Homeschool Diva

I’ve spoken before about this little collective of artists and musicians.  Maybe you remember about a year ago I made a call for artists.  Funny thing is, I thought I needed to network with them around the world.  Turns out they are right in my own back yard.  Sat. night we had a few friends over.  Actually people I hadn’t even know yet walked through our doors.  Young and old, conservative to liberal backgrounds, church staff, para church staff, different ethnicity, different backgrounds, different churches all represented.  A beautiful collection of God’s people. I am still ticked I didn’t get to sit and talk with every person I didn’t know there.  So sorry.  I want to know their story, their song, their dreams.  Really I deeply do.

So many people worked to pull it off.  We all just pushed a little.  No on person pulled the wagon, we just played and prayed along and before you  knew it, our home looked like a tea lounge.  Actually it still does.  We finished so late, no one wanted to break down, and because we didn’t have to , we said, oh just grab it next time you are over. Our kids were HOT because they missed the celebration. We sent them to sleep over at Grams and G’pas house as we knew it would get a bit loud.  Somehow they have it in there little minds that they get to play and participate in this whole expression of faith too.  I have no idea where they got that wacky idea? I laugh, because even in my wildest dreams or best plans to pull something like this off, it never would of happened as beautifully.

We did have one surprising and unfortunate casualty in the whole thing.  We killed our fish.  Yeap we “rocked” him to death.  It was so sad, the rhythm and sound just shook him right out of his mind.  The kids still do not know.  I am breaking it to them gently tomorrow.

Grace and Peace to everyone seeing their dreams unfold before them~

PS - pix taken by our friend Shawn who is handy with a camera too.  Thanks man!

Song to listen to while reading this post.

I am working on a post right now about discipleship to Jesus. I have been reading some of NT Wright’s work and it is, as always, ROCKING my world in a good and deep and holy way.  I am also mulling over a few things that will take some thought in research in regards to presenting a lesson on the kingdom of God to our oldest. I actually think I will you tube it so anyone else out there can use it too. Photography is moving along at God’s perfect pace, so life is generally good.

Our kids have been in VBS this week, and I have been like a fish out of water without them around.  God is leading me into some deeper seasons of things, that I wont share on this blog right now, as they are just for me in him. We are hosting a worship night this weekend, so I am cleaning and worshiping all morning. (A little side not about Hill song.  I have had my nose up in the air about them for awhile because they are so freakin’ mainstream, I almost can’t take it. I wouldn’t even go there, because I get so hacked off when I see organizations making money and fame and all other types of crap that come with that off of worshiping the KING. Really it makes my skin crawl and I get all nauseous. It is a bad scene…….and then… a friend asked if we would learn this song to sing with him.  I politely didn’t roll my eyes and said “okay” feebly.  I heard this song and it was like I hit the deck weeping all by myself.  Just asking for forgiveness because I was so snooty about them being co-opted by the marketing machine.  I love when God breaks your boxes, even your non-traditional ones.) Pray for us on Sat. night.  I am sure I will have some pics to show you all:-)

Guess I just dropped by to  say, I am here, just processing, and thinking, and worshiping.  I am at a place right now were I am almost out of my skin in adoration to the KING of Kings.  Won’t you worship with me?  Really, like right now, stop what you are doing and just do it!  In whatever way you can.  Really I am not kidding.

Blessings to all you thinkers, dreamers, worshipers…

Another rainy day, which in my book are good days to think. I’ve been reflecting the last few days on how essential certain things are in life. It is so important to have a small group of deep friends that you can be truly honest with, that challenge you to dig deeper with Jesus, that hold you accountable in an appropriate and Godly way, and that sharpen you.  I am blessed to have this in my life.

Today Mike and I have officially been married 14 years.   I can’t even remember what is was like not being married or with him.  It is fun to watch how he has grown and changed over the years. I love you honey.  Thank you for a beautiful weekend away, just the two of us. It was raining just like this, 14 years ago, as I was trying to run around and do all the things a bride is doing before her wedding.  Mike and I were laughing at how we know each other so much better now.  It is so good to laugh with your spouse.  He still makes me laugh, and blush, and feel safe.  He is a good, deep, thoughtful caring man and a wonderful Father to our children. I love him so.

