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March 29, 2008
whatta view
Why yes, that's a diaperless bottom! We're potty trained! At least confidently about 90%. Eden's my big girl.
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March 26, 2008
Guess who's a big sister!
My niece Joanna has a new baby brother. His name is Samuel Paul Ward and he was born around 2am this morning CST. He's 8lb 2oz and 21 inches long. I am extremely moved that they chose a long standing family name. There has been a Samuel Ward in each generation. I have a cousin Sam and my uncle Keith is Samuel Keith Ward. I'm pretty sure. And my grandpa is Samuel Ward. Kirk, being way far down the line as far as Ward grandchildren, has the unique priviledge of naming the first male Ward of this new generation Samuel. A special blessing is that my way cool sister in law not only labored and gave birth to the little guy, after a too long pregnancy, but she was also so gracious to give the Ward family another Samuel. A 2008 model. Great Job Kirk and Sarah! I can't wait to meet him! Maybe this summer....
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March 25, 2008
Major Downer!
Our park, the Jefferson Street Park, former site of the Jefferson Street School, DID NOT receive federal funding this year for improvement. We're also worried that the private monies that were promised for our park will pull out now that the money for the infrastructure of the park is not coming through for 08-09. Bummer to the max. I wonder if sending pictures of sad neighborhood children would help. I think this park is one of the only places (including the many playgrounds in the ATL area) that white, black and Latino play together and in equal numbers. I don't want to give up, but it makes me sad that the "big fuss" surrounding our neighborhoods seems to be just for more folks to move down here and be optimistic. They are going to have to keep our hopes alive with something, and another condo/loft/townhouse project is not the answer. I want a developed park. I want a Trader Joe's (you can ask me more about that one). It would be nice if the chicken plant would move (that's a long shot). And if they could keep cell towers out of our backyard so I don't grow a third arm. Hmmmm, maybe a third arm would be useful.
I got some free goodies from some friends moving away. Well,not really free, they need financial support to start their ministry. But I got a nice full size filing cabinet that's not olive green! And I got a free PDA! I've been loading the PDA with all my addresses and then I dropped the sucker on the floor. The screen cracks and half the functions stopped working. ARGH! Maybe that's God telling me to work on something else and stop getting distracted by toys. I can get to my addresses, just can't add any new ones.
And the Prev's exhaust is leaking again. My poor minivan, it has undercarriage problems. I'm sure you pregnant gals can relate. Tee hee, I crack myself up. We have no money to fix it right now. I hope it's just a $50 welding job, but still. So if you hear a rumbling bad-ass car coming down the street and expect to see some Dodge Neon all riced out with a spoiler and racing stripes and characters on the back windshield, sorry, it's just my Toyo Prev. It does look like a Tylenol on wheels, that's exciting!
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March 24, 2008
Great Carnage
This is me procrastinating. I need to be cleaning, starting dinner, finishing grant stuff. Which, by the way, I'm feeling more confident about because I got one letter of Rec today and one is on the way. Woo-hooo! Now, the ball is pretty much in my court. But I still need to do my budget (ugh that budget)and edit my essay. Oh, and I need to get better images of two of my pieces. Maybe Amber and Mark can help me out with that? Oh, you owners of a nicer camera than mine? I need to make that images CD.
But we have a large Earth-Mover-o-Saurus behind our house that is always a quick form of entertainment. Especially this past Friday when it took down the tree. *CRACK* went each limb!! I was letting out a "Whoah!" and a "Holy Cow!" everytime that mechanical creature took a chomp out of it. I think I had more fun than the kids. They are leveling the ground back there for Avenue 3. Should be fancy, expensive and a pain for me to get out of my driveway easily. It was a nice empty lot for this, our first year in Jeff Heights.
community | By | 4:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 23, 2008
Easter
He has Risen indeed! May you all have a joyful Easter celebrating our Lord Jesus and the gift of life he has given us all! What a beautiful weekend to celebrate!
I did dyed eggs with the kids this year. First year I've ever done it. They loved it! I think we could have done like 5 dozen. I'm not very good at boiling eggs though. If we didn't have an Easter egg hunt to take them to I probably would have not done a full dozen, cuz I'm the only one who would eat them. Although Eden took a big courageous bite out of one yesterday and it was a riot to watch her squirm the dry yolk around in her mouth and swallow it willingly (which is amazing!). I asked her if she liked it and she shook her head no. I told her she could put the rest in the garbage.
There are things about Easter we don't really do since we are at the Vineyard-all-things-casual-church. Easter dresses are not a priority. I feel kinda ashamed about that. I have a beautiful daughter and I don't get her tons of pretty dresses. *sigh* Isn't that why having a girl is fun? Just kidding, it's not that big of a deal to me. I have plenty of dresses for her that used to be mine, made by the skillful hands of my grandmother.
