Doing the Next Thing

happiness is...a Saturday morning run with my sis on a 40th birthday getaway

thrift store finds: all this for around $54 ! 16yo oldest son attending TeenPact next week and needed some appropriate clothes

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park I took this pic on our Make-A-Wish trip last summer. I think it's my fave landscape photo from Yellowstone. I love the contrast of the cool flowing river with the hot springs right next to it. Plus, the dead tree in the foreground reminds me of the cypress in Starry Night . "I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me." Funny huh? My Dad sent that, and a dozen or so other puns in an email, but this one made me laugh the hardest. Then I realized it's a good metaphor for my life this week. The baseball represents the humble realization that my teenagers, much to my horror and suprise -haha, lack the ability to self-parent. self-parent . And yes it did hit me - squarely in the face. Our too-distracted lifestyle over the last few months has taken a toll and it's time for me to circle the wagons, radically protect my schedule and my family time, and remember that teenage boys need mothering, too. I'm

Starry Night Study in Pencil (with 6B pencil)

waffle dogs for Sunday breakfast!

measured at least 6 1/2 inches on the deck!

dh replacing a broken relay switch on the fridge.

40th Birthday self-portrait

Resurrecting my Thirty Pictures series for the new year... My little corner of the world. I find myself here surrounded by art books with ideas fluttering around, begging to be organized into a syllabus and cohesive lessons. I'm teaching art! The opportuinity has taken me completely by surprise, yet somehow the Lord had prepared my heart for it. A small, simple class. An elective at M & A's school. It's exciting and intimidating at the same time. I pray that the Lord can use me to inspire the children to love art, learn the grammar of drawing and painting, and imitate masters as image-bearers of a creative God. Our new school situation has brought many challenges and many blessings. I had hoped for a "break," but that didn't really materialize. Juggling time in the car, homework, and lunches for the 2 in school with supervising two teenagers and the work their tutorial demands, plus the needs of an active four-year-old and a husband and a home ... i