I’ve also been thinking about how parenting is full time job.  People occasionally say to me, “Are you just a stay at home Mom?”  and I quietly chuckle inside. I do a little photography on the side, just to keep a small non-Mommy part of me active but on the whole, I’ve been called to tend this little garden, and trust me it will shake you to your core, if you let it.  The older our kids get, the more fun this is, to walk with them, and model to them, and train them and be with them as they walk through hard things.   We are constantly adjusting, readjusting, checking in with the Father in regards to our sweeties. What a gift this all is.  I am still perplexed when I hear Mom’s say they need a break.  Trust me, I know what it is like to have lots of kids close together, and never know where you stop and they begin.  I struggled with that in the early days.  I think it is funny, friends who see me out without my kids don’t even recognize me without the three in tow.   Now, I embrace it. Life just moves too fast, and you just don’t EVER, EVER, EVER get these days back.  I just want to keep working on relationship with these little guys who are fast moving into big guys. I can do other things when they have flown the coup.

Wont it be fun to see where the next 14 years takes us babe? The world is our oyster.  I love you!

~a

We are leaving for a blissful stay-cation while Mike’s parents tend the young ones…

We will be going to my FAVORITE local place for a little R&R married 14 years style.  I will kill the pictures and leave a tiny peek….

Grace and Peace to all those who know that life just keeps getting better and better!

See you next week.

We had a fun weekend.  Our oldest had his first swim meet.

I did a little diving. I took some pictures but they are not nearly as good as my Dad’s.

Now, I am off to upload some pics to flickr and finish up some school work.   This week, we are celebrating our wedding anniversary, with half of the rest of the married world:-)  So, between, school and play  I may be spotty on posting here.

Grace and Peace to all those celebrating life with those they love.

Why use a flash if you can work the camera manually to where you get enough light to pull off the shot?  Well, simply because good photographers need to know how to hit all elements, and knowing how light works, will give you great images all the time.  Not only that, but if you want to work on your craft while the kids are in bed, you will need to work at night, therefore you need to work with a flash.

That being said, I hardly ever use a flash, even though I have one.  Now that I am pushing farther to learn a few new things….I super heart my flash especially right at dusk.  It gives you crazy definition and color, that a low f stop and high ISO alone will not give you. It will allow you to have your shutter speed set so that you don’t get that blur that happens when hand holding your camera to capture an image. Everything I have learned with photography has been self taught.  I am in good company. Some of the best photographers in the world are self taught.  I read, I study, I experiment, I read, I study, I experiment…..it is one of my favorite things to do.  So, I have been reading and studying about off camera lighting and strobe work.  Wow what a cool look you can pull off with all of that info.

if you only have an on board flash, one of the things you can do to diminish that hot spot glare, is to put a piece of wax paper, tracing paper, parchment paper or a coffee filter over your flash to diffuse the light.   So go play around with your flash and show me what you got!

Grace and Peace to all those who love learning~

We plan to spend a ton of time outside this summer.  I will reverse our days, so that we can be out and play in the cooler, morning weather.  I will move them through literature and history first thing in the am….head out to explore around 10 for a few hours, come back for lunch and choirs and then we can finish up with math and copy work when the day is the hottest and the rain is rolling through.  Last year I took a large break in the summer and it was a train wreck, so this year we just steadily will work our way through.

I didn’t set this shot up, they all just hung out there for a split second before they were off again.  I am not 100% happy with this shot, as it isn’t a sharp as I would of liked but it will do. I love our nature study.I get to follow them around as they explore, silently watching them work and discover together.  That is how this whole photography thing started ya know.  There is so much in the way I school them, that is silent.  I just set up an environment for them to explore in, and then shut my mouth and let them get to “playing”.  Because of the literature we are reading, they naturally make connections all over the place.

I made a decision early on in our homeschool journey to enjoy all our time together, not looking to rush through it and move on to what I want to do, but to be present at all times, and learn with them.

Life is learning, and we are all enjoying our days together.  I will upload the rest of our days discoveries later today.  For now we need to sketch in our nature journals and then on to Math and Mr. Steve.  Oh how we love Mr. Steve around here….he makes my life so easy.

Blessings to all those keeping their mouths shut so their little ones can make connections on their own~

I for one play around with my light-box.  I made this little guy out of junk in the recycle bin and some kid’s painting paper.

I love to sit and click to just relax.  It is one of my few non physical ways of relaxing.    I have been dreaming about upgrading my camera equipment but have been struggling with that for a few reasons.  Firstly, I feel like God is drawing us into a place of being content, resting in him.  I have everything I need.  We have all the money we need.  We are able to give generously and save.  I sit in the place of justifying is this a want or a need etc. etc.

The other factor is this.  If you think you need crazy expensive equipment to be a good photographer, a great photographer even, well good luck with that one.   You need to shoot more, learn more, and stay in the mode of being a student.   I have fallen head long into the flickr community and all of its amazingness.  You want to learn how to shoot better….poke around there and see what there is to see.  Right now I am fascinated with light in all its forms.  I hope to work on some HDR stuff this month and kick the strobe into high gear. This stream will make you want to work with strobes ALL THE STINKIN’ time.

