3 August 2016
They’re here! These brand new board books arrived filled with delightful stories by Amy Parker and darling illustrations by my sister Breezy Brookshire!
This series of three board books features an elephant, an owl, and a hedgehog:
(And there is a devotional available for pre-order, which will release November 1st: “Faith, Hope, and Love Devotional”!)
While I’m probably Breezy’s biggest fan, I’m also her visual editor. That basically means that I handle the digital side of her book illustrating – once she has finished each painting, it goes through my hands as I scan, edit, and prepare it for the publisher.
It’s amazing to hold the fruit of countless prayers and many months work by a great team with B&H Kids. From manuscripts to thumbnails, to sketches and watercolors, to scans and PDFs. *happy sigh*
There’s a calm to seeing a project come full circle, completed and ready to share with the world. Faith. Hope. Love. That joy of knowing it’s finished… and now it’s going out in an effort to encourage and inspire many little people, just like when “Audrey Bunny” and “For Such a Time as This” released.
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”
—1 Corinthians 13:13
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1 September 2015
This morning we harvested our concord grapes and tomorrow we plan to cook them on the stove-top before turning the juice into jelly. Our home will be filled with the heavenly aroma of these beauties!
September, I’m so glad you’re here to stay a while.
23 April 2015
Meet Ping and Pip! These two little duckings were just added to a friend’s homestead. Once grown, they’ll get to hang out with her small flock of happy chickens, but in the meantime they’re the epitome of adorableness with their yellow fuzz and friendly curiosity about everything.
I’m looking forward to seeing them grow up, but I doubt I’ll recover from the cuteness of this duckling stage anytime soon.
“You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”
—Psalm 8:6-9
31 December 2014
Every year we like to welcome the new year at midnight with the clanging of pots and pans, laughter, and eager anticipation of the days to come. How quickly one year ends and a new begins! But the best part of it all? That our God is all-powerful and ever loving, good, and faithful.
Looking back with thanksgiving and forward with hope, I found the following both beautiful and humbling: A Prayer for Year’s End from “The Valley of Vision.”
O Love beyond Compare,
Thou art good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;
If I am to die,
I shall see thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.
A joyous New Year to you all!
25 December 2014
A very happy Christmas to you all!
Rejoicing in this good news…
“Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
—Philippians 2:6-11
1 November 2014
This autumn we planted three varieties of garlic. Now we get to wait for the summer harvest to find out which we like best and add home-grown garlic to some favorite dishes – it’s perfect in steak sauce, mashed cauliflower, fermented green beans, and a host of others.
As if its vibrant flavor wasn’t good enough, garlic is full of anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-oxidant properties, which make it an especially good thing to have on hand.
Before breaking apart the garlic heads.
Burrowing the garlic clove into its winter home, pointy-side up.
Cloves ready to be covered with a blend of dirt and home-ripened compost.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
—Genesis 8:22
3 October 2014
Hello, again. I’m so glad you’re here! Summer was a wonderful season filled with living and growing and learning and loving… as well as a break from blogging. (You might’ve noticed that I’ve still been around a bit on Instagram and Pinterest.) But Autumn is here, and while these days don’t look like they’ll slow down anytime soon, I’m looking forward to carving out time to post here again.
Life is full of seasons with love, mercy, faithfulness, pain, forgiveness, beauty, hope, and much, much more – all because of the greatness and goodness of God.
“For everything there is a season, and
a time for every matter under heaven.”
—Ecclesiastes 3:1
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in Him.'”
—Lamentations 3:22-24
As always, things are cooking in the studio, but the latest one just released on October 1st! There will be more about that next week…
10 May 2014
A glimpse of last evening’s breathtaking storm clouds as they fulfilled the decree of the Lord. I was again left in amazement at the greatness of our God, who ordained every cloud and every gust of wind that declared His glory as the storm passed over us.
“Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling His word!”
—Psalm 148:7-8
21 March 2014
With yesterday being the first day of the beautiful spring season, I went on a search for something green that would reveal new life after a long winter.
I was happy to find the tips of daffodils peeking between last autumn’s leaves, tulips pushing their way up where just a few weeks ago stood a snowdrift reaching over six feet tall, and, of course, the ever-faithful moss that pops up here and there.
While there are still many patches of green that have yet to show their fresh beauty, I know they’ll appear soon. Spring has just begun and it will keep on coming.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
—Genesis 8:22“For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”
—Psalm 33:4-5
P.S. To celebrate spring, we’re offering 20% off all of our embroidery patterns and kits at Clementine Pattern Co. through March 25th – just use coupon code SPRING14 at checkout!
