Developing Your Talents

Sorry for our absence! Jordan just moved, Jaime is preparing to move, Brookie...moved almost a year ago (sorry I don't really have an excuse for you), I am graduating with my Bachelor's in just a few short weeks and mom is supermom doing supermom things. So yes, there are our excuses. Anyways....

This past weekend I went to a dance performance put on by my school. Each piece was based off a piece of artwork or the author. One of the dances was based on the painting "The Son of Man." In this dance (well at least how I interpreted it) was about how we sometimes sell, abuse or don't use our talents and creativity. This really made me want to live up to my potential. This makes me think of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. This is the parable about how 3 men are given talents (coins). The first two men multiply their talents. The third man buries his. How easily we must do that all the time; bury our talents or not develop them. So I challenge each of you and each of my sisters and our mum to expound on their talents this week. Develop or indulge in something you're good at or interested in. Even if it's only 5 minutes that you do this, it's better than ignoring it. Now...don't ignore your kids or job or other important responsibilities either but strive to achieve something better.

A little perspective

Newsflash: We haven't heard from PREACHER'S WIFE, the winner of the vintage charm squares. If you are out there, email us at waywardgirlscrafts@ gmail.com. If we don't hear from you this week, we will pick another winner!

Raising 4 crafty (and truly NOT wayward) girls was and is an adventure. We dedicated a closet as the craft closet. There were craft kits and supplies under the Christmas tree. The girls moved from play-do shaped to sculpy art. Two of them went to an arts high school, and the other 2 took art and music classes in school and outside.

Our house is decorated with their handiworks. Their lives are chronicled in their scrapbooks. (Not always up-to-date or even lovely!) We still have remnants of many projects (half finished) though none of them live at home now.

None of this is to say that we are experts at the crafts we try. We have successes and failures. We just like to try to create things.

Why do people like to create? I heard a talk once by Dieter F. Uchtdorf that really struck home. He said, "The desire is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, background, education, or abilities, we all have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.... Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment."

So, for your enjoyment now, take a look back at some of the things the girls created when they were younger.

Recently I was cleaning out some storage under the eaves. I found that I had saved every paper Jordan completed in second grade. Here are two of my favorites.

I didn't find lots of Jaime's paper in the great cleaning (they are in another area, but I did find this that she made in elementary school.)

Scrapbooking diva today, but checkout the early years:

Brooke took the most art classes in high school. Some of the girls think our house is the Brooke Museum. Here is one we love.



These shelves contain works by both Brooke and Jasmine. (I just wish I had taken pictures of taco fish works that all 4 girls made! Alas, they are stored away!)



Finally, a print that Jasmine made in elementary school.

You can decide if we have progressed!