The longer I pray about it, the more I feel like I am to just park it.  I felt like I had a certain number in my mind that had to be saved and given before God gave the green light for a new body.   So, I am back in the “Danielson” position again…..thankfully.  I am “waxing on and off” with the best of them.  It is all about working with what you have. Amazing artists in their day, painted over old canvases and just kept working away.  They didn’t let resources get in their way, they just kept creating and improving and having fun. So, I thought it would be a good idea if I just followed their lead.

Here is my light box set. I am sure it will grow steadily as the days and months progress…. follow my learning adventure.

Grace and peace to all those out there counting the cost~

Okay, I had a week full of shooting and editing and all sorts of new things to show you.  Yesterday, I went to the park with my prego girlfriend.  She had her4 nieces and nephews and I had our 3 children, and one trusty camera.  She wanted a park setting for her shoot, which I thought was cool and different not to mention having 7 children running and playing in between clicks was  a fun time. With this image you would never know we were at a park.

My last 2 shoots, my gear has been a bit squirrely.  I am not quite sure why, but with the amount of clicks I have been given this bad boy, I believe it needs a good cleaning.  I am always trying to stretch my skills, learn new things, and push myself.   Good photography is more then composition, or shooting something pretty, it is good lighting, good technical skills behind the lens and editing that takes it all to the next level.  What I love about this, is that there are always things you can be learning and improving with. You never arrive in photography…you only get better.

So what are you playing around with today in your photography? What do you want to get better at?

Grace and Peace to everyone out there doing their thing~

Last year a girlfriend asked me to paint a picture for her house.  I said “No”.  I know I am a great friend.  What I actually said was, “No, why don’t you come over and paint it yourself.”  she said “I don’t know how to paint.”  Well, sistah neither did I until I picked up a brush and started playing around. I told her I would teach her.  Then another girlfriend came over, and another and another and every week we gathered to love and laugh and create together all immersed within the presence of the Creator.  Then I guess the guys got kind of ticked and started asking if they could come or if it was only for the ladies.  Well, you know me, I hate exclusion including gender exclusion so we said, heck ya, come on along and join our song.

We started kicking around the idea with a few friends about creating an artist collective and the Proskyneo Collective was born.  Initially we felt like we should do 4 ecumenical worship gatherings this year and see what God was doing with it.  Now it seems weekly, we have like minded kingdom peeps showing up at our house to eat and sing and create.  A community of God’s people that would create beauty in the world.  A space where everyone gets to play regardless of what church you go to on Sunday morning. Where worship and creativity are blessed.  Where people are encouraged to think about their life and express themselves through art. A place where dreams are sparked and mission developed.

Now a days we are praying about producing a cd of all original worship songs and a possible gallery showing of  original photography and paintings. I hear rumblings that a pottery wheel will be showing up soon.  Wow isn’t that cool. I would love to see how art and the poor intersect.  Can we bring beauty inspired by the CREATOR into the poorest in our community and by doing so usher in a deeper level of God’s kingdom among them?  I for one would like to see what God could do with something like that.

We have taught many people how to play the guitar and now they are debuting leading worship in their own small groups as I type. Those who have never picked up a brush before in their life, are playing around with color. People are starting to pick up cameras and shoot the beauty that the see, and others are literally having dreams of art installations that are sparking all of our imaginations.

I guess this doesn’t even  tip the scale in any church growth demographics.  We are just a bunch of friends who want more of Jesus and each other and want to create beautiful things as we do it.  Actually I think it says somewhere in the bible that the Church is made of God’s people and when 2 or more are gathered together in his name, He is there.  Kind of blows the pews right out of the water doesn’t it.

One of the things that will fry you faster then anything is living a hurried life.  It doesn’t matter in what way you live it….full time ministry with no time to stop and think, or a stay at home Mom who is always going and never sitting still to just be.   Being hurried will tear you up and spit you out faster then you can wink.

One of the things Mike and I have learned and have struggeled worked on keeping in our family life is a rhythm of inward and outward. A time of loving, and living and giving and serving and laughing and being with those we have been blessed to have in our life, and a time of being still and quiet without a ton of running and going, and talking and moving.  Just still and quiet.  We are making sure to give that gift to our kids as well.  I will be the first to say, it isn’t easy, but it can be done.  You can be busy without being hurried.  You can have lots to do and be at peace doing it if you keep a few VERY important things at the front of your mind at all times.  It is all about an inward/outward rhythm.  I am writing this whole post as a bit of a reminder for myself.  I thought if I need reminding, maybe some one else does too.

