A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

encouragement

Observe, Collect, Draw

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Observe, Collect, Draw is a journal to help you learn more about yourself (by collecting data) in order that you may become more connected to who you are.  Doing this will enable you to be the creative, talented person that you are.    So if you are an artist, or writer, or sculptor, you can bring forth your talents more easily.  🙂  This is my review. 

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journal

From the back cover:

A guided journal with a fresh approach to the trend of journal-as-tool-for-self-examination. The journal is delightfully illustrated in the authors’ trademark style-accessible, whimsical, detailed. Blending inspiring examples with engaging instruction, this journal asks: What do we learn about ourselves when we measure our gratitude, confidence, and distraction levels? What do our collections say about who we are: our books, music, the clothes we wear? Observe, Collect, Draw! functions as a mini-course in information design, as accessible to beginners as it is engaging to seasoned info designers.

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journal

The Nitty Gritty

Three main Sections to this journal

Part one: learning to see.  This is where you overcome your fear of the blank page while learning more about using the data you have as material. 

Part two: Observing, Collecting, Drawing.   Immersing yourself in the world of data by following guided exercises to observe, acknowledge, count and draw.

Part three: Crafting your visual language.  You’ll find open ended ideas for drawing with the data you have collected, following your own rules and using your own style.   Your work, done your way, using your own style and rules. 

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journalThroughout the pages you will find whimsical drawings starting with learning what Data is.  Data is simply getting the math about the things that are in your life: plants, people, food, events, interactions, it’s all just data.  It tells us who we are and what we do.  What’s important to us is shown to us in the data we collect about our lives. 

You can then take that data and turn it into a useful form.

Like when a person enjoys a beautiful sunset and takes those colours and turns into a painting, necklace or rug. 

The goal of this journal is to help you figure out what the data is in your life, so that you can in turn take that data and be the artist you are meant to be. To that end, guided exercises are given to help you collect data. 

For instance, grab up your camera/phone.  Take a look at the pictures that are on it.  Now map out what’s on it, animals could be blue, people red, houses orange… Whatever.  Just map it out.  Colour code and use dots and shadings to show connections.   This gives you data. 

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journalYou not only look at the good things of your life, but you also get into the harder things in life, like figuring out what makes you complain.  What you complain about?  Who do you complain to?   It’s all data. 

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journalThe more you document your life, the more data you can mine, which gives you more information you can turn into artistic endeavors.  Once you have worked your way through all 35 exercises, you are invited to then draw.  First you analyze the data you have collected, find the stories of your life, then experiment with how those stories look using colour, lines, images, and before you know it you have a data image.  Once you have that, you work your way through 12 additional exercises, or if you will, drawing prompts.

These drawing prompts include things like the animals you see, your holiday souvenir, your family, small talk, social media and more. 

My Thoughts:

I wasn’t too sure about this book when I first got it.  It’s like HUH?   I’m supposed to examine my life so that it makes my art better?  Who in the world has time for that?!?!?!?  But as I went through it, it started to make sense.  The more you know about yourself and the way you put things together, the more you can bring yourself out in the art that you produce.  It’s not a bad thing that, is it?  

Is it worth getting?  I think so. It’s good to stop and think about the things you do sometimes, helps a body to become more aware of personal foibles, strengths, interests they perhaps weren’t aware of, and gives ideas to talk about.. for instance today I was thinking about how much I like mint tea… making MY OWN mint tea, and then wondered if I could inspire others to like mint tea. This I thought about because of a page in this book.   Good yes?  Indeed. 

Observe, Collect, Draw - a visual journal

 

Observe, Collect, Draw! A Visual Journal.
Giorgia Lupi
Stefanie Posavec
Princeton Architectural Press
Softcover, 160 pages
Journal, Art, Self-discovery
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Other Giorgia Lupi books you might be interested in
Dear Data.
Dear Data Postcard kit.

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We Inspire Me

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You know how creative people like to have others around them? Well actually how most people like to have some type of support system? We Inspire Me: Cultivate your Creative Crew to Work, Play and Make by Andrea Pippins is all about reaching out to the people in your life now, or those that you cultivate, in order to help you work, play and make.

