Graphic content

This forlorn blog has been left untended too long. I've since updated account information, but haven't taken the time to post a real entry. This attempt at a post may not be a remedy to this slight internet injustice, but it will have to make due for now.

FACTS:

• I'm working over the summer.
• Fall semester looming ever nearer while I have yet to visit the academic advisor.
• My advisor will be receiving an email from me within the week.
• I've been bicycling to and from work at least once a week. Fun times! Adventure stories to come soon!

This image is some of the work that I did for our mom's birthday. I took some pictures of the sibs and I that I had on the computer, as well as lifting one from sissy's DeviantArt page, and then looked up "mother" in different languages with the help of Babelfish. From there I used the graphic editor that sissy downloaded onto my computer for me: GIMP.

I have limited previous experience from way back with an old version of PhotoShop and leave most of the cool photo manipulation and graphics rendering to my sis and bro, but it's been fun watching what sis can do, so I figured I would take a stab at it. And the software is a free download. The end product turned out pretty well and was printed on iron-on transfer paper, then ironed onto a cotton purse from Hobby Lobby. Ironed on the other side of the purse was a poem that I found which reminded me of our mom. She taught us to look at things differently, to look for a different perspective on things.

THE LOCKET

It was tarnished and old with a broken clasp.
I tossed it into the drawer.
Why did my mother give it to me,
and what would I want it for?
She said I liked it long ago
when it was shiny and new.
But why she thought I'd like it now,
I really wished I knew.
The years passed by, and my little girl
was going through my things,
slipping bracelets on her arm
and trying on my rings.
"What's this?" I heard my daughter ask
as she held it for me to see.
"Why, it's just an old locket," I replied,
"that your grandma gave to me."
"Oh, Mommy, isn't it beautiful? It's shaped just like a book
with pages you can turn inside and pictures...
Oh, look, Mommy, look."
I saw it then through a child's new eyes,
what I should have seen from the start,
the reason my mother treasured it so
and wore it close to her heart.
Now when I'm tempted to look at the surface,
discounting what's broken or old,
I think of the locket all tarnished outside
with an inside of purest gold.
~~ Author Unknown ~~

It kind of reminds me of the way God sees things too. He doesn't look at the outside, but looks to the inner parts of us, even the parts we don't really like or don't want others to see. God's beauty is on display everywhere. His majesty openly abounds to be seen if we'll let Him open our eyes.