say yes for a change

So I had an epiphany over coffee this afternoon (Thurs): I AM going to Breakforth this weekend.

I had been waffling on it quite badly. A story in Ladies Who Launch was the clincher:

The owner of a newly launched brand of baby clothes is toiling away in her San Francisco town house. With two little kids and a husband, she has her hands full starting a company, especially because she has no background in retail. A friend invites her to Los Angeles for a girls’ spa getaway weekend. Looking around at her messy kitchen and three weeks’ worth of unopened mail, and remembering a PTA meeting and an appointment with the cable guy, she grimaces. How could she leave with so much to deal with? But being a yes, as she’d been told to be in her Incubator, was on her mind. She booked the ticket. Her husband took the kids, the cable guy was rescheduled, the dishes stayed dirty, and the mail remained unopened, but guess what? While in Los Angeles, she met a rep for infant and baby gear, saw a handful of stores who could potentially carry her brand, reconnected with a high school friend who agreed to design her Web site, and spend four solid hours fully relaxed, something she’d not experienced since her first baby was born! She arrived home feeling stronger, invigorated about her fledgling business and, ready to take on the kids, the kitchen, and the bills, and all without neck tension or the feeling of impending doom. Her radiance and rejuvenated demeanor were indescribably attractive. Sometimes movement is small. Sometimes it’s big. Yes puts out a different signal, propels you, and is likely to attract different opportunities. You usually can’t imagine what until you start saying it! (page 191)

Last spring I had a similar reticence over attending Serve at Briercrest, but my friend Lorilee spoke firmly and practically forced me to go. She was right and it turned out to be an important weekend in myriad ways.

I wonder if this is a similar situation. I know I’ll see old friends. I know I’ll meet new friends. I know there will be nourishing sessions and important connections. I’ve just been so exhausted. Lord, refresh me … please … for your glory.

your story

I want to offer you this blank slide. And I want you to imagine that this is a photograph of you. And I want you to think about the community that you want to be part of creating, whatever that means to you. And I want you to imagine that it’s a hundred years from now, and your grandchild or great-grandchild or niece or nephew or god-child is looking at this photograph of you. What is the story you most want for them to tell?

~ Katherine Fulton

how we knew Rebekah was “the one”

When Kathleen McMillan and I started looking for an illustrator for BlueBeary and the Open Eyes book series, this is the first picture Rebekah sent to us:

This was her initial conception of Samantha and her bear. Girl a little too skinny, bear not quite what we imagined, but definitely eye catching and promising. So we gave Rebekah (and our other applicants) a few tips on what we were looking for.

Rebekah’s next official communique to us was an 11-page PDF file that included the following elements:

• Cover page with her Catch The Red Balloon logo
• Resume
• Bio
• Artist’s Statement
• A paragraph titled “My role in this project”
• Three excellent professional references
• Sketches illustrating two pages from the story
• Sketches: an emotion study

Very tidy and impressive. We liked the sketches fine:

View Full Album

But what really blew us away was the emotion study:

We had not asked for this. Immediately several things became clear to us:

1. Rebekah is serious about her craft and her business.
2. Rebekah could give us consistency in drawing/painting the same characters over and over and over again throughout an 11 book series.
3. Rebekah could convey a wide range of emotions—a key factor for Kathleen educating young children.
4. Rebekah would take initiative with the extra things that we might not think to ask for.
5. Rebekah is entirely delightful. (Actually, I think we knew that much earlier in the process, but the portfolio confirmed it.)

So we hired her, and she painted Samantha consistently with a range of emotions in the first book:

View Full Album

And she took initiative with colouring pages before we even asked about them:

View Full Album

And she painted Samantha consistently with a range of emotions for the second book (pending):

View Full Album

And she’s got lots of ideas and connections for promoting the series and for spin-offs.

And (Lord willing) she will paint Samantha consistently with a range of emotions for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh books!

Hiring and working with Rebekah has set the bar really, really high for relationships with future illustrators. We have all been learning so much from each other in this immensely satisfying process.

We sure like Rebekah Joy Plett!

 

NOTE:

Rebekah used her blog to document the process of painting the first project:

• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-1.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-2.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-3.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-4.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-4-5.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-6.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-7-and-things.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/merry-friday-to-all-and-to-all-good.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-its-near-end-and.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-nearing-end.html

A couple of extras about this project:

• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-my-love-and-then-more.html
• http://booksidoneread.blogspot.com/2009/08/things-that-make-me-go-squeee.html

Rebekah’s official website:

• www.catchtheredballoon.com

Rebekah used to be on Facebook, but she decided to disable her profile in favour of the antiquated, immensely personal and slower communication form: snail mail letters.

