sept seven

50mm     ISO1000     f/1.6     1/50     6:34PM     9/7/17

Good old fashioned fun.  And good old fashioned lessons in how to speak nicely to one another.  How to share.  How to be patient.  How to work together.

This particular lego project started as mine, but when someone asked if they could "help" the answer was always yes.  Soon we're all squeezed into one small space trying to recreate a garden and fountain out of legos.  And we're expressing our emotions rather loudly...apparently.  I love how all the bright colors all over the place are like the emotions that children wear on their sleeves.  But somehow we're learning to sort them out and be choosing to be content with our blues or looking at someone else's perspective before being jealous and taking what they have.  We're bringing every thought and emotion captive to Christ and living well -- as he designed us to.

#shootthemessy  #letthembekids

A Puzzle ❙ time well spent

I'd had a burst of inspiration.  I finally knew what I was going to do with my dress and I wanted to get sketching right away.  I was busy and I was going to go hole myself up in my "studio" when a little voice piped from behind the loveseat:

"Hey, Jo, do you want to help me with my puzzle?"

Her back was turned and she couldn't see my shoulders droop and feet drag towards the exit.  She couldn't hear my thoughts saying "no, not now Emmy I'm busy.  Some other time." 

She didn't see my grimace as I realized what I would be missing.  She couldn't see my petulant face and repentant heart, she was still concentrating on finding that one special piece.

I realized that my little sister is days away from her 8th birthday.  What with my school and hers if I blinked I would miss her whole life.  I would wake up one day and a young lady would be my roommate, not the little girl I was so used to telling how to spell words while we wrote our various things late into the night or sang songs to and hugged during the thunderstorms.

I knew I should treasure this time I have with her.  Savor her crazy obsession with the candy cane striped socks with the fur on them and the crazy santa's elf hat she wears to hide that she hasn't brushed her hair and it's a rats nest.

I should remember the way the fire feels warming my back and the sound of her voice as she says "I've got another one" thirty times over.  I should never fail to encourage her with a "good one!" or "yeah!"

I don't want to ever put things above people.  I want to invest in people, and especially my siblings.  

And besides, I do love a good puzzle. 

 So I replied,

"Sure Emm, I'd love to."

Like on a keyboard?

On Wednesday night, at prayer meeting I was talking with two of the cutest kids ever.  Anika and Caleb (ages approx. 5 and 7) Are coming over to our house on Sunday with the rest of their family for lunch and some fellowship, so I decided I would try to get to know them better.  Here are two snippets of our conversation.  If your not sitting down, do so. :-)

Moi: "When you come over to our house maybe we could paint, that is one of Emily's favorite things to do"
Anika: "Sure! I love painting!...How do you paint? I've never painted before."

So I explain what painting is in the simplest form I can.  A little later...

Caleb: "Do you have games?"
Moi: "Oh yes, we have tons of games.  What do you like to play?"
Caleb: "Oh, well one we have is zombie slayer..."
Moi: "Oh... well, we don't have any video games...(I'm assuming that it is a video game?  Anybody ever heard of it?!)"
Caleb: "Then what games do you play?'
Moi: "Well, we have lots of board games and some card..."
Caleb: "Like on a keyboard?"
Moi: *?* "No, you play them, well, you play them on a board, you know, like cardboard, yeah, cardboard!  With pieces?..."

It was an experience.  I think they are in for a bit of culture shock this coming Sunday. :-)

14th Birthday

I'm fourteen!  Yeah! ... Now what?  Well, I don't know.  Here is what has been happening lately.  I went over to a friend house to clean and paint, it is a paying job.  What makes it fun is that my brothers and my friend are there with me.  In the car on the way home we played the three phrases game.  Also with this friend we (my two younger brothers and I) play a game called "password".  We use the cards and card reader that come in the actual game called password, but we have distorted the rules to make it more fun.  It gets very noisy and there is a lot of laughter.