Forward part one.

I am thankful for the Spirit's leading and revealing of wrongful securities and functional saviours in our lives. The blessing of knowing that He won't leave us still for too long. I know, for the first time in a long while, our family is moving forward. We are looking to Him who gives us all things and all that we need. We are learning to trust Him in areas we have not considered giving to Him before. I know our faith is being challenged but because of it, our faith is expanding, growing in new ways. We may not know what the end sight is, or what new destination awaits us but we have Him, to guide us, teach us and love us. We are going forward.

Andrea

Until next time.

It's the first full week of school and I've avoided the backyard like a plague. The weather just became too hot and too draining to want to be back there. Thankfully this week it has cooled a little but as always, I'm pining for greenery and shade. Even though the backyard doesn't offer these, it'll still have a place in my heart because of Camp Lupine. It was just another way of God showing us to persevere and find joy in resourcefulness and creativity. I hope to have more family camp days soon and I pray they only get better.

Our Camp Lupine codex. Next, to make a map and add it to our Summer memories.

Our last day outside together before school started. It was so hot and Nat was tired but clearly Finn wasn't.

Andrea

Transition.

Summer is nearing its end and school has begun again. With the exception of the weather, our days look very different now. Gone are the late, sleepy mornings and relaxed schedule. It's rising bright and early so that what needs to be managed before our walk to school is accomplished. Being intentional with our time and the rest of our day. For Finn and I, it's again determining a new schedule for us. No longer can I rely on Nat to help watch her brother for me when I need it. It's finding new ways and new resolve to handle this new season.

I'm still surprised with how quickly it all came and went. Even more, I'm blessed by how God used this summer in our lives. I often dread the arrival of summer. For me, it signifies and magnifies all that I don't have. This one however, was special. Not because anything outwardly dynamic happened or changed. Not because all I dreamed of came true. No, none of these things. But a lot did happen and a lot did change. Inside. 

I can't begin to explain what He has done in my heart and in my husband's. I just know that He is ever faithful to His great work in weak people all for His glory. Much was revealed and much grace has been given. And because of this, much change has happened inwardly. Seeds have been planted and have taken root. We must be faithful to Him and wait patiently for time and providence to bear the fruit. We are transitioning into a new season of both challenges and blessings. Nothing looks different on the outside but God willing, it will one day soon. We are learning. We are growing. We are changing. All for His glory.

Andrea

The Bear Wedding

Last Summer we made our first paper theatre and called our production company Scout and Pony.  We made the cast of a couple of our favorite fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Nattie had a fantastic idea to create our own original fairy tale, one that predates both Riding Hood's and Goldilocks. One year later, we finally got to it: The Bear Wedding!

The cast of The Bear Wedding is the two bears that are the parent bears in Goldilock's story. The Wolf and Granny, both from Riding Hood are the best friends of the Groom and Bride, respectively. The Wolf even officiates for the ceremony. As for the witnesses/friends we decided to use three famous little pigs who had houses made of sticks, straw and brick.

Instead of a paper theatre like our first, we wanted something more stable and permanent. Originally I was going to recycle and reuse a cereal box, cutting out a huge frame in the middle for the stage. I am glad I waited because the box we ended up using was absolutely perfect! Our box theatre is a Bulleit Bourbon gift set box that already had the opening to see the items inside. All I had to do was remove the clear plastic and I had an instant stage box. I turned the insert to the blank side and created our back drop of the forest with markers and crayons. For future productions and stories, I can reuse this one or take it out, use it as a template to cut and fold a new backdrop to illustrate. To cover the header of the theatre, I used black stock paper, decorative tissue paper and a white chalkboard paint marker to make the 'curtains'. For the wedding, we also included a coffee paper daisy garland on twine. I also added two bushes and just inserted them in the front (for the actual play, my son got to them and you'll see them just laying in the box). Our Cast of Characters are drawn, colored and cut from stock paper, and glued onto bamboo skewers.

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Our story for The Bear Wedding is not concrete, but has a basic structure. We have decided that the two meet at a Blackberry festival in the woods while accompanied by their best friends. After the festival they return to Granny's house for blackberry jam on fresh made biscuits with blackberry lemonade. The three pigs are in the story for support and help and they are delighted once their hear of the engagement. My daughter manage to video the Wedding scene. It's quite different from what we imagined the scene would be but we did forget that our audience included a one and half year old. Here are scenes from the play, taken by Nattie.

We played Seabear's The Ghost That Carried Us Away in the background and deck ourselves out in fancy jewelry for the show.

And now I present to you, The Wedding Scene featuring the entire cast and audience involvement:

the bear wedding from Andrea Millán Gutierrez on Vimeo.

 Nattie had the great idea for the next time we put the play on (besides keeping it on a higher platform away from her brother). She said we should have a reception scene for the play where we include all the blackberry treats we mention in the story. We are part of the reception and we will bake/make and have biscuits, blackberry jam, blackberry honey, blackberry lemonade and maybe even blackberry pies or tarts. Sounds good to me.

Andrea