Baby steps

So Im guessing little G is wanting to start picking out her clothes

and dressing herself.

Remember the brown pants???

This morning I picked out a cute little dress.

But I think she wants to make a fashion statement on her own

added pajama bottoms from her bed.

(ignore the water down her front! ha ha!didnt see that!!)

Being the sweet little one she is

without many words.

She is showing me.

Okay little one......

It takes mama a little time to figure these things out.

Baby steps.

dancing to the praise music playing on the computer.

Her favorite!

Since you are still wanting more....

I know you are......

wink wink

Here she is yelling big sisters name.

My cell is ringing and I tell her,"I think thats Big Sister calling"

I hear her in the background yelling for sister over and over.

I walk into the living room to see this:

what a sweetie......

Brown Horse

Lately

little G has been signing more than one word when expressing a thought.

Last evening it was alot of "brown horse" chattering going on.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

"horse"

I had a blast taking these

I cant wait until I get a "real " camera..........

sorry for the lack of posting.....

Grabbed a few cute photos on Tuesday

after our marathon Eye Doctor appointment.

I cant believe she is laughing and smiling after 3.5 hrs.

and later in the week I realized she was coming down with a cold.

oops.

The week was full to the brim with Dr appts and procedures.

and we had colds. (nothing too major)

So glad nothing is on the calendar for this week.

Hope your calendar is full with fun & family!

In my studio this week- sneak peek

Its been a busy week. We had ENT appt on Monday

An eye Dr appt that took close to 3.5 hours on Tuesday

shared a cold and big brother had endoscopy on Thursday.

I am thankful for my art journal.

I am able to just take a few mins to get a thought and some art in my day.

The watercolor flows differently on the gesso

so it will take me some time to get the feel for things.

I am trying to make sure my inner critic is nowhere near my art journal.

Join me with the other ladies to see whats going on in their studio.

The customer is always right

Today I have a thought that seems like it needs to be voiced.

I said, "You know, having a child with Down Syndrome is not that big of a deal. Its dealing with the medical community that makes it so hard."

If I am a customer......

I think things should look differently.

I am hoping that tomorrow is a new day and things look differently in the morning.

I remain,

Under His wings,

Anna

A lesson learned

Its already Nearing the end of August,

no Im not trying to rush it

it seems like we are closer to the end than the beginning though.

School is starting

backpacks,

paper and glue.

New shoes and uniforms.

gearing up for new lessons and schedules.

Intersecting with faith-lessons.

Not the ones that come by going to school,

1+1=2 and i before e except after c lessons.......

The kind of lessons that we read about in scriptures

we let them sit in our heads

then trickle down into our hearts

slowly.....

for some of us it takes time....

the grace lessons.......

I keep running into it headlong

I have said,"Yes" to facilitating the Tuesday morning women's group

"One thousand gifts"

The first question in the Leaders guide,

"Ann begins by writing about the meaning of her name..."

"...look up the meaning of your name.

Do you know the story of why your parents chose your name?"

When I read the book it didnt really hit me,

when I read the leaders guide? Nope.

I dont know why reading her name Anne

it didnt dawn on me

Anna,

they shared the same meaning.

really?Me?

Anna: Grace

It was there in black and white.

Letters on the page.

How many times a day do I fingerspell that name?

G.R.A.C.E.

How many times do I write in crayon

hand over hand.....

is it really going to be this hard?

That which I wrestle so hard to learn

its even my name

and now my name sake?

How can we share names, I didnt even give birth to her?

Named before I knew her.

Sharing the same name?

Do I need to keep sounding it out?

Feeling it on my lips?

Hearing my own voice repeat it over and over?

slowly, so she can see how the sounds are made

my little song...

"I love Grace..... yes i dooooo."

pressing the "I love you" into her heart so she can feel it.

Is it going to take a lifetime

repeating it over and over.....

the verb action, when spoken

sounds so unfamiliar.

