Book Now Available on Amazon

My Heart Leaps: A Book of Graphic Psalms is now available on Amazon.com.

There are two editions of the book available. There's the "standard" edition which is a perfect bound paperback (8.25"x8.25", 96 pages) Each graphic psalm is formatted on two pages with the image on one page and the text on the facing page. ($22.99)

The other edition is the more compact "devotional" edition which is a perfect bound paperback (9.6"x7.4", 56 pages) Each graphic psalm is formatted with both the image and text on the same page. The image is slightly reduced but the content is the same. ($17.99)

The "My Heart Leaps: Graphic Psalms Journal" is the same size and binding as the "devotional edition" (9.6"x7.4", 54 pages) It is an accompanying journal for the book. It contains 40 journaling pages, one for each of the 40 graphic psalms included in the book. The journal can be used with either edition of the book. ($8.50)

These links and additional information can be found on my website: myheartleaps.com

Holy Longing

I attended an artist workshop this weekend taught by Doug Walton. It's always an adventure to paint with Doug. This time we were invited to bring our own travel compositions to paint (usually we have models or subject matter he brings from his world travels).

The Benedictine Monastery in Pecos, NM became very close to my heart during my month there this summer, so that was my chosen subject matter. I worked on three paintings this weekend, two were of the monastery building. Of those, one is "eh" and the other I haven't finished yet. The one I haven't finished yet has some dead tree branches in the foreground (like the ones on the wind swept bluff above the monastery)...the instructor liked my tree branches so much that he suggested that I leave the monastery out of the painting..."I don't think so!"

The only one I finished is a painting of the wonderful life-size statue called "Hosanna Madonna". The statue is carved out of a dead tree on the monastery grounds along the Pecos River. Here's a photo of the statue:



Here's how it feels to me:


I love this imagery...not just in celebration of new physical life but also new spiritual life. I see that God is always in the process of bringing forth new life in me which I need to gratefully embrace and celebrate.

Revisiting my time in Pecos, made me feel a bit homesick for the place. One of my fellow classmates described the experience this way:

"The silence and prayer remain with me like a little monastery within and I have a holy longing to return to the quiet." (Ray McCracken)

I am grateful for my "little monastery within" that calls me to return to the quiet.

Tending My Feminine Soul

I leave on Wednesday for vacation. I'll be in Georgia for a couple of days then will drive down to St. Augustine, Florida with my sister to spend a WEEK with the women folk of the family. This is an annual event and open only to the women in the family. Normally, no children are allowed, but this year we've made an exception for my sister's 3 month old nursing daughter who is the most adorable, well-behaved baby ever (otherwise, we may have voted her off the island).

My dad died of cancer almost 4 years ago and less than a year later, my mom was diagonosed with breast cancer. After 2 rounds of chemo, a mastectomy, radiation, and now ongoing "anti-hormone" therapy, she's holding her own. After going through all that, she decided there's no time like the present for enjoying life. This annual week at the beach together is one of her priorities...last year she asked us to promise to come this year even if she weren't still around. Thankfully, she is still around and we look forward to good laughs, margaritas, sitting on the beach watching the sunrise, walking in the surf, key lime pie...

I'll check in when (if?) I return. : )

My Heart Leaps Book

After much prodding by God and others, I have finally put my "graphic psalms" into book form. Doing the artwork and writing were easy compared to formatting it into a book and actually letting others look at it! The material is rather personal and I feel a bit vulnerable in sharing it. Fortunately, I'm in a different place in my life and feel somewhat detached which is perhaps the reason I've been able to "put it out there".

The images, words, and scriptures have come as I have spent time in the private sanctuary of my own heart. I was very grateful for the intimacy I had in my relationship with God and for the images and insights that came to me during our times together. In my view, God and I had a good thing going and I was content with things just the way they were. I some times say that God kicked me out of my prayer closet, but that's not exactly true. God first put it on my heart to share what I had received, 4 years ago, at the graduation mass of the Anglican School of Theology. I was very moved by the Eucharist, particularly when the priest held up the elements and said, "The gifts of God for the people of God." At the moment, I realized that what God had given me was not just for me but was to be shared with the "people of God".

I've learned a lot in the process. The technical challenges were significant but not nearly as great as the personal and spiritual challenges. But as usual, each challenge brought the lesson I needed for the next step in the process.

So I offer up my book saying: "The gifts of God for the people of God."

May this book open a window to God for you and bring a fresh breeze of the Spirit to your soul.

Fragrance of Presence

A short clip from prayers at the monastery...I sooooo miss the monastery and the friends I made there! I've been feeling "homesick" for the place and people who are so dear to my heart.

The bells for morning prayers

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MeMe (What does that stand for anyway?)

a. List these rules on your blog.

b. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

1. I do not like the cold. On our honeymoon (the end of December), we stayed at in a small one-room cabin (two-room if you count the bathroom) cabin on the Oregon Coast. The night we arrived, my husband built a fire in the fireplace (to help his young bride stay warm), only to fill the cabin with smoke which left us standing out in the dark and cold until the smoke cleared.

2. I come from a "blended" family of 7 kids...most people don't know whose kids belong to whom because we have such close relationships, both sibling to sibling and children to parents. I feel very blessed.

3. I have one of the cutest granddaughter's in the world. Just take a look and judge for yourself:


(My daughter made her hat...to see more of the lovely headwear my daughter makes, visit my daughter's website: The Portland Beanie Company.)


4. I did my Master's Thesis on the "Geographical Ecology of Acorn Woodpeckers".

5. I can't hear that I have an accent. (I have a "corrupted" Georgia accent that I guess is very distinct, or so I'm told, even here in Texas.) I can hear when other people have an accent but I can't hear my own. I can't carry a tune very well either but I can tell when I'm off or when someone else is off. (The cool thing is that I found out that I can chant!)

6. I'm a homebody. We've lived in Texas for almost 8 years and I've never been to Houston, Austin, or San Antonio. I've never been to the Texas coast nor the hill country. I"ve never been to 6-Flags over Texas nor the Ballpark in Arlington but that because I have NO interest.

7. Even though I'm a homebody and don't travel much, I did go to Africa in 2001, which was pretty amazing. I went to see my 16 year old daughter who was doing mission work in Malawi.

c. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

This is as far as it goes cause I don't know 7 bloggers to tag.

Back Home

I'm back home after my month of study at The School for Spiritual Direction at the Benedictine Monastary in Pecos, New Mexico. My time away was rich...I was especially blessed by the wonderful people I met, both the community members of the monastery and the other school attendees.

I've been home for 4 days now and still feel like I'm experiencing culture shock. It's a rather curious thing that everytime I start to feel bothered, even the slightest bit, I hear the chant that was recited at the start every service:

"Oh, God come to my assistance, Oh, Lord make haste to help me."

It makes me smile...and when I chant along with the recording in my head, it feels like a peaceful OhhhMMMM...really amazing. Hopefully, I can hold on to that.

After studying various "schools" of spirituality, all of which are based on finding God in the silence, I've decided it would be a really good idea to develop a form of spirituality that helps you find God in the noise...I'm working it...the "OM" chant may be a main stay : ) (Of course, I don't know if there's another way to learn this "discipline" besides hearing it repeated several times a day for a month by monks and nuns!) I let you know what I come up with : )