Monthly Archives: September 2012

September 30, 2012 · 9:02 pm

Three-Day Weekend

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share with you some exciting and random news about my three-day weekend! Thursday evening I painted three boards all sized 12 by 12 for the Yellow Springs’ Village Artisans–Dare 2B Square–event taking place the whole month of October. Here is how it works: All artists paint (or whatever media they choose) on 12 by 12 sized boards. All the boards are hung at the Village Artisans location for the month of October. 🙂 They are for display and for sale. If you are in the area and would like to see Yellow Springs and the Village Artisans displays (really amazing artwork from local artists) here is their website. It is a really neat place. Yellow Springs is very artsy. If that is a word. 🙂

http://www.shopvillageartisans.com/

I submitted my work to Yellow Springs on Friday and came home to continue finishing two more paintings for the coffee shop, Beans and Cream, located in Cedarville. My paintings will be on display and for sale the month of October there as well. If you came to the Art on the Lawn on August 10th, you will notice much of the same paintings. I had hoped to get a few more new paintings in place, but time/energy did not permit. I am very thankful for Beans and Cream (and Village Artisans) for giving me the opportunity to submit my paintings for the entire month. I find that an exciting opportunity!! If you are interested in viewing my paintings at Beans and Cream, here is their website:

http://www.beans-n-cream.com/

Speaking of coffee shops, my dad and I celebrated National Coffee Day (yesterday) for some coffee/pastries/chat sort of morning. It was a great time! What? You don’t believe me when I say National Coffee Day?? 🙂 Coffee lovers: it is true! A holiday devoted to the love of coffee. 🙂 Still don’t believe me? Just google “National Coffee Day.” Be amazed. I thought it was so cool, plus I wanted to hang out with my dad so that is what we did!

We also got a chance to have a picnic dinner with my mom and sister that evening. We went to a state park nearby and enjoyed the beauty of the fresh fall colors! There is still a lot of green on the trees, so the peak is yet to come!! 🙂 And today, was a bit of relaxing and getting things done. What a beautiful day it was though! Can you believe the month of October is already here?? Wow! I look forward to October…

More to come!

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September 24, 2012 · 9:55 pm

1st and 10.

I must say this football season is unlike any other I have seen yet. Let’s just say WOW, and if you don’t follow the train of thought…no need. You might be saving yourself from Sunday afternoons full of yelling at the television screen. Football brings out the Dark Side of the Force in me; so yesterday I just shut the TV off and went upstairs to hang out with my family as they were all sitting in the living room reading and being studious! 😀 Of course, I had to give them a five-minute “touchdown” of my frustrations–which ended up giving me a few laughs. Today, I am sure the sports channels like ESPN were an endless discussion of stats, reruns of plays, analogies and the controversies…but tonight I want to take you back to a time where none of that mattered. The pros have to start somewhere: that is right. High School! (Technically junior high, but in this case, I start at high school!)

The town I grew up in was small, but second largest in the area. Truly amazing to say that I knew everyone in my high school. None of my roommates in college related to that aspect. Small towns meant that most of the shops in town were closed by 5pm for the day, so there was no problem getting the town together for a 7pm football game! The band was there, junior class selling concessions for their spring prom, rival team fans sat on the bleachers across the field. Finding friends to sit next to was not a hard issue; Most often you could share a blanket in the stands and “huddle” together to keep warm. (HAHA. The puns are getting to me!!) The home crowds stands and cheers as the team runs out of the locker room, which was from the gym that faced the field. Usually a student or the band played the National Anthem and then the announcers start their introductions. At the time, football games could just not get any better!

However, even high schools have their own set of controversies. Coming into my freshman year, being a newbies on the cross-country team meant that my sister and I did not realize the drifts between the football team and the cross-country team. Playful teasing went as followed: some football player pokes fun at our team running outfits, some cross-country runner pokes fun at their helmets (and the fact that on game days they “run”–aka jog–five minutes on main street with their helmets on…never understood that one); football players return the joke with our “team structure”, in return our team pokes fun at the way they say running 10 yards is hard. On and on…just little things that I had never thought about before that would seem to another team so weird.