It feels better to have rules

demands to follow

ridgid "to do"

and "how not-to-do" lists.

number four child,

named for us......

that sweet name that fits just perfect on her

yet when I try it on for size......

its too big,

there is too much room.

a lifetime with Grace to learn of a lifetime of grace?

the person-real and tangible

Verb action

intersecting in my life

in an all at once kind of way

not just me teaching her.....

but her

them

teaching me.

It really is all grace.

I remain

Under His wings,

Anna

Weekend in review

Nothing too awful exciting to report.

I have some photos to share from our weekend.

Our church had a "team day".

Brother and sister.

Here is Papa and his girl

Oldest sister came to spend the afternoon.

I wish I had gotten a photo of them together.

Oldest brother is sick sick sick.

He was fired from his job last weekend.

Then was sick to his stomach for three days.

He still cant eat and I took him to our Dr on Thursday and he was in the ER on Friday. They havent found anything. Nerves? Just so worried about him. I wish he was home so I could take care of him. I met up with his Fiance and had made him chicken n rice soup last evening. (I had baked a chicken on Thur eve) Just heard from him and his Gastro is working him in.....

say a prayer please.

When I returned home I found this moth injured in the yard.

I thought Id bring it in for Little G to see.

Immediately she signed butterfly.

I almost cried.

She grabbed it up off the floor

and I made that "oh no!" intake of breath noise that mommys make.

It took awhile for her to warm up to the idea again.

We had a follow up ENT appointment this morning.

After the audiologist appt last week......

I am just not happy with how any of this is working out.

I will close with a photo of some of our first day of "school"

I remain,

Under His wings,

Anna

Whats going on in my studio this week

Art is a collaboration between the God and the artist,

and the less the aritst does the better.

-Andre Gide

Right now this is looking like a mess.

My little "from the heart" journal.

Trust me.

It wont look this way when its done.

Just like my walk of faith right now.

It looks like a mess.

But that is when you look at it all with human eyes.

I am choosing FAITH.

Believing in the unseen.

It wont look this way when He is done.

Our creator, working in and through us.

First I chose a book.

It was a great book but I didn't feel sentimental about it.

I bought a bottle of gesso,

(FYI: they happened to have it at my Big box store

which is great when you HAVE to get started.)

Right now!

I grabbed a cup of water to keep my brush wet and a nice brush....

I started by gluing 3-4 pages together in my book to create one strong page.

( truthfully....she shares while blushing.....

I really started by using the gesso as glue

but it took so much that I backtracked and decided to glue first then gesso-

Girls are allowed to change their minds you know!!!)

Here Ive applied the gesso.

Its used to keep the paint from soaking into the pages.

Ive read that you dont HAVE to seal the pages first.

I want to use my watercolors and acrylics so I felt like this was the best way to start.

when I was impatient I used crumpled foil to separate the pages to work ahead.

I used waxed paper to separate damp pages, foil for the WET ones.

I used a purple pen to write out parts of the book on the pages that were glued together that I still wanted to remember.

You can see here where I skipped the gesso on a part I liked.

Then used tissue paper with great textures in it to add a layer on both sides of this page because all three of these pages were really great reading

and I wanted to be able to see the words through,

yet the pages still have some strength.

Its a re-creation.

taking something that was good and tweaking it for a new purpose.

(I pray that this is what is being done in me......)

I am hoping that "art journaling " will be a good thing.

I loved this post with prompts

I love when she said "My inner critic isnt allowed near that journal"

Last but not least, I have gotten the fronts done

so that I can knit the shoulder sleeves together then knit the sleeves.

I hope that I havent bored you to tears with my photos of a gesso ed up book mess.

Plus a partially knit baby sweater.

Its all Ive been able to muster together this week.

I am so glad its Friday ladies......

Under His wings,

Anna

way back when....

I am working hard on getting us ready to start school again this next week.

Last minute things to add to what we already have.

Yesterday little G had an appointment with the audiologist so I stopped by the school supplies store to pick up a few things on my mental list.(I will share details about the appointment tomorrow!) I left with less than what I had expected. Some of the things were so overpriced.(Ive seen them on the internet) I have gotten used to living on a shoe string budget with only one income. I ended up purchasing two packages of "sight word" flashcards(half off so we can play matching games) and a big triangle shaped pencil.

I will head over to Tar*et

to get some of the other things I think we need

but in smaller quantities......

finger paint,

paper,

big markers.





Planning to do pre school kindergarten with little G has me remembering years gone by. Those were sweet times. Oldest is 23 years old now so twenty years ago home schooling was quite a bit different than it is now. We were the odd people that made our own granola. (a joke in our home! One day at moms day out a lady was shocked that we home schooled because she thought home school families were the kind of people that "You know, make their own granola" I didnt tell her that I could share our granola recipe if she wanted a copy!!!! Just smiled and nodded my head)



Fast forward a few years and I had a middle son that was struggling with self esteem and had struggled with academics. (it was an undetected vision problem!) He was caught up in a mode of thinking that we needed to nip in the bud. We made a compliment jar





I made strips of paper and had a pretty bowl that the compliments went into.(it stayed at the center of the dining room table with paper and pencil) It was great handwriting practice too! If I am remembering correctly each child needed to write 5 compliments/ encouraging words for each family member..

Fold it up and write the persons name on it, to drop in the bowl. In the evenings we didnt watch TV and would have story time and prayers, they would get the ones with their names on them. It was good for ALL of us to focus on the positive. Instead of focusing on the one huge tantrum or argument..... we could end the day focusing on all the many great things each child did. I was thinking about this..... its the start of school, I know you can purchase inexpensive blank spiral notebooks and journals,

put each child's name on the cover in sharpie and let them decorate it with stickers etc. Leave them in a prominent place where positive words of encouragement can be written each day. (instead of loose strips of paper to keep track of)Even if each person only thinks of one thing to write in each family members journal that might be more positive words of encouragement they would have given each other if not prompted.



Maybe you could use this as a springboard...

maybe add to it?

maybe prayer requests,

a list of Gifts from God.....



I will close by telling you that we didnt do this for very long.

It got us through a rough season tho.

If youve been following my blog for awhile you might remember that we packed son in November to move into his own apartment. I found some of those little strips of paper in a treasure box all these years later.

It really was a good thing.



And its so similar to the book I read,

The study I will be facilitating this Fall

About keeping track of Gods hand in our lives,

keeping track of the Gifts.....

Choosing to be thankful

it is all grace you know







Under His wings,

Anna

can I brag a minute?

THis is what my son has been doing this week.
I am so thankful for a Church community that works with me in building character.
He was able to go work on the habitat for humanity home.

I am so proud of teens willing to give up some of their last days of summer to help others.

Under His Wings,
Anna

What My son has been up to

If youve got a few minutes Id love to share what my son has been up to this past week. I am a proud mama. I am proud of my church family that encourages our teens to "do the right thing" even when it means giv ing up your last week of summer.



I love my church family.



Under His wings,

Anna

Caught!!!!

oh dear, Ive been caught.





I am just cracking myself up!!!!!!





Oh man, Mommy looks like she is getting ready to post these photos on her blog.....

a tuesday kind of update

I have several projects in the creative process at the moment.
Knitting,
Two projects.
First, a baby sweater
and second,a sock.
I am loving the sock but will not allow myself to get too involved. you will laugh to know I am using it as a bribe to get the baby sweater knit up.
I have to do this to myself sometimes. Wink ;)

Next,
Ive started an art journal.
I started glue-ing pages in a book together.Three or four at a time. Then brushed on a coat of gesso to them to seal the paper. I chose a book from the thrift store that was about "our calling". it was a great book, I wasnt emotionally attached to it tho so it seemed like just the right base for an altered book. I have been inspired by another creative heart and thought that this might be the perfect way
to journal
this heart process
I have been in
in a creative and personal way.
I am hoping that I am able to really create art in it.
The actual making of the journal itself has been fun.
My peeps have been interested in the process and keep checking over my shoulder.
I wanted to share a link or two that Ive found in case you are needing to express something,
Need to put
your inner process
into words
or capture
in images
to journal
in a creative way.

