What's that in your hand?

What's that in your hand Moses?

I said "what's that in your hand Moses?"

Those two sentences (questions) come from a song that my aunt used to sing all the time.

After singing the song, she would look at me and say "What's that in your hand Tonya?"

Fast forward a few years later and I am sitting in church.

The preacher says something like "God can use whatever you have in your hand. What's in your hand?"

When he said those words, I was holding a red pen.  I thought "What can God do with that?"

Shortly after I heard that sermon, I started teaching PreK and creating all kinds of art for bulletin boards and day to day activities for my children in class.

Sometimes, I would think back on that sermon and the red pen and say to myself "Wow, God used the red pen."

That red pen symbolized using ink and paper to me.

Fast forward a few more years and here I am blogging about all things that involve using your hands creatively with pen, paper and paint.

Who knew?

I never would have imagined.

What's in your hand dear reader?

Whatever it is someone needs your gift to help lighten the heavy load of life.


And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. -Exodus 4:1-2


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3 Very Basics of an Art Supply List for Your Artful Child at Home

First on the list is a box of crayons.

I have given a box of crayons as part of an artful gift.  I pair the crayons with some great coloring books and books and wrap nicely.

I love crayons.  Don't you?'

And owning a box of crayons teaches children so much about decision making and choices.

I mean think about it for a minute...

If your child is coloring an animal, he or she has to decide what color will the animal be. What color will the eyes of this animal be?

Your child has to decide if he or she will add colors and drawings that are not on the picture.  ...like adding clouds to a cloudless picture.

Crayons teach without ever saying a word.

And after all that decision making, your child gets to sit back and enjoy all his or her labor that went into making that picture pretty.

The next art supply for your artful home is Black Sharpies.

Black Sharpie's are the business.  really.


You can take a black sharpie and create your own coloring books for your child.

You can use a black Sharpie to write out sentences, words or pictures.

Every artful home should have a few Black Sharpie's.

And lastly, a ream of white paper .

If you have a printer at home, printing paper can be used for creating art as well as creating reading books.


This is a very basic beginning to building a Home art supply arsenal.

What other art supplies do you keep on hand?

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. -Isaiah 64:8

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. -Psalm 3:3

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Summer Fun: Art and Literature

How is your summer going?

I hope that it's going well.

One of the fun things that my daughter and I are doing this summer is "Drawing that Bible Story"!  What we do is read a Bible story then draw, paint or color a picture when done.

Since the book we used had a very colorful picture of Naaman and his servant at the Jordan, that is the picture we chose to draw.

Do you know the story of Naaman?

Naaman was a Captain of the host of the king of Syria.  The Bible says that he was:

-a great man
-honourable
-mighty man of valor

But even with all those wonderful characteristics, Naaman was a leper.  -2 Kings 5:1

Any kind of disease is awful, but having leprosy was like being dealt a death sentence.

Naaman's wife had a little maid that worshiped the living God.  Here is what verse 3 of 2 Kings says that the little maid said to Naaman's wife:

And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

Naaman went to visit Elisha the prophet.

And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. -kjv

But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. -kjv

Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. -kjv

And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? -kjv

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

That is the story of Naaman.

You can find the entire story of Naaman here.

So when we finished reading the story we decided to draw out a picture using Crayola Crayons .

I wasn't sure how this picture would turn out but I kinda like it!

There is a big window in our art room slash homeschool room slash my office that let's in lots of sunshine.  So while we reading (and afterwards) we had the added bonus of summer sunlight shining through the window!

So that's a win.

And since we both love creating - making art, it was like summer fun art!

...and time spent with my youngest daughter is another win!

I love having little Bible reminders around the house.  ...and this one is sitting on the mantle at the moment.

Are you making any art with your children this summer?  It is actually a very relaxing and refreshing activity. 

And of course, you have the bonding thing going on too!  So that's another win with creating art with your children.

I am trying to make sure that my daughter is creating something daily.

...either with a pen, marker or the ipad.  

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. -Luke 4:27

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Mercy and Truth

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
-Psalm 25:10

Just kinda doodled out this verse when I saw it in the Bible.

Remember in this post, I said that when drawing out a Bible verse, start with what you can see first. The fist thing I saw was a path.

I really didn't know this verse until yesterday.

I am glad to have discovered it because it helps to make plain certain choices and situations in my own life.  You know how sometimes you want to know if the Lord is leading.  Well, this verse kinda helps me to see how He would lead.


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Coloring Challenge 01

I was on Instagram last week and found a 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  I decided to join in and include my daughter in it as well.  For me, it will also be a drawing challenge.

I figured I might as well draw some things for my daughter to color and work on my drawing skills.

So, here is our Entry 1 of that challenge.  The folks already in the challenge are on Day 20.
But for us this will be a 10 Day Challenge.
For the next 10 days we will color something...and I will draw something!  Should be fun!

I love my daughter's coloring!

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? -Matthew 6:26-27

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Panda Bears and the Love of God

I found the coolest little panda on instagram that I liked so much that I decided to draw one for my little bambino to color with her crayons.

She was already reading the book, "A Baby Panda is born" and this drawing tied in nicely.

Do you ever think about the colors in nature and the colors of animals?

From reading this book, we learned that the Panda Bear is black and white to blend in with the rocks and snow in a very cold part of China.

I see the love of God in that.  ...protection from danger for the pandas by blending in with nature.

God is love.
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