LIFE GOAL

I've been pondering about my "Mission Statement," or life goal lately. So many companies have a mission statement to describe what their company is trying to achieve. I've been trying to think of a statement that could describe percisely what I want to achieve in this life, and the best thing that I've come up with are three words: SIMPLICITY*HUMILITY*CHARITY

All that I want to have, accomplish, or be, comes under these three words and their definitions. I want joy in simplicity...being happy with what I have and grateful for those things in life that God has given me. I don't want to be bogged down with too much stuff. I don't want to be material minded. I want to escape the stress of clutter...the clutter of possessions, the clutter of busyness, the clutter of trying to be all things to all people, and minimize. I want to treasure the moment, special friends and family, talents/gifts, myself, and value these things for what they are...gifts from God.

Next, I want meekness in humility...to erase pride from my heart and seek what God wants for me. I want to see myself EXACTLY as God sees me...nothing more, and nothing less, and see what my divine potential can be. I want to see others in the same way as God sees them too. I want to use my talents and abilities for the glory of God, and I want to remember where those talents and abilities come from and how they are nothing without the spark of the divine, or the influence of the Spirit. I want to give the Lord the gift of my heart, because my heart...my will...is the only thing that I have that is totally mine to give....everything else He has already given me.

Last of all, I want purification and sanctification through charity, or the pure love of Christ. With the pure love of Christ in my heart, I want to be virtuous in my thoughts and actions....kind. I don't want to be critical, but I want to think of kind, generous things of others...and then tell them. I want my thoughts to then be reflected in my actions. I want all that I think, say and do to be a mirror of my faith in Christ, so that all who see me will see Him.

I could go on and on, but no matter what thing I want to emulate in my life, I can place in one of these 3 catagories.

I hope I didn't get too personal here. It is the true desire of my heart, and now all of you know what that is too.

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY....

I love the holidays! I love making gifts for my family, and making treats for friends. As the days become colder, I enjoy the warmth of my cozy home and the feelings of warmth that generate from within. This time of year brings such joy to me! I used to try and do it all, but as I grow older I realize that I can't do it all and that some things just don't matter. For those of you who still try and do it all, here is one of my favorite quotes to help relieve the stress and maybe help you see that you don't want to do it all....just those things that really matter. I know it is talking of the busyness of our daily lives, but if we make ourselves too busy in our average days, how much more crazy we will be when the extra bustle of the holidays come. And if we are too busy in those common busy days to remember the Lord, then how will we ever find time to remember the real "Reason for the Season" when the hectic holidays come?

“...One of the adversaries favourite tactics among righteous LDS women is busyness -getting us so preoccupied with the flurry of daily life that we fail to immerse ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

– Sheri L. Dew


I hope that during this holiday season we will all ponder what is truly most important to us, and work hard at achieving unbusyness. Do we need excessive gifts? Are "things" really what make Christmas? Or would 1 gift from the heart be worth so much more? I pray our quest for unbusyness increases our joy of the holidays, and in Him who, is not only the reason for the season, but He who also created us that "we might have joy."

Okay, Now I'm Really Back...

Emily has informed me that if I'm back then I need to post something....so here is a little something.

I guess I was caught up in the election too much to really focus on my blogs, and in a frenzy over the obvious bias of the media for their candidate. Having a black president doesn't bother me, in fact, if he were a good, righteous man I would have loved it! Kind of like a Morgan Freeman, or a Denzel Washington!! But Obama has too shady of a past, with too many powerful and corrupt people behind him making it all happen, to win me to his side! Is the voice of the people really for a wicked man? I'm so shocked that the majority of voters actually voted for a man they knew nothing about, because he and the media wouldn't let anything come out about him. All he had to do was put out this nebulous word...change...he didn't even have to say what the changes were, and people were going nuts! I have been so frustrated by all of this that I wasn't able to see clearly the things that I love. Now the election is over and we can't change the outcome. I know that God is in charge. If Obama is in office to help fulfill His plans for this country....whether 'great or terrible'....then we (I) need to be more faithful and immerse myself in those things that will bring me closer to a knowledge of God's will for me and my family. As I was on the treadmill this morning I listened to a talk by Elder Jeffrey Holland called, "Tongues of Angels." He said so many wonderful things in it about virtuous words, deeds and thoughts, and it struck me again how much I need to keep my conversation on a happy, positive note. When he said, "I don't know of any bad things that can't be made worse by whinning," that I knew he was right. I'm through with whinning! I'll now look forward with faith, though with the future hard times may come, we will always have peace and security in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'M BACK....

