Soul Carving

       I fall more in love with my husband each time I witness his loving interactions with our children. Seeing his obvious interest in and affection for them deepens my trust in his love and devotion towards me. It's truly a miraculous and beautiful thing to behold. While it may appear tragically rare in today's world, fatherly love is an inspiring source of strength, comfort and wisdom. My husband's selfless motives, his energetic patience with, and tender consideration for his children, really blow me away. I can't get over it. And I thank my Heavenly Father for it, as it serves as a heartening example of what Divine fatherly love looks like.        Every year for Father's day, the kids and I find a creative way to express our appreciation for this fabulous guy, through our traditional father's day photo-shoot. Remember my first attempt? Then there was the Superhero collage and the Sports-Star themed session . As I pondered what theme to us...

       I was visiting the local art museum's website to check on its hours, when I noticed an offer of free educational materials. Sweet. I submitted a request and they emailed me once the materials arrived. We stopped in to pick up our education package and were informed of an interactive exhibit for children located downstairs. "You guys wanna check it out?" I asked my students. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!" came the chorus of eager replies. And I'll tell you, I was impressed. What started out as running a quick errand turned into an entire morning spent at the museum. My budding artists had a delightful time.        Creative work in progress. Ah! The joy of art! The artist whose work was being showcased  preferred to draw from a live model. So we tried it out:  "Stick 'em up!" "Howdy, partner."              There was something to interest every ...

I got wind of a chalk art competition over at the Shops at Riverwoods and thought the children might enjoy seeing the artists at their work. We'd found a wonderful  book by Bill Thomson  which inspired us to create our own chalk drawings. The squirrel (on the left) may have been inspired by this incredible  music video  from Coldplay Stoplights and crosswalk We attended the festival, and at first I was a bit disappointed. Not that the drawings weren't impressive, but, as my husband said, there was a lot of artistic ability without much creativity. We saw mostly Disney characters and Superheroes. I'll admit, Iron Man was pretty awesome. Things started to get a little more interesting. . . But when I saw this one, it took my breath away: The brunette on the left is April and she's the one responsible for this gorgeous work of art.     ...