When Children Are Grown...

That's my Preacher, up there, on the right.  That's me on the left.  We're fixin' to fly...together...

I realize this is "The Boomerang Generation" - the generation of grown children who, usually through no fault of their own, end up leaving home only to return.  The Preacher and I are living that story ourselves right now.  So are several other families in our church, and people I know all over this country - they, too, have grown children who have returned home for a season.

This is happening in our generation, right now, in numbers that rival The Great Depression.  And my son-in-law has a Master's degree...and works two jobs...no slackers here!  (Well, the nineteen year old is sometimes another story...)

I say make the most of it.  The grown children living with us are a delight.  I say if your grown children are anything but a delight, politely ask them to live elsewhere.  Assist them in finding a rental with another couple in their same situation (if they are married) or with a young friend.

Point is...when children are grown...it is your time now.  Reconvene.  Reconnect.  Recharge.  Make the very most of it, whether your nest is full of boomerang children, or as empty as can be.  After all, both scenarios come with their pros and cons.  It will be your perspective and your focus and your choices that make it "your time now".

So go on, love-butterflies.  Fly.  It's a beautiful day to be together!

(Psssst...this print will be available in the shop!)

Inspiration

I slipped the surly bonds of house and chores today.  I escaped.  I went on a hunt for beauty and inspiration, and this is what I captured for us ~

I might could have shot this in my own back yard...but hunting and shooting on Rich Mountain road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was way funner.

I'm pretty sure this will become a 12x12 print, and go up in the shop.

My Tribe of Creative Women

I belong to a powerful tribe of creative women. Some are outside my church, most are in my church. But we try to make time to be creative together, to learn from each other, and support one another in any and all creative endeavors.

 Some are creative in Children's Ministry, others in Worship Ministry, some are singers, some songwriters, musicians of all stripes...I have young women friends who are gifted dancers, budding professional photographers, and others who are so geared towards the scientific that they dissect mice on their kitchen table...for relaxation and fun.  (Yes, a young friend of mine is majoring in forensic pathology at MTSU, and she dissects things when she is feeling inspired.  Do not picture an awkward, geekish girl.  This girl is stunningly, model-beautiful, with a great personality! And I have found the perfect gift for her, though I won't say what that is, here...)

....other of my women friends are gifted in gardening and sewing and frying chicken (my ambition is to be a "Miss Mary" someday), some wield a mean crochet needle, others can knit you a car cozy in an afternoon....some are budding entrepreneurs (if you would like to start your own business, email my good friend Maria Kear, and she can help you get started doing what she does), some create through cooking and baking, others turn out beautiful blogs (I have to admit, I have encouraged several to begin their own blog - and they've done it!)  some of my women friends simply create tranquil, happy grace-filled home atmospheres that draw their children, husband, and friends happily back to their home over and over and over again.

Creativity is vital to our emotional well being.

I belong to a powerful tribe of passionately creative women.

This is part of a small gift that one of my Creative Women Friends gave me yesterday..a tiled canvas, with my business logo on it, propped on an easel, and a beautifully fragranced body scrub (left of the tiny easel).  There was also a painter's apron with my logo beautifully placed on the front.  She hand made each gift.  It was the most welcome and pleasant surprise.  I took it as a word from the Lord, that I should keep pressing onward and upward with my own creative endeavors.

A "Gahw-geous" Day in East Tennessee

...today is...there are no words. Mid-seventies, sunshine, breezes, beyond gorgeous. So I am making this:

Here is my recipe, (very loosely stated) from my blog post in 2010 entitled "Summer Flavors and Fragrances"...


 Hope you can find time to make it. It is a little time consuming, but so very worth it.


 Looking back over the "Summer Flavors and Fragrances" post, I miss my clothesline. ::sniff::


 Ever since the Great Storm of April 2011 (when we were without power for a couple of days, and our house ended up packed with something like six guests, besides immediate family, which is a lot all by itself - after the storm blew through and took out power, so it's not like anyone came over seeking light and air conditioning - and people were playing board games by candlelight and a Korean man was playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on our piano, surrounded by tealight candles, and I was reading my Kindle with a Brookstone headlamp on my head)


...yeah... I haven't had a clothesline since then...


 What was I posting about? I forgot.

New Canvas

Finished this sweet little thing last night. I was inspired by both the need for more faith in my current situation, and the reward of faith in my life, up to this point! (Faith in the Finished Work of Christ, as opposed to faith in my own self sufficiency...) God has done great things for The Preacher and I - and now, we trust Him for college tuition!

She, and the amazing story behind her, is going up in the shop!

A Young Friend of Mine...How I Love This Girl!

If you get a moment, please visit my friend Christina, over on her blog, "Simplicity of Life".

She is such a go-getter, a girl who has fought battles both in her personal life, and for the Gospel.  The above link will take you to a short video clip.

Christina is slightly  hearing impaired, and yet she does not let that stop her from having major adventures, nor does she let that stop her from staking her entire claim on the Word of His Grace, which, as the apostle Paul said, "is able to save souls"...

I'm praying for her every day, this summer.  She's away on another adventure, and I couldn't be more proud of my young friend!

A Peek Inside the Sketchbook...

Practicing painting poppies on sketch paper, before braving The Canvas...

This is what happens when you ( I ) paint at night.  In artificial, overhead, dim light.  I was going for orangey-red, and ended up with pinkish orangey red.  How the..??

I could have sworn there was no pink on my paint palette, which in this case was a sheet of waxed paper, since this was meant to be kind of a creative Brain Dump, and not a "real" painting.  There.  Was.  No.  Pink...anywhere.  There were two shades of green, some red, some orange, some yellow, some "lamp black"...no pink.  I am betting that, somehow, a dab of the titanium white, which I used with a pinprick of yellow to achieve a softer green (are you following me?), sneaked over and mated with some of the crimson.

My take-away?  Never seriously paint in anything but bright natural light.

Or buy an expensive Ott floor light.  (Lots of paint-by-nighters swear by them...)

Problem is, I am a paint-by-nighter.  My Muse loves sunset.  Well, my Muse can be a workhorse and a driver, and once she gets me going earlier in the morning or day, she doesn't want to quit just because the pretty light has sunk in the western sky.

Good thing this was just practice, on sketch paper...