Starting our summer off soft. (and BUY ONE GET ONE art print sale!)

Hi there!  Can I first say thank-you for your kind comments on my last post?  I've said it before and it still holds true.  The world of social media and blogging is sometimes a tricky thing.  On the one hand, it's beautiful because it connects me with people I might otherwise never cross paths with.  And for that, I'm grateful and willing to use this tool for good.  On the other hand is the panic or pressure that can set in for an artist like myself.  We make this art and want to share it well, for it is a very peek into our soul.  Yet we also love our families well and are stringing a thread to hold community together, while also loving our land and learning what it means to show up and share the love of Jesus in real, tangible, hands-on kinds of ways. 

The sharing well is what gets kinda tricky for me sometimes.  Sometimes I start to feel the rise of panic in my throat and to put it quite simply, I know that God is the author of my life and artist story.  He certainly doesn't write panic into the plot, trying to teach me a lesson.  If I'm feeling that way, that's my sign to retreat a bit.  And so I have, and am.  I still have fingers itching to make art and a lot of my sketching I've been showing on Instagram.  Since stepping back and floating a bit, allowing book-reading, rest, and porch-sitting back in, I'm scooping up ideas by the bucketful.  I bet I have ten paintings in my head right now!

I have to be honest with you, I don't know where my paintings will land or how they'll be sent out into the world.  I mean, of course I have ideas of where I'd like my feet to land.  But ideas are only half the equation.  The other half involves other people and them sitting up to take notice.  So for that part..will you pray?

 I came across Matthew 19:26 written in a book my friend wrote, in a note just for me. 

The Message version says this-"Jesus looked hard at them and said, No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself.  Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."  

For now we step softly into summer.  We planned on super hot days, forging into the pool without a look back.  Instead, we've been met with ever so much rain, usually falling quite softly.  I've found us sitting around the table and actually lingering or cuddled under the covers watching a movie together.  

The pace has definitely been a slow one so far this summer.  The realization that my baby girl is in her last few weeks of THREE made me want to pull the reins and say "Whoa, steady...slow down." over and over. 

But then I hear all the ridiculously cute things she says that a baby never could and I don't get so sad as much as hopeful for the (very) bright future. 

And Betsy! My babe no more.  Look how big she is getting!  Betsy is our silly gal.  She's either being so funny or caring for the pets or being unreasonably fussy about something.  She IS going through the two's after all.  They really are a thing.  (but don't tell the newborn mamas that....they don't need to know their squishy, snuggly, tiny little thing will EVER go through the two's, lol)

We're packing our summer with field trips with our home church (perhaps I'll share soon our change in churches), weekly library trips, outside playtime, farm drives, book reading, chore doing, art making, exercise getting, and preschool learning right here at home until we start again in the fall.  Anna Ruth even likes to call me "Miss Debbie", affectionally after her teacher from last year. (lol) 

We sure have worn out our rain boots this year! 

Are you getting rain? 

In the midst of our "adventures" I *may* have gotten both the farm truck and the Ranger stuck in the pasture.....all within the same week.  

Farmer Brett had to pull me out, amidst my claims that "At least I'm adventurous!"

Adventurous, indeed. 

So between listening to Ben Rector on the back deck and digging my hands in the garden, I'll be popping in here and there, saying "hello" and making art. 

Things aren't perfect or dreamy around here, they're real and raw.   I believe this summer will be about savoring the slow, the sweet moments that tuck themselves in around the harder ones to soften life a bit, and God giving us a soft place to land....the summer is waiting.   Let's make a splash. 

(be back in a day or two with a new art to share!)

I'm having a BUY ONE GET ONE free sale on all 8x10 art prints in the shop! No coupon code needed, simply list your free print of choice at check-out.  Sale ends Sunday night!