Pictures and prayers

No more custom orders, well, almost none! I have only two left to complete that I have committed too and then I am scott free!

See what I have been up to here. There are a few missing still but they are on the camera still sooo.....you know.

I feel like a burden is being lifted with them in a strange way. Even though I love to paint I am excited to dig back out the sewing machine, it has been nearly a year!

So how about something light tonight!

Pictures of our offspring's will do?

OK!

Going way back to batches of photos that have been sitting around for a month.

We like to dress up here, no occasion needed!

We also like to crank the tunes and get our groove on!

You know this though.

We also like to snuggle.

And hang out.

And we really like babies.

How can we not!

He is the happiest baby ever!!

Never cries....unless he hasn't eaten for hours and then it is a whimper as he waits and then he will just suck his hand.

But even then he is distracted easily by a smile.

Oh, and on the news front.....he cut his first tooth today!!!

And of course he is always getting loved...

by a few certain other little people.

Now if we ever get bored then of course there is entertainment, thank you E-man!

Or there are crafts to work on with friends.

This was part of our memory tribute for our little day of the dead get together.

And if all else fails we paint.

And then sometimes I have to sit back and just look at my little life. OK, more like go back through my archives here, but same thing. I am so grateful. And blessed. Sometimes we don't realize how much we really have until we step back and look. I should never complain!

(smacking myself upside the head now) However I sure have my moments where I feel like I am going to explode. They are far outweighed by the awe moments though.

I want to remember these moments. All of em. For ever!

Cause they go by so fast! They put what really matters into perspective!

I can hardly remember what it was like to hold Kaitlyn as a baby and now we are working through workbooks and puzzles. And discussing why it is NOT ok to swear!

And Ethan is showing his independence and watching him try to be brave is the most precious thing.

