Art by Butterfly

From October until December 2014 Butterfly attended an art class run by Youth Line and UCOL.  Tonight they had their exhibition opening and certificate presentation.  Butterfly's print was chosen to be the poster for the exhibition advertising! 

 Only 12 places were offered on the course so we are thankful that she was able to take a place and attend.

She really enjoyed herself and her confidence in her abilities was given a boost!

The artist and her masterpiece! 

And as well as creating lovely works of art they also got to build a box city.  Below are some of the things she worked on.

A house with matchbox furniture

A Café

Aerial view of a lake

Side view of the lake.
They learnt sculpture and made little figures for the city.  Butterfly made the ducks and the loving couple on the park bench (modeled after her parents...I'm sure of it!)

Mr V and I are proud parents.  I hope you enjoyed this.  I know there will be more to share from this artist in the future!

~Lorna

December Day #12

Well, another very busy day with children doing things all over the city!  We did have time to stop at the huge tree in the Square.  Arrow was struck with amazement at the enormity of it.  Cedar thought all the flowers in the Square looked pretty - he notices beauty all around him (and imaginary dinosaurs!).  He was also most put out that silly people had broken the Christmas decorations on the tree (conscientious too!)

Our angels were hiding today in the DVD cabinet holding a picture of a stable and a palace. 

Kings and important people are not usually born in stables.  I'm sure we can all agree on that!  Jesus was though, and I think God wanted us to know that Jesus will go anywhere and we don't have to be someone famous, rich or royal to be able to come to Him.  That is LOVE.

Today Crystal opened the book.

Hmmm, she is holding it backwards!  Good thing Don Freeman made a lovely picture for the back cover of the book!  The book is:

• The Christmas Strangers.  It is a story about a pioneering family's Christmas where they help some Indians. 

~Lorna

December Day #11

This has to be my favourite place so far.  It makes a cute picture.  The angels are holding a picture of a heart house.

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them anywhere.  Finally a kindly innkeeper gave them his stable.  
Jesus is looking for a place today, but now He is looking for our hearts.  That is why He came...to live in us!


Today Arrow opened a book.  Only one today.  The book Butterfly opened the other day had 4 stories; today we read the third.

The book was: 

• The Tangerine Bear.  A sweet story about a bear with his mouth sewn on upside down.  He was happy on the inside but everyone thought he was glum and grumpy.  Good example of how we should get to know someone before we judge them!  I shared on *Day #4* the DVD of this story; the DVD is a slightly different longer version but just as lovely.

As for crafts...when will the busyness end??  I haven't done any crafts for a few days due to the need to travel into town!  And tomorrow isn't any different.  Saturday might have to be our catch up day.  

We did some Christmas shopping today though.  We bought Mr V a mug he had spied and asked for, and I bought myself 3 Amy Grant CDs...those who know me from my teen years will not be surprised at that!  I'm not sure if I will be able to wait to listen to it, but I will try!

Angel made tonight's dinner and it is definitely worth a mention!

Cheesy Ham and Potato Bacon Bake

The recipe I printed off for her to use can be found *here*, however true to her self she made it her own instead!

You can view her version of it *on my food blog*.

~Lorna

December Day #10

Just a short one today.  This week has been much busier than I had expected.  Today our angels sat in a very obvious place next to the books to unwrap and along side the advent calendars!  They were holding a Christmas decoration with this verse on it "The fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Galatians 5:22-23
We decorate our trees.  God wants to decorate us.  Pretty simple today!

Today we only opened one book as the Patricia St John book has 4 stories in it.  It was Cedar's turn.

The book was:

• The Winter Mittens.  A rather simple plain story.  You are not missing much if you haven't read it.  

Today I had to take Butterfly to her final art class.  So I pulled out some more Christmas DVDs to occupy small people on a very wet miserable "stuck inside" sort of day.

Charlton Heston's The Nativity and Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester

Dinner was delicious.  BBQ Ranch Chicken Casserole.  Shared *on my food blog*.

I know it doesn't look like much but it was yummy!

~Lorna

December Day #9

I thought I'd start today's post with something a bit different.  We don't live and breath Christmas in December, we do other things too!  
Here are Crystal and Blossom feeding our pigeon Josh (that's his real name not an online alias).

Just landing for a peanut.  

And another peanut!

And off he goes.  

So today our angels were sitting with Butterfly's things and holding a card that said "I'm trying to be like Jesus".  

