as the spirit moved me. I never eat at the table, so it really isn't inconvenient to have it all spread out there.

 I can hear the distant sound of hammers pounding across the highway. The high school kids are building a house. They do this every year for school. My son-in-law, Adam, did this 9 years ago and he's now building his own house! I think it's a wonderful thing for kids to learn. There are a few girls over there, too. Go, girls! You can see them in the right side of the window standing on that horizontal beam, which is actually the floor. They have a piece of plywood they're about to put down on the floor. To the left you see a grey house which they built last year. They sell them eventually to fund the making of the next one. The place they're working is the lumberyard.

I think that's it for now. It's taken me quite a while, including stopping for lunch, to get this much down. Thank you all for stopping by and for your prayers!
Shalom, adios and prynhawn da! (Good afternoon in Welsh.)

Back into the routine...

Well, Josh made it safely home with no problems. I've been visiting with him on Facebook and he seems to be in good spirits. I think they're relieved to have him back. I believe they're realizing just how much he does to take care of the family. So, I'll try not to keep harping on that subject, but will continue to pray without ceasing. That's what us moms are for! Here's a pic of Josh and daughter Starry hamming it up. She's a little actress!

Sully is walking! He just started a few days ago and he's having a blast. Micah had to build a "corral" to keep him in the living room where she can keep an eye on him, lol.

Then and now. :)

I spent a couple of hours babysitting Hazel and Adele while Micah took Audrey to gymnastics. She took Sully along with her. The girls did a lot of painting while I did a little housework to help out the busy mom. Then we played Hungry Hungry Hippo for quite a while. That game is usually kept on a high shelf because it's so noisy, but Grandma likes to let them play the noisy games and whistle on the recorders when the folks are gone. :)

Hazel made this Mr. Potato Head portrait for me at preschool. 

 This is one reason I love doing ATCs. I receive pretty envelopes like this in the mail. This one is from Greece. Can't wait to see what's inside! I'll save the stamps to use for collages.

 Then I have my language classes to look forward to. I'm trying to be very easy-going about the whole language thing. I do a lot of repetition, so I'm marching in place more than moving forward, but there's no pressure to get anywhere quickly. I just hope the Duolingo website hangs around until I'm finished using it! You just can't count on technology...

 These are my current books. I bought the Madeleine L'Engle Quintet of books a long time ago and I've read the first couple, but it's been so long I think I'll start over. It will be nice, light reading to go along with some books that take a little more deep thought and contemplation.

I finished my dishcloth, but I'm not going to show a photo. I began casting off a little too soon and ended up with a wonky looking corner. It will still work to wash dishes, but it ain't purty!

I hope you're all indulging in some cozy fall activities. I need to get up and move more so I'm thinking of listening to some worship music on YouTube and doing my exercises while I listen. There are videos of the worship meetings my son Jordan and his wife, Brooke go to in Dallas, so it will be fun to listen to those. (Upper Room-Dallas,TX)

Shalom for now!

Another goodbye...

My sweet son hit the road again this morning, returning home to Kentucky. We thought he would be here a lot longer, but circumstances keep changing and his wife asked if he could come back home. So, I just saw that Josh posted this photo on Facebook. He's about 4.5 hours down the road, and I'm glad to see it's sunny and cheerful where he is.

I'm praying for him in so many areas of life. Not only the healing of the relationship with his wife, but also that his business will prosper so he can take care of his family without any unnecessary stress. Above all, that he will feel the joy and strength that come from his Lord alone.

Here Josh is enjoying an evening with some old friends. This is his old taekwondo master, Nick, who is more like a brother, and Nick's wife Flo. Sweet people and just what Josh needed. He helped with a few taekwondo classes while he was here.

Hey, I forgot to post some photos of Audrey with her new haircut! She decided she wanted her hair really short. Mama Micah wasn't too sure she liked the idea but she decided, "Oh well. It will grow back..."

Before

During

After

That's my cute, sassy little granddaughter! :) And she got a homemade cookie for being so good. Her hairdresser is a lady from our church who works out of her country home. (Country Couture, I believe is the name.)

These are Josh's kiddos, Nathan and Starry. They're excited to see their Daddy again. Starry woke up this morning and told her mom, "I just had a dream that Daddy's coming home!" God gave her a dream! I'm so glad their dad will be back with them soon. He's worked hard to keep in touch with them while he was here.

Well, back to my single way of life. I'm going to have to keep busy and try to remember Josh's happiness instead of how much I miss him. I am happy for him. For Josh's sake I pray that this little family will stay together and that what Satan meant for evil God will use for good.

My favorite fall candy! I sent a container of this for Nathan and Starrry along with a coloring book and a couple of children's books.

 I did a few more rows on this little dishcloth. It's good knitting weather today. Wet and cold.

 Here are some random ATCs. Hopefully I haven't shown these already.
The first four are for a swap called Only One Eye. Basically, draw something with only one eye showing! Plankton is my favorite little cyclops. :)

 A mushroom ATC, with and without ink outline. For future reference.

 This little owl was drawn on brown paper with a white gel pen and some colored pencils.

 This fawn was drawn on a paint chip and then cut out and pasted onto the background. The name of the paint color was Gentle Fawn. This was for a swap called Paint Chip ATCs.

And now I will visit some of you! :)

Shalom, my good friends and family!