We are thrilled for Rebekah that she’s getting married in June! Congratulations and a thousand blessings on you and your intended!

beauty

"a prairie woman in 1870 who wrote in her diary a note about her quilt-making: 'I make them warm to keep my family from freezing; I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking.'"

~ Luci Shaw

see also “the company of women”

make a difference: buy a car

My “new” 1995 Mercury Sable

Last week I received an email from SGI (Sask Gov Insurance) that someone would be coming to pick up my Crown Victoria “in a few days.” This caused quite a rush, so I got on Kijiji to search for something in my price range.

For some reason, I wanted a station wagon, so specified “wagon” in the search box. That led me to this car. I like the colour (that’s important to a girl), the body looked to be in reasonable shape for a ‘95, and the price was oh-so-right. The most intriguing thing was this line at the bottom of the ad: “Worth Unlimited is a NON-PROFIT ministry of Youth For Christ Calgary.”

So I called Doug. Turns out he was at Caronport when I was. In fact, he probably worked on some of my vehicles in the garage there! We had the nicest talk on the phone and I felt confident about his assessment of this vehicle as “a nice little car.” Kevin, who is extremely smart about cars, agreed that this would be a good car for me, so we didn’t look at anything else. This afternoon we test drove it, liked it, and bought it. I’ll register it and pick it up on Monday or Tuesday.

Doug gave us a tour of the shop and the Youth For Christ offices. He loves his work, both with cars and with the youth who help in the shop. I love that this car was donated to YFC and that young people got some job skills training and mentoring in the process of fixing it up. I love that that any profit from its sale goes back into this practical and important ministry. And I love that Doug is so passionate about this work.

Driving away, Kevin and I discussed the definition of success. Dr. Charles Stanley would say success is being in the centre of God’s will for your life. Not climbing a ladder of achievement or status, but being fully present in the place where God has put you. By that definition, Doug is undoubtedly a success.

If you’re in Calgary and need some basic maintenance on your car, are looking for another vehicle, or would like to donate one, call Worth Unlimited and talk to Doug.

ministering to and with artists

Lori Youngman and I met at Briercrest. She is an artist, ordained minister, educator, business woman, and prayer warrior.

Lori is one of this year’s presenters at Breakforth in Edmonton. Her topic: Prophetic Painting. She called me to bounce some ideas around. We spent a lot of time catching up, but we also talked about artists and the church.

It’s interesting how people in the church still have a lot of wariness around artists, especially when there’s any mention of it being “prophetic.” In fact, the word Lori used is “fear.” Even Lori’s own husband, when he met her and learned about her art in church asked, “Isn’t that a graven image?” She said that with Emergent worship styles, there’s no fear when people see it. So she’s wrestling with how to talk about something that’s so much a part of her.

We noted that for so many people, only the Bible is allowed to “speak” in church. I added that evangelical churches are “word” centred, and that we have such a narrow definition of word.

Lori asked me a question that I will pose to you, gentle reader: What do you think is the timely message on this subject* to (a) ministry leaders & pastors, and (b) artists themselves?

your memories of grandmother

“My Grandmother’s House” is at #17 today on IndieHeaven’s Fan Faves chart.

What are some memories of your grandmother?

SCN 15 Minutes of Fame

Just got word today that the Minus 40 Tour documentary by Raymond Lacusta Productions will air on SCN’s 15 Minutes of Fame on Jan 27 and 31, and will be available afterwards on the internet!

 

Dara Hallett and I have also been enjoying recent success on the IndieHeaven Fan Faves chart, where fans can vote for songs and artists they love. In December 2009, Dara’s Christmas song “Mary’s Story” reached #1 and stayed there for nearly two weeks! Currently, my song “My Grandmother’s House” is at #18 and rising. Many thanks to everyone who has voted so far!

 

IndieHeaven, based in Franklin, Tennessee, is the leading independent Christian musician/artist resource agency serving thousands of indie artists non-stop since 1997. ‘Colleen and Dara’ have a page on IndieHeaven to feature our collaboration and individual music projects. Fans can listen to our music and buy digital songs.

 

 

Broken to bear fruit

I have a friend who is learning some hard lessons right now. S says she’s “learning that its ok to be broken and actually show it because that’s when real healing comes.”

Growing good fruit requires painful, messy acts like digging, pruning, and harvesting. We dig for memories to get rid of root lies, we prune unhelpful and/or unhealthy thoughts, actions and relationships, we wait for the ripening, we separate the fruit from the branch or vine, and finally we enjoy the results! It is NOT easy, but it's important, and if we'll cooperate with the process there will be good fruit. Resist the process and we could lose the whole tree.

