Author Archives: Jo Hawke

As If I Had a Choice :P

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First thing this morning, Lucas had a comic to share with me.

“Look, Mommy, I drew you when I was in your belly. You were thinking about if I would have a square head or a round head.”

Very interesting! And perplexing!

You know this doesn’t really happen this way, right? Yeah, he knows.

Attie wanted to know why the guy has arms where his ears should be. Those are thought bubbles, Lucas said, not arms.

The picture didn’t make it long before Atticus had stripped it clean. This is actually the second version of it, since the first was gone before I’d taken a picture.

Later, we told Kevin about it. “I see she picked square,” he quipped.

And then ensued a lengthy discussion on whether or not Lucas favors the dentist from “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer,” Shermy, complete with Google search. (A little bit, though not in head shape. :P)

I <3 my boys!

Writing with my Students

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I have tons of these little pictures that I printed from a website, laminated, and cut up. They’re of all kinds of things: people, famous and not; animals; objects; places.

I asked students to pick one that appealed to them. First, they described it. Then, they responded to it creatively by telling the story behind the picture or writing a poem about what’s happening or writing from the point of view of one of the people, animals, or objects in the picture.

Afterward, I let them share with each other what they’d written.

This was mine.

Living Waters

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A second picture for my DanvilleType.com idea. 🙂

I love the hand-drawn script and the way the text starts all bold and deliberate, then thins and spreads. And by the time it gets to “CHURCH,” it’s a sans-serif block.

I wonder if it’s thematic, or if they went with a freeform, whatever-happens approach. And I wonder about the spacing. And the color choices.

It’s definitely not what you would expect out in the middle of the country.

Destruction

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And for today, the downside of yesterday’s jaunt through the southcentral Virginia countryside (if we set aside the gas money I must’ve used for it ;).

Destruction.

Just imagine what this field of ragged tree stumps must have been like in the not-too-distant past. And now: Ugh!

I know that there are reasons for deforestation. Maybe the people who cleared needed money to save their land or to help a family member in need.

A part of me says it’s not really my business what somebody does with his or her land or why … while another part of me says, Those trees breathe fresh air for me to breathe, too!

Really, though, beyond any political or neurotic issues, it just simply hurts my heart to see it.

And more:

A driveway that a little stream of water has rendered creek-bed-like. (I remember living at the top end of one about ten times as bad as that!) And two separate signposts knocked over.

Countryside Drive

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Atticus and I went riding for about an hour and a half after church this morning, all across Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Up Mount Cross Road, around and across to Whitmell School Road, and further onto Franklin Turnpike. Up and down and east on Dry Fork Road all around and onto 29. And finally, down Snakepath Road to Spring Garden Road, back to 29, and home.

Of all the beautiful sights, I’d have to say my favorite was the little angel above, but it was a hard choice!

Atticus Sings the Gloria :)

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This is one of the songs we sing in church every week, except during Lent and Advent, the “Gloria.”

Four-year-old Attie’s been singing it for a while now, but it wasn’t until about the first week in March that he could get through the whole thing without any prompting. Since way before then, we’ve been hearing it at least 5-10 times a day, easy. When he’s building something or playing with his cars or superheroes, you can usually find him singing it. <3

Glory to God in the highest
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Sunshower

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Strange weather today. Chilly and windy with bright sun, fabulously fluffy clouds, and spotty stormy blurs.

Down the road a bit, we ran through about five minutes of sideways rain with the sun still bright as can be. People used to say that meant the Devil was beating his wife. I wonder where that came from. (Hold on; I’ll go check.)

Well, according to Wikipedia, it’s a Southern thing, although in Tennessee, they say, “The Devil’s kissing his wife.” Hmm…

There are a lot of other devil references that go along with this “sunshower” phenomenon.

And just the word, “sunshower.” Wow. I don’t think I’d ever really heard it before. It’s blowing me away. SUNSHOWER. It’s my new favorite!!

p.s. One of my favorite singers, Chris Cornell, has a song called “Sunshower”: