Eco-Friendly Love Message

All it took was a bit of physical exertion to send this message… reminds me of the simple physicality of God’s love message…

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger… Luke 2:7

Merrry Christmas.

I’ll be back after New Years to share more of my own simple messages with you.


"I Love Debbie" photo by Gail Nadeau. Used with permission.

Wrappin’

I am so impressed by those people who always remember to bring their cloth bags to the grocery store. I have such bags in my trunk, along with my good intentions. And, yet, I often forget to use them.

So, I end up with too many paper bags jostling inside my narrow cabinet.

Not to worry! Come Christmas, I can find my good intentions again, along with a great art project for the kids. Each child gets to wrap presents for the family, using our paper-bag wrappin’ paper. Then she chooses a design to decorate each package with. (I think grown-ups can have just as much fun doing this!)

And I get another year to work on aligning my actions with my good intentions.


helpful hint: to make sure your paper bag presents don't open themselves before Christmas, crease the paper well at the folds and use clear packing tape instead of regular tape

Eco-Fitness

Remember Sara's idea... about converting the human energy in fitness centers to electricity?

Well, now, just check this out. A club in the Netherlands where dancing equals electricity.


(Tip of the hat to Tricycle Ink for this very cool info.

Woodland Treasure

Today, my kids made Nativity scenes with their friends, at a homeschool club they attend together. We had gathered all sorts of natural materials for the occasion.

The Holy Baby was rocks or twigs. Mary and Joseph were cutout leaves. The angels sported fungus wings, beautiful ivory and sea-green-striped fungus wings. The trough was grass, wilted and golden in its cold-weather collapse.

I wish I had a camera to take pictures, but I didn’t. We left the scenes on location. And when they’re done bringing joy, we can return them to the woods, no environmental impact.

Wouldn’t it be grand if every kid’s club, every school (home or otherwise) would ditch the plastic, and paper, and vinyl, and foam, and so on, and so on materials?

This would be a greater challenge for city schools, but still; maybe they could ditch the take-home projects and concentrate on reusable materials. Digital photos posted on classroom blogs could serve as a lasting testament and communication to parents.

Just think of the creativity that would be required in hunting-gathering. Just think of the learning those little fingers could take in, the appreciation those little eyes could develop… and, perhaps, an honor for the beauty and complexity of creation.

“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” Job 26:14

Yarrow photo by Sonia.

On the Electric Mill

My Sara loves to read (that's her lounging out above). She especially loves to read about energy. She also loves to talk about it.

So, recently we were having a deep conversation about the energy needs of the world, and she and I got a brainstorm...

What if... what if every fitness center in America could harness the human output... of every stationary biker, weight lifter... just by some little invention that channeled the energy (kind of like the wind mill idea) and stored it, or reused it right there at the center?

I read an article on energy recently that talked about the huge difference that many little energy savings could make. So... why not make a huge difference with many little energy outputs?

We thought it would be a great marketing ploy too... Lose weight, gain energy for America! Now, the world can wait for Sara to grow up and invent this little energy-capturing device, or somebody out there can do it right now. Why wait?

Photo by Sonia Barkat, age 7.