ARTWEAR

I have added ARTWEAR to my list of things to do.

Check it out!

A SMALL WORLD

This morning I went to a website with hundreds of incredible photographs,
of couples and children, weddings, and pets.

CLICK HERE

to take a tour.

I looked at one that looked so familiar (in Paris at the Louvre) and then another,
a zinnia with a bumble bee on it. It was not mine, but could have been.

I then flipped through more, faces I didn't recognize, but places and pets that could have been in anyone's photo album.

One of a woman of asian descent posing with Mickey Mouse made me think about just how many people venture even to that magical place to stand with Mickey Mouse and say "cheese".

I clicked on the link entitled "SOUTHERN", expecting photos of the Southern US and found photos from South Africa, the South of France. How naive to think that every site should be a reflection of the United States.

This week we learned just how small our world is, and how much we all have in common as our weak dollar trickled across the globe, bringing markets down across the world.

There was a soldier standing in a hotel lobby with a machine gun. How often I have seen that in Europe, but rarely here, except when at our hunting camp, with Frank and his arsenal.

We don't know what the future brings. Will we too have to arm ourselves to survive some depression-era revival of fear and turmoil? Will riots plague as they did in the seventies if food grows short?

Our country is in a time of transition, many of the photos that are posted, of places we all dream to go, are farther in the distance, with higher fuel costs, with necessity being placed higher on our priority lists of things to do.

I have been blessed to have traveled early, and still I have only experienced a fraction of the incredible things to see and do on this planet.

While we may not be able to venture far these days, we can take a visual tour through sites like Picasa, and we can plant our own zinnias and pumpkins and watch them bloom.

This morning I watched more than a dozen redbirds dodging a huge bluejay in my back yard just outside of my studio window.

Maybe with fewer places to go, I will find the time to capture them on canvas...or maybe even just on film.

What little slice of heaven do you have hidden in your backyard? Snap it and send it in, they welcome your photos!

Have a blessed day! Remember the small things, they are the things that matter!

Allison

Southern Girls Hunting

I have been asked, "Do Southern Girls Hunt?"
Well certainly, at least ONCE!

My sister once hunted, because her boyfriend broke up with her during Christmas vacation. She was the owner of a hunting camp.... a place where wild deer roam free, taking trees in their whim...

And so, she put on her chamo...put d.o. on as any civilized woman would do...and she zipped up her one=piece camo...and headed to a field...

it was boring..she told me...but she finally saw a tree move...she closed her eyes...she pulled the trigger...and BOOM....that tree feel...

That trophy buck fell (YES this is a TRUE story...) and the boyfriend cried...as he later married someone else...

and that was her last day in the woods...as a matter of fact..she should have won a boone and crockett award..but she was NOT LICENSED..AS noone believed she would have killed a thing...hers is the deer in center...mine to the right..my exes...to the left..God love him, he is never invited back..but as her boyfriend learned....
we LIVE AND LEARN...


There is something to be said about a heritage of hunting, farming and fishing.
As the country grows scared, I have no fear for my family.

We can fish, hunt and survive....no matter what the curcumstances....
we live in the city, but at the heart, we are country bred and will survive....

All of this will fade away...all that matters is eternal...

and there, we will all rest in peace.

LIFE IS GREAT

Tonight.....I realized something everyone wishes for their whole lives....

I walked down my steps...on the front of the porch,
originally searching for the moon, which my 3 year old daughter was searching for...

and stood in my yard...

watching a half moon glow to my left beyond the pines...
(for years it was right out my door on the ocean)
my daughter on the front porch, dimly lit with white lights hung
last Christmas, that NOW my mother will approve of (although we have lit them
all year) since it is nearing fall..and season for lighting and festivity...

and I thought...

how perfect my world...
not ostentacious...
not perfect....

but awesome nonetheless.....

I thank Jesus for every blessing..
for my husband who cooks dinner every night out of enjoyment..
for my dog, Sampson...who is such a delight..
and for my children who remind me each day of my purpose...

In an economy that wavers...

I am RICH in the love I have surrounding me..each and every day....

I praise you for recognizing the loves in YOUR life.


Allison

TEENS Driving

This month, my son gets his LEARNER'S PERMIT to DRIVE....

A WILD thought as I AM SO YOUNG :)

I heard this song today, from an Allstate commercial...


I remember my first time to drive, in a blue LTD up and down and up
and down and up and down the driveway at home...age 12?

And then on the REAL ROAD in the "Turkey Torino", a car my neighbor's dad
let us drive AT 13. I had my first wreck, coming home from school
at age 14~

But I had a "small town advantage".

I sometimes wish my children could begin now at 12 and 14, but in the city,
there is WAY too much risk...even as passengers with ME driving.

I look forward to taking them down for some FALL drives at the hunting camp
and letting them experience freedom on the roads that wind through the
backwoods, like I used to have.

For those of you with pre-teens...oh the things we have to look forward to...
and reflect on....hoping they will be MUCH WISER than I.

Creative Call Began this WEEK

Every week, for almost three years now...
I have gotten together with a group of incredibly gifted ARTISTS
at my house...

Together we study God's Word about what it is to be CREATIVE
and on every other week we CREATE.

The website for that can be viewed at HIGHLAND ARTISTS (click here)

We started our fall semester this week with about 15 of us and had
a visitor from FORSTALL's come share class information and get to know us.

He is an incredibly talented graphic artist who also is on a creative journey
after he lost his twin brother and his wife of 40 years.

To hear his story, how he worked in graphic design for so long and now has quit his job and longs to be an ARTIST full-time (which he IS by the way...and a gifted one at that) is an inspiration.

We invite any "aspiring artist" to put aside ANY hesitation if you feel ART is your calling...if God gives you a nudge...DON'T DENY IT...just run with it!

We provide on the site some workshop tips from our meetings where we often have "guest artists" share their tidbits. Enjoy!

Allison

MUSICAL TALENT

This is a season of new beginnings...the fall...a fresh start...

Church of the Highlands is the church we attend...along with now over 10,000 people a weekend. Each week on Sunday we are inspired to walk a better path than we did the week before...

That is all we need to do..trust God...learn, grow, and try to improve...baby steps...

On Wednesdays, we get deeper into the word of God..Pastor Chris has messages that he is spreading across the nation and the world.

Also on Wednesdays, SWITCH takes place upstairs in the church, where now 500 pre-teens and teens burst out in song for the love of their God.

I wanted to include a sample of a couple of these teens who are giving it all for God...their myspace pages are listed...
Alexa is a talented 15 year old who writes her own music..Christian songs that we will no doubt find playing on our radios...
the other...a link to my son, Brent's website...where he too is writing songs and wants to be a praise and worship leader.

I think back to what I was listening to at their age...and I am amazed at the clarity they have at such a young age..and I thank God every day that He has led me...and as a result, my children to THE ROCK.

Click here for:
Alexa Rankin

Brent McCollough

CHURCH OF THE HIGHLANDS

God wants us all to use our gifts and talents for HIS KINGDOM...
Blessings and may Fall bring you in touch with your gifts and talents...

and a winning football team (GO BAMA!) :)