Although this book focuses on building your CREATIVE community, the lessons contained within the pages are for anyone who just wants to expand the number of people in their lives. we inspire me
About the Author:

Andrea Pippins is a designer, illustrator, educator, and author currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden.

What Do You Get?

we inspire me

Andrea Poppins brings together stories, essays, illustrations, advice and tips related to the importance of building and nurturing one’s creative community.   It is important to surround yourself with people that want to see you excel and thrive.  This is not a how to book, this is a tips and suggestions books with stories to inspire you to make connections with those around you. 

As you turn the pages you will notice the bright and colourful designs.  You’ll find a mingling of pinks, browns, yellows, and blues. The title pages are clearly delineated with a write up telling you what’s important in this section.we inspire me

Each individual who tells a story is enabled to do so with interesting fonts and important lessons.   

we inspire meLessons span topics such as sharing stories about dealing with mental illness, to how to find people with common interests, different formats to bring people together, how to celebrate each other’s creativity and more. 

we inspire meI was talking with Lisa the other day and she was telling me about different groups that she is part of.   Her accountability groups and mentoring groups and such like.   Some she paid to be part of, and others she chose to start.  And I have to admit, as an introvert, trying to figure out how to start a group and be able to chat with different people about ideas is difficult, even if it is on-line.  It’s so easy to get lost in the conversation whether it’s in person or on-line.  I don’t quite get how one does it.   Books like these help. 

I don’t think a tribe of one or two is what this book is calling for though eh?   A tribe implies more than just one or two. I can see the advantage of having a variety of people with differing skills as part of your group, and how it is vital to inspiring one’s own creativity.  We can inspire each other. 

This book talks about that though, how an introvert who prefers stick to the quiet things, can push past that to attend events that lead to friendships.  It’s good to do that eh?  To take that risk and try it something new out. 

Some of the ideas I ran into:

Wine Tasting, Team sports, paint night, go out for brunch with at least four people, throw an event that YOU would be interested in, bring a business card to a meeting (maybe 5-7) and make a goal of passing them out before the night is through and you can start a neighbourhood project… perhaps you need a new park or art centre?  Who knows the people you will meet along the way.  Might be your new best friend or just the person you need to inspire you to greater heights in your life.  You just never know if you don’t take the chance. 
we inspire me

 

We Inspire Me: Cultivate your Creative Crew to Work, Play and Make
Andrea Pippins
Chronicle Books
152 pages, hardcover
Creative, Teamwork
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

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Everything is Theological

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May and June are going to be rather crazy busy around here, so I asked my friends in the Five Minute Friday community if they might lend a hand and write me a post or two, just to take the load off.   Ruth took up my plea and gave me this LOVELY post you’ll read below.   I love the thinking behind this post.  🙂  She blogs here.

Everything is Thelogical

I first heard the phrase, “everything is theological” in 1998. To say I did not like it or the professor who tacked the quote to his office door would be an understatement.

I’d believed up to that point that there is indeed sacred and secular. The one must be separate from the other for good Christians to live in this world – in it not of it. I believed this wholeheartedly. Checkboxes, black and white thinking (never any gray), and a shallow understanding of grace made for an easy way to live. 

For months that professor kept at us, as a good teacher does, with many different examples of how “everything is theological”. As students often do, we ignored him, all of us future teachers. Until someone had an ‘aha’ moment in class. “You mean everything we believe about God matters in the rubber-meeting-road of life??” The rest of us sat back and our prof was blinded by all the proverbial lightbulbs going off.

My philosophy of teaching began to change that day. I no longer thought of teaching as a “me standing above you telling you things” idea but rather “how can I open your eyes to see who God is, even in the dull parts of math”. (One
plus one will always equal two because God never changes.)

