Crafting? or Creeeaaaating.

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul...

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...

...remember that you are spirit (children) of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn't it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God?...

We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fullness of joy. Our birthright- and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth- is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things."

-by Dieter F. Uchtdorf - quotes taken from ,"Happiness, Your Heritage." HERE

As part of our summer home school (more details on that to come...) we will be doing an art project once a week. I like to think of these projects as creating rather than crafting. This weeks project I found HERE (An excellent resource, btw! Fun, inexpensive and darling projects for grade school aged children!).

We had a wonderful time together.
Jack kept saying "I really love doing this!" and even when the official project was over Jack continued to paint.

I was very proud of Alaster and his creation. He was so excited to begin, but wasn't happy with his first attempt. We worked through it, and I learned that he will need to take things slowly and receive more guidance and encouragement from me. I hope for his confidence to grow as we continue to create. He was very proud of his second-go-around, completed owl. He created it completely on his own. I did not do any of what you see here:

(He would not open his eyes for a shot. His feelings about it all were too deep? Maybe? He does look quite serene...)

We let our owls dry (I did one too! Fun!) and then Jack and Alaster's were hung in cute dollar store frames in our kitchen. We'll trade them out each week as new works of art are created. Fun!

Maybe you think I'm silly for expanding President Uchtdorf's deep thoughts on creationism to include little things like this. To be sure, he does teach that "The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper." He defines creation as "bringing into existence something that did not exist before- colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter."

But he doesn't discount the smaller creationary experiences either. "If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, identify a space and beautify it."

So there you have it. One small part of our creative nature found expression this week and we did indeed find that it was both satisfying and fulfilling to our souls and that it added greatly to our happiness! If nothing else one of those "family memories," was created, right?

I have more thoughts and feelings on the subject of creationism and parenting but I'll let it go for now. We all know I tend to wax wordy, but I am working on that! I bet you're grateful!

Before I end I wanted to show you some cute pics of Truman and Jack. We do our home school during Truman's long morning nap. The day we did our art project he woke up and joined us as we finished up:

Cute!