Painting #5

I haven't talked about painting much, but I am STILL painting and this is one I finally finished on Monday. It was inspired by a photo of my mom (LEFT) in her brightly flower patterned outfit so completely 70's hip. I love this photo of her --- she looks gorgeous, stylish, and so happy.

The painting is not necessarily a portrait of her, but eludes to it. It includes images of Lauren and myself and the idea that all three "women" are connected and separate. Who looks like who, who acts like who, who is the image of the other both in physical feature or mannerisms, who is in the past and who is in the present and will be in the future.

I am still playing with the grid and layering and transparency and which layer is "concrete" and where the pattern begins and ends.

As usual the image online doesn't seem to translate the paint and their colors well. I am have mixed feelings about this piece. At certain points I loved it and was disappointed with it. I think overall, I am moving in a more sophisticated direction with my work.

My Girls and God

1. Lauren -- more proud poetry moments this weekend (but I have had my fill of poetry I confess.) She has had such a humble, grateful heart. When her spirit is like this, there is nothing I would not do for her, no way in which I would not help her. She has been such an encouragement and blessing to our family this weekend. Imagine now how our heavenly Father feels when we are humble.

2. My 7th grade girls are turning out to be more "complex" than I had expected. There is one with Autism and she struggles with sleep but knows Jesus cares. She has compulsive disorder and is obsessed with her fingers getting dirty. "Do you think Jesus loves you less if your fingers are dirty?" I ask. "Yes, I think he might,"she responds. "No, he loves your clean and dirty fingers. It doesn't matter to him. Plus, he loves your toes too." She stops and then replies, "I am not worried about my toes, just my fingers."

3. "Can I please say something about my mother?" my dominant 7th girl asks.
"Only if you can say it in a way that will still honor her and God," I reply.
She huffs and rolls her eyes, "Nevermind...."
"Would you like me to teach you how? I can give you an example."
"Okay," she agrees.
"I know my mother loves me, but I get frustrated when...... fill in the blank. Does that work for you?"
She nods with hope and says reluctantly, "I know my mother loves me, but I get frustrated that she doesn't buy us any breakfast food."
OH, dear. Where is the scripture verse for this one again?

3. Quiet, struggling to stay awake 7th grade girl who last week was bubbly and very participatory. "Anything wrong sweetheart?" I ask trying not to be too focused on her lack of interest. "No, I'm just really tired." I later found out differently. I have bought the girls small notebooks that they can write anything in to share with God and me (or anyone else). I later read in her notebook that she she was stressed about a particular friendship and that she struggles with friends in general. Today I was online and she sent me a google chat. I was thrilled. But then the conversation was about the sudden death of her grandfather.
Where is the Bible verse for that again?

I could go on. 4 of my 8 girls are from divorced situations with not so good home lives. I've feeling way over my head.

This has been a good week of prayer. God has been gentle and faithful in prompting me to pray through out the day. So many things out of my control. So many things to praise him for. So many things to see him reveal himself through.

I am hearing Him ask me, "Are you intentionally being a blessing? Or are you a curse to the paths you cross daily?" Do you know how hard it is to be an intentional blessing? Its more than a smile and a friendly "Hi." Sometimes all it is is a smile and friendly "Hi" but the process of asking God to reveal someone's need so you can bless them in the 30 seconds or 30 minutes you interact with them is HARD. I have no choice but to pray then.

The truth is, being a blessing intentionally means dying to self. Enough said.

Dreds, Estrogen, and the Symphony

DREDS
Friday Zoe came into town to attempt to finesse my silver dining room wall. Its better, but not as we had hoped. Thanks Zoe. She was also really here to pick up some furniture of my parents I had saved for her. That evening Zoe, Danny, and I went to "Stammer!" to support Lauren performing 2 poems. Stammer is a Raleigh arts/poetry/performance event. Danny and Lauren went together once last spring -- this was the first experience for Zoe and I. Let's just say it was basically the 4 of us who DIDN'T have dredlocks. There was a variety of "acts" -- many very talented spoken word artists and all definitely out of college or older crowd. So when Lauren reached the mic and introduced herself and that she was a senior in high school, the crowd was surprised. Let me be the first one to say that she brought the house down. It was a scary place to do that --- I am proud that she was courageous to perform. And it was so cool to be the non-dred section cheering her on!








ESTROGEN
To give Zoe the complete other opposite end of the spectrum experience in Raleigh, Saturday morning we met up with Sue at her church for their 1/2 day Women's conference: "Being a Woman of Joy." There were plenty of "joyful women" there --- I'm working on being one (ahem). It was a typical women's conference. The praise and worship, the pink flowery programs, and a lot of blonde hair. I'll just say I don't think I saw one person with dreds there. Go figure. The best part was the workshop that Zoe and I attended by a chemistry professor at NC State (we'll forgive her for not being a Tarheel). She talked about memorizing scripture and she blew us away. Not only has she memorized 6 books of the new testament, she shared such practical and encouraging methods by which to memorize. We were so inspired, challenged but not overwhelmed by the idea of memorizing so much scripture.

One of the funniest things she said was that she starts every morning during the 3 minutes she is "regular." Now I have really NO excuse...... I am trying to email her and get her notes and will post them on the blog.

SYMPHONY
Zoe left around 4 on Saturday and after a short nap, my husband took me on a date! Its been forever. We went to a pan-Asian place well known in Raleigh called the Duck and Dumpling. Food was yummy! We then walked across the street to Moore's Square to set up our lawn chairs to listen to a free concert by the NC Symphony. Best of call I finally got to wear my maxi dress that has been waiting for its debut. The rest of the night Danny I were stupid and kept pointing out every woman with a maxi dress on. The concert ended with the Symphony playing the theme to "Star Wars." NICE!