I’m now the mom of 3 kids who love to read! The 13 year old girl and her 11 and 9 year old brothers all have extremely different tastes in books. I could see this morphing into an unnecessary battleground. So when they were young, I did my best to whet their appetites for great stories and deep characters whether good or evil, and help them learn how to observe and discuss as they read. I bought up every Great Illustrated Classic book I found at thrift stores and garage sales. They offer the great stories of redemption and justice like: The Count of Monte Cristo, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre at a level my children can embrace.

As we read, it became a habit to ask these questions:

Who are the characters and do they remind you of anyone?

Why did Harry Potter choose not to ask for help from an adult?
What does the author believe about people?
Are they basically good or evil?
Are adults treated as imbeciles and the kids save the day?
Is the story dark and scary? How? Why?
Are you surprised by what you feel about the story?
Is there an unlikely character who becomes the hero?
Is there a character you really don’t like? Why?
Does the story remind you of any other stories?

Even Dr. Seuss can contribute to amazing discussions about the most surprising things. It’s not simply books, either.
Movies are books we see through someone else’s eyes, and we need to help our children develop habits of thinking as they watch.

My middle child told me he checked out Les Miserables (the full version) from school. While I was very impressed with him for wanting to take on this amazing story, and not being swayed by his school librarian’s doubt of his abilities, I also didn’t let him read it. My 11 year old is not ready to discuss the idea of prostitution. In his disappointment, I began to tell him the story. The familiar story of a thief receiving grace and what it cost the giver blew him away. It was one of those very satisfying mom moments.

You won’t have these moments each and every time you read aloud.

Some days it’s slogging through a chapter while certain individuals repeatedly cannot keep their hands to themselves. Some days they beg for more chapters.  It’s the journey.

Remember you’re giving them tools to sift through what the world tosses at them. They need to know that everything is truly theological.


Ruth Verkaik is a teacher turned writer. She’s also wife to an engineer who
loves to ask “why??” to most things in life as do their 3 children. Her favorite
place is her bright windowed space where she loves to create and write. Often,
she can be found with a cup of tea and a good book while ignoring the laundry.
Sometimes her 50lb puppy joins her. Sometimes her book-loving kids. Her digital
space can be found at
www.ruthlverkaik.wordpress.com
.

Three Ways to Combat Worry

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Please welcome with me Diana Rockwell to my blog today.  With my son’s ear surgery this month and life being a bit hairy lately, she was ever so gracious to help me out with my blog.  

Thank you Diana so very, very much.  🙂

My heart was racing, chest pain developing, an EKG changing. Off to the hospital in an ambulance I went, filled with fear and worry while waiting for answers from doctors, answers which did not come quickly enough.

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or is a threat. What are the things that cause us to fear? I put this question out in a Facebook post and the answers were revealing. Profound fears were expressed, such as loved ones not knowing Jesus, not knowing of God’s faithfulness or receiving the desires of one’s heart such as marriage and children. The fear of poor health, death, not having enough money, and loss of a job were also expressed. All of these fears lead to worry.

Worry is a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems. As I asked what my Facebook friends were worrying about, more truth was told. Many are worrying about financial concerns, about their health, something happening to them, leaving their husband alone due to their death, children that are rejecting Christ, hurting families, and the state of the world. All of this worry makes me think of a promise in Matthew 6.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25

So what do you do when the storms of life hit you? There are three ways to combat worry.

  1. Prayer
  2. Check your thoughts
  3. Let Go and Let God.

It is hard not to worry, but Matthew 6:26 reminds us that God takes care of the birds, so He will take care of us. Matthew 6:33 tells us that when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. By going to God in prayer we invite Him into our storm.

[Tweet “By going to God in prayer, we invite Him into our storm.”]

We need to take our thoughts captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Psalm 139: 23 says, “Search me O God and see if there is any anxious way in me,” imploring us to give our worries to God. Once we do, we need to let go and let God have our problems, Matthew 6:34 says, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself, each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I am still in God’s waiting room, but God holds my tomorrows. He knows my heart better than my cardiologist. I am combating worry daily by prayer. I check my thoughts by reading God’s word and I let go by trusting God for complete healing.