S’s lessons about brokenness resonate with what another friend, Jason Goode, is learning from another perspective. Jason has “come to believe that part of the vocation of parenthood is allowing the purity, freedom and openness of our children to expose our own brokenness. Parenthood is an opportunity for healing.” (from Letters to Mahri – January 6, 2010)

So many things expose our brokenness.

So many opportunities for healing.

My Grandmother’s House

“If you cry while you are writing the lyric, that’s catharsis. If other people cry after hearing it, that’s craft.”

~ Bruce Madole, “Close to the Bone” in Canadian Musician, Nov/Dec 2009, p. 58.

A little over a year ago I sat down at the piano to write a song about some important women in my life: my aunts, my “other mothers.” It was well-intentioned, but inspiration often doesn’t cooperate in the direction we think it should go. I was surprised to find myself “in” my Grandmother Taylor’s living room. I grew up on the same farm where Grandma' lived. She was part of my everyday world. If mom wasn’t home after school, I would usually go to Grandma’s house, where I might find her in baking or napping or playing Scrabble or reading. She was soft and loving. Her little bungalow was clean and cosy.

Grief is a strange thing. Following the memories, playing and singing what I saw, I was surprised by the deep sobs that rose. Grandma died fifteen years ago. I was living in Taiwan at the time, so couldn’t get home for the funeral, but Aunt Evelyn sent a tape recording of the funeral. I carried it around all day until I could get home and play it and cry through it. I hadn’t really cried or even thought extensively about Grandma since that day in 1993. Did I think I was done grieving her? Apparently there was unfinished business.

That writing experience was evocative, but the initial song was not: it needed crafting. My brother Jeffrey gave helpful input on song structure and melody. The metaphorical bridge about hollyhocks and cousins had to go. My mom suggested stronger images and verbs. Dara Hallett suggested a lower key.

My grandmother is one of my “other mothers”: a woman whose of indelible influence in my life and the lives of many.

******************************************

A few months later I shared the song during the Minus 40 Tour with Dara and recorded it for our live album. This month “My Grandmother’s House” is on the IndieHeaven Fan Faves chart. Please have a listen and vote for it. You can also buy the digital track (or the entire album) there. Physical CDs are available through www.colleenanddara.com.

LYRICS:

This is my grandmother's house

This is the clock that she wound

This is the chime that would strike

To count the hours

This is the couch where we sat

It’s the place where she napped

And the blue afghan she wrapped

Me with love in.

CHORUS 1

I haven't been here in some years

I haven't walked through these rooms

To visit these memories

I haven’t seen her face or heard her voice

Yet somehow she’s here for me

I hold the books that she read

I see the Scrabble we played

Find my poems she saved

In her silver chest.

I taste her dark chocolate fudge

Smell her bread as it bakes

Savour meals that she served

At her table

CHORUS 2

I haven't been here in some years

Just let me walk through these rooms

To visit these memories

I haven't seen her face or heard her voice

Yet somehow she's here for me

Beside the violets she grew

I view the albums she made

Receive gifts she had stored

In her steamer trunk*

I hear the prayers that she prayed

I smell the wood burning stove

And snuggle up in the quilts

She made to warm us

 

CHORUS 3

Just let me stay here for awhile

Just let me walk through these rooms

To visit these memories

I can recall her face and hear her voice

Somehow she's here for me

This is the life that I live

And now who I've become

Echoes back who she was

In who I am

 

* I have changed the lines “receive gifts she had stored in her steamer trunk” to “view the albums she made with photos from our family story.”

Loving obstetrics

Last week I met a retired medical doctor who said her favourite part of practicing medicine was obstetrics. We were in our chiropractor’s waiting room and she was interested in the book in my hand, Ladies Who Launch, which launched a conversation about what we do and what we love.

I also love the birthing process, metaphorically speaking. I love “birthing” new things myself, and I love facilitating that in other people.

In Growing Spiritual Redwoods, William Easum and Thomas Bandy talk about leaders as Spiritual Midwives: visionaries, synthesizers, and motivators (p. 184). Spiritual Midwives “do whatever is necessary to facilitate the potential for birth that lies within others” (p. 185).

Doula is a similar role. Sandra Vander Schaaf (The Art of Seeing) is a doula who has helped to bring human babies into the world. She also helps with other kinds of birthing; our friend Rosie engages Sandra as “organization doula.”

Sandra views her work this way:

“The role of doula is one I apply in a lot of non-birthing settings insofar as it speaks to the notion of coming along side to empower, encourage, equip. I love that it's not at all hierarchical—it's not me teaching someone who doesn't know, it's about peer-to-peer support, lending one's presence and experience to the benefit of another in a gentle and generous side-by-side relationship.”

I am a Creativity Doula, coming alongside others, lending presence, experience, and support. Some births are easier than others, but every new “mother” needs helpers and companions.