Well, pride kicked in and I was ready to defend cross-country for all it’s worth. So that Labor Day, my sister and I made our own football outfits and went to the school to take some pictures. My mom did the photos. What ended up being “the ultimate comeback” turned out to be so hilarious, we just about died laughing on the field. A good high school memory for sure!!! Our team thought it was great too. I am not sure the football players even ever saw the pictures! 🙂

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September 22, 2012 · 12:00 pm

First Day of Autumn

My mom has a Colorado scenic calender that hangs near the kitchen. This month’s picture is titled, “Little Snake River sunrise.” The sun shines on the dry mountain peaks giving them a tan color for the horizon. The trees shimmer with orange and yellow. The sky is blue. You can see the fleeting trace of dark clouds at the top of the picture which are being replaced by puffy white ones that lay low in the sky by the peaks. And there is a double rainbow. I notice that I tend to stare more at pictures or paintings these days. I soak in the color schemes or theme. I try to visualize what the artist had in mind. This picture was the same. Just one of those that makes you wonder if the photographer purposely waited until sunrise to take the picture or whether it was spontaneous. I go with the latter.

Like the picture above. It was taken last Autumn, a day after one of my chemo treatments. My sister and two college friends were going to Yellow Springs to enjoy the air, colors and tourism. They really wanted me to go. So I went. I had a great time. This picture was spontaneous. Look at how perfect it is. Everything from color coordinating, our hand positions (that was not planned either) to my eyes peeking out from the leaf. 🙂 I thought the other two were doing the same. I don’t think the picture would have turned out as great if we planned it. And I love to plan! Ask my family…it drives them nuts. There is nothing wrong with planning ahead. Ask event coordinators. I am sure the word procrastination is never mentioned during their interviews. It is actually a job I could see myself thriving in, minus the telephone calls. Aside from profession, when you plan ahead based on circumstances, it is harder to embrace change. Trust me, it seems to be my life’s bad habit.

I wrote a post at the beginning of Spring about how my vision is blurry when I take my eyes off Jesus. Two seasons later I see parallelism to my future much like a leaf. A leaf grows in the Spring. It nourishes in the summer, and it dies in the Fall. Its beauty peaks a few days before it sees the ground. Have you ever watched a leaf fall from the tree to the ground? How is a leaf to know the timing of when it will be set free or the circumstances around it that will shape the direction of its fall?

Not that I am falling (well, ok, I do physically when I twist my ankle), but the circumstances around me seem to be falling. At least in my leaf-like eyes. Circumstances such as my last day of work is in exactly two weeks with no prospects open for something new. Circumstances such as my next MRI is October 22nd. To be honest, thoughts cross my mind frequently of what those results will show and whether or not I will have to restart another treatment. Circumstances such as finding an apartment, fixing my car, putting my paintings in coffee shops, or where God needs me to serve in a ministry. Circumstances–temporary things that shift like the wind. Circumstances that weigh heavy on the heart, much like the tug of gravity on a leaf. Circumstances that are out of my control or leave me confused.

I cannot see what lies ahead, but I have to trust in God’s timing. It is perfect. It is not spontaneous like human plans. It is tenderly planned to meet all my needs. He sees the greater picture. I see the spontaneous moments piece by peace. I must admit that as much as I try to keep my eyes on Jesus, I am more like Peter who looked down at the roaring waves beneath his feet. Life is walking by faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1.

And faith is much like Autumn. Change is here. Change is not always a strand of negative effects. Without the change of colors and falling leaves, how will Winter ever arrive? I must embrace change. I must embrace the Autumn in my life, for even when everything around me seems to be falling–it is beautiful. And so I wait. I wait for God’s timing, because if a leaf falls too soon it can be trampled. If it falls too late, it can wither. I wait for His release of beauty as I enter the Autumn winds.

Well, sometimes my life just don’t make sense at all

When the mountains look so big and my faith just seems so small

CHORUS: So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf

You have been King of my glory

Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark

It’s so hot inside my soul, I swear there must be blisters on my heart

CHORUS

Surrender don’t come natural to me

I’d rather fight You for something I don’t really want

Than to take what You give that I need

And I’ve beat my head against so many walls

Now I’m falling down, I’m falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band

Is playing this hymn

And Your grace rings out so deep

It makes my resistance seem so thin

CHORUS

Rich Mullins. “Hold Me Jesus.” A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band. (1993).

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September 13, 2012 · 4:38 pm

Exercises.

After a strenuous one mile walk on the bike path the other evening, I decided on something like a fact. I should just stop walking on the bike path. And instead, go the park and SWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is nothing that says a swing set is only for children. Thus, I concluded: it will be my new full cardio workout. For several reasons–

  1. I can swing 24/7/365. Hence, it is not seasonal like most sports.
  2. I have no worries about twisting my ankle or running into bikers/rollerbladers as I aimlessly [but not on purpose] strive to walk in a straight line.
  3. I can use swinging to strengthen my ankles. When I swing back and then bring my legs forward, I can practice bringing my right foot up straight instead of crooked. My PT would be so proud of my efforts.
  4. I can manage which direction I sit to avoid sun or enhance my workout by the wind.
  5. I can go for five minutes and feel like I put off a ton of calories (but okay, I plan to go for a full workout!)
  6. I can invite others to join me without feeling embarrased about my lack-of-eye-and hand-coordination other sports require.
  7. It is stress relief.
  8. And it is fun. 🙂

Do you like to swing?

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September 10, 2012 · 8:36 pm

The Start of Something.

It is here. The start of something. I go outside and I breath in. Fresh air! Crisp! The start of Autumn has begun. The trees are feeling it too. They are beginning to change color. Although it is not immediate, it is the start of something.

So in life, I see the same with prayer. The start of something. Prayer is an immediate message to God. But His answers are not always as fast. Patience, endurance, hope. The answers come in as a start of something. A start of something greater than ever imagined.

People pray for my healing. And now I am praying for a loved one’s healing. And even though it has only been a week for her compared to my ten years, I find myself already getting frustrated. Why can’t God just hear our prayers and heal her? Then I think of all those who have prayed for me diligently for the past ten years. Some everyday. I wonder if they have ever asked the same question. But they continue to pray anyway…even when they cannot see any results of healing.

The leaves will continue to change their color until the last has fallen. How can a single leaf survive the harvest winds? Patience, God’s timing is perfect. Endurance, God will never give us more than we can bear. Hope, God holds our future. And I begin to feel it. The start of something. Peace–like fresh, crisp Autumn air to my soul. And I long for more.

 

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September 5, 2012 · 11:19 pm

Picture This.

If you have ever played the game of Pictionary, you know how funny things can get. Everything from the artist’s fast drawings to what people guess based off the drawings…laughs are bound to happen. Then add a person like me. I read lips. So in a game where people are yelling their answers out and feeding thoughts off each other–I am left with my own brain. My very own train of thoughts. Not to boast–but I think I did pretty good the other night. It was a mind stretching game. 🙂 Of course, if you want honesty: My mind is pretty brilliant and complicated. There is no such thing as a simple answer in my vocabulary. Ask my family. Although I did get my brother-in-laws version of “import.” He drew a little sketch of the USA on the left side of the marker board and the Europe/Asia countries on the right side. He drew a dotted line with a boat going towards the right. He crossed it out. Then he drew a straight line with a boat to the left. At first I said out loud, “Ok, it has something to do with a map.” Then I went on: “Boat, Atlantic Ocean, slave trade…” Then it clicked: “Exporting. IMPORTING!!” 🙂 Pretty great train of thought.

On the other hand, we played a lot of “All Play” games. I think we won a record. More than half or three-fourths of the game was because we landed on the AP square or it had the triangle on the category sheet. Made it really fun! Me, my dad and my brother-in-law were on a team vs. my mom and two sisters. Dad was in turn to draw. I was focused. He drew a stick figure of a man. I blurt out: “Man.” He draws a stick figure of a girl the same height as the man. I say: “Couple”, “Spouse.” He draws a stick figure of a little boy next to the woman. I say, “Boy!” Dad looks at me as if I am on to something. Next thing I blurt out: “MALE HEIR!!!!” Thinking I am so cool. Dad looks at me like–“Say it in another phrase!”–sort of look. I say, “Um, child?” Right after that my younger sister says, “Son.” Son!! Me and my “male heir”. Good grief.

So, when it was my turn to draw, my sister would sit by me and look at what I was going to draw. Even with “All Play”, the teams were even so it worked out real nice. Because blurting out answers is one half of the game, then drawing is the other half. With my sister as my ears, I could focus on drawing until she heard the word. Very fair and logical. I don’t even think we discussed the “How should we do this?” She just stepped right in and did it and that is what we ended up doing the whole game when it was my turn to draw.

In the beginning of the game, I really did not want to play. Usually in games there is so much confusion from not being able to hear. This game, I just lived in my own little world and actually really enjoyed the game!! I felt like I was actually part of the game. A very good feeling!! After being a bit grumpy earlier that evening, laughing during the game lightened my heart. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength,” Proverbs 17:22 NLT.

What games do you like to play?

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September 4, 2012 · 10:22 pm

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Hi everyone!