[Tweet “I am still in God’s waiting room, but God holds my tomorrows.”]

Father God, I ask that fear and worry not rule our lives. You did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind according to 2 Timothy 1:7. I ask that you bless us and answer our prayers and remove all fear and worry, helping us walk through the storms of life knowing you are in complete control.In Jesus I pray, Amen.

What worry or fear do you need to give to Jesus?

Diana Rockwell lives in Ramona, California. She is a daughter of the King of Kings, a wife, mother, grandmother, and a retired nurse. She serves on a Freedom in Christ ministry team as a trained encourager and prays for people who are struggling with lies that are keeping them in bondage. She has taught women’s bible studies and shared her testimony in Nazareth on a mission trip to Israel where several people came to know Christ as a result. Her personal weight loss journey is published in Tracie Miles book “Your Life Still Counts” released in October, 2014. Diana loves to share the message of freedom and redemption in Christ on her blog. You can find Diana at her blog, Facebook and on Twitter.

 

What Makes Up the Education of Our Children?

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What makes up the education of our children?

What makes up the education of our children?

Math, language arts, history, geography and science isn’t it?

Well the fact that we homeschool our children means we can do things different doesn’t it?   Do we have to just do math and science and language arts???   Of course not.   We can mix things up a bit with our students and that’s a very good thing.

So just what are the extras?

Poetry, horsemanship, archery, art, phys ed, archaeology, field trips, political science and so much more.

There are so many things we can add to our children’s education.   Things that some might say are simply extras, but I think are a vital part of educating our children.

Perhaps you might want to engage in some engineering games?
Being surprised at how a task can be done so differently by two people.  It’s amazing.
or engage in an archery lesson or two?
And suddenly develop a father son bonding time that you didn’t expect.
Or even teach the value of community service?
Doing regular service with an agency in need of help builds community bonding and teaches
children so much about others.  Seeing others through their eyes is helpful as well. 

You can make the Middle Ages come alive.
And listen to your child tell you how things would really be back in the day.

 
What we do when we educate our children matters.  What subjects we teach are just there as a vehicle to teach our children the love of learning.  It’s good to have order and a goal in mind, but our children can teach themselves once they learn how to do so.  🙂    Make it fun, work through the drudgery, and engage your children in their learning and they will be hooked on learning for life.
 
Is that not our goal?

Raising Bunnies Ties in with Homeschooling

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This post is one I shared as a guest post for someone a while back.  Thought it might be good to share it again, boy oh boy it brought back memories… I still remember these kits and their momma clearly. 

One of the things I do is raise rabbits.  I love them.  They make great pets, excellent small livestock, and you can train them to do a variety of things from rabbit sports to therapy bunnies.   They are useful for meat, wool, hides, companionship, sport and competition.   They are such a multi-purpose animal and they come in so many varieties that breeding what you want and for whatever purpose is quite easy.

But with breeding animals, as with raising children, comes a great deal of responsibility.   You have this small livestock, that is a prey animal, and needs to be on a good diet in order to thrive, combine that with changing weather patterns, being an easily frightened animal, and it can at times spell disaster.raising bunnies ties in with homeschooling

I’ve been breeding rabbits for more than 10 years and have run into my fair number of disasters, and now that I am raising a boy at home, I can help him to learn how to cope with disaster and think through problems.

Recently one of our disasters was the loss of a young doe.  She was a first time mom, was finding the experience a stressful time, went off feed and then the weather changed.   I could not get her restarted (using all my tricks) she just was one of those animals (just like you get with people) that when they get sick they just shut down.     It left me with five eight day old kits to try to save.

Do note: I am NOT a vet.   BUT I have lots of experience with raising animals.   I have NO rabbit vets anywhere near me so I do my own vetting with the help of a great group of people on rabbittalk.com.   What they don’t know as a group I honestly I don’t think a vet would know either.  🙂

Anyone in the rabbit world will tell you.  Trying to save kit under 14 days old is a real bear to do and that you will lose more than you save.   Baby bunnies aspirate so easily and without mom’s cecals to help stabilize their gut, even if you get them to 14 days you still risk losing them.

So we fought to save the babies.  The problem with fighting to save them is get attached.  And it’s a hard one.   Many breeders will choose not to try to save them, they save themselves the heart ache as well as the work.  It’s hard work caring for babies.
 
We use goat milk.   I’ve saved babies with it before.  It’s better than trying to do a formulation of kitten milk or cow milk.  Goat’s milk is high in fat and that’s what bunnies need.

Unless an animal is suffering I’ll work with them.   Here we have five babies.   They quickly earned names… StarBright, Blue, Little One, Tongues and Stubborn.   It’s a bit of an experiment (hence the homeschooling aspect) to see what the kits will take to.   We tried a sponge as apparently that’s the NEW method of feeding baby bunnies.. COLOSSAL FAILURE.   My lad was not happy.   We tried the suck a towel soaked in milk thing.. so NOT working.   Blue and Tongues couldn’t figure out a medicine dropper so I raided our science kit and found a pipette!  WOOT WOOT!   It gave the needed control.   My son was delighted!   He managed to feed a baby bunny!

This is Tongues.   He was called that because he would ONLY drink if you put ONE drop of milk on his tongue at a time.  It took forever to feed him and it became apparent fairly quickly that something was wrong with him.  He couldn’t “NOT” move.   The only time he was still was if he was snuggled up his siblings.      My lad and I took to the rabbit boards to see if we could figure out why and the best answer was that sometimes when moms die early kits develop a neurological unbalance that if they do recover always have a tilt thing going on… and I wasn’t going to subject him to that.    See in the pic how his head is at an angle?   I did very carefully medicate him to see if that would help him improve (in case it was an odd parasitic case), but alas it did not.      He was such a game boy though… got him to almost three weeks before it was apparent that it really wasn’t in his best interest to continue struggling.

Special needs bunny this one.   Some bunnies, like people, just have a harder go of things and it takes time and patience to see them through.   They make you laugh and smile, and sometimes just plain break your heart.

What can I tell you about StarBright?  Wow this little girlie quickly stole our hearts.  Bright, eager, happy drinker.  Took to the pipette like no one’s business.   I was so determined to see this little girl through….. and she broke my heart she did.   She was doing so so well and then she scoured on me.   Scours dehydrates bunnies so fast and it just wrecks their systems.

That’s the way it is sometimes in schooling.   We think all is going well and then we are sidelined by health, criticism, poorly fitting curriculum… and we just fade away.  I hear of parents putting their children into public school because they just can’t do.  Of homeschool graduates who struggle through life due to parental choices and it’s hard.

Blue, Little One and Stubborn
My litte champions.
3.5 weeks old and I tossed them outside with a foster doe.
Immediately they all looked better and well cared for. I was stoked!   
Woot woot I was going to save three of the five and beat the odds.
 
But I forgot something important.
Baby bunny piles.   Babies like to pile on top of each other.
Blue… my little fighter blue got caught on the bottom of a bunny pile.
and so I kicked myself hard for forgetting that aspect of things.
Circumstances in life sometimes beat us down you know?  Through no fault of your own, it’s just the weight of everything hitting you and if you have the strength you push through, and if you don’t, well, it’s just hard and sad. 
I continued to bring them in the house for supplemental feeding.
They were doing well.  
 Stubborn (who became little gentleman) was soon seen eating hay, drinking water, fitting in well.  
Little One was eating hay, nibbling on oatmeal, but water seemed to confuse her.
She wasn’t transitioning well.
She started huddling off to a corner, shying away from the other kits.
When kits do that you know things aren’t going well.
I started to worry.   I gave her more feedings, more care, and more hope.
 
But she just continued to fail.
That’s the thing with bunnies right?
They are so subject to gut issues that if one thing goes out of whack, 
it can throw their entire body out of whack.
I found her dead.
A little girl who was SO hoping she would pull through cried.
She was such a hope for us.  
 
My Mom-in-law likes to tell the story of how my hubby liked school, thrived in school, 
until he got a teacher who was horrid to him.  
Product of a single mom home hubby was, in a time when it was unacceptable.  
She couldn’t let it pass.
And bullied my hubby something fierce and it took him years to get past that.
ONE bad thing.
It’s one of the reasons we homeschool.
Turned out well though, means I can homeschool my boy.  🙂
and of course we have Stubborn.
Aka Mr. Gentleman.
Aka… ????  (turns out he’s a she!)
One of five.
Survives!!!!
People ask me.. why Stubborn?
Because I could not get her to drink much of anything.
I kept wondering how she survived… on a wing and a prayer I think.
Most active of all the kits, we’d find her in the oddest places.  
She quickly transferred from the nest box to “under the chair”
So we put them in the cage (see above) simply to keep her contained.
 
When she finally did figure out the whole drinking thing 
(which is when she became Mr. Gentleman)
She would very prim and proper sit in my hand and LICK the milk out.
No sucking, no pulling, no biting.
Just a very neat lick.
 
She made me hoot.
So it’s funny how
against all odds.
The one who fought the hardest my help
is the one who survived in the end.
 
I learned so much.
Some of it hard.
Some of it fun.
It’s called the nitty gritty of raising rabbits.
Farewell Little one
 
 
Do continue to thrive Mr. Gentleman…. 
We really DO need a new name for you.
A good girls name…
 
 
I raise my rabbits at AT Home Pets.  🙂

Finding the Balance

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Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.  Colossians 3:23

finding the balance between God and people

Over the past several Thursday’s we’ve been considering Mary and Martha and the lessons they have to teach us.  Did you know that this story is sandwiched between the story of the Good Samaritan (that reminds of our relationship with each other) and the Lord’s Prayer (that reminds us of our relationship with God)?   I have to say that I hadn’t really thought of that before it was brought up in Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.   To think of the balancing act it is in our service to God and our service to people.

Don’t you find it hard sometimes?

I think about how sometimes families will leave the worship service early during church so they can go out and prepare coffee.  The coffee needs doing, but the worship needs happening too.   Or when an Easter Son-rise service is happening and a good portion of the “helpers” are out of service getting it all ready.   Which admittedly is wonderful!  I love the breakfast and how quickly it is ready, and I love helping with the clean up afterwards, but sometimes I wonder is the not coming to worship worth it?

How do we balance the spiritual and physical?  Both needs are real.  Both goals are great.  They both need to be met.  It is so easy to just focus on one or the other at times in our lives.

I have to admit that I am no expert.  I struggle with how much to do and when to do it. It’s a battle to see the needs…like for instance the lad and I work on the foodbank once a week.  He does his schooling and helps wherever he can when called upon, and I work with clients and keep things organized.  And sometimes I wonder if it makes a difference, or if when my week is busy if I should just cancel it, or what.  It’s not always an easy fit you know?   And then I look at this week and how I’ve managed to have devotions once because life has been a bit more hectic this week than I would have planned and so my worship of God, my service to God has suffered.  The balance just hasn’t been there this week. 

How Does One Maintain Balance?

It leaves me pondering…how does one maintain balance?

I think part of it is this:

Needing to plan out my life just a bit more.  To be able to say I have this and that and that thing to do, so how do I fit in my must, my need, my want, my desire in-between it all?

Steps to take:

  1. Planning.  Noting the big things in your life and making sure the important gets done and working the rest around it.
  2. Spiritual inventory.  Taking note if you are feeling stressed or downcast or off-kilter.  Are you spending your time wisely?  Reaching out to God?  Talking to him?  Learning from him?   Sharing of yourself with those around you?
  3. Rest.  Are you taking a day to just rest.  Seriously.. God gave us a day of rest for a reason.  TAKE IT!  Spend time chilling, spend time with your spiritual family, Spend time with the people important to you.  Take the rest.
  4. Remember who your centre is… always circle back to Christ.  Remember that he is the strength behind anything we do.  Whether it is service to our fellow beings or service to God.  Without Christ as the wind beneath our sails none of it is truly possible.