Grab a cup of iced coffee or tea and let's chat! For me, the month of May brought sketching at Disneyland, being intentional about learning, prepping to lead a Bible study at my church and the end of homeschool and co-op for 2015-2016!
We were finally able to take our family vacation to Disneyland! Back a while ago, whenever we go somewhere as a family, we all figure out what will make that trip a "10" for us on a scale of 1 to 10. Sometimes just going on the trip makes it a 10, but for this trip my "10" was to be able to sit and sketch with my travel watercolor kit. The guys made sure to make that happen and I had a blast!
I'm still learning how to watercolor, but it is fun practicing. I use a different waterbrush pen than the one that came in the kit and it holds a bit more water so I can do some really wet watercolors for backgrounds. My favorite sketch was sitting in the HOT sun (that part wasn't my favorite) and drawing the Main Street buildings while waiting for the parade. I got to soak in all that Main Street music and listen to snatches of conversations while soaking in the details I always miss in the architecture.
And my favorite land in all of California Adventure is definitely Cars Land!
We also met friends there and my sister and her family came to join us for two days in the park too. My niece is eight, a perfect age for Disneyland, and we got to take her to see all the princess stuff (because I'm a mother of boys, I had never done that either). We waited FOR.EV.ERRRR to see Anna and Elsa from Frozen and I managed to sneak in an autograph after my niece got to hug and talk to them!
It was an awesome trip and a wonderful memory that I'll cherish forever!
BOOKS: I'm trying to be intentional in my own education and increase my reading to include selections of classic literature and books I missed in high school. To that end, I picked up a copy of Fahrenheit 451 from Goodwill for .99 and read through it pretty quick. It was interesting and a bit hard to get into because at the beginning it was written in a filmy dream-like state, which is actually brilliant as it perfectly brings you into the mood for the book of everyone being entertained and not interested in learning or doing or being anything. I really liked how it ended too. It was a quick read that I'm glad I finally got around to!
I also loved The Rest of God about the Sabbath and rest. Gave me a lot to think about. One of my favorite quotes that really grabbed me: "We feast like Sabbath-keepers most days, indiscriminately, and so feasting on the Sabbath has lost most of its richness. It's just one more big meal. We eat ourselves stuffed daily. There's nothing to anticipate . . . one of the disciplines of Sabbath-keeping for our age is to practice a deeper frugality the other six days." Ouch.
I also read a novel and a biography. The novel, The Life We Bury, was interesting but did include a bit of language and one sexual scene, but I did enjoy it, especially with the inclusion of an autistic character. And the biography, Escape from Camp 14, was a sad but fascinating look into North Korea and the destruction of the human soul that is going on there.
Another book I highly recommend is Unlikely: Setting Aside Our Differences to Live Out the Gospel. This one was very encouraging and inspiring, and also pretty fun as a lot of it took place in the Portland area with people and churches I know.
Some great links you should check out include this awesome instagram page, From Where I Drone, full of breathtaking photos from drones around the world.
And if you love sketchbooks, you've got to follow MISTER VI!
"If you really want to experience the flow of love as never before, the next time you are in a competitive situation, pray that the others around you will be more outstanding, more praised, and more used of God than yourself. Really pull for them and rejoice in their success. If Christians were universally to do this for each other, the earth would soon be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God."
Now it's your turn. What awesome stuff have you got to share? Book recommendations, sites, quotes? I'd love to hear!
I love your watercolours. I am still working on my doodles. My son told me Moses looked like he ate too much manna. I enjoyed a fun read Aprons & Silver Spoons about a kitchen maid in the 1930's. She wrote the book when she was 96. I enjoyed it. I am also reading Miss Buncle's Book as well as John Stott's commentary on Ephesians.
Oh! Definitely adding those to my "to-read" list! Thanks for the recommendations!
I'm currently reading through recommendations from Anne Bogel's Summer Reading Guide, and a smattering of books from my shelves that I've been "meaning" to read, but never gotten around to (currently Philip Yancey's Finding God in Unexpected Places). I'm on a roll with reading (3+ books in a week), and I'm trying hard to keep it up!