Art and Faith

Instagram Crush: Mama_2thelittleones

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It has been cold and rainy in New Mexico this week. A perfect time to introduce you to an Instagram account that is a daily inspiration to me:@mama_2thelittleones. This family has left the busy city life in Munich for a quieter life in the Bavarian Alps. Her pictures of her cute twins are magical and on a foggy day like this  I feel like I have stepped into a fairy tale.

@mama_2thelittleones

On the twins:

The jackets: Traditional Bavarian clothes, a flea-market find (this alone would be reason enough to make a trip to Bavaria!)

Overalls: Red Creek Kids

Adorable Hats: Typically Red

Boots: Gea from Austria

How cute are these twins? They play outside every day dressed in the cutest outfits.

Fun fact, as a young child we would vacation in B&Bs that were also working farms near where this family lives. I have many fond memories of Lake Chiemsee and the mountains there. There is even a fairy tale theme park in that area. It really is magical.

My friend Emily and I did a Little Red Riding shoot a while ago with Ella. You can find it here.

Have a lovely day,

Sofija

Photography by Esther Meinel. Used with permission.  You can find her IG account here and her blog here. Vielen Dank, Esther!

Instagram Crush: Mama_2thelittleones

Terri Othling Pastels

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Friends,

I would like to introduce you to Terri Othling’s pastels. Terri is our musician friend’s mom. She has done some art work for his music, that is how we found out about her. She lives in New Mexico and her art brings out the vibrant colors of this state beautifully.

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PageImage-508151-4006553-HollyhockProfusion PageImage-508151-4006569-StFrancisIII PageImage-508151-3314286-SanGeronimo PageImage-508151-3370218-lavenderfield PageImage-508151-4379097-CUAAThe last one is a piece she did for her son, and that is  the print we own and enjoy so much.

On her website she has these quotes:

Colour has me. That is the meaning of this happy hour. I and colour are one. I am a painter.”
-Paul Klee

“You painted because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape.”
-C.S. Lewis

A lot of her prints are available on her website. Be sure to check them out.

Have a lovely day,

Sofija

 

Terri Othling Pastels

Church in Golden, New Mexico

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Over the holidays we visited a favorite church of mine. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you might know that I am a little obsessed with the Catholic churches in New Mexico. I love how they blend the Spanish with the Adobe, very different from the California Mission style (which I also love).

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We went right after Christmas, so the Christmas lights were still on. You can find pictures of the church covered in snow here and from last summer here. We went on a double date with our friends, the Hollands and our 3 year old (she likes to tag along on our dates). Next stop was a little quirky town called Madrid, pictures coming soon.
Have lovely weekend,
Sofija

Church in Golden, New Mexico

An Advent Poem

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On the advent of antiquity
I AM
brought into being
Crows, chrysanthemums, caterpillars, clouds
Creating form and function
Facets and features out
Of nothing?
It was so much more than nothing
That brought calm out of chaos and
breath into being
Mind into matter
Spirit into soul
People into promise

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Love into life
Love that gives and graces and generates
Three times as much love
A trinity of capacity
Expanding dimension and scope
A magnitude of out-of-proportion love
A bigger on the inside kind of love
that defies classification, method,
logic, sense, reason,
gravity even
When Love came down
And brought us
Hope

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The thing with more than just feathers
But hands  feet  heart
The thing becoming a Who
becoming a He
Who would rescue our
Deep, dark hearts
From hurt and hate and hell
Harnessing heaven
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To give us haters and us hurters
Hope
and a future,
hope
in a He who would usher in
Hope
in the face of fear and failure and falsehood,
This swaddled son
the favored One
Who heaps favor on us
To be for us
The friend
the father
the generous benefactor
Of all good things
Given by God
In his great mercy
Granting us more than we could
hope
or expect
From He who is more than we deserve
More than we can imagine
More than we can comprehend
estimate
calculate
correlate
communicate
this communion
state of this union
of faith and hope and love
this newborn stranger,
this hope in a manger
this hope of Israel
the hope of their fathers
the hope of the poor
hope of human hearts
the hope of all the ends of the earth

this hope of salvation
of   all   who   need   saving
all who are straining
to receive
struggling
to believe
in a
hope
that
does not
disappoint

Friends, I hope you find some time to rest and prepare for Christmas. For a really cute, creative, funny New Zealand take on the Christmas story go here. My kid’s love it!! Thank you Miriam!

-Sofija

Tammy Perlmutter has graciously let me use her poem. Pictures taken by the talented Colleen Davick. Nice to have creative friends.

An Advent Poem

The Hollands! Christmas Tour

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1460023_10152001361616251_161842166_nNew Mexico friends, you don’t want to miss this. The Hollands! are coming to Albuquerque for their Christmas tour. They do a great interactive show involving kids buy letting them participate with shakers and rattles. I promise you this show will be a highlight of your Christmas season.

Want to know more about them? You can find my interview about their road schooling (home-schooling on the road) experience here. And here is a post I did on their concert in February at our house. Lastly you can find their blog here.

Hope to see you there,

Sofija

 

 

 

The Hollands! Christmas Tour

Call the Midwife

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p0118t80My favorite shows all happen to be PBS shows, and they are all British. I am convinced if the Brits can’t take over the world with force they will do it with creativity. What drives me crazy is that it takes them so long to do a new season…but it is always worth the wait.

Have you heard about “Call the Midwife”? It is based on a true story about a midwife working among the working class and the poor in East London in the 50’s. The story follows the main character Jenny as she starts working in her early twenties in a challenging district in London.  She and other young nurses live with and are being mentored by older more experienced nuns. What I find refreshing is that these nuns are compassionate, non-judgmental, and funny. Not something you see often about people of faith on TV.

Though the show mostly centers around midwifery it also tackles difficult social issues, captures the women’s friendships beautifully, and gives us insight into what life in East London was like in the 50’s.

Season 3 is scheduled to air next spring which should give you plenty of time to watch season 1 and 2 this fall.

-Sofija

Call the Midwife

Church in Golden, New Mexico

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My favorite drive to Santa Fe is through the mountains on highway 14. This little church is on the way in a tiny town called Golden. Every time I drive by I am compelled to stop and take pictures. Did I mention to you that I am drawn to the Catholic Churches in New Mexico? They are so beautiful.

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You can find the pictures I took last winter of the same church here.

-Sofija

Church in Golden, New Mexico