Loving People

"Contentment," I call it.

The kids and I were talking today about love. Why? Naturally because sibling rivalry reared its ugly head, and needed to be dealt with. Nature Man (2nd grade) and Dash (pre-K) have very different personalities. Simply put, they drive each other nuts.
I console myself with the fact that they are getting early lessons in important matters:

1) not everyone is like you;

2) not everyone should be like you;

3) just because someone is not like you, does not mean they are wrong or strange;

4) the people who are distinctly different than us can often teach us the most important lessons;

5) Loving God helps us love others and, in turn, the love pushes out frustration. It's a beautiful overflow effect.

So, we drew Loving People in our art journals (and more art journaling.) Nature Man's people look a lot like mythical nature fairies to me.

I love them.

He said, "they love animals, they help things grow, and they give beautiful gifts." I enjoyed his description ...summed up: "Love, Encourage Growth, Give."

Perhaps because of his influence, my loving people followed the same theme. I love learning from kids. (Dash is not done with his People, and did not want me to take picture yet. I'll add his in when/if he wants me to.)

So, Nature Man and Dash, how can you get along better with your brother?

"Love God, love him [my brother,] help him, give to him."

Bingo. Give of time, encouragement, positive words, hugs, consideration, gifts...
Good lesson for me, too.
Of course, my husband I get along perfectly ALL THE TIME (*cough*)...but on the occasion when I feel entitled, demanding or unappreciated, that's when I can Talk, Love, Give, Pray, and Encourage...
We are near-opposites, so I'm quite sure our character-development is growing by leaps and bounds and *hopefully* we can be great examples to our children of how to deal with difficult people. ;-)

I made our People into cards. Of course.

After this post, I'm going to be primarily blogging on my main site. I'll use this as "overflow," additional pictures, etc, but not as a different blog anymore. Our lives are creative in every aspect, and I can't even attempt to compartmentalize certain areas anymore. :-)

Art Journaling, the newest hobby

Have you caught on to my pattern yet? I get interested in something new, and it becomes my all-consuming every-late-evening new hobby. I've gone through sewing, book-altering, lapbook prep stuff for the kids, sketching, etc etc and now on to art journaling. This one is easy and natural, as it can combine some of my greatest loves: color, art, photography, journaling, books, prayer...

Anytime I start sharing something new, my confidence falls down a few notches. It's hard to put yourself out there, especially when presenting something new and rather nontraditional. So, like a coward trying to be brave, I stick my head out of the hole, glance around, toss my artwork up on the grass, and skitter back inside to wait. Then, a few days later, I work up the nerve to lay some more stuff out on the ground.

Here's the "stuff" I set forth:Sketching

Painting: These pages are "art-extending"...
magazine or calendar clips taken,
extended, added to, layered on the page.

I can process so much better using multiple methods. At least two of my children are also very much like this. I think everyone benefits from artwork, period, but also from combining methods to learn. The primarily auditory learner may still remember best by listening to AND writing their speech.

Art Journaling take 2

And, again, an overlap... because art and prayer can be consuming. So, for the latest art journal entries, you can go here for mine, and here for The Artist's.

And then there was...

The Art Journalposted here. Inevitably, my blogs will overlap at times.