I asked Mom where she normally sat during concerts with Nancy. “Oh, somewhere off to the side. In a space reserved for family,” she said. Well, for whatever reason, the first concert I attended with Mom and Nancy had family sitting in the FRONT ROW, smack dab in the middle of the large church worship hall, planted firmly at Charlie Peacock’s feet. Protesting that we weren’t front row kind of people, we ended up there anyway, not wanting to abandon the one family member who was holding seats for the Webb family.
Turns out the Art*Music*Justice event was an amazing evening of music and social awareness. And when I tried to forget that I was sitting front and center, I found myself lost in the most worshipful concert I’ve ever attended. I heard Derek Webb, Nancy’s son, play years ago at Covenant College when he was with Caedmon’s Call. The Caedmon’s album I bought became the soundtrack for many of my travels over the next four years. I had also heard Sandra McCracken play at Covenant Seminary, and more recently I’ve been a frequent listener of this great album, The Builder and the Architect. But Sara Groves, Brandon Heath and Charlie Peacock were fairly new to me and I thoroughly enjoyed their songs and stories that night. If the tour is coming to your area in the next two weeks, you should definitely go. It’s an inspiring evening.
I learned one more thing that night. Tour buses, as cool and glamorous as they are, contain *tight* sleeping quarters. Nancy showed us the teeny bunk where her grandbaby sleeps. Super cute, but again, teeny! It blew my mind to imagine all the folks on the tour sleeping in one bus and I couldn’t help but wonder what happens when Sara Groves’ kids wake up with bad dreams or when the stage crew/merchandise guys snore too loudly. The bus seemed to me to be a traveling commune—everybody together in one space. I bet they all know each other really well when the final concert comes around!
I knew Liv was playing with water this morning, I just didn’t care. That is, I didn’t care until I heard about five water sloshes in a row. Then I turned my attention to my four year old and began walking toward the noise.
Me: What did you do in here, Livia? Spray a hose around the dining room?
Liv: No. [pause] I was feeding and baptizing my babies.
And that, my friends, was the end of water play at the Tredways on a Wednesday morning. Good thing all our baby dolls have now received the sign and seal of the new covenant.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.
– Psalm 96:11-13
How have you recently expressed yourself creatively?
What were some ways you used to be creative, perhaps during your childhood/youth, that you don’t engage in anymore?
Would you like to revisit those old creative expressions someday?How is someone close to you—a spouse, friend, child—creative in a way you are not?
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Thanks for playing along, everyone! I think sewing is so cool… There are so many possibilities for gifts, fun toys, useful items, etc, when you can sew.
Beside photography, I find myself enjoying all sorts of kid activities. Basically, if I was left to myself, I’d sit down and color all the live long day. Livia doesn’t enjoy coloring much, though, so we create art by stamping, painting, cutting and gluing. I wish I had many more hours for creative projects… I’d especially like to pour myself into writing; for now I’m in a holding pattern in that area. I write in my head all the time but rarely do my internal compositions see the light of day.
Someday I hope to get back into theater again. You couldn’t keep me from performing as a kid.
Finally, I really admire my husband’s creativity in web design. He’s amazing with color and has quite an eye for detail (kind of necessary in his line of work, it comes naturally to him which totally impresses me). I’m also floored by Livia’s imagination. She sees worlds I cannot see and lives in richness because of it.
Livia attended Elsie’s Wizard of Oz theme party last weekend. I wasn’t sure about creating a decent costume, but Renae told me how to put together a little scarecrow outfit and voila! There’s Liv in all her scarecrow-y glory. The kids at the party were super cute. There were lots of Dorothys and Glindas, another Scarecrow made an appearance and Toto was adorable with a collar and little pigtails. I wish I had snapped photos of all the work Amanda put into this gathering… There was a yellow brick road welcoming guests in the driveway, complete with the dead Wicked Witch’s legs poking out from underneath a playhouse. Each platter of food was labeled with a creative title and the cake was decorated to match the theme as well. There were millions of people there and perhaps even billions of children under seven years old and Amanda smiled her way through the whole event, looking as cool and calm a hostess you could imagine. The thought of entertaining those billions of young children makes me go into a cold sweat, but I know enough to appreciate all the work Amanda did for this amazing party. Well done, friend!
