Since I first became a mom I’ve loved Halloween. It may sound silly, but it has taken on this symbolic significance to me– that whatever my kids can dream up that they want to be, they can (barring all things gross and gory– I do draw the line there). It is my job to help them do it, make it, be it– whatever it is that they dream up. So, every Halloween I am working down to the wire to get them all dressed up, and then it’s too dark to get any decent pictures.

Here’s the one picture that is almost good:

Brenna was a witch. This year she made her own hat out of paper and completed her outfit with her own black cat (which deserves its own post, so check back tomorrow). Logan wanted to be a rainbow bat, so I made him a black bat cape and lined it with rainbow fabric and made him a fleece hat with little bat ears. Jonah and I did some research to figure out what he wanted to be. We came across this and he was pretty excited about it. He even won a prize at our church Halloween party.I just love how creative and individual my kids are. Halloween may never really mean much to them, but I hope that I can carry the attitude that none of their ideas are dumb or impossible– that whatever they dream they can be, and that I’ll help the do it however much they need me to–with me through every day of their lives.

We are born creative and adventurous, but so often our innate creativity is unlearned as we grow. SouleMama linked to a talk that will be added to the file in my mind about what education should do to enable every child to be who they really can be. If you have 15 minutes, take a listen.

The guts,

and careful planning…

Happy Halloween!

It seems my time to sit and draw as grown very sparse. I did get a close look at the clover growing between rocks near our back patio. The autumn air is crisp and refreshing. The leaves crunch. The clouds of starlings have left the neighborhood– only stragglers remain on telephone wires. I saw a cardinal today as we walked. He was so red against chartreuse and yellow locust leaves. I need to buy some sunflower seeds so that I can see him at my window. I’m glad he will stay to brighten the gray skies of winter.

I found this that I wrote:

Creativity is like a conversation with the divine. He makes and gives. We make and give. We are creating whether we try to or not. Do not give in to distractions. You do not have time to spend on things you do not love.

I need to take my own advice. I am creating peace, memories, unity, complacence, boredom, disharmony, love, freedom, growth– the positive and the negative– even with my very thoughts. Vigilance– I need to be ever vigilant or the negative will creep in. It is so easy to “get it” philosophically, not so easy when I have been trying to get out the door for and hour and one kid’s shoes are missing and another has taken his off (again) and lost his socks. It’s sometimes hard to realize, when I long to be shut up in my art room for a day or two creating tangible things with my hands, that I am working in the creation of human beings who I want to have full, joyful, meaningful lives– that in what I do with my time and thoughts I am speaking to God, and in my daily steps He’s speaking back.

I need to keep my eyes wide open.