vignettes

vignette: a small pleasing picture or view







"A child won't notice"

is a very bad and untrue thing to admit into your mind.

A child will be affected by originality, beauty and creativity.

And a child in a Christian home should connect being in communication with the Creator God

with having been made creative, in His image.

Rather than being squashed out it should be enhanced and developed

because of being in a Christian home,

not in spite of it!

Edith Schaeffer, Hidden Art of Homemaking, pg.74

I read Edith Schaeffer's insightful book on art, design, homemaking and the Christian long ago, before marriage and children, and little bits of it float into my consciousness from time to time;  I pulled it out today and scanning it I am surprised by how much it influenced me.

This vignette thing my kids do. . . not original with me.  But it's so fun and that's why I'm passing it along.

We have spots for centerpieces on our coffee table (living room)  and on our dining room table.  These are places where the most mundane of items can be set on display, where our own house can be a museum and a place to thoughtfully consider

a jar of pencils

two rocks (hopefully not snitched from the landscaping project of someone else)

flower arrangements

tiny globes

words on scrabble tiles (i love you, jd rocks, o how He loves us)

cap gun

pretty jar of jellybeans

tiny toy animals.

Sometimes I arrange them, but not often.  My ratio is usually 1:beauty 1:functionality 1:quirky and it is amazing how the kids pick up and this and will create their own or add to mine.

Yes, that is a giraffe harnessed to the wagon.  No, that was not my idea.

I love that my home is my canvas and that I am married to a guy who lets me paint with broad brushstrokes. . . but I want to be that way for my kids too.  Too often I find myself squashing creativity (don't put the giraffe in the wagon, giraffes don't pull wagons);  when stopping

and thinking

and considering

can lead to great little conversations and windows into my kids' hearts.