The Ghost of Christmas Has Passed....

Okay, that is a tongue-in-cheek title. I hope all my blog friends are well and enjoying something cozy in the afterglow of Christmas this week. I am hunkered down in the bunker of home trying to fight off the last vestiges of a particularly nasty cold and sore throat. I thought I would do a little catching up and sharing in what seems to have become a bi-annual posting.

The fall and Christmas season seems to run like a train on greased rails and ...just like that... it is over. I am enjoying the pace of this week, which for me has slowed considerably. Thanksgiving is such a beautiful holiday full of fond reminiscence and family. What a great start to any holiday season. The Christmas rush was on just after Thanksgiving was over, and I completed three Christmas commisssions in time to send them off to new homes for the holidays.   Here are two of those:

The Tudor cottage was great and the second one is a London townhome... such fun to draw.  I am looking forward to a new commission in the next few months of a newly built church surrounded by six of its former locations.   I am also hanging thirteen of my art pieces at a local hospital's art gallery during the month of January.  I am praying for fruit from this show.

One of the most enjoyable times for me during the holidays was seeing my daughter perform with the ballet company she was invited to be a part of at the beginning of the school year.  They are one of the two performing groups at her ballet school and are called Immanuel (photo above of their feet).  They performed on pointe before several thousand at a local church to "Sing We Now of Christmas" and "Once In Royal David's City." It was a very meaningful time and meant so much to me to see her years of hard work bringing forth such beautiful fruit.  I hope that your fall and holiday season was filled with joy and family love.

Wishing all my blog friends a happy, healthy, blessed 2012!

Thankful for a blessed 2009...

I am looking back over this past year and seeing how God has done some amazing things in my life, and I am truly thankful. I began the year preparing for my oldest son's graduation from high school and for entering the "art show" world (see this post). Winter was a really busy season getting all the things together to make sure that our graduate was prepared not only to graduate, but also to enter college (and made A's and one B his first semester of college, I might add). Then there was the Blogging Break (aka preparation for the art shows)... lots of drawing, painting, framing, and just general busy-ness. When I returned from the blogging break, I shared how much I had learned from the three art shows in which I had participated.

A really bright spot for me in 2009 happened when I found out that Nancy Lindemeyer had begun writing a blog. Then there was the onslaught of commissioned artwork that gave my spirits a real lift at the end of the year. It also confirmed for me that I have been following the path which the Lord has been leading me throughout this year. So, I am looking to the new year with anticipation and hope for what He will do. God has blessed each of us with spiritual gifts and also talents. I look forward to seeing what He does among us... it is sure to be above and beyond what we can imagine!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21

Looking toward the new year...

It was this time last year when I decided that rather than making resolutions, I wanted to have a theme for 2008. That theme came from the desire for 2008 to be a year filled with the "Fruit of Thankfulness." As I look toward 2009, I want to again allow the Lord to lead me. I want to seek to follow Him in every area of my life. I am thinking now of Proverbs 3:5-6 which says I should trust in Him with all my heart, that I should not trust in or lean on my own wisdom or understanding, that I should think of or acknowledge Him in all my ways... and that if I do these things, He promises to direct my path or make my path straight. A straight path is so much easier to navigate and so much less hazardous than one with twists, turns, and nuances that are unexpected. I don't know about you, but I like the thought of walking on the straight path with level ground around my feet at all times. He can even make the hills and valleys seem level if I am walking closely with Him.

This past year has been one of rediscovering my love for artwork and just the creative process in general. I am so thankful for what the Lord has done in my life over this past year. And while rediscovering my artwork was exciting, it means nothing apart from Him. So I am looking forward to this year with great anticipation that whatever it might hold, the joy is not in what happens but in the One with whom I am walking through it. I pray the same for you... may you discover that the joy is not in the circumstances or in the "doing"... but the real joy comes from knowing the One who has created you, gifted you, and brought you to the place in which you find yourself.

May God bless you in 2009 as never before,

From Charm & Grace Cottage