first day

...of school



5th grade!



2nd grade!



kindergarten starts on wednesday.

rock wall

one rock at a time
placed carefully
in a row
to mark a boundary

not to keep One out
but to place a marker
where one thing ends
and another begins

This week has been one where I have been running constantly. Sometimes things get a little too complex and simplicity calls out to me. I want to jump to the simple side of the rock wall and sit down for a breather.

School starts on Monday.
Three children at the elementary school.

One more rock on the wall.

(bittersweet)

i thought it was monday today

but it's tuesday.

i think i missed a day in there somewhere.

anyway, I was just going to say that it was Jake's birthday. (on sunday)

and that he's so great.

and that I feel lucky.

what goes around comes around

While making my bed this morning, my 5 year old was laying on the floor, rolling around and thinking, apparently, because here’s a snippet of our conversation:

#3 when I am resurrected, will I still be mean to people?

me: you don’t want to be mean to people, right? Sometimes you just can’t help it?

#3: right.

me: well, if you are working on it, and you are trying to be nice to people, then I bet you can get it all figured out in this lifetime, sweetie.

#3: you haven’t gotten it figured out yet.

me: well, I’m not dead yet.


Later: I walk outside to get something and 4 girls are playing on the hammock. She falls off the back side while in mid swing, and I stop to listen if she is hurt, but instead she gives a little chuckle and says, “Well, I guess it serves me right after pushing Gillie off!”

evening light

The light is starting to change.

.

I love watching the light change throughout the year. It lies across the counters and drapes over the floor.

.

Sometimes I walk into the kitchen and am startled that the angle of the sun is different than it was the last time I noticed.

.

Sometimes I walk into the kitchen and the light is just right so that you can see all the dirt that needs scrubbing on the cupboards. Then I get embarrassed at the thought that someone might walk in and see my lack of scrubbing skills and I get right to work.

.

But today I took a picture of the evening light at my kitchen sink, dirty dishes and all.

It seemed so familiar and friendly to me.

.

It felt like home.

grateful (beach) friday

for beach fridays with friends

for aunties who get off work early to take the kids to a movie

for a clean floor

for a husband that buys the air conditioning unit even when i say

don't do it; it's too much money

that i don't feel like this anymore:

(i did earlier this week)

that I have two origional pieces in the Vision of Squam art show at the Artstream Gallery next month

Dear Fellow Visiting Teachers,

I apologize for not sending you a message last month. I didn’t have internet access for a couple weeks. But not to worry, the past is passed and today I have a message to share.


(feel free to print this off for your personal visiting teaching pleasure. just click on it and it will take you to my flickr account...)

Isn’t this quote the berries? I simply love it. I have not EVER been a good student in the normal school setting. I always felt like a failure because of that. But here’s the thing I’ve figured out: you don’t have to be going to school to continue learning and receiving an education. I love that the church is always encouraging us to continue our education and tends to give us nudges to seek out learning. Not only spiritual learning (which is necessary for a balanced life in my experience), but secular learning as well.

And at this point in my life, I can say I have come to crave education. Although I still have difficulty with deadlines and retaining facts to spit them back out at the appropriate moment, I have realized that I love to find truth. I love the search of knowledge. I have started to appreciate that I may learn in a different way than lots of people, but when I am learning, I feel joy.

I love that this message works whether you are a scientist or an artist; a chef or a doctor; a mother or a daughter. Who ever you are, continue to learn. It is important to you as a person with passions and hobbies and relationships. It will help you in every facet of life. If you feel that prick of curiosity, indulge! Figure out the answers. Find truth. You’ll be happy you did.

Happy visiting,

Brittany

more about this month's message here.

My mom has the best macro lens. I have fallen in love with it. I keep stealing it and putting it on my camera when she's not looking:)



This morning the light was beautiful (as it is most mornings) and everything was still covered in dew, so I went outside to snap some pictures.



I have been trying to learn how to use my camera better and it is so exciting to get a great picture on purpose. (some times I get a great picture and I don't know how it happened.) It makes me giddy. I realize that I have a lot to learn still, but I love learning.



I decided to start a new journaling project. I don't know if project 365 was intended to be a journaling project, but that's what I'm using it as. I have been enjoying the way it makes me think about picking up my camera to capture a visual journal entry for the day. One picture a day for a year. (You can take as many pictures as you want, but you can only choose one a day to submit.) I hear that people get behind (which I'm sure I will) and that after a while you feel like you don't have anything to take pictures of (I can't imagine that ever happening). So it should be a challenge.







is anyone else glad that c jane is back? I almost cried when I saw that she had a new post and then I almost cried again reading it:)