Family Vision Retreat Summer 2013

Though the time between our spring and our summer family vision retreats flew by, there was much to talk about and figure our during our 4 day stay at our friends' beautiful guest house in the country. It was only our second quarterly family vision retreat but I don't know how we ever managed without them! I think, as our vision for our family has grown, so has the need to get away and dig deep into what God is trying to tell us.

My biggest goal during this retreat?---- to wipe the slate clean of all I think I know about what it means to be a wife and mom and start from scratch using the Bible as our guide. One of the things I've realized through reading a lot of French culture books recently (Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris, Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, French Women Don't Get Fat, and currently Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility), is that a good number of my thoughts on what it means to be a good wife and mom are just American ideas and not necessarily universally or Biblically true.


I'm not super interested in being a good "American" wife and mom. I want to take all my cues for living a good life from the God who created life and knows me better than anyone. So we read and dissected each reference to wives/women/mothers in the Bible. There are definitely things that I've heard people write off as "old fashioned"in there. But if you get to the heart of what is said, in light of the times in which it was written, it's good stuff!

Oh man, I wish I could sit down with any interested lady reading this and discuss what the Bible says about being a wife and mom. We'd drink wine and eat dark chocolate in comfy pants and talk for hours and it'd be awesome. (Then we'd love on our kids, buy a vineyard, manage our servants, dote on our amazing husbands, design our own clothes and home decor, run successful businesses, and create delicious exotic meal plans. Read about the Proverbs 31 woman...she is a rock star. I want to be like her when I grow up.)

Practical questions we asked.

1. What is Arian's value? I mean, I am valuable simply because I am human! But specifically what skills, interests, strengths, ideas, experiences, etc do I bring to the team? And are they all being put to use well in my role in our family? I am an artist. And art is valuable to our family. When we make art together it blesses us and blesses others. And I can make money from art so it's good financially too!

So how can we free up space for me to create art? We've hired a friend to watch the boys a few hours a week so I can work on art. When the kids are sleeping, she folds laundry and mops the floors. We send our older kids to public school instead of home schooling, unlike most of our friends. (I am pro homeschool for the right reasons, just to be clear.) And we hired a friend to cook a few meals per week for us. I set the menu, but she does the work. Doing so frees up a couple more hours for art. We opt to spend our money this way at, perhaps, the cost of fancy vacations or replacing the rusty '91 Toyota Daniel drives. All this because we think I was made to be an artist and therefore it's important that I be creating art, not just for my well-being, but for the good of Fort Armstrong!

(Single ladies---marry a man who values all that you bring to the table and has a big enough vision for your family that you don't have to duck down to get under it or bust out and do your own thing. Though I didn't know to look for those things at the time, I am REALLY grateful I chose wisely! Plus, Daniel is hot.) ; )

(not my baby, but very cute and holdable)

2. What is our value as a couple?
It's also important to see the value in BOTH Daniel and I being artists. We are realizing more and more that we were created to make art TOGETHER. So we are shifting our schedules and our priorities to make that happen. We're jumping into our next animated music video project together (this was our last one, btw) and figuring out how to make our co-created projects not just a hobby, but the means through which we support our family. FUN STUFF!

And while we did spend lots of hours hashing stuff out on the whiteboard, we made sure to have fun too!


The boys had a sweet time playing with our friends who own the property, swimming in their pool, and exploring the woods. We enjoyed good food, good wine, good conversation, and good music on the giant covered porch while it rained.

Our next family vision retreat is scheduled for this fall. Looking forward to it!

Arian

Rocking My American World

K, so I am not a fan of parenting books. I have a very "you don't know me" kind of attitude about them. They're just not for me. And, since I don't get many chances to read books, when I DO get a chance to read, I usually pick a Christian book that speaks to a specific struggle I am having, like C.S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" or Greg Boyd's "Is God to Blame".  Buuuut some how I am on the last chapter of a non-Christian book on parenting (go figure!) and it is rocking my world.

In continuation of my newfound interest (obsession) with French culture, I borrowed "Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris". After Daniel went to sleep each night, I huddled over the book with a flashlight in bed and finished the whole thing in a week (that is FAST for me). Everything she said about the French way of life sounded wonderful but impossible if you have kids.

 So I decided to read "Bringing Up Bebe", this time via audiobook because I needed to get through books AND sleep at night. I've gotten a lot of practical ideas on fun ways to improve the way I parent my boys, but more importantly, I feel like God is using the book to show me how He wants to parent me!! I've got journal page after journal page of thoughts and if you've talked to me in person any time over the last couple weeks, I've probably gone on and on about all the ways these French culture books are unearthing lies I believe about myself, God, parenting, food, beauty, clothes, home, schedule, marriage...  For an extreme introvert, I've been preeeetty talkative about it all.

 In short, somehow French culture books are just what God needed to free my heart from some unnecessary restrictions I've placed on myself.

One practical little effect it's had on our regular life is we've added long walks and picnics into our schedule almost every day. The food is always simple but delicious---usually bread or crackers, cheese or hummus, and fruit. Our trusty, tattered picnic quilt goes with us every where we go. It's just our way of getting fresh air, fun exercise, and enjoyment from food together.