Checking in...

I see it's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd put a little something up and visit some blogs today. I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a cold, so I don't have much oomph, so this will probably be short.

Josh and I are enjoying our time together despite the stressful circumstances that surround his being here. He and I are endeavoring to trust God for the outcome, and Josh isn't giving up on his marriage. We've got a little routine going. He's doing a lot of his online work from the library, but today he's enjoying a beautiful morning on the deck where he's getting good internet reception. I hope the weather will permit him to do that often. He will probably be here for a while. One other thing has cropped up. His drivers license has expired and nobody seems able to help him renew it from Kentucky or from this end. The problem is that he has a commercial license because he drove a school bus for a while. He wants to drop that and get a regular license. The lady in Kentucky said that type of license has to be handled in person. In this day and age of computers, fax machines, etc. this is pretty ridiculous. He's still going to try to get the paperwork sent here so he can sign it in front of a notary. Do they expect him to drive back to KY to do this? (With no license?) I'll take him if I have to, but there SHOULD be a way to handle this remotely.

Anyway, we're doing well overall, watching movies, reading good books, and he's doing some running and will go to taekwondo class tonight to help out his old instructor. He's trying to do some socializing instead of just hibernating.

Audrey started first grade last week. Sorry, I missed posting that!

Audrey and cousin Cali.

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Then on Sunday Hazel and Sully celebrated their birthdays. Hazel's is the 5th and Sully's is the 10th. This is the only birthday picture Micah's posted so far. I'm sure there will be more to come. She had a party at the park with some friends. They played at the park, whacked a Spiderman pinata (Spiderman was the theme of the party), dressed up as superheros (that was Hazel's idea), and ate cake and ice cream. There were lots of presents and fun...and wasps. I hiked down the block to the grocery store and bought a flyswatter and we were good. :)

Sully enjoying his birthday cupcake. :)

Today was Hazel's first day of preschool! She was all excitement. I'm glad to live in a small town where the kids already have a friend or two when they start school. They also discover that they're related to a lot of their classmates, lol. Hazel's teacher is also familiar because she taught ECFE. Hazel will go two days a week, so that's a good intro to school. Audrey offered to walk Hazel to her class, but of course Mama Micah wanted to do that for the first day. Audrey is such a good big sister!

Here's the latest art...

These four were for a Crayon swap. Not my best or favorite type of swap...

 The next four were for a Pick-a-Theme swap.

Theme: Wildflowers

Theme: Dragon

Theme: Lighthouse

Theme: Angel

 This one was an individual trade.She wanted a Tim Burton character.

 This was for the September 5x7 Canvas Swap.

 And another individual trade. She wanted a Jim Henson character.

Well, I'm off to the post office, so I'll stop for now. When I get back I want to do some blog visiting. Happy Fall, everyone! :)
Shalom!

September 1st?

Wow! Summer always goes by quickly. I'm looking at the seasons differently in this retired stage of life. I don't dread the onslaught of tourists in the summer because I don't have to wait on them! I can just enjoy their enthusiasm and share in it. Yay! Some of my blogging buddies, like Pom Pom and M.K. are beginning Fall Journals to celebrate this time of year. I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to begin yet another journal, so I may continue an old one instead. This is my altered book journal which I started about five years ago. It's an old copy of Barchester Towers. Shhh! Don't tell! It's about half full of scripture based art and I've been meaning to get back to it.

These little fellows are rather fall-like, don't you think? They just sprang up in my flower bed after some damp, rainy weather. Feel free to paint them for your fall journal!

I see I'm behind on posting pictures of my artwork. So, look out, here it comes!

My son, Josh, is back staying with me for a while. He and his wife are having some marital challenges which hinge a lot on mental health issues. Prayers appreciated! He's working on his masters degree and on starting an online business (bookkeeping). And he's trying very hard to stay in touch with his family while they work things out. It's bittersweet. I love having him here, but he'll be much happier when he can be back with his family. 

A Make Me Happy Bookmark swap. This is both sides of the bookmark.

 Here are the last three for a Loteria Swap. I posted #5 and 6 earlier.

 The theme of this swap was Dancing.

 The idea here was to use Letters and text in various ways.

For a Facebook swap. Theme: Castles

Another Facebook swap: Tiny Houses

 The cards below were for a Skull Swap. I chose to do mostly animal skulls. I forgot to take a picture of the finished cards after I painted them.

This is a 5x7 canvas I made for the monthly canvas swap. The lady I made it for was so touched. It reminded her of her deceased mom who loved to glue dried flowers to notecards and such. I had no idea! You just never know.

This swap was about Border Collies and sheep.

 The four cards below were for a Haunted House swap. Collage...not my forte!

 This was for a one-to-one trade. This gal likes gryphons.

 These four were for the September Bizarre Holidays swap.

These four were for a Papercutting Illustration swap.

A one-on-one trade.

Another private trade.

This was for a Make Me Happy Paint Chip ATC trade. It's painted on a paint sample card and has to have something to do with the paint color on the chip. This paint color was called Painted Desert Red. The gal I made it for also likes succulents, pottery and cats, so I worked those in.

Would you believe I'm sitting outside? This is the only place I can get good internet, but it's cold, windy and fall-like today so I'm going BACK INSIDE!

You folks have a great day with lots of shalom and fall fun! And have a great Labor Day weekend!