Between gardening, harvesting all the produce, getting the house ready for my son, Daniel returning from his mission in Australia, and having my son from Germany visiting with his wife and children, I have been too busy for my blog. I now have a little breather before the holidays and the arrival of my daughter living in Africa with her husband and children in December. Life is good!!!

Grand Champion Winner!

I entered Dad's picture "Man of Integrity" in the Madison County fair, fine arts/ professional division, and it won Grand Champion! Woo hoo! It is entered as an older post if you want to see it again to see what I'm talking about.

REACHING THE SUMMIT

Life is a series of summits...goals that we make for ourselves and strive to attain. They are small when we are young, but the confidence we gain from those small summits encourages us to larger goals and heights. You might say it is those beginning summits that make all the difference in our lives. Without those small hills the large ones can never be climbed.

Ben climbing his smaller summits of Boy Scout camp with his dad in Utah. He has since climbed larger summits... service in Iraq being only one of them!

Fun Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember--it can be funny, weird, awkward, random, etc.!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

THREE SISTERS

This was my first effort in getting giclee prints done off of one of my paintings. I wasn't really satisfied with the results, but I guess imitations are never really as good as the original.

This is a painting of myself and my sisters Diana and Billie as little girls.

M&M

This is a project from my class where we had to render an oil painting in an exact likeness to the photo...same size, etc... I was looking for the photo but I can't remember Celeste's password to get the files : (. I wanted to compare the two and let you guess which one was the painting... not that hard actually. : )

At the Park

The light and shadow shapes played over Jonathan in this photo taken at the park on the 4th of July in 2004. There is nothing more fun than to draw fun light and shadow on the picture of one of my grandchildren that I love!

PATTING PAPA'S CHEEK

The photo that this painting was taken from was so perfect....I'm just sad that I couldn't totally capture it! I'll keep working on this one.

Our little grandson Andrew's gesture of reaching back to pat his Papa on the cheek was so precious, just as precious as his sweet and gentle spirit.

LITTLE MAN

My children and grandchildren are the joy of my life! The

phrase "joy and rejoicing in your posterity" rings through my soul with every drawing or painting that I do of my family. My family has always brought me great joy.... even though my daughter claims I said otherwise once! Even though my grandchildren are so far away in different countries, painting gives me ties to them that make them feel closer to me.

ILLUSIONS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

An exercise in 2-dimensional art. This was a fun challenge in developing form by using light and shadow to bring the objects on the page forward. Because of shortcomings with my camera, the light and details are not as good, but this drawing took me over 100 hours to complete.

Amber Glow

Brides are always beautiful, but I especially loved the glowing light in this setting which accented Amber beautifully.

I think I'm going to have to leave the photography to Celeste from now on... the painting isn't blurred!

Little Angel

The older I get the more I see little children as angels. Divinely pure, innocent, sweet and good. They come so recently from God's presence and can't help retain some of that Heavenly influence. This is our little girl angel Claire. She's so precious to us!

This painting is done in a unique technique where I painted the image in acylics, covered the entire image with packaging tape, painted the image again, and then scratched off the acrylic paint to reveal the underpainting. It was a fun experiment, but again, I have failed to photograph it in a way that keeps it from looking warped.

A House of Glory

The glory of God is all around us! This white temple is reflecting the glory of the sunrise's colors.

I painted this from a photo my husband Greg took. These were the colors reflected on the temple. God is the Supreme artist! Did you know that all shadow is the direct complimentary color of the light? Did you also know that in light all analogous color to the light is heightened, while the complimentary colors to the light are neutralized? It is amazing what we learn when we study what God does in nature.