Livia hasn’t seen the The Wizard of Oz yet (perhaps due to all the nightmares this movie produced during her mother’s childhood), so I explained the story en route to the party. After learning that Dorothy is from Kansas—“We have that in common!”—Livia sighed, “I love Dorothy.” I stumbled as I tried to explain that she couldn’t love Dorothy because she didn’t know her, Dorothy’s imaginary, blah blah blah. And Liv replied, “Yes I do know her. You just told me about her!” Right you are, perceptive little one.
Later that night, Liv went on and on about “switches.” I figured she was talking about lights. But it was Jeremy who finally realized she was talking about Glinda and The Wicked One of the West. You add that to the “fire chip” title she gave nacho cheese Doritos and you have one amused mommy. I love this four year old and her grasp of the English language.
Okay, so I’m cleaning Liv’s closet this morning and I’m coming across a ton of old items I should probably give away. Cute teeny baby shoes, brand-new-still-in-the-packaging baby blankets, old toys, you name it. Here’s what I’m wondering: How many things is it appropriate to keep for sentimental reasons? Should I hang on to Livia’s first pair of baby shoes or the pink cowgirl boots she wore for months on end? I’m in the mood to purge, people. This is a rare occasion, one to embrace fully.
Slide Number One was fun so Grandma and Liv go back for more.
Slide Number Two? Hm. Not so sure about that one. (See the larger Flickr pic to get the full effect.) I don’t recall my mom-in-law going down again. Apparently they don’t make slides like they used to! Now you need to see a chiropractor after attempting the neighborhood slides…
Livia has been pretty expressive today. My girl wears her heart on her sleeve for the most part—if something bothers her you can definitely tell. If she’s unresponsive, then usually it means that she’s not bothered. She’s fairly straightforward, which is kind of nice.
After school she told me that a classmate didn’t like her. After verbally prodding a bit, I found out that this kid kept physically moving away from Livia, so Liv went to her teacher and said she (Liv) was angry. Apparently things ended well because Livia smiled at the other child. As a big Feeler, I admit being a bit hurt that anyone would not like my child, however I’m proud of Livia for the way she handled her emotions (at least in her telling of it. Who knows how the real event went down?).
Then later, while I was getting my hair cut, Liv told me that a grey-haired man in the waiting area had sad eyes. I tried to shush her a bit so that the sad-eyed man (she referred to him again that way as we walked out the door) wouldn’t hear our conversation.
Finally, after community dinner Livia had some sort of expectation that she could type on Jason’s computer. I knew this was not a possibility as he was working on it at the time. She came down from his office and told Renae and me she was disappointed that couldn’t type.
I’d swear Sesame Street was having Describe Your Emotions Week—but we don’t get PBS anymore so that can’t be it. Liv’s just in-tune with her emotions, I guess. For the record, she wasn’t a big Eeyore today. She was excited to play with Polly Pocket this morning and giddy at the new face paint we bought this afternoon. She has strong emotions, but she’s also well-rounded in her expression of them. LOL.
Last January this tiny dancer was forced into being a dance class dropout. “Sitting in other mommies’ laps” was not deemed a good use of our tuition money, so Jeremy and I agreed to pull her out. We’re all about the no-pressure approach with extra curricular activities. Fast forward to September and the tiny dancer was again asking to take dance with JoJo.
It took a little more convincing on my part, a little social pressure if you will. Livia and I happened to be in the building on the first day of dance. And it just so happened that we were in the hallway when, one after another, her little friends entered the building. And one after another, the mothers asked if we were there for dance classes. One phone call to the Guy in Charge (aka Jeremy), one run home for dance paraphernalia, and one signed check later and Livia found herself in the presence of other tiny dancers. What a delight.
