Developing Talents

I've been teaching Emily how to crochet to help her develop talents to fulfill one of her Faith in God requirements. She has been slowly plugging away at it and is almost done with her second project. Her first project was a scarf and hat that came in a kit with a crochet hook that we got her for Christmas last year, but the project was obviously meant for a smaller child as the scarf is quite small. She has not gotten to the hat yet and I am afraid that it will also be small. Meanwhile, Caitlyn wanted to try her hand at it as well. She's a little younger and it takes a bit of patience and developing some of those fine motor skills for her fingers but we thought we would let her try.

She is actually quite creative and has the patience put the work into somewhat difficult things. Her Aunt Danielle and Uncle Mark got her a JoAnn's gift card for her last birthday. I barely took her towards the end of summer to go pick something out. She got some shells and beads and things, but she also picked out this friendship bracelet maker. I was a bit skeptical because Emily had gotten a different one for a Christmas a year and a half ago and has been a bit frustrated with it, but this one looked easier, so we though we would give it a try.

Caitlyn has done some amazing things with it. She is on her 6th bracelet! I am truly amazed at her creations. I love her watching her pick out color combinations and seeing the things she creates (and her friends and sister loves receiving them).

And wouldn't you know it, she just finished her first crochet project too. She made this scarf for her teacher for Christmas with her teacher's favorite colors.

We are so very proud of her!

Speaking of talents, we were having some people over our house for a meeting and I used it as an excuse to get my talented husband to mount and hang some of his photographs. We had them hanging at our Fig Street house but took many of the most precious ones down to have them remounted so that they would not get ruined but never had the time to really do it and so they sat in a box these many years.

They are the last of his real photographs made from real negatives on real photographic paper. We have since found many advantages to digital photography and the latest and greatest functions of Photoshop and now Lightroom. In many ways, modern digital photography allows us to do things we were never able to do in film, but they have yet to replicate the warm and feeling you get in looking at a real proper photographic print.

Also, our talented friends came by this weekend to sing Christmas carols to us. We appreciate them so much for sharing their talents with us. Best of all, when we can capture them on video, they bring the spirit of Christmas back to us any time when we are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. What a great gift!