A TWO YEAR JOURNEY

(you may want to get a cup of something to drink and sit down for awhile!)

Sometimes the waters are rough.  It can make it hard to see the rainbows.  Rainbows...Gods' covenant with you me and every living creature for all generations to come. 

"Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:14-16

The last 2 years have been a particularly trying time for my family.  I have not shared about this before on my blog.  But now I have to share with you what has transpired and the deep thankfulness my family and I are feeling at this time.  

In 2007 my family moved to the Seattle area for a new job that my Husband had been given with a large company here.  It was so great for us because he had just been laid off from a company he had been employed with for 17 years in the Chicago area. A great company that Hubby was sad to leave.  They were very good to him when it came time to part ways.  We were originally from the Seattle area and all of our family is here so even though we were going to miss our "Illinois Family" we felt that this was the best possible thing that could have happened.  Shortly after our move here we could tell that we were in store for a rough ride...rough waters you might say.  It was a year and a half ride on a roller coaster.   I'm not a big roller coaster fan, just so you know.  

On February 13th, 2009, my Husband came home from work early.  The bad economy had struck home and Hubby wasn't going to be going back to work the next day.  Little did we know what we were in store for.  Two years of unemployment.  If someone had told me that it would be that long of a journey I don't think I could have handled it.  In that two years we have grown in ways you just can't believe.  We scratch our heads in disbelief when we think about how God sustained our family during this journey.  Quite honestly...it just doesn't make any sense.  

God grew us and our hearts.  It gave us a new sense of appreciation for the struggles that so many people are facing.  It humbled us beyond belief.  We witnessed miracles during this time.  One time we went as a family to serve at a homeless shelter.  Hubby's mens' group actually arranged for all the families to go and serve there.  One of the families provided chicken.  72 pieces which was plenty.  At least we thought it would be...120 people showed up that night.  One of our boys was serving the chicken and without realizing that we didn't have enough, out of his generous heart, he gave each person 2 pieces.  They were small pieces after all!  Do you know that every person there that night got chicken.  I am not making this up and I don't have any explanation for it.  I do know that after that night I went away not questioning that God could provide.  It helped so much to remember that night during our journey.  We would remind each other of the chicken.

Remember that company that my Husband worked for in Illinois.  I am thrilled to tell you that Hubby is now employed with them again!  Last week they offered Hubby a job...a job here in Seattle!  We don't have to move!!!  Lots of tears...lots of praising and praying to God...lots of humbleness.  We are speechless and grateful beyond belief.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..." Isaiah 43:2-3

To those of you that may have known about our journey we want to thank you for your prayers and support.  It has meant more to our family than you will ever know.  To those of you that know someone that is going through a journey similar to ours...please feel free to share our story.  Most of all, be sure to not feel awkward about calling them and asking them how they are doing.  It's a very lonely time and you can feel very isolated.  Those calls and small gestures speak volumes to the person on the journey.

Blessings,

Meagan 

Museum of Glass

(Chihuly Bridge of Glass)

 Today was a very fun day.  We drove to Tacoma to visit the Tacoma Art Museum.  There is a wonderful campus of 3 museums within walking distance from each other.  The Tacoma Art Museum, The Museum of Glass and the Washington State History Museum, which unfortunately is looking like it may no longer be open due to state budget cuts. 

 I have been very inspired by Dale Chihulys' work and enjoyed walking through The Chihuly Bridge of Glass which is a public art installation owned by the City of Tacoma. This overpass is 500-feet-long and features the art of Tacoma native Dale Chihuly.  The overpass links the Museum with downtown Tacoma giving easy access to the other 2 Museums.

As you enter the Bridge of Glass you first see a large wall made of separate compartments, each holding an individual piece of Chihulys' work.

These images are stacked probably 5 high and 20 or more long.  It is really amazing to see the use of color and form in each of the pieces.  Once you pass this portion you enter a covered area with a glass enclosed ceiling where the glass pieces are set on top of...seemingly floating above your head.  The colors are so pure and magnificent.  It's kind of like looking at a page of an "I Spy" book.  The images are each so unique and worth your attention.  You just have to stop and look up...and stay...and stay... and stay.

(Please click on the images to get a closer look.)

I have a group of artists that I meet with once a month and during our last visit we were discussing the importance of shape and color studies.  The colors in the works of Chihuly I think are what are inspiring me so much.  I feel the need to paint just color and see what happens.  It's quite a stretch from the work I usually do but I think it would be a great exercise.  Hope you enjoy the photos from my day at the Museum!
More to come soon.
Meagan

 

ORCHID

My  Sister brought me a beautiful Orchid last weekend.  It's still Alive!!!  It is so beautiful I just had to share some photos of it.

Enjoy!

