Summertime!

Wow. I just came home from the store with more fruit than we could possibly consume before it goes bad. That, and stuff for root beer floats! I had three new students come to art class today. It was a fun, crazy class and it makes me so happy. Lisa and Jessica will be in town for Marie's wedding. I'm so glad to see then both again. Lisa will be off to China, but Jessica will be doing her residency in southern California. It is my goal to see her often before she too is off to China. Last night the arts group from my church came up with a great project idea. I'm pretty excited about it, but I won't explain it just yet. I'll end this meandering post with a resolution. I want to find a really great Christian biography soon. Few things in my life have been as inspiring as the biographies I've read. Suggestions? I wonder if the public library would have any. I re-discovered the library the other day. Lots of great movies and music along with endless resources for my projects with the kids.

Flagstaff

I'm writing from a precious little room with a slanted ceiling on the third floor of an A-frame house. I woke up this morning to the sight of the sunrise on the San Francisco Peaks. The greenness and the coolness up here are wonderful! Tonight I'm going to a wedding up on the mountain. It sounds like it's going to be so much fun! This whole thing reminds me a lot of Kelley's wedding. I'm so grateful for this short weekend break!

Father's Day

I want to start this entry with a disclaimer about the previous one. It doesn't bother me that Christians don't always want to be a part of huge events. Some people just don't like festivals or large groups of people. Others might be concerned about the brand of Christianity that might be displayed. I guess it just frustrates me when I don't see cooperation in general. It's when people who *claim* to care about diversity, or claim to care about changing our city, aren't interested in working together. I don't want this to become an agnsty blog. It's just something I'm trying to figure out. So much about faith and politics and social justice and unity in the kingdom remains unanswered for me. I know I could read a zillion blogs on the subject, but there have been too many words. It's something I have to work out in experience. My entry about One Kingdom Image was more of an observation of a phenomenon. I'll watch to see what happens.
Today I've spent a beautiful afternoon here at my parents house out in Catalina. I relaxed in the hammock hung in Chris' room and watched him draw. Can I say again how much he inspires me? He is amazing! My poor Russ is still so sick. I can hardly handle it. I'm so proud of him and Mom. They fight it every day with prayer, praise, scripture, good literature and good music.

One Kingdom Image

Today was interesting. Richard Noel (One of the foster parents for GAP) invited me to a meeting. He has started a non-profit called One Kingdom Image. It is a very collaborative and multi-dimensional organisation focused on using the arts in every capacity to promote joy, truth, love and community. I know that sounds pretty ethereal. It's taken me a couple of months now to even begin to understand what it is that they actually do. Richard himself is from Trinidad, and he plays steel pan. He and his band give concerts and teach children. His enthusiasm is so inspiring to me. He likes to network, and he knows so many talented people here in Tucson. I met several passionate people today at the meeting. Bringing people together and doing "kingdom work" as a result is very important to me. I realized that without the context of community, I never will find the courage to do and be all that I am passionate about. The meeting today was to plan a music and arts festival at Ried Park this Novemeber. It was interesting to observe the planning process and to hear everyone's ideas and perspectives. Anything that is collaborative in the Christian community is also very important to me. A few weeks ago, I went to an event for the global day of prayer. It was so great to see so many different cultures, races, and denominations praising God together. I know so many Christians who don't seem to have any use for this kind of thing. I doesn't make any sense to me. I just don't understand it at all. I don't want to be judgemental. I'm seriously trying to figure out where the disconnect is. What am I missing?

The Quest for Courage

Today I woke up with a free day ahead of me. I spent half an hour staring at my seascape painting, trying to find the inspiration to work on it which I never found. I was weighed down by stress, made worse when I got the news that my parks and rec "contract" for teaching art had fallen through. However, this crazy thing I'm trying is so great! I get to seriously trust God and watch disappointments turn into blessings. This afternoon there was quite a rainstorm! I went running in the rain, and that helped to wash away a good portion of the stress.

Orange blossoms like a prayer,
bless this trembling evening air.
Gentle wind and distant thunder
wisper, "these are days of wonder!"

I found a little bit of courage in this old file folder box I've been going through. I found all the CEF stuff I'd made for our Good News Club in little Mexico. It's good to remember how much passion I had. It was so old school, it makes me laugh. It's good to see all the materials I made, how many crazy things we tried, and how much we loved those kids. Crazy to think some of them might be in college by now...

I also found my old Teen Missions song book. How can I throw that away? "Walking on the heavenly road, I'm gonna lay down my heavy load, 'cause Jesus said he'd walk along with me. Praise God! Glory Hallelujia!" Again, so old school. I love it!

Motivation

After substitue teaching all year I am VERY happy for a transition. I had this crazy idea to go into bussiness for myself this summer as an art teacher. Last week was my first week of classes. I had a total of three classes, and six kids, here in our home. It was so precious! We all had a blast. I'm doing whatever I can think of to get more students. I'm also having so much fun creating curriculum! Maybe some day I'll even publish it. The idea, as always, has been to create time for my art. I have a few long term projects that I can't seem to find the courage to finish. When I do finish, it will be thanks to a few cheerleaders of mine who are each partial to a particular project. You know who you are and I thank you.

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of working for free. Most people end up selling their lives to their career. I think we're just afraid to live our own life. I should speak for myself. I guess what I really don't want, is to require any outside motivation to live the life that I believe in. Having free time last summer, I've realized how much I rely on the need for money, or the obligation of committment, to motivate my best efforts. I think I'm just out of practice. Even though I don't currently have the income I need, I've *tried* to work/live as hard as ever. Soon, I hope to get back to a place in which I'm busy with kingdom work and money is a tool just like everything else.

A Visit From a Friend

My dear friend Kelley was in town receintly. She inspired me to start this blog. I hope it will give me the courage to "make heroic verse out of the prose of each day". Like the song... "stories don't mean anything if you've got no one to tell them to..."