Last week.....
I pulled out several paintings to complete.
They really needed to come out of the cardboard box and be given a second chance.


Under His Wings,
Anna

I will need A reminder

For those of us that love and provide care for someone with special needs this is a great post to read.



It reminds me of last week,

Little G was soooooooo

off her game.

It was partially due to my inability to keep us on schedule.

Brother ended up complaining with a tummy ache On Friday and Saturday.......

stayed home while we went out.

Sunday little G was cranky.

I just chalked it up to being out late the night before.....

and possibly manipulative.

Then when we were out on Thursday the food at the restaurant was held up.

I tried sharing with her etc.

.I was irritated with her

I was starving too and trying to help aleviate things some

she wouldnt have any part of it

Just fussy.

But later her tummy was "off".

I will tuck these things in my memory.

And if you are with me

next time

remind me.....





I remain,

Under His wings,

Anna

In the Studio -Sneak peek

I will start off with my knitting projects

since that has mostly what I have been grabbing when I have free Time.

Its rarer than it was a few years ago.

We knew it would be this way

I am certainly not complaining!

Ive also been working on knitting this baby sweater.

Remember it from last week?

Its looking pretty sweet.

I pulled out this painting I started the first week of July

got the rest of it done.

I knew it wouldnt take long but getting her little hand just right made me nervous.

Plus I knew the stars wouldnt be detailed.

I am hoping that someone looking at it gets the gist

and that it doesnt seem like a half way done job.

Hear the inner critic??? sigh.

I am pleased with it.

Both oldest daughter and son liked the yellow gold fireworks.

This is a painting I started several years ago,

tried getting it done before we went to Ecuador

I am pulling it out again to really get it done.

I have done several of these watercolor paintings like Kaleidoscopes.

I have a leaf one, donated a leaf one in different hues to an Ecuador Mission Team auction,

did a hydrangea one for myself and my daughter,

and another for a friend. It had sweet peas and Peonys.

This one will go in my home and I will put a bible verse around it like the others.

I would like to eventually hang them together in my home like a series.

The shells look real close up

it takes me hundreds of hours to complete each painting as a result.

Last but not least.

I wanted to share this one too....

I will have it done by next Fridays sneak peak.

(Im saying this to give myself a goal to shoot for!)

Its Water with reeds and leaves floating on the water.

I love the colors in the photograph and like how its turning out.

We got oldest daughter completely moved last night.

her Ex husband was there

it was so so good to see him and exchange hugs.

She has been applying for teaching jobs

and had her first interview on Wednesday.

and another scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday.

Praying for a job.

One more week of summer before we start homeschooling.

Son is signed up for dual enrollment class.

Going to sign little one up for a dance class.....

Looking forward to Fall......

Under His wings,

Anna

no words needed

My son shared this today.
Remember:
Go below and click the music player to turn it off and listen to this.

Another lesson in grace

Oh how I am learning with this little one.....

Last night I was getting a little knitting time in sitting with Papa.

Little G comes strolling in wearing her brown pants. (I had taken them off at naptime and thought she would be fine with the long babydoll top until bed.)



She put them on

All

By

Herself.



We were so happy that I didnt even take pictures!

It seems like she realized that

because this morning she strolls in

wearing her sleep shirt

and

her brown pants.

Once again.

She put them on

All

by

herself.

Not backwards.

or even with me telling her to!

She just did

because

she could!!!!

I dont recall being this excited about our first three dressing themselves.

I dont remember

savoring

the small

things.

They seemed

so small

then.

But now......

its all grace.



Under His wings,

Anna