God's work of healing & wholeness

Just discovered this poem in the black history section of the Indiana State Museum, and though it doesn't speak specifically of God, it struck me as being a beautiful expression of what God in His power can do in and for broken people in community...and I love the images and rhythm of her writing.

Celebration

by Mari Evans

I will bring you a whole person

and you will bring me a whole person

and we will have us twice as much

of love and everything...

I be bringing a whole heart

and while it do have nicks and

dents and scars,

that only make me lay it down

more careful-like...

An' you be bringing a whole heart

a little chipped and rusty an'

sometimes skip a beat but

still in all you bringing polish too

and look like you intend

to make it shine

And we be bringing, each of us

the music of our selves to wrap

the other in

forgiving clarities

soft as a choir's last

lingering note, our

personal blend

I will bring you someone whole

and you will bring me someone whole

and we be twice as strong

and we be twice as sure

and we will have twice as much

of love

and everything...

New Life

Tonight I visited Grace & Peace Presbyterian, a sister PCA church to Redeemer, to see my friend Bess baptized. I love to see children baptized, but it was so moving to see an adult take this step of testimony & faith, knowing her journey and God's faithful pursuit of her. Her life is truly new in Christ, and it is a blessing to be able to share it with her.

Afterwards, dinner with new friends at Buca di Beppo's, a celebratory dinner for Bess & her uncle & aunt, who flew from California to be with her for her baptism. As I was talking with my friend Lauralee, and watching the friendships build between people who otherwise have very little in common each other, other than Christ Himself, I am humbled & awed again at His goodness. Family is God's physical plan for people, but is only an image of spiritual reality. Each of us, as a child of God, has spiritual family that holds us & lifts us up, carries us & rejoices with us, when our physical families can't or won't.

Just feeling blessed today, and thankful for my spiritual families near and far (and my physical one too! :)

Joy & Sadness can coexist

Not a stunning revelation, I know, but this past weekend was a timely reminder.  

I went back to Elkhart/South Bend for the celebration service of my friend Glori's dad, Bill Goheen.  He had been fighting lymphoma for 6 months, until July 26th, when he went home to the Father & God he spent his adult life serving.

I remember dinners & game nights in the Goheen's home, talking about what God might be doing, what He could do, what He wanted all of us to do - a financial Bible study, exploring career & school choices, current possibilities in a frustrating vocation.  We also laughed a lot, and cheered on Notre Dame (usually unsuccessfully :) He raised money for me to go to Urbana 3 years ago, a missions conference that helped me see some of what God could use me for as an artist, a trip that strengthened my resolve to step out in faith, and that ended up with me in Indy in art school.  He offered a different perspective on my questions about who God was & what He wanted, and gave me a safe but challenging place to ask them.

His passion for work as ministry & mission was profound, and he shared his enthusiasm with numerous of his children's friends, including me.  I have a list of names in my head who were similarly challenged & helped by his perspective & encouragement.

So when I say I am sad, I am saddened that his particular perspective & enthusiasm are no longer part of my world.  Even more, I am saddened this was the end of his physical presence in Glori's, Karen's, Caleb's, & Joshua's lives, and at the loss that came too soon.

But I found joy too.  If you could have heard the words of friends & family about Bill - as a husband & father he never gave his family a cause to doubt his faithfulness & commitment; as a child of God he passionately pursued, until the very end and with all of his strength, the vision & calling of his Saviour; as a businessman, his integrity & professionalism were beyond reproach; as a father, he passed all of this & more onto his children. 

Like a lot of us, I work in a lost place with lost people, who do not really believe in the hope & promise of change.  Listening to Bill's friends & family, and remembering my own experiences of his time & wisdom, I have joy knowing that God has the power to change lives for the better, for joy, for peace, for love & fun, and He fulfills that promise to those ask & seek Him.  My expectations, for myself and the one (unknown) who might someday share my life, were raised, not for my glory & satisfaction, but for God's.

A difficult weekend, but one full of hope & promise & grace, of sadness & joy.