A Man of Integrity

My husband Greg is one of the most noble men I know. Goodness and integrity radiate from him, and if all men were like him "...the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would have no power over the hearts of the children of men." (Alma 48:17) I love my husband and know him to be a great man.

We were at an airshow (which he loves to do), so with the thrill of the moment captured in his expression and the glow of the sunset on his skin together made this an irresistable subject for me.

This work of art is done on chip board in acrylics and then the paint is sanded off in places to show the texture of the wood.

On Grandpa's Shoulders

How often does our greatness rise or fall on the shoulders of those who come before us? As parents and grandparents we have such a great responsibility to teach the rising generations about everything that is noble, virtuous, and praiseworthy. We teach many times with conscious effort, but more often than not we teach by example and the goodness we radiate. These are the things that I thought of as I painted this work of art. Little Talmage could feel of the love his "Papa" has for him, but he was getting other messages too- faith, determination, patience, virtue, integrity, and so much more. Each of us need to ask ourselves who we are lifting on our shoulders and what we can do to affect the lives of those we love for good.

Genius Level?

My daughter Emily wrote urging me to copy and paste the Html she had sent to me. As an obedient mother I decided to do it, then viewed my blog so I could find out what in the world I just blindly posted to my blog. I felt pretty impressed that my blog was rated on the reading level of genius, so I was naturally interested in the reading level of my other blog. All things being funny and unequal, I found that my "Where the Heart Is" blog was rated on a Junior High level! Ha! Just as my head began to swell from illusions of intelligence, life shows me that there really isn't anything to get all swollen about. Isn't that wonderful?! I love how life keeps our feet on the ground!

Hard Things...

The last few weeks we watched a good friend die. I watched his family- his wife and 3 children- stay by his side, lovingly giving him words of comfort and encouragement even though their hearts were breaking with grief. Real love is doing the hard things- for him, fighting a relentless disease with every fiber of his being in order to not leave his family without a provider/protector. For them it was letting him know that he can let go and return back to that God who gave him life... telling him they will be okay, even though they know they'll be lost without him. Real love was sitting together with him by his bedside, holding his hand as his body struggled to take his final rattling breaths. I saw real love standing together beside the coffin at the viewing, the teenage son bending down to kiss his father's brow. I heard real love as his wife asked, "Isn't he so handsome?" when others could only see a cancer ravaged body. This was real love that I witnessed these last few weeks, not a Hollywood type of love that comes and just as quickly goes. Real love bonds even tighter during the hard things, and that is what makes it eternal.

Why Jen's Loves?

I've decided to start a blog to express my gratitude for all the things I love. My first love (without this one all the others would be meaningless) is for my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, and the restored gospel on earth! Next is my family...my incredible husband, my wonderful children, the spouses and children of those who are married, and all of my extended family. Related to this second love is the love I have for being an at-home-mom. I love all that there is about it! I loved being there for my kids, and still being available for them if they need me when they are away from home. I love the challenge of "Thrifty Living" and trying to economise in helping my husband with the finances. I love making my home a piece of heaven on earth, creating an atmosphere of peace, joy, love, and beauty. I love to use my talents, especially art, to bring those things and people around me in my paintings. I plan to use this blog to show my art, express my feelings about those things that I love, and write those ideas that have helped me as an at-home-mom. Hopefully it will do others as much good as it has done for me!

Never Too Late!

Yesterday I graduated from Brigham Young University Idaho with a Bachelor of Science in Art/Integrated Studio Studies/2-D emphasis. It took me 12 years from start to finish, and I am now 50 years old. I've overheard students talking about getting certain things done in their life before they were 40 and too old to enjoy it- saying this as though 40 years old was practically dead. I wish we could understand when we are young that being older and wiser is a lot better than young and foolish. I waited to go back to school so I could be home to raise my children. To me, they were the most important mission of my life- more important than degrees, more important than a career, and much more important than working just to get out of the house and feel "fulfilled." I loved every minute of my life as an at-home-mom! The only thing that I regret is that I wasn't always as patient as I should have been, and that I can't do it all over again, reliving each moment and relishing them with as much joy as possible. Now, when I have more time I can do a little of those things that I wanted to do and I definately don't feel like I'm going to die any time soon. Life is wonderful!