 I think my learnings have been good for ALL of us. If mom is happy, everyone is happy, right? : )

 I'm looking forward to sharing it all here. Don't worry, I'll be concise and show lots of lovely pictures. I myself don't read blogs that have too many words and not enough pictures : )  

More soon!

Arian

This Week

This week we've been enjoying time in the country. A whole WEEK at my in laws' house (which is a good thing). Fresh air, the smell of honeysuckle, the sound of rain on the front porch...


and time to slow down and cook slow food. You know those recipes you have saved that take hours to make so they never get made? We made those! Fire roasted, slow cooked, long simmered...food that needs time to rise or to caramelize in browned butter for hours. Yeah, THOSE recipes.





We hung up a sheet and got out the projector to watch movies on our "big screen" in the living room. And we played long rounds of cornhole to the sound of croaking frogs and chirping crickets late into the night (cornhole is basically bean bag toss with special rules for all you non-Midwesterners...it's a big deal around here)


And I drew! Nothing digital, just my sketchbook and some colored pencils.


I'm working on some projects you'll be able to download and print yourself soon!


It's back to the real world today. But not before we drive out further into the country to pick out donuts made by local Amish bakers. Best. Donuts. Ever.


Happy weekend!!

Arian

Camera-Themed Giveaway!

Hey! I am co-sponsoring a giant camera-themed giveaway over on Lisa Leonard's blog. Go over and enter!  I seriously love that Missy Mint Camera by by JoTotes. So pretty. Forget about camera bag, I want to carry that as my regular purse everywhere I go!

So go enter!

Arian

New Prints!

I just added two new prints to the shop!

"My Hopes Are Weapons" is one of my favorite lines from Listener's "Wooden Heart". It's such a beautiful song/poem/spoken word performance thingy. But do yourself a favor and read the lyrics first because there are so many and they're hard to catch. They're so deep and real and graphic and lovely. I watch this video nearly every morning just to remind myself of all the truths he speaks about.

The second print is inspired by one of my own hopes---to still be holding hands with Daniel when we're old. I don't expect it to be easy. If it was easy, I'd see a lot more old couples holding hand then I currently do. That's where the "hope being a weapon" part comes into play. It's something you have to fight for. To still be holding hands when we get old we have to be actively battling all sorts of foes---selfishness, bitterness, laziness, wandering hearts, discouragement. We have to weather lots of storms. But I'm hopeful!

The print comes in 8x10 and 13x19 so be sure to check the listing details!

Have a great day! It's beautiful in our next of the woods. We took a long walk across the Ohio River into downtown Cincinnati and ate lunch outside. Goooood times.

Arian : )

French-ifying

I currently have a mild obsession with all things French. I know, I'm pretty late to the game on this one.




It all started when I stumbled on some articles on their food philosophy. Three delicious, leisurely meals a day. No snacking (except a 4:00 snack for the kids). Red wine, tiny cups of espresso, and fine dark chocolate enjoyed slowly in small daily quantities.




Dinner is served in courses so people linger at the table longer to savor the food and each other. Kids learn patience and an appreciation for flavors and textures.




So we've started applying these principles at our house. Instead of serving everything at once at dinner time, it's salad first. Wait til everyone's done. Main course. Wait. Then a small dessert, like a piece of chocolate with pecans or strawberries with a little powdered sugar on them. And so far so good! The boys love the new style, eat all their salad, and hang out at the table much longer. And I feel better knowing that, for a change, it takes longer to eat the food than it took to make it.




We're taking walks every day and trying to take time to enjoy simple pleasures. Like flowers! Between the flowers I pick from our front yard and the ones we've been walking to get from the local florist, we've got little bouquets all over the house. Love it!




We've watched French movies several nights this week for inspiration. ( Anyone have any recommendations?) I browsed through Paris travel books in Barnes and Noble. I drank wine at lunch. I ordered just regular espresso for the first time. I chose my pretty pajamas instead of my regular tank top and boxer shorts. I didn't snack. I had chocolate and homemade sprouted wheat bread for breakfast. I picked simple, rustic French recipes to try for our dinner meal plan. I put on good smelling lotion more often. You know, French things!




So I've never actually "been" to "France". Maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be. But a girl can dream, right?
Hope you have a great weekend!
Arian

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day... hopefully a well-deserved day of celebration and rest for all you mommas out there!

An extra special mother's day to my mom, my mother-in-law, and my step-mom! Three beautiful ladies!

 Hudson woke up before 7:00 this morning to make breakfast in bed for me -- scrambled eggs with a Sriracha heart, iced coffee, and multi-vitamins : )

Then I went back to sleep (yay!) while Daniel and the boys went and bought flowers and donuts and made these dark chocolate-covered strawberries! They know me well.

Eli did his part too. While Daniel and the boys were hard at work downstairs in the kitchen, he kept himself occupied drawing on his legs, flipping through my journal, emptying the diaper wipes container, and playing in the toilet : ) True story.

Mother's Day fanciness. Pearls, sparkles, and tulle.

Mother's Day roses.

 Here's a little video I helped out with! I don't like to brag, but I am preeeetty good at cleaning toilets, as you'll see. Haha.  While moms do SOOO much more than clean house and feed babies (though those things are important!), this video brings some rhythm to the chaos of motherhood. Enjoy!


 


 Arian : )