Ahhhh, motherhood and the crazy moments we get to see and commit to our hearts and memory banks = priceless!

~~~

Now on a very serious side note I have a relative who is extremely ill. Clinging to life with little hope and she is in her early twenties. She needs desperate and fervent prayer!

Here is a link to read a little more. There are more complications too but this will give you a little info. Any prayer is appreciated. She is one sweet girl.

Thank you!

Healthy?

Ever get fed up with hearing stuff?

Environmental and health stuff?

Do you just go along with it and think that what you hear is gold or do you dig to see the other side?

I sometimes just go along with what I hear as long as it sounds good. And then I watch shows on how things are made.Yah.

And then after subscribing to a certain health site and having correspondents with the author I started to wonder about a lot of things.

OK, I wondered before I 'talked' with him but it really sparred my research into scientific sites and gave me more of an urge to search out both sides of all the stories.

What is healthy, what is good for us?

Did you know that the health and 'green' movement is a huge cash cow? No. Really!

OK. We all do and want in on it, I know!

Oh, I do think that there are great things to be gleaned from both environmental and health discoveries to make our lives healthier but where do you draw the line?

I try (try but do not always succeed, we are renovating the cottage) to draw it when I see companies promote gadgets to protect you from your gadgets and extra cleaners to clean what you have already cleaned and stuff to replace old not 'green' stuff.

Hmmm, in that case wouldn't it make more sense to just keep the old and not create more waste by throwing it out and buying the new 'green' stuff? Wouldn't that be less wasteful?

What about the process that new stuff goes through to become that 'green' product? In a lot of cases it is just as harmful as the process the non 'green' product goes through. Like eco friendly cars for instants. Go read up on those funky batteries and see. Read the whole process it goes through from the mining to the plants, across the ocean on a freighter and back, and all the other steps in between. Mmm, hmm...

And recycled stuff. I am all about it but remember that the process from one old piece of junk to the next is not so green. Maybe better than throwing it in the trash but can it be upcycled or repurposed?

Some people are into not having microwaves, some computers, some don't live near power lines, some don't use cell phones, some don't eat meat, some don't use lawn mowers. Some people don't sleep near an alarm clock and move their beds to the middle of the room to get away from power outlets. Some don't listen to the radio or drive cars, some don't eat processed foods and some don't watch TV's all to avoid certain waves and emissions and frequencies and pollutants and I could go on and on. I am sure eventually I will hit at least one area that concerns us all.

I haven't got you yet, let's try again.

Do you not worry about the emissions from the paint on the walls?

The stains on your wood, the carpet, or the fabrics in your home? Your side walk?

What about your appliances and hair dryer or your detergent, light bulbs, vacuum?

Your keyless remote, ceiling fan or camera?

What kind of shopping bags do you use? Whatever they give you, the ones you bought that are reusable or do you sew up something from some old fabric kicking around the house?

Think about the process.

What about diapers or wipes or soaps?

(I am totally not pointing fingers here, really! I think I have all this stuff!)

Or hey, your counter top, is it concrete, what kind(?), tile, or a solid surface, is it a laminate? Then what are it's emissions or off gases, or if you have granite, the radon emissions must concern you. No? It is pretty though isn't it!

Or what about your food? Ooooo, this is a biggie!

Your water, what kind do you drink?

And your supplements, you must take something, or not, how we are created by God is good for you? Are you sure? No vitamins, nothing? Interesting.

How about vaccines, or medications?

Alcohol? Mmmm, I could go for a glass of wine right about now!

Do you recycle? Compost? Drink raw milk? Go for grass fed? Free range?

How about when you choose to read the paper online to save a tree but then you are exposing yourself to EMF waves (I think that is what they are called, correct me if I am wrong...I am just shooting into the dark here with whatever pops onto my head) by sitting in front of your computer. How the heck do you know what to do? Health versus environment, but yet it is somehow one, ack!!

See, we all have one area that would create some controversy with friends. Isn't this what makes us unique, beautiful? Our differences. What we choose to be our personal convictions, not God convictions in a spiritual way but the ones that we make because we think we are helping ourselves or our environment somehow.

And in one way or another handing over our hard earned cash to the government or a corporation or someone who is laughing all the way to some hot gorgeous destination while we freeze our butts off and down whatever it is that we ordered from them.

Oh, right, I almost forgot about the dirt under your house. It could contain an multitude of electromagnetic forces or radon or something, anything really.

Better get a tree house. Oh, but, but.......

I must stop!

Hello, where the heck do we stop? We do have to live. Life is just not as simple as it was a few thousand years ago. And we think that all this stuff is making life better, easier and less stressful.

Not convinced here.

Should we not just be thrifty and not waste so much and maybe shop local when possible and grow our own food when possible and not worry about so much?

Doesn't worry effect our health?

Maybe we could just be content.

Hmmm.....

I wish I could do this. I strive for contentment. I think I am there sometimes but then I love convenience and interesting things, no matter how they are made. When it comes to the environment there are things I would love to do but I also cannot afford the solar panels up front nor is it practical for me to strap my three children on a pedal bike in -30C to get around to lessen my impact.

So we all make concessions and do different things that work for us in our own books. But why? Who made us feel guilty about what we were doing? Media? Friends? A seminar or speech? God?

Funny isn't it what we choose to use our energies to focus on?

What is it that really matters?

What about relationships and spirituality and mental health?

Ah, balance, where is the balance?

Seriously though. This is the stuff that runs through my head at any given moment when I hear someone talk about what they are doing.

All the 'what abouts'.

Not that this is bad, no, some of it challenges me for sure, but this is how my brain spins and I am actually not keeping up to what I am thinking as I type.

So I just smile and nod. :-)

Yo!

Lest I forget....

...when actually I really can't.

Well unless it got broke, hmmm, is that even proper english, I don't think so, but anyway, if it got broke then I really wouldn't forget and would actually be really sad but that is beside the point.

When love comes in the mail in the form of a usable piece of art from the heart and hands of a sweet friend it makes my day, week, month .... whenever I have coffee in a good mood.

(On bad days I drink from dark brown or black mugs and on regular days I drink from blue sky mugs.)

This is my happy day mug.

Made by saj. Thank you my sweet friend!

Wouldn't it make you happy too?!

Going back

I don't even really know where to start. Almost another month has gone by since I was last on here. And I miss it. I miss getting my thoughts out regularly but I have had no choice but to hold back for a bit. I have been working on getting orders out that have been nagging at me since spring and am so looking forward to not painting anything but what comes out of my head randomly. Not that I don't enjoy being booked...solid for two years now but I need a break to just get refocused and explore some of the ideas I have been stock piling.

Ok, and then there was the biggie. My spiritual journey. Over the last month I have been dealing with massive amounts of convictions and soul searching. Digging onto the Bible and seeking to know God's heart. This is a journey that has been refreshing and also kinda like getting hit by a cement truck.

I just hadn't had a real desire to read the Bible and really study and meditate for 10 years. Oh I have read here and there and looked a few things up and followed along with studies once in a while and also just read out of guilt too. But something snapped a while ago that has created a hunger in me like never before. And the convictions, I won't even get into what they are. Just a few months ago I would have thought I was crazy but that was where I was then so I know that every one had different convictions at different times and that is just how it is.

I do suppose if you poked and prodded I would talk about it in an e-mail but I am still on this discovery process.

Anyway, between painting, reading and trying to get life into a sort of routine and balance I have not let myself indulge in this here blog. This is my treat time.

And so rather than fill your ear with a pile of my thoughts (which I really really want to do) I really need to get caught up in the photo department first. So here we are going back a month to Canadian thanksgiving and the following two weeks! The last few weeks are still on the camera, I know, nuts! I used to load them on here every night! The task is daunting!

I really should have dug out the tripod!

Tea time for little friends.

First time really trying to keep her colouring in the lines. She is really abstract in most of her art so this blew my socks off!

Awww, yes!

We headed back to Edmonton the week after thanksgiving for a memorial service and I got to catch up with some old friends. This one is a very, very old friend...from birth kind of old, not age, we soooo are not there yet...and one who is so much like me in thoughts and interests it freaks me out but also makes me love her more! Oh and she doodles these great little viking comics!

It was beautiful weather and the leaves had all fallen off the trees so.....it couldn't be resisted!

Dave and I.

And I got to sneak out again to visit another old friend. She does amazing graphic work and I have promised to indulge in some of her work someday....so if you live in her area you should check her out! Ahhh, how I miss our pretty coffee dates and 'gotta get out and pour out my guts and get a good vent out' coffees and well, there just isn't anything like surrounding yourself with great friends is there?!

Ready to hit the road.

Goodbye snuggles were absorbed.

Mmmmm......

And back on the road with a gazillion potty breaks.

A trip that used to take 7 1/2 hours now takes 10.

But even though the trips are longer and somewhat brutal they are worth it. Seeing family and friends is so good and getting the see the stars in a clear black sky on the side of the road in the middle of no where on the 187th pee stop....totally worth it in an Awesome way!