Our family has moved into a season full of fecundity. I use that word in honor of Heather Spring, a dear friend in Gainesville, who really ushered us into a season of understanding spiritual disciplines in a deeper way when we were starting to feel pulled to that.  We found some resources and then she just solidified everything the Holy Spirit was leading us into with a 12 week class on spiritual disciplines right before we left to move here and plant. If you don’t know what it means look it up:-)  I say that in a deeply grateful way. We absolutely love all that God is moving us into but I also know that in times like these it would be very easy to just go, go, go and never stop, stop, stop which would be bad, bad, bad. Yo, I sound like Henny Penny.

Jesus is a very good teacher.  He had a beautiful rhythm of being with people and then alone with the Father and the two never ever seemed to get out of balance.   Always one and then the other.  He was never stressed.  Sad yes, but stressed no.  He slept through storms, he taught when there was no food. He was never hurried by other people and their problems.  Dead people didn’t even rattle him.  He even walked past sick people and didn’t stop to heal them.  It wasn’t part of what he was supposed to be doing at the given moment. He just did what the Father was doing.  Imagine telling a pastor to not go and help someone who was in their path with some issue.  Sounds kind of counter intuitive doesn’t it. But Jesus only did what the Father was doing and I think that is a good life lesson to hold onto. He was present with the people he was with and always modeled through his actions.  To me, that sounds like the most peaceful way of living that could ever be had.

He didn’t care a hill of beans what other people thought of him.   None of the things that rattle us, ever seemed to rattle him.  The more I study his life and ask that he would reveal more of himself to me, the more I am in awe of what a great teacher he is.  I mean really, really great.  As I think about how he really lived his life, I am compelled to follow suit to the best of my ability.  So, I am instating a few disciplines into my own life just to make sure I guard the “inward” part of my formation and not let the outward part run me into the ground.

Here are a few things I am moving into.  I leave them here for 3 reasons, firstly maybe some of you may need to add these into your life and secondly, any of my local friends or family who happen to read this little blog will have a heads up and not be hurt or ticked that I am seemingly not responding and thirdly, Mike reads this here little space and it saves me 20 minutes of talking when he gets home.  I can just say…did you read the blog….and we go from there. I lived a season of 18 months of running like a chicken with my head cut off, responding to everyone elses needs in a crazy business I had that ran out of control.  God literally stepped in and rescued me from that mess and ever since then, I have promised to never go back to that kind of slavery every again.  So here are my few little things.

• First, I wont text until after school hours…or answer the phone or emails, or comments, or flickr mails or tweets etc.  Ever. Period. Wow that sounds harsh…and extreme. I stayed home to homeschool and be with my kids…and if I am answering calls and texts all morning, I am not present with them and they need me.  The only person who will ever get through is my hubby.  Trust me he is busy enough that he rarely calls during those hours anyway, so when he does it is for a darn good reason.  The point is for me to be quiet enough to hear what the Father is saying as I work with our young brood.  So you can text or call or email or comment etc. etc.  but I wont’ respond until after 3pm Eastern time.  Good gravy I know that sounds pretentious, I am not trying to be, I just seem to have a lot of people all over the place touching base.  I am honored and love connecting with all of you local and abroad.  I will connect with you it just won’t be between 6am and 3pm eastern time.:-)
• Second, I will give our family a day of rest in between days of non rest.  Today for instance, we quietly worked, played, cleaned and ran a few errands.  Yesterday, we were moving all day, so today we just parked it.    It has been refreshing day.
• I have been vary consistent from the outset of our homeschooling journey to make sure we all get some time to ourselves most every day.  We all get crazy if we don’t.  I think we do children a disservice, if we constantly cater to their needs, telling them what to think and how to act, making sure they are not bored. All this activity forms their little minds in such a way that they have never ever had time to be still and think.  I think we deal with a whole culture of people who honestly can’t do it.  It is a crying shame.  People have looked at me like I am a lunatic when I say we need our quiet time.   I don’t mean super spiritual quiet time either like we are all off reading our Bibles or something.  I mean QUIET.  Think, pray, create, organize your space…whatever. I believe God will show up in that space, and it must be guarded for myself and our children at all costs. Give your mind time to stop racing and just see what comes up.  It also models to our children that Mommies are people too and we respect ourselves enough to be away from them and work on ourselves.  Maybe just maybe they will keep up the practice when they move on from our home.
•  Lastly, I will kiss my husband every day like I mean it.  Okay that one was just for me, and like I said before Mike reads this here blog and I just want to make sure he knows what to expect when he walks in the door tonight.

Grace and Peace to all those guarding their inward time…and those who are gonna kiss their spouse like they mean it.