Last week seemed to go extremely fast! Wednesday’s session of Occupational Therapy went very well. Although it does not feel like it, my hands have improved from the strengthening exercises and brace (which I lost this weekend…story below). My next session is October 19th. The OT gave me a stronger “soft” putty. The irony. LOL. She also wanted me to do some thumb strengthening exercises, because they are actually very weak–which surprised me, because I feel my thumbs take a lot of control when using my hands to lift things or obviously when I text. 🙂 But they are weak, so I hope the strengthening exercises help.

How was your Labor Day weekend? Mine resembled much like the Adventures in Odyssey episode where the Barkley’s go on vacation in their home town–i.e. camping in their living room, playing guess-the-animal-when-blindfolded at the zoo and having ice cream at Whit’s End. While mine was not to that extent–it was a wonderful weekend with my family. Here is a quick recap:

Saturday–

I worked a short morning shift and then hurried home to join my family as we embarked in a journey back in time at George Rogers Clark Park a few towns over in Springfield, OH. The 30th Annual The Fair at New Boston was taking place all day Saturday and Sunday. I am glad we got there in the early morning, because there was so much to see and we were blessed to see most of the fair before the rain came in little splurges (more like random downfall that felt like hail.) What a fun event!!! It is a whole field was replica of the era 1790’s-1812. There were Indian encampments (we saw the Drum and Dance event), tents full of clothes, jewelry, gentlemen and ladies hats, wool socks, goodies, kids toys, food, shoes, a blacksmith and a printer, Daniel Boone enactment, tea and pottery–all this from that specific time era. The people who volunteered to be in the event did a great job in keeping the time era within the conversation. My mom heard a little boy ask a native how much his pipe cost. The reply: “About three beavers.” HAHA 🙂

I don’t know which was my favorite part, because it was all so neat to experience! I really liked the way they portrayed the social classes at the time: the workers, the soldiers, the upperclass women in their fancy clothes carrying baskets of fruit. The soldiers did a reenactment of a battle that actually took place in that area as George Rogers Clark held off the natives from joining the British forces in the war. I also really enjoyed seeing the ladies go through the washing clothes process. There were horses, oxen, chickens and a rooster. There was a man carrying around a rat in its cage and gave us the recipe for “Rat Stew.” We also ate amazing “ham and biskut” for a late lunch and you could buy an ale- looking mug for your drinks, then you got to keep the mug!! I just set my mug in my “colonial yellow and patriot themed room” with some flowers next to my bookshelf.

I bought a bag of butter mints, which were delicious and we all shared some peach over pound cake for a small dessert before we headed out. When you took the exit, a sign read, “You are now entering the 21st century.” Like Twilight Zone! If you are ever in the area for Labor Day, this event is quite a destination! At the bottom of this post are some pictures and the event website.

But first a few more stories about the weekend. Well, by now you are probably wondering what happened to my finger brace. Well, I’ll tell ya–I was not prepared for the major grass ruts we encountered at the fair. Within a few minutes of entering, my ankle twisted and I found the grass. 🙂 My dad was carrying a big umbrella, so it was just the right size to be my cane. I did find until we stopped at this tent that had gadets and kid games. They had this sign up that talked about how people at that time judged their character and personality by their nose shape. So getting a closer step to the clay nose-shaped examples, I triped over the tent peg and grabbed hold of the tent ropes. Envisioning the tent collapsing, I let go and did this slow motion backwards fall to the ground. People around thought I fainted (must have been graceful). But seriously, it was a hot and humid day, so I can see their train of thought. A few gentlemen from the other tent came over to help me get up and they asked if I was ok. I said, “Oh yeah. I was just trying to see my nose shape.” 🙂 I think that is where I lost my finger brace. I remember feeling it sliding off as I grabbed the rope, but never looked for it as my mind was on this–“just act cool”–moment after the fall. That is my only logical explanation.

Just one more side note–just for you history lovers like myself–George Rogers Clark was the older brother to William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Interesting. Well, Sunday after the community Church service, I took a nap! Then we enjoyed a movie at the Cedarville Opera House and a bit of ice cream from the new “parlor” in town. Yesterday, we attended the community pancake breakfast provided by our local volunteer firefighters. Next event was the rainy CedarFest parade. A bit of relaxing (another nap), dinner with my sister and brother-in-law, and we finally ended the weekend by watching the town fireworks from our patio, then playing a game of Pictionary.

What a spectacular weekend! Now, if you are wondering how I play Pictionary–good question! Look forward to that story tomorrow. 🙂 As promised, here are some pictures (thank you to my mom–I was a bit too wobbly to take my own) from the Fair at New Boston. And the website:

http://www.fairatnewboston.org/index.html

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