Thursday, October 6, 2011

Gifts From My Mother

My gift and love for creating really came to me from my own mother. Probably all have experienced at some point in your life being embarrassed of your parents, mainly during your teenage years. But I think that feeling of embarrassment was sourced in our own insecurity of not knowing where we fit into the great big world yet. Now that I have found my place in this world I am now proud to admit that the gift of creating has come from my mom. I love my mommy. My mom used to collect seeds in national parks, and when my dad told her not to do it, she'd hand us the bag. We used to go for walk and pick what we called curly weeds and caterpillar weeds in Senegal. We were always hauling home rocks from any camping trip we were on. We even packed to accommodate and expect it. We dug up beautiful plants and replanted them in our yard. We picked giant bouquets of wildflowers and enjoyed them on the dining room table sometimes even with a baby chameleon as a live exhibit that we found along the way.

So I am proud of my mom, and now I have come to a full appreciation and love of the art of collecting beautiful treasures and celebrating the glory of God's creation in our own home. I have come full circle. I've truly become my mom in some sense of the word and I'm not embarrassed to admit it now. Now my kids get to be embarrassed of me.

This is a wreath made out of acorn tops. I collected them with the intent to create beauty to celebrate God's magnificence in our own home!

Fragments of Beauty

These bottles sit on my windowsill over my kitchen sink. Since I spend so much time in my kitchen and at my sink it's a great place to put Bible verses, and capture little reminders of God's magnificent creations out doors. My girls always bring me flowers with no stems so this is a great way to show them I love them, by treasuring their presents. Just wanted to share my little fragments of beauty with you.