A POT OF GOLD

We spent Christmas with my Parents in Eastern Washington.  It was good and I am so glad we did.  My Father will be 88 on New Years Day.  He is very old and frail now...he has very little memory.  He has dementia and has gone way down hill the last month or so.  There are many times he will look at me, with my Husband sitting by my side, and ask me if I have a boyfriend.  I tell him "Yes!"  "In fact I married him and here he is...and we have two children who are your Grandsons!".  He gets a big smile on his face and says "oh...that's good."  

My Father was a beautiful writer.  He was a newspaper man.  Worked for a small town newspaper and wrote wonderful stories...mostly about his life during a simpler time.  I had been given the copies of the articles he had written and had intentions of putting them together for my siblings some day.  We moved and I had put extra special care into packing them.  The problem was I couldn't remember where.  The other day I told my Sister that I couldn't find them.  It took a lot of guts to tell her that.  She wasn't very happy with me and neither was I.  I went to bed that night feeling so restless about it.  But here's the crazy part...I had a dream about where I put them that night.  I looked where my dream told me to look and there they were!  Talk about an answer to prayer!!!  

My Sister had talked to a woman who works with the council on aging.  She had told my Sister how good it would be for Dad to see the articles he wrote again.  So, with articles in hand I brought them to him for Christmas.  He didn't remember that he had ever written for a news paper.  But after he started reading the articles he started remembering the things he wrote about.

  Finding those articles was like finding a pot of gold.  I can't tell you what it meant to me to see my Dad have a little glimmer of the times he had written about come back to him.  I was so thankful.  On our way home we took the ferry back to the island and were greeted with a rainbow shining on the tip of the island.  I was reminded of the pot of gold...I will cherish this Christmas...most likely the last I will have with my Dad but one I will always treasure.

Glimpses of Christmas

The tree is up and very sparkly it is...some glimpses into my favorite images from the tree.

 This is the ornament I picked out when I was five.  It's ANCIENT!!! and full of memories.  My Mom...sweet dear woman...would give us a new ornament every year.  Sometimes we would get to pick out our own.  I still remember going to Valbourgs gift shop with Mom and getting to pick out an ornament for my collection.  I thought this red plastic star was the most BEAUTIFUL of all.  The way it glows and reflects the light had me mesmerized.  I have treasured it every year since.  More the memory than the ornament...but it's the ornament that holds the memory for me...it reminds me of a sweet time I shared with my Mom.  Now we carry on the tradition and buy or make our boys ornaments every year that they will some day have for their own Christmas tree.

this one... and

this one...

and this one too.

I just love everything that sparkles at Christmas time.  The other night I was looking at a pillow my sweet Sister Larinda made for us last year...it sparkles too!

Isn't it beautiful!!!  Thank you sweet Sister!  I just love your amazing handiwork!

To top off my sparkly post, here is a picture of something we did the other night. Our family went to a really fun, free event on the island...the Christmas Ships.  I have always wanted to see them but haven't until now...they are very sparkly too!

The boat has professional singers on it and when the come into the Harbor they just stop for about 20 minutes and sing to the crowd on the shore.  I cried...I always cry at things like this.  You should see me at the 4th of July parade.  There's just something about nostalgia that gets me every time.

I hope you're having a sparkly Christmas...full of wonderful, memory making times.

Much love,

Meagan

p.s.  I also cried when Frosty the Snowman melted...Karen and I had a good cry together! :)

HOPPY HOLIDAYS!

( Newest painting for Christmas - "Hoppy Holidays")

In honor of the quirkiness of Frog Rock on Bainbridge Island I painted this new piece and titled it "Hoppy Holidays".  I know...loud groans.  Anyway, it turned out fun and I made it into cards that say "Hoppy Holidays" on them which will be available at the Studio Tour.  So this Friday - Sunday (Dec. 3-5) I will be showing my work at the Fenwick Photography Studio on Ericksen Avenue. 

Hoppy Holidays Everyone!

Seattle Half Marathon

It was an early morning at our house. Today was the Seattle Marathon which Hubby has been in training for this 13.1 mile run.  He has been training really hard for this...ooober hard.  Makes me tired just hearing about how far he has been running!  So today was the day...which meant getting up by 4:00am to get ready to be on the 5:20am ferry in order to get into Seattle in time for a 7:30am start.  What was really impressive is that our teenage boys joined us and family drove 2 hours to be here in time for the start of the race.

(obviously early...still dark.  Our two boys and Hubby)

It ended up being a great weather day for the race...cold but no wind or rain which we were very happy for.

The start of the race was an amazing sea of people...never could see Hubby at the start.

We made posters to cheer him on...they said things like:

"Stretchy pants never looked so good"

"Rain or Shine you look real fine"

"Watch where you spit...there are people next to you!"

We rang cowbells and shook our pom poms too...It was a very fun event, especially with family and friends there to help cheer him on.  Here he is as he is approaching the finish line...he's so fast he's just a blur!

He had a goal of 1 hour and 50 minutes.  Look at what he ended up with!

( Way to go!!! Beating your goal!!!)

I was so proud of him I just kept kissing and kissing him.  My Hero!

Congratulation Sweetie...I couldn't be more proud of you!