Playing With Text

We had another fun tutorial from Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class on how to use a clipping mask to add a photo to text.  I tried a couple of times, and this is my favorite.  It's harder than it looks to get the picture to coordinate with the text!

And Happy Memorial Day to my American friends!  This was a wonderfully hot week-end for us, so we went to the pool yesterday (ahhhh, bliss!) and then today we made home-made grilled vegetable pizzas.  It was a great holiday week-end  for us.

My focus for this week

I was reminded again this morning about the importance of what we think about on a daily basis.  Quoting from the book Dream Culture:  Our lives become a reflection of what we think about most often.

Here's wishing you positive, beautiful thoughts this week!

Sundry thoughts

It's official -- I have a new job!  In the past few blog posts, I have shared a bit about waiting and the struggles I've had.  God took me to the very edge of myself (which is really the best place to be) until all I could do was surrender all my hopes and dreams to Him.  And then He said "yes".  So I am now officially a part-time Children's Librarian at our local library.  My previous job required a 12 mile commute (not really bad until you count up the $3.00 round trip toll charge on top of the gas prices).  My new job is exactly 1 mile from my house -- and there is a bike path that takes me all the way there if I choose to walk or ride my bike!  And my part-time hours a week are perfect -- it gives time for my family and pursuing artistic endeavors!  Yay!  But for a couple more weeks, I'm working both jobs, so life is pretty crazy right now.

A couple of weeks ago, our family gifted my husband with VIP tickets to see his favorite artist of all time -- Phil Keaggy.  And of course I was able to go with him.  We had a wonderful meet and greet time with him, followed by front row tickets to a wonderful evening of music!  Here are a couple of pictures from the event:

That's all for now.  I'm hoping to get some garden pics to post soon -- LOVE this time of year!

Favorite Books

Last week's assignment for Beyond Layers was to take a photo featuring a favorite book.  It took me awhile to a) figure out what book(s) to feature and b) get my act together enough to do a little photo shoot.  But today was lovely outside, so I decided to go for it, and here's my picture:

I enjoy reading on our back patio, so I shot the picture there.  And I couldn't decide on just one book, so there are four there.  These are all books I've read at least twice, and each time they feed my soul.  Macrina Wiedekehr and Henri Nouwen are both such great inspirational writers.  And the other one is a small book about St. Francis that I read on a retreat a few years ago.  It gives a wonderful glimpse into what Francis's bold faith and simple trust in God was all about.

Now I want to go and check out what all my fellow "Beyonders" have chosen as their favorite books!

Garden Love

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was having a hard time waiting for something to resolve.  I'm happy to say that it has resolved in a very good way, although I can't share about it right now.  I did, however, find a way to put all that angst to work.  We have an 8 foot by 8 foot raised garden bed in the back yard.  Last year we didn't do anything in it, and the weeds took over.  So Thursday was "tackle the weeds" day!  And tackle I did!  Here's the before and the after (about 3 hours later):

Getting down and dirty is a great way to release anxiety and to pour out complaints to God.  Which I did!
Then my son brought his pickup truck over and we went out and bought some peat moss and pavers.  Yesterday I dug the peat moss into the soil, added a couple of rows of pavers and planted a few tomato plants:

The weird aqua colored things are "walls of water".  They act as mini greenhouses to help protect the young plants from the cool evening temps.  The plant that I kept in the garden is rhubarb!  It has taken 3 years for it to get this large, and I actually harvested some to make jam earlier this week!

I'm sure the weed are busily pushing up through that pristine soil and plotting how to take over.  But for today, I'm going to rest!  Happy Saturday!

Hard Week

Waiting is hard.  And I'm trying to wait for a situation to resolve itself, and it's not happening.  There is not a yes or a no -- just wait.  It's not life-or-death, just something that I've been wanting for awhile that's still in limbo.  And although God is showing up all over the place in the waiting, I'm not exactly responding with a trusting, peaceful outlook.  (Inside I feel like a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum -- there, I said it.)

This morning I read Psalm 31 in The Message, and when I got to the last verse, I knew I needed to take it to heart.  So this is it:

God is good!