3rd semester (spring '09)

more artwork, for those keeping track :)  (and coming up for fall '09: drawing II, 3D design, contemporary art history)

beginning wheelthrowing:

i made my very own covered casserole dish! :) (about 10' dia.)


this design took about 10 hrs to execute, and was worth every minute

metalsmithing II:

"spoon for india", inspired by my own response to my friends' jeff & ade's experience in india, and that of their son Clayton
"for my own protection" - emotional safety glasses, secured by the chain that goes over the ears, held by the counterweights at the end (historic design) - the copper spikes are all manufactured by hand from 6 ga wire...never, ever, ever again :)

mirror project, based on a shell i picked up in galveston w/ my family

2nd semester work (fall '08)

just a sampling of what a 1st year art student does/experiences.  what i experienced during this particular semester was a tremendous urge to chuck the drawing implement across the room and sculpt something with the paper.  more than likely that was due to my own limitations, and my definite preference for 3 dimensional mediums - clay, metals, etc.  but i learned a lot, especially about perseverence, and the fact that just because i don't enjoy it as much as other things doesn't mean it's not worth doing  :)  also, composition & execution are 2 completely different skills...

2D design:

a letterform composition & transparency project in adobe creative suite - oooh, to have had this program during my stint in the mayor's office!  the glare is because my professor put it up on display @ school (with work by 3 of my classmates) & i took the photo when it was behind glass (btw, my professor saw a chicken in this design - can you find it? :)

in this project, the very edges of the design on the far left & right are excerpts from a famous print called metamorphasis by m.c. escher - our assignment was to reproduce both segments & fill in the middle with our own design, making the transition seamless - in pen & ink, not my most reliable medium...but i learned a lot, especially that clean & precise execution can cover a multitude of design shortcomings :)
my favorite design from this class - an assignment to draw the negative space (everything NOT the object) of a still life, similar to a photo negative.  the objects i chose were a milkglass bottle i use as a vase, a stem of silk orchids, and some beach rocks i can never resist picking up.  the lesson here is that when you use objects you love, you get better results than if you forgot about the assignment & dumped out your purse to find something to draw :) 

drawing I - still lifes, some preliminary figure drawing, some charcoal drawings that drove me crazy but turned out better than i thought at the time:

this is one of the many views on the indy canal walk - if you're ever here, it's one of my favorite places to walk/bike (no canal in this view :)

spring break!

in march dawn & i flew down to houston to see our folks, and see marshall baptized - what a joy, and what fun besides!  here are some (ok, a lot :) of the highlights (in wonky chronology, b/c of the way i loaded them into blogger)...

The canalwalk in san antonio - breathtakingly lush!

the houston zoo - this is the same fountain i drank out of when i was a little girl! (my grandpa used to roar just as i bent to take a drink :)

we went crabbing in galveston, another activity from my childhood - this was a canal on the narrow island, and they were biting!
12 hungry crabs, soon to fill our hungry bellies!

after a hot afternoon & evening, to the beach to refresh - chilly for march, but it ain't got nuthin' on lake michigan in may!
the fruits are our labors (the big one was mine ;)
houston's answer to central park - i still love the live oaks that are everywhere in this city

one of my favorite prints from the houston museum of fine arts - a de goya woodcut of the spanish women manning the cannons against the french, after the men have fallen
an albrecht durer engraving, from about 1650 - work i was surprised & pleased to see up close & in person, after studying it in class this semester!

the museum of natural science, where marshall had a ball!  he's definitely a science boy :)

amazing gem specimens from the vault - this is where i had a ball!

birthdays!  all the spring ones celebrated at once :)

Remington the faithful brother, companion, guarddog, pillowhog

family photos!  this is the leaning tower of jacksons - why they put the shortest on top was beyond me...literally, as i'm balancing on my tiptoes on boxes

just making sure he still feels that way about girls kissing him...

the houston livestock show & rodeo, another childhood memory & an absolute must if you go to houston in the spring!

with josh turner - ay yi yiiiii!! ;)

and the reason for the timing of our trip - marshall made the decision to be baptized into Christ, and i'm so thankful we could both be there to witness it.  we love you so much squirt, and pray for you faithfully that this would mark every step you take in the future!

dawn left on sunday to return to camp michindoh & her kiddos there - it's a demanding life, and i'm so proud of her for chasing after god's heart in her life & that place!

remember the alamo!  if you were a schoolchild in texas or know anything about texas history, this beautiful mission is a monument to folly & the human spirit - funny how often those 2 are linked...