Our devotional obviously was about that.  We become more and more like Jesus by reading His word.  His word gives us wisdom and strength, which in turn allows grace to come out of us.  
Ecclesiastes 10:12 "the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious."
A wise man becomes wise from reading God's Word, and his words are pleasant.


Blossom and Butterfly opened books today.

The books are: 

• The Patricia St John Christmas Book.  This has 4 short stories by Patricia St John taken from 4 of her novels.  We read Tanglewoods' Secret excerpt called A Perfect Christmas.  If you have never heard of Patricia St John you really should read a book or two of hers!  
• God's Precious Gift In A Manger tells the story of Jesus from the creation perspective, focusing on the WHY he came.

We spent some time today visiting with friends and making some Christmas craft.  Tomorrow I will post a photo of the pretty stars we made for our window.

Dinner needs a mention here today.  A Facebook friend shared a picture of a creative way to do meatballs.  As planning would have it, meatballs were on the menu tonight so I tried the idea she shared.

Meatball Subs and pasta with fresh tomato sauce.
Meatball recipe sourced from this website.

~Lorna

December Day #8

Our angels spent the day beneath the shade of Arrow's bean plant.

They were holding the picture of a tree.  I don't want to go into the whole history of the tree and if it is ok to have one... it is the epitome of the season.  And who doesn't love to decorate a tree?  I mean who puts a tree in their house and decorates it for any other reason?  Now is a good time to do such an odd thing...ok?!  Righto...
So our devotional talks about the connection between Christmas and Easter.  We do not call it Easter (hard habit to break after a lifetime of saying it!).  I personally like to say Passover and focus on that... but you will have to wait until next year for that!
Without the birth of Jesus we cannot have His death.  They go together.  Which is more important?  Both.  Without His birth there would be no death, and without His death His birth has no meaning.  
When we look at our tree with think of... how beautiful it looks especially with the pretty lights... but we should also remember the tree can remind us that Jesus died on a tree (a cross), of His promise of everlasting life (evergreen trees don't "die" back in the winter), and of what God will do in our lives when we follow His ways..."...shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water...whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" Psalm 1:3

We don't have a tree yet.  It rained the day we planned on picking one up.  I want a real tree - they smell nicer and they don't have dangerous sharp pokey branches!  

No crafts today.  Fun with cousins instead.  We made snowman oreos.

I did it!  I finally got him on camera!  Eagle informed my sister and myself that he has looked up the proper way to melt chocolate buttons for dipping.  I don't argue.  The fact is he does know an awful lot more than me about random things.  I let him take over...gives me time to sneak a photo!  

Snowman faces...fun to make, gone in seconds!

Unwrapping books today were Arrow and Crystal.

The books are:

• T'was the Night Before Christmas.  Old classic.  It was mine when I was a child.
• The Candy Maker's Gift.  THIS is the book they were all wanting desperately to open!  This is the one they all were longing to hear me read.  The illustrations are beautiful and the story is lovely. (I need another word!)  My mum gave us this one.  This is the You Tube link to it being read by the author; Listen here.

 

~Lorna

December Day #7

Today's devotional was the second in advent.  Today we lit the blue candle - the Bethlehem candle representing Faith.  Bethlehem gives us a picture of what it is to have faith.  

Mary was visited by an angel and told she would give birth to the Messiah.  She knew from hearing the readings of the prophets (Micah 5:2) that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem...and she did NOT live in Bethlehem.  How was that going to work?  During that time Caesar Augustus called for a census to be taken, and as Joseph was a descendant of King David he and his family were required to travel to Bethlehem.  God gives the promise, and he gives the means by which that promise is to be fulfilled.  We just have to have Faith and take the steps toward it even if we don't fully understand it or see the full picture.

And that was what our angels were holding this morning as the stood upon our back door steps!

Today's books were opened by Butterfly and Cedar.

The books are:

• Precious Moments Timmy's Gift; A Christmas Story.  I just love Precious Moments stuff!  And this story is just simply adorable.  You can watch the story here.
• The Little Mouse's Wonderful Journey.  About a mouse named Timmy (What are the odds?  Two Timmy stories today!) who goes on a journey to Bethlehem and witnesses the birth of a King)

More cookies!

Today's movies...

And I know some of you are wondering... "Where are Angel and Eagle?"  Well I caught her!  Angel is helping Blossom to make lunch.  The boy is harder to capture...Angel and I are trying!

I will leave you with this thought from the Precious Moments book introduction...

"It has been said that life is made up of moments, and most certainly it is.  There are precious moments in time when great deeds, both large and small, are accomplished by an ordinary someone, just like you and me."

~Lorna