I also miss the sounds of the choir singing "Death is Ended". My dad really is a great songwriter. He's written some killer choir songs that you cannot sit still to enjoy. You must get out of your seat to bear witness to how grand, loud, and excitable is it to sing about the ressurection of Christ.
May you all have a wonderful day of singing, celebrating, and chocolate bunny eating.
family | By | 10:26 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 20, 2008
Nuture and Knowing: Plate Series
It's done, We'll see how it does!
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March 18, 2008
Plates
I have to post my tiniest bit of progress. I can't believe it's been over a week since our jurying critique for Clothesline and I"m finally getting to start some new things. I have a couple sketches for some architechtural "memory" pieces as well. I found these earth-friendly-disposable-bamboo plates at Target on clearance and I almost bought them all up! Perfect for painting on. Cheaper than canvas and paper! This is a WIP so stay tuned to see the fawn emmerge. I do want to keep this very simple with some ancient Asian influence.
fine art | By | 9:50 AM | TrackBack
March 16, 2008
Where's all the graffiti?
It's all over Missy's belly!! We had a wonderful baby shower for Missy that went so smoothly and was very guided by God I believe. We had probably close to 20 people including a few little girls. I asked Kelly to paint Missy's belly with henna and that experience added a relaxing touch to the whole event. (Thanks Jen for the kit, it worked perfectly!)
We shared in a very natural way about what a special gift a son is and we had prayer for Missy's little boy Birch, that God will build him up to be leader, protect his heart from temptation, and called out the warrior in him to fight for the truth with a great faith in Christ. Wonderful prayers!
I've never hosted a baby shower before, but I felt really relaxed. Mostly because I knew the women attending were my sisters in Christ whom I have been vulnerable, and I mostly wanted to welcome them to my home. I had so many women tell me tonight at church that they enjoyed it sooo much! I believe it was the Holy Spirit. We were gathered to shower blessings and the Lord was there.
Kelly did a pretty awesome job on Missy, we were all tickled to see the outcome!
the spirit within | By | 10:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 14, 2008
Morning Walks
I know some of you out there think I don't sleep at all and that I've probably got a battery back-up or something. I do get weary, I don't stay up til 1am very often. I have been getting up at like 6:30am and walking every morning. I didn't think I could do it, but I've realized that it's great to be out when it's quiet and I have no agenda besides getting home at a good time for Joel to get to work. My back doesn't get sore if I walk in the morning. It must loosen me up! I get to clear my head and pray, brainstorm and look around me for inspiration. I usually don't take my camera, mostly because it's too dark! But there are some wonderful colors and shapes that early in the morning. The clock is ticking for the Make Work Grant and I have not taken a single step forward on it. I'm a bit afraid that I'll get stressed and afraid of the process once I get into it. Kinda like doing taxes. Something else I still hafta do. But these are some images that I captured during my walk the other day. There are so many wonderful shapes. After our critique last weekend for Clothesline it makes me want to swallow these shapes whole and spit out some challenging brand new artwork! Hopefully I can have some time to spit out a grant for even more grand art projects for the future.
the spirit within | By | 9:30 AM | TrackBack
March 11, 2008
Another Home Recycling Solution
We recycle plastic containers but the caps are not the same plastic as the jug. I've been saving up caps to make something like a mobile, or a homemade teething toy for a baby. There are many on the way! Man, what's in the water! I have quite a collection and the paper bag that was holding them was not fitting in the drawer anymore. Sometimes it's hard to coax the kids to bathtime and I had pulled out the caps hoping to start a self-created game of some sort. That didn't work so well, they started to get thrown around the room.
"How would you guys like to take the caps in the bathtub!"
"YEAH!"
"Do you think they'll float?"
"NOOOOO"
"Well, we'll see!"
It's a winner. This is a super easy way to do some simple education and recycle those caps! They come in so many cool colors! Man, we drink a lotta milk!
