REFLECTIONS ON FAITH & ART

Ok, so I didn't see many comments from the last post and I wondered if maybe I ended that last post the wrong way? I totally didn't mean to go all Martha on you and say that your homes should be "art" or that you need to work on them or make them into Better Homes and Gardens or anything. Disclaimer: I told you when this started that I'm bad at verbalizing things... I'm apparently all about the visuals, remember? Anyway , I don't want anyone to think I'm asking for photos of a "beautiful" house. I mean, you can certainly email me photos of your beautiful house if you want. I love pictures! But what I was really trying to go for was the idea of finding beauty in the common, you know? It goes back to the "Cosmos in Chaos" that Madeleine L'Engle talked about in Walking on Water and the idea that if you can find any aspect of beauty or good or peace or "cosmos" (I love that term) then that art is "good...

Yeah. So, um... Hi. I'm not sure what to say because it's been so long. I started this blog with really high hopes and lots of ideas. The reality of our move set in and things happened and now it's October. I just typed out an explanation of what things have been like and why I've been absent. But it felt really wrong for this space. Over the last two months, since we've moved into our new place in Cincinnati (we moved from Maryland to Ohio in August) I have had zero creative time. My work room is a mess of bags and boxes. I haven't had my hands in the ink and glue for literally months. And apparently I've really missed it, though I didn't realize it until today. Or I guess I already knew I missed it, but didn't realize why until today. Today, we found our new church. To be honest, we haven't been to church since we've been here. We knew we didn't want to go back to Vineyard* but we didn't know where to go otherwise. ...

Sorry. It's not that I haven't been thinking about the blog. It's just that we put our house on the market last week and have been dealing with all of the psychotic decluttering and cleaning and touching up that goes along with having to have your house ready to show at any random time. Woo hoo. Anyway, this next part of chapter two is something I really do struggle with quite a bit. The writer does want to be published; the painter urgently hopes that someone will see the finished canvas (van Gogh was denied the satisfaction of having his work bought and appreciated during his life time; no wonder the pain was more than he could bear); the composer needs his music to be heard. Art is communication, and if there is no communication it is as though the work has been still-born. Sweet fancy Moses! Seriously? Because every time I secretly long for someone, besides myself, to find meaning and joy in my artwork? I feel like admitting that would make me a sell-out. A bunch of...

I love this picture because it says so many things about the relationship not only between sisters but also between children in general (they're nuts you know) and the idea that a hug and smoochie (thanks, Sean) can make anything and everything alright again. Heather wrote: Here's my latest pic of beauty -- It's my girls ... and it just sums up sisterhood so BEAUTIFULLY! Are they fighting? Are they comforting? Are they in love with each other? Do they want to hurt each other? Yes. They are sisters!!

I received two great photos, one from Heather and one from Jodi. They have to do with that last post. I forgot to ask Heather if I could post hers (it's a wonderful photo of so many things all at once. Expect an email from me asking permission to post it!) Jodi gave me her permission to post her photo along with an email that came with it. The following is Jodi's email: Your blog entry had me all misty there at the end. I tried to comment but it wouldn't let me. I've been meaning to take a picture of 2 rings I wear all the time that are symbols to me. One is just silver band that was given to me by my friends who are missionaries, in Indonesia. It was given to me by Jen just before they left, she was getting rid of stuff she wasn't taking with her, I got this ring and a cool necklace. The ring helps me remember to pray for them since I never take it off, it's also a reminder of the call that God has on my life for mission work to a far off country someday. ...

Ok, so I posted that last one and hoped someone would send me some photos to post for an easy update to the blog. Why? Because I need easy right now. We are moving. Halfway across country. We're leaving the Washington D.C. area and heading to the Cincinnati, OH, area. There are many reasons and we've prayed about this move since the beginning of the year. We had very specific prayers that received very specific answers. All of that isn't to say that we're happy to leave behind the life we've built here. We're leaving a lot of very good friends, a great school, and some of Rusty's family. I've been alternating between relief that the job offer came and we're moving and then bouts of sniffling because I hate the idea of saying goodbye to Ashley and Deedie and Sherri and Betsy... which is funny in a way because I haven't seen Betsy and Sherri in a long long time. And yet when I do see them, it's like no time was lost in between visits. Betsy i...

Hey, guys! Did you have a nice weekend? We traveled, I took a lot of great photos and spent time with my family. Doesn't get a whole lot better than that, eh? So. Who decided to create an icon and give it away? I don't want to just jump back into things in case anyone wanted to show off their icon projects. If you did something? Send photos to post -- I love photos! (my hints aren't so subtle, are they?) I'm going to write more on chapter 2 in a bit. There are some interesting quotes that have made me want to think on them a little more before putting them out there... (p.s. post some pictures! )