Leanne Shawler, Artist

No pictures this week. Mainly because it's a been a bit of an owie week (see below) and I wouldn't think to take a photo until after, say, I'd eaten what I should've taken a photo of. Yeah. One of those weeks. Still counting though! 321. squats 322. amount of dirt in vacuum cleaner 323. coughing fit - sore neck 324. sticky bowling bowl - sore fingers 325. cuckoo's racket 326. grey day 327. pretty sure Anzac biscuits didn't work 328. used self-rising flour instead of called-for regular flour -- bikkies worked! 329. busted toilet 330. broken eggs 331. headache from sore neck 332. cute dogs while out and about 333. book making (not betting!) 334. chopping mushrooms 335. "pat me or feed me, don't sleep" -- thought process of my dog,  I'm sure. 336. aching shoulders after prepping and planting of vege garden 337. laughing at TV sitcom 338. solid night's sleep 339. horrid news 340. music - "Bombshell" Joining in A...

It's hard not to be directly affected by the events of the previous week, even though I didn't know anyone at the Boston marathon, or in Baghdad, or in West, Texas, or in China. Monday night I prayed that peace would be in our hearts, and not fear. For we are always loved by God. Whether we do good things, or bad things, as hard as that is to hear sometimes. So here are the gifts from God discovered this week. 301. laughing yoga 302. overdue lunch 303. the shock of the Boston Marathon explosion 304. warming sunlight through gray clouds 305. 16 brown pelicans floating by. (Tons of pelicans out enjoying the breeze.) (I blogged about it .) 306. tree lady got herself a new blue hat 307. palm fronds dancing in cold breeze 308. the amount of dirt picked up by our new vacuum cleaner 309. Derwent Inktense pencils 310. rose-pink of sunset 311. 3 baby birds 312. cooling afternoon breeze 313. cooling shade of tree 314. university president letting us stand ...

Today, my heart full with feeling for those caught up in yesterday's bombings in Boston, and after a session with my spiritual director, I walked down to the cliffs to see the ocean. Mainly, to take a breath (and I love the sea air and the brisk breeze promised that) and pause for a brief moment before continuing my day. As I walked, I saw a small group of pelicans fly north, over the houses, it looked like, instead of over the water. I had missed seeing them on my previous visits so once I got to the cliffs, I looked up and down the coast for more. There were more. It was the perfect gift and I quite greedily enjoyed it. I snapped a few photos but then instead of trying to get more pictures, I drank in the moment. OK, I have to be honest here. I was uploading one of the photos below using my 1000 Gifts app and had to wait for it to finish sending it to Twitter and Facebook before I could take any more photos. BUT. Then, I stopped of my own accord... I stood there, w...

It's been a real gift to rewatch the DVD study for Ann Voskamp's book with fellow church-goers. Here's my list for the week: 282. imagined pink light around me as part of meditation. it means love. 283. butter flying out of mixing bowl 284. ran out of string 285. pulled a muscle on first bowl (but kept bowling anyway) 286. headphones 287. keys lost 288. tree branches dancing 289. keys found 290. waiting with fellow volunteer for food bank to open 291. one week old baby 293. dog snuggled next to me 293. learning 294. spilled drinking water on art table 295. long meeting 296. finishing art journal page 297. watching "Call the Midwife" and remarking on a character's growth 298. quality of light in sanctuary 299. peace throughout talk 300. new vacuum cleaner possibly the only time vacuuming is fun -- trying out a new one Joining in Ann Voskamp's:

So here, finally, are the remaining pages of my Holy Week journal. You can find the previous pages here . I  have bigger and better things planned for next year, but this does work as a record of "what happened". Maundy Thursday: Good Friday. Painted the background red, and then black gesso over the top of that, which I then scratched out with a credit card to leave "scars". Pretty dramatic, huh. Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil: with this one I pulled out a scrapbooking sheet that I'd had for about ever and had never used and put it to work here. The background is "Leather" Glimmer Mist. So it sparkles a bit in real life. Easter Day: I get a kick out of the heading cardstock letters -- they're meant for Christmas but I found them perfectly Easter-y. Went a bit nuts with stickers here, actually. And so there you have it. A short art journal on Holy Week completed. How did you record Holy Week and Easter?

This past Friday, I was in a mood. A black mood. I've been actively seeking work since the end of January and here it is, April, and  I'm still looking. I forgot to look for God's gift in this and it seemed nothing would shake it, until my husband suggested I come practice bowl with him and his league team. I haven't bowled in years, so it took me a while to remember how to do it, how my body felt when I threw the ball right ... and by the end I was actually really enjoying myself. There must be something to this throwing a heavy ball at things. So I wrote it down as a gift, but the gift is really my husband getting me away from the job search for a little while ... Here are this past week's gifts: 262. chatting with a homeless guy about the weather 263. hawk soaring over neighborhood 264. quiet 265. first poppy 266. mustard sprouting yellow on hillsides 267. the challenge of staying still during a long meditation 268. hot sun 269. cooling marine ...

Hey it's after Easter :) Let's celebrate with some resurrection stories.... like this one from Denise Hughes. It made me cry. (Yes, it's Part 6 of her faith story but it can be read by itself) Church is about relationship  with God and the Bible points the way (from Relevant) imagine if we lived in a world without hate (and yes, it turns out to be an ad for the Anti-Defamation League, but it is a beautiful capturing of a world that would be at peace.) a beautiful peace from Rachel Held Evans called Holy Week for Doubters . I shared it on my Facebook feed with this thought: " This is just beautiful ... when we open up our hearts to the joy of Christ resurrected on Sunday, may we open our hearts to those who are filled with questions and doubts (because God knows we've all been there and will be again) and are daring to show up anyway ..." How God remembers , a lovely story from Paula @ Welcoming Spirit. John Bachman shares how he couldn't attend...

This Sunday I'm leading the adult Christian education session at my church through a book that profoundly impacted my life: how I see the world, and how I respond as a follower of Christ. I want to share this book with you and fortunately, the author released a DVD study. Her name? Ann Voskamp. Her book is "One Thousand Gifts" and it has been on the New York Times best seller list for about 60 weeks. My mum introduced me to the book. It's Ann's journey of gratitude -- how seeing and writing down God's gifts transforms an ordinary, dull day into one filled with God, and becoming a blessing to others. Ann's book has changed me. Writing down God-gifts reminds me to look for God every day, even when times are troubled or hard. Watch the trailer and come try it out on Sunday at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church , in Roetter Hall, around 11:15am-ish.

This past week I became aware of one of the disadvantages of being in the choir -- no, it wasn't the fact we sang at 4 services 4 days in a row -- but that as a choir member, we never let go of the Alleluia, which is not supposed to be said during Lent, as we spend the time practicing Easter songs. We sang it a lot. (Given that one of our Easter anthems was Handel's "Hallejulah Chorus" and as a soprano I sing it 40 times in 4 minutes, that isn't an understatement!) I found that even in my morning prayers, I kept chanting the alleluia part to the opening sentence. During last week, that really bugged me. I couldn't not say the "A-word" for even a week? Why could I not keep this small rule as a reminder of why the coming Easter was such a transformative moment for the world, for me? And why was it bugging me this year, where in past years I practically reveled having choir dispensation to sing that word? Alleluia means "Praise the Lord"...