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March 10, 2008
Celebration of Josiah
This is Josiah hiding from me
This is him NOT showing me what he lost on Thursday night
This is him giving in after much tickling
His second tooth gone. It was a wigglin' and bloody one night and I told him, "Jos, you can pull it out if you want to, just try not to swallow it or lose it." At about 9:30 he knocked on his door and showed me the gap, "I just pulled it out Mama!". My fearless boy. He's so big, I teared up a little at this one, he was beaming with pride, dimples at their deepest. I'll keep your little tooth in the powder box that is my grandmothers with a little deer lid. And even though I'm not big into the tooth fairy, maybe I'll make you a special something to celebrate. I remember when it came in, it wasn't that long ago it seems.
mommy time | By | 4:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 6, 2008
The Artwork Cometh
Tommorow I am the joyful recipient of artwork from at least 13 ladies for Clothesline Art Show entries. I am kinda anxious to see how this goes. Put enough women in a room and you get drama. And enough creative women with passions, emotions, and (let's admit it) agendas, you get some unexpected things. I am praying that we can break out of our comfortable places and create new facets of our relationships in order to grow artistically and spiritually. Cat has worked very hard to be the administrator. Not everything is going to be perfect and there are goals that are going to be achieved and some that will not. Each time we have this show we get closer to being a bit more professional, but as Joel told me last night the main goal is to have great art hanging on the walls and to have people show up. The rules for rules sake is not always the goal.
But all in all I am excited because this is a new experience for me, being a juror, hostess, and coordinator of sorts. There are lots of things rattling around in my brain about this event and I'm afraid of how ill prepared people will feel I am. I want to have more compassion, more humility, more respect for those women in this group who have encouraged me to be an artist. Those I have watched from afar and been eager to see what they can do. Seems like so many in my 'hood are buzzing about the "ARTS" like its a nation, a political party, a secret club, a golden ticket what-have-you. We women of the Clothesline are working for this buzz, because it's been alive in us for so long. It's not sparked by whatever big-money foundation is handing out grants it's sparked by Jesus, the one who put this desire in all of us. It won't just go away. But without loving, faith-driven, fellow artists we will be alone with our fragile egos. I want to see all of us get better, not just with art production but with a sense of urgency to create for the Kingdom of God. That means we have to know how to market it, we have to know how to price it, we have to know how to make deadlines, we have to have a current blasted artist statement! It's not about being blown back and forth by a creative breeze (although there must be an important time for that), it's about fine tuning ourselves to be useful tools for Jesus.
So I welcome you artist/tools for the Kingdom to my house. They'll be a sign out front, or balloons or something. I'll be waitin'
You can contact us here
fine art | By | 3:55 PM | TrackBack
March 4, 2008
Waking Up and Spring Rain
God is really good to us. We had a wonderful time reflecting on the faithfulness of Joel's grandfather and the blessings his faithfulness has brought us all. Life in the Knutson family will change, but what is life without some changes? As soon as we stumbled in our front door Sunday I was so glad to be back in Chattanooga. I went to Trader Joe's while down there, and went by myself which is especially nice. It was crazy busy, but it's great to have a freezer full of treats and loads of 2-buck-Chuck. Atlanta is just too much. We think of the years we lived there with fondness, but man, there was alot of sorrow and lonliness too. It doesn't have everything to do with a place, but it sure does make life harder when you're driving so much with really tired kids.
God smiles on us in Chattanooga. I hope that you, my dear readers, feel the same where you are. When I feel like I'd rather be swinging in some bigger city like NYC or LA, or some hipper trendier city like Portland or Chicago, I remember that my life is not defined just by where I live. The quality of life is so much better now than it was just 8 years ago when I lived in Chattanooga before. The opportunities are better, my motivation is better.
I'm working on a piece for the Passages show that opens on Thursday and will have a closing reception on the 29th of March. It's coming along, I'll show you more of it when I feel better about it, probably tonight or tommorow since I have to have it done by Wednesday morning. Good thing the curator of the show lives next door! I am enjoying the red oxide paint my friend Rachel gave me in combination with a bleached out blue color. I'm wondering if I will just render the scene in the photograph or if I will add something to it. I always tell myself to simplify, but it's always more and more that I find I have to do. I will one day become so good at what I do I will not need to tweek and tweek it will just be done.
If you live in the Chattanooga area and have not been to Taco Rico on Main Street you really MUST go. They have a great take out service if their huge-TV-with-Spanish-soaps ambiance is not what you're feelin'. It's terribly kid friendly though. I recommend their chicken burrito. It's about $2 less than Mojo or Moe's and for women like me it's just enough food, no more staring at your plate in pain that you have half a burrito to carry around until you get home. They have some great sauces. One's like a tomatillo sauce that's a good mixture of spice and the other is an oiler kind of salsa cilantro dressing with chopped onion. Their pupusas are great for the kids.You'll have to get a few because they're small and addictive! We get bean and cheese for the kiddies, the pork ones are awesome! Tamales are also great, they remind me of an El Salvadoran hobo dinner. It's wrapped in a husk and is made out of corn meal with chicken and veggies. They have the only hand made tortillas in Chattanooga. Very fresh and authentic. They're open when everything else is not. Bluegrass closes at 2, Niedlov's at 6, Taco Rico is there for you until 9pm. YUM!!
the spirit within | By | 3:48 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack