Blog Business and Happy New Year!

Dear Friends,

A few orders of Blogging Business:

Firstly: I apologise for breaking the code of my blog-promise to post one keepsake drawing each day. I feel bad to have broken your trust. I didn't post for two whole days. The reason was a good one, but it was still inconsiderate, seeing as I know how important this blog is for your internet-browsing survival. After, all what would you do without it?! Get bored? Read actual news as opposed to my trifling tidbits? Go on Wikipedia worm-hole expeditions? Oh you know exactly what I mean: That's when you look up something on Wikipedia that you don;t know anything about and then while you are reading the article you come across another term or name that you didn't know so you click on the hyperlink. That can just go on and on until someone calls you for dinner or makes you take your laundry out of the dryer. 

Anyway, my reason for not posting was because I was spending the night with some special friends in a nearby city called Havířov. My friend did not have internet, so that was why I didn't send word. Have no fear. I am back. I do not promise to never again make an internet transgression, but for this one I sincerely apologise.

Secondly: As I write this it is 12 o'clock on New Years Eve! I can hear all the fireworks going off around our valley. Happy New Year, Blog People! May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you in this next year!

Here are some of the things that happened on this blog and in my life in the last year:

- I reached 100 posts
- I did some cool drawing challenges
- I finished reading the entire Old testament of the Bible
- I went on tour to California with the Wheaton College Gospel Choir and blogged about our trip
- I created a travel guide on my trip home to Czech
- I became a covert street artist

It has been a full year. God has blessed me with my family, my boyfriend and friends. I am so privileged to be attending college and working at a good job. Thank you, Lord!

Good night.

Keepsake Album Day 8: Small Doll

The week before my family moved to the Czech Republic I had one last sleepover with my two best fiends from the fifth grade. My mom bought us each a doll. She had seen them at the grocery store and because she is a doll maker she has trouble resisting buying dolls for her daughter. She thought they would be nice to have to commemorate our last time hanging out. We each named our doll after one friend. I can't remember which of my two friends my doll was named after: Jackie or Liza? I can't recall. I actually never saw Liza again after that sleepover. I may have written her a letter and tried to call, but our friendship just petered out. 

But Jackie I have seen several times since. She is actually now engaged to be married. She was my absolute closest friend all throughout my life in the States before we moved to Europe. Our friendship started on the first day of preschool. We were three years old and we bonded deeply over throwing dozens and dozens of "helicopters". You know those little things that come from trees and if you throw them they twirl like the propellers of helicopters? 

Here's what they kind of look like:

Anyway. This doll reminds me of a friendship that meant a whole lot to me in the first eleven years of my life (and beyond!). Thanks for being my friend so many years, Jackie!

Keepsake Album Day 7: A Bead With a Face

My daddy made this bead for me out of Fimo a few years back for my birthday. When I was a child I was always enchanted by the things my dad was able to make with Fimo. He would build these amazing castles out of tiny bricks of clay. They were only a few inches tall, but they had vines growing up the sides and turrets and I even remember one which had a princess with a head the size of a pin letting down strands of Fimo hair from a window. He loves painting and miniature soldiers and figurines. For many years he was really excited about painting figurines from the Lord of the Rings. Lately he has been taking generic miniature soldiers and fantasy figurines and altering them to look like characters from The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. 

My dad is always modest about his artistic skills, claiming that he is not good at drawing or anything artistic. I quite disagree and have loved everything he creates from a very early age. This tiny bead brings me joy because of how expressive and funny it is. Anyway, who thinks to put a face on a bead?! 

Keepsake Album Day 6: Hair Clip Shaped Like a Strawberry

A friend of mine gave me this hair clip which is shaped like a strawberry. It is significant because my friend is one of the people I love the most. She gave it to me because one of our favourite flavours of Czech bubbly water is called Rebarbora a Jahoda (translated to "rhubarb and strawberry"). My friend's name is Barbora. 

Rebarbora. 

Get it? 

Keepsake Album Day 5: A Puddle of Alien Snot

Today I drew a cartoon about a gift exchange that took place in our family many years ago. Let me tell you about it:

In approximately the year 2001 we each drew names of someone in the family. It was our job to create some sort of handmade gift for that person as a part of the Christmas festivities. At that time I was about seven or eight-years-old. My older brother, Patrick, was probably ten or eleven and Paul Hugh, the youngest at that time, was maybe three or four-years-old. Isaac came into our family many years later. He is not in this story. 

Everyone in my family is quite crafty. We all have artistic ability and decent fine-motor skills that come in handy for the making of crafts. In fact today Patrick is currently in the business of professional carpentry and my mother was a talented doll-maker for many years. Back to the story!

Even at this tender age Patrick and I were able to make some cool things by hand. I must have drawn my dad's name and I forget if Patrick had my mom or Paul Hugh. We all made some cool object for the person whose name we had drawn. I am sure my parents gifts were really cool like a painted soldier figurine from my dad or an elaborate paper-doll from my mother. I probably made a cool beaded ring or necklace. 

The only one whose crafting abilities had not yet matured was the four-year-old Paul Hugh. He was no artisan at age four. Of course in a couple of years he would develop as an artist and begin to create such fine works as a series of highly detailed battle scenes depicting hundred of tiny soldiers battling a monster he dubbed the "Jointosaurus". The Jointasaurus was a dinosaur-like being who had a remarkable amount of joints which allowed him to bend his massive limbs in several different directions at once. ANYWAY. This level of prowess was yet to come. Four-year-old Paul Hugh was not the person you wanted making you a Christmas gift. I love the boy dearly, but honestly anyone would have rather received one of my parents miniature works of art rather than whatever that runny-nosed little fellow could have dreamed up with a couple of pipe cleaners. 

This, at least, was my sincere sentiment as I learned that Paul Hugh had drawn my name. The eight year-old me was disappointed. What was he going to make? What even could he make?! 

The answer was something out of plasticine. PH spent about five minutes creating a small sculpture out of a yellowish green wad of plasticine. It looked something like a melting tree. It was very um…abstract. I looked up from my beaded creation every now and then to check on the status of my "gift". My heart sank as I watched PH shape the weird lump of clay. 

PH persuaded an adult to bake the creation in the oven for a time. He must have thought it was something like Fimo or Sculpey which hardens after baking. He was wrong. Plasticine is not meant to go ing the oven. In fact is never meant to harden, which is why animators use it for claymation. But four-year-old PH did not know that. 

We all exchanged our gift at the end of our family craft session. Everyone was delighted with the beautiful handiwork of their fellow Tills. Except me. Paul Hugh's little plasticine sculpture had turned into a puddle of yellowish green. It looked like a pool of alien snot on a pie tin. That was my gift. 

Keepsake Album Day 4: Tiny Ceramic Puppet

Merry Christmas Again! 

I just posted a drawing two minutes ago, but I need to keep up to scratch with this series and I forgot yesterday. 

SO. Here is my fourth instalment of the Keepsake Album. It is a tiny ceramic puppet that was given to me by my mother after a trip to Krakow. I suppose it was made there by a local craftsperson. Thanks, Mom! You have always known what tiny trinkets will make me smile.

Have a lovely Boxing Day tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow with some more keepsakes.

Love,

LR

Keepsake Album Day 3: Play-Doh and Pom Poms (a day late, sorry!)

Merry Christmas, All!

I totally forgot to post this yesterday! Sorry!

This is part of the gift Isaac (my seven-year-old brother) gave to me this Christmas. As soon as I opened the egg carton in which he wrapped it and saw the fragile Play-Doh creation within, I knew it was a candidate for the Keepsake Album, because it was going to fall apart at any moment. 

As he handed me the package he said, "Here is something I made for you. I made this for you from Play-Doh and pom-poms."

Thanks, Isaac. I love you. Hopefully that will still be true after I babysit you for a whole week while our parents are away. 

Love,

LR

Keepsake Album Day 2: Plastic Rats

These were given to me for Christmas, I  think, by one of my brothers. I think I'll donate them to some other kids.

The Keepsake Album

Dear Friends,

I really enjoyed creating drawing challenges for myself over the summer. I did a doodle-a-day for 30 days and I also did a challenge for drawing the things I was thankful for. 

Doodle challenge here 

Thankful challenge here

It is Christmas Vacation now and I am enjoying being at home. But I don't want this Christmas break to end with my feeling as though I didn't make anything cool or really accomplish anything on my list of things that I always wish I had time for when school is in session. That is why I am going to challenge myself to post one drawing everyday for three weeks. I will do a drawing everyday except for weekends starting today and ending on January 9th. 

I am going to draw my keepsakes. I love gifts from people that I can keep because they remind me of that person or something special we did together. The problem with this is that I end up having sentimental ties to too many objects. The objects are usually things that do not serve any practical purpose and therefore just lie around and collect dust. Yes, I occasionally pick them up and fondly remember the person or memory, but it is not worth the clutter in my life. A few months ago it occurred to me to draw each of these items into a special album. That way I could still have the memory, but I could feel OK about getting rid of the object itself. I can give them away or donate them or even throw them away. 

My boyfriend, Sheldon, is a bookbinding amateur (although his craft is rapidly growing toward a professional level). He knew about this drawing idea and so he made me a beautiful book to be my Keepsake Album. I haven't had time since my birthday in October to start my intended project and the beautiful notebook has lain barren and forlorn. But now it is break time! Now I can do everything I have ever wanted to do!

The Birthday Book from Sheldon

There is significant danger in my publishing this series. Vladimir Putin might get ahold of it. No. Just kidding. That will probably not happen. Besides, Vlaďa, would love this idea. He would ask for his own Keepsake Album for Christmas and use his artistic talents to fill it with the gifts he has collected on diplomatics visits to other countries.  

No, the real problem is you, My Lovely Readers. What if the gift I choose to immortalise in my album came from you? What if I choose to GET RID OF SOMETHING THAT YOU GAVE ME! AHHHHH! That would be terrible. How rude! 

Dear Reader, you misunderstand. If I choose to draw something that you gave me and then throw it away, it does not mean I do not care about you. On the contrary, it means that I DO care. I care so much that I sat down and studied the object you gave me. I drew it with careful detail in order that I never forget your friendship and the care with which you chose that object as something that would make me smile. 

I live on two separate continents. I travel between Europe and the United States twice a year and my home is not permanent in either place right now. That means that having a lot of stuff is really not practical for me. So, Friend, rather than feeling slighted, please feel honoured. 

Entry #1: A felt pin from my parents. They are the first people to take a hit. They can handle it. 

8 Game Ideas for Babysitters

Dear Friends,

Besides being a student I am also a babysitter. I babysit for 3 boys ages 13, 11 and 7 every day for about two hours. I do not have many duties beyond making sure no one burns anything down until their parents come home.

If there are any other babysitters reading this or anyone who wants some ideas for simple games to play with kids, I will list some of the games I have made up or used:

1. Hide and Seek:
Prep Time: 2 minutes (depends on how long it takes you to find a hiding spot)
Play Time: 10 minutes (depends on how good your spot was)

- Post-it-note on door that reads "Find me. Sincerely, Your Babysitter".
- You hide until they find you.

Prep Time: 2 minutes (depends on how long it takes you to find a hiding spot)
Play Time: 10 minutes (depends on how good your spot was)

2. Post-It-Note I Spy:
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes (how fast can you draw from real life?)
Play Time: 5 minutes (how observant are they?)

- You draw a closeup of an object in the house on a post-it-note.
- It is the job of the kid to go around the house and find the thing that the drawing depicts.
- When they find it they can stick the post-it on the object.

The most successful game I have invented (or the one that they seemed to enjoy the most) takes little time and care on the part of the one setting it up.
I like this game because it requires something valuable of each player. For the person drawing it requires drawing practice from real-life. From the player it requires observation skills. They have to slow down and consider objects that they may have previously passed by. When I played this with the boys they got so into it that they started making ones for me to solve as well.

3. Mystery Bag Game:
Prep Time: 10-12 minutes
Play Time: 10 minutes

- I went around their house and put three objects into three paper bags.
- I labelled each bag with numbers 1-3.
- The boys had 6 guesses total to guess what was in each one. They were allowed to exchange one guess for one hint.
- For each correct answer they got a piece of candy.

4. Post-it-note Puzzle:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Play Time: 30 seconds

- stick 12 post-it-notes onto the counter and draw a picture onto the resulting "piece of paper".
- Unstick all the post-its and mix them up.
- The players must reassemble them like a puzzle.

This game also takes some prep time. I drew a picture of Link from their favourite Zelda game. I think that was one big reason they liked this game so much. But it took them all of 30 seconds to complete.

5. Still Life Drawing Game:
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Play Time: 10 minutes

- Make a pile of 4-5 small simple objects on the floor.
- Provide a sheet of paper and a pencil and a hard surface like a book for each.
- Their task? Choose one of the objects to draw as realistically as possible.

This is a game that I enjoyed more than they did. I liked it because the drawings that they made were quite good and they had to sit still for 10 minute making them. They thought this was kind of boring.

6. Questionnaire Game: 
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Play Time: 10 minutes

- Create a simple questionnaire with questions like: "What is your favourite colour" "What was the funniest thing that happened to you today?" "Draw two things you would use to scare away flies"
- The players write the answers to the questions. I usually only do three or four so that the game doesn't start to feel like homework.

This game can also be played in the car. I sometimes pick the boys up in the car on rainy days and I will leave a questionnaire on each seat. They come into the car and answer the questions verbally while I drive. I like this one because it helps us have meaningful conversations instead of babbling on the way home.

7. Paper Airplane Contest Game:
Prep Time: 10 minutes (20 minutes if you make a big paper target)
Play Time: 5 minutes - 30 minutes (it's up to you how long you play. They can be happy with this game for up to half an hour)

- Set out sheets of paper.
- Everyone makes their own paper airplane.
- Ascertain whose flies the farthest.

This one is pretty basic. But young boys love it. They will try to make better and fast planes. A little research on the interwebs about what planes are the best does not go amiss here. One time I made a big target for them out of four sheets of paper and crayons. I taped it to the wall.

8. Water Balloon Game:
Prep time: 10 minutes (depending on how fast you can fill balloons)
Play Time: 5-10 minutes (depending on how many players and how manny balloons)

- Create a huge chalk target on the driveway. Label each ring with a point value.
- Fill three water balloons per person.
- Each person has three hits.
- The person with the most points wins.

Bunker

Dear Friends,

I am a Secondary Education Major and an English Major. I am not at an art school and I am not taking any studio art classes. This means that I have very little time to devote to the "art" part of my being. My main outlets for that have been a weekly cartoon I draw for the school newspaper and the occasional doodle I post on Instagram or make for the boys I babysit. 

BUT a few weeks ago the editor of one of our campus literary journals contacted me to ask if I would submit some art work for the journal called The Pub. She had seen my work for the paper and liked it. I said, "Yes!" as I usually do with complete disregard for the fact that I have very little free time to devote to side projects. 

But I am glad that I did say yes. It felt so refreshing to get deep into an art project. For the past weeks I have been snapping photos and collecting ideas. I spent the last week drawing. Yesterday I completely flew caution to the wind and instead of doing my homework I spent five hours rendering this project in Photoshop. The resul is not as clean and polished as it could have been had I chosen to sacrifice even more homework time. But I am pleased with what I was able to accomplish. I hope you too are pleased. 

Enjoy. 

Love,

Lucy Rose

The New Testament

Dear Friends,

As usual it has been a while since last we spoke. By this time you know that my life is insane with school. Today, however, I have taken some time because I have big news.

On October 31 I finished the Old Testament of the Bible!

Some of you may have read my post a few weeks ago about how I spent the last four years trying to read through the whole Bible, because one too many people upon hearing that I am a Christian had asked me if I had read the entire Bible.

Start date: October 2nd, 2010 (my 18th birthday)
Finish date: October 31, 2014 (a few weeks after my 22nd birthday)

Wow. That took forever. It was hard and confusing and you can read about that experience in my post here.

I am still taking Old Testament Literature class, so I have a healthy does of Bible reading each week. That is why I have put off delving into the New Testament. But today, I felt the desire to start.

One of my lifelong struggles has been not wanting to read the Bible. I just don't. I am a voracious reader. I read all the time and always have. But when it comes to the Bible I just can't get excited. But today I felt that excitement. That is a gift from the Lord, because usually I just read the Bible like swallowing a pill. Today was different. I actually was excited about starting the New Testament.

I made a special latte in preparation for sitting down and reading. But wait! I had an idea. I needed to buy a special notebook. I grabbed my coat and wallet and ran down to our school bookstore. I spent a good ten minutes browsing the "special notebook" rack and selected my old standby: a small black, lined Moleskine. I shelled out thirteen dollars for it. But, Folks, I have been learning about myself, that when I spend a lot of money on something I value it more.

My plan for the notebook is this: As I read the New Testament I shall write a one sentence summary of every single chapter. This is a practice I have been learning to do in my class. I find that when I do this it forces me to actually think about what I have read. I have to pay attention and use some writing and recall skills. My thirteen-dollar notebook shall house these summaries.

SO.

I have now read and summarised the first chapter of Matthew. Wow. I feel like I have experienced a micro-version of the Israelites wait for the Messiah. They waited thousands of years for a Saviour. I have been reading the OT for four years and I have been waiting for him too. And now he has come. In Matthew Chapter One Jesus is born. The Saviour has come. Hallelujah!!!

I was surprised at how stark Matthew's language is. This is an event that we (me and all of Creation) have been waiting for forever and Matthew's language is so bare-bones. But somehow this is fitting. I feel like the event of our Saviour coming is already so charged with emotion and wonder that embellishment would not be welcome. It would seem garish.

Thanks, Matthew.

P.S.
For those of you who wonder what my specially-made latte was doing when I was running to the store I cleverly wrapped it up in a sweatshirt so that it was still warm when I got back. Ingenious, I know.

Nighttime Wanderings: Part II

Don't call me Lucy Rose anymore, please. Don't call me Lucy or Miss Till. I am now under

cover as an Illegal Street Artist. 

On Wednesday I posted about waking up super early to watch the lunar eclipse and I promised a second instalment about nighttime wanderings. 

Here it is:

At the school I go to we receive a bunch of junk mail from all sorts of places. Usually they are campus wide notices about upcoming organisation fairs, lectures or sales. Sometimes they are local venues attempting to attract college students. They send a slip of coloured paper into every single CPO box on campus (that's probably well over 1500 boxes) and 90% of them are thrown out. Actually, everyone haphazardly tosses them onto a shelf above the mail room and they sit around for several days before someone supposedly recycles them. 

I walk by the stacks of  abandoned coloured papers and wonder how they could be made into something cooler than trash. So I decided to make them into a mobile of origami cranes. I collected all of the discarded pieces of green paper from the college bookstore's advertisement and over the course of two days (with the help of a few friends. Thanks, guys!) made them into cranes. 

A few minutes ago I borrowed my roommate's black rain-jacket and illegally hung the mobile from the CPO-room ceiling (we are only allowed to display authorised displays). 

MWAHAHAAAAAA!!! It was so rebellious.

Plus I almost got locked into the student centre.

I love redemptive artwork which takes something others would overlook or deem useless and makes iy into a beautiful thing. That is why I stayed up so late and spent a lot of time making this mobile.

There is a lot of trash around me that can be transformed into something worth-while, but more often than not I have the inspiration but I never actually end up doing it.

I felt determined that with this one idea I needed to follow through. 

Here is a brief list of some trash I have collected in the past:

(I may or may not still have some of this stuff)

- Mouldy coffee grinders found in a dumpster on Stodolni street

- Piece of ventilation piping from my landlord's trash can. I thought it would make a nice gift for my boyfriend.

- Lots of pieces of nature: pinecones, acorns, leaves, branches, nut shells and sycamore pods

- Tin cans (pencil holders!)

- Jars (in which to keep my nature pieces

- An old desk entirely plastered with "Good Job!" stickers and Barbie stickers

- An entire collection of rusty hex nuts (some are shiny!)

To quote my dear friend Calvin of the Bill Watterson cartoon Calvin and Hobbes: "There is treasure everywhere!"

Nighttime Wanderings: Part I

Dear Friends,

There was a lunar eclipse this morning. According to the internet that is when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned with the Earth in the middle. I probably didn't need to explain that to you smarties. But me and the two friends who watched it with me were having a hard time figuring it out this morning at 5:30 AM, as we stood groggily clutching our coffee. We uttered such intelligent musings such as; "Does a lunar eclipse mean that the moon covers the sun? How is that possible?", "Wow that's pretty." and "Who is blasting mariachi music right now?"

It was my RA Emily who came up with the final intelligent explanation for a lunar eclipse.

Last night at 12 PM I asked my roommate Laura if she thought sleeping on the lawn of the college campus and waking up to see the eclipse was a good idea. She thought it was not. She said that the campus security would probably find me and mistake me for a homeless person. She had the more sane idea of waking up at 5:15, taking some coffee and blankets, watching the eclipse and then returning to bed. She is also very smart.

So that is what we did! Here are a couple photos. We wanted to take a photo of the eclipse, but it didn't show up on our cameras. So we did the next best thing: Selfies!

This is our first selfie attempt. Laura and Emily are
looking adorable at 5 AM.  I look crazed. 

They let me try again. The result is way cuter. Plus I added a vintage tint. 

The eclipse was beautiful. The moon was full and a reddish glow was creeping across it. One edge hadn't yet been covered and it was bright yellow. Here is my attempt at an illustration.

This was my first nighttime wandering of the week. Tune in tomorrow to hear about the next one!

100 Posts. Hooray!

Hi guys!

I have been blogging since I was fifteen years old. I will be twenty two on Thursday. This post marks my one hundredth post.Thank you for following along with me. It has been a pleasure to me. I hope it has been for you as well.

Or, perhaps you like to read my blog, because my posts are so bad that you enjoy hating them. If that is the case then you are welcome. I am glad you have found them entertaining.

If you are just joining: Welcome aboard! I hope you stick around for my next seven years of blogging hilarity. Just kidding. By then blogging will have been replaced by a device that allows you to upload your thoughts straight onto the internet.

Here is a brief retrospective on my blog:

My first two posts ever.

My pre-high-school days. 

Applying to art high-school.

Taking the SATs in Prague. 

My first weeks of college.

Family vacation. 

My travel guide. 

Thankful-Doodle-Challenge. 

Please feel free to contact me about how to send me birthday presents to my address. 

With love,
Lucy Rose

My Dad's Socks, Images from Chicago

I went to the city of Chicago this weekend to catch the last day of an exhibition of Josef Koudelka's photos at the Art Institute. Here are a few images from that day.

My feet are the red-shod ones. Yes, my socks looked that dorky all day. Before you throw fashion tomatoes at me (no, I do not know what those are) There are actually 2 specific reasons to justify the wearing of my men's Fruit of the Loom socks over my pants. (If you like the look I am achieving with my feet you can buy your own socks here or ask your own dad)

Reason #1: I was getting sick that day and I did not care what my socks were doing. 

Reason #2: I sometimes leave my socks outside my pants if they happen to end up that way when I put them on as a memorial to my father. When I lived at home pre-college, I took it upon myself to be my father's outward appearance monitor. This entailed checking his nose hair status (too long, too crusty etc.), vetoing outfits, affirming outfits, calling him out on XYZ moments and of course telling him to untuck his pants from his socks. 

So now that I am far from home in the USA my father has no one to help him keep his outward appearance presentable. 

(Although this is not strictly speaking true. He can be pretty dashing if he chooses and my fashion-savvy mother will help him in dire situations. I just tend to be more vocal and obnoxious about "keeping my dad in check". But I do this out of the knowledge that the men in my family have the distinct ability to go from looking presentable and decent to looking like homeless wilderness men in a matter of minutes.)

I miss him a lot and so when I find that in the morning I have accidentally put my socks on over my pants, I like to leave them tucked. People remark on it throughout the day and I have an opening to talk about my daddy, whom I miss. 

This guy is cool, eh?! I had to take this photo quickly because it was in the middle of the crosswalk in the city. 

The red eye of Target gleaming out from behind it's glass. AHH!!! 

Adventures in the Old Testament

Dear Internet Browsers,

When I turned 18 I set myself the goal of reading the entire Bible cover to cover. I will turn 22 on October 2nd and I would like to have finished the Old Testament by that time.

 I took an introductory course in Bible and Theology last Fall and the professor, who is an OT scholar, asked the class if anyone read more Old Testament than New Testament in their personal reading. I was the only one who raised my hand, so I looked like a ridiculous OT show-off. I wanted to explain to everyone, "You don't understand, guys! I would read the New Testament if I could! But I am not allowed to yet because I am an insanely slow reader!"

Just me, making some new friends during Freshman year. 

This project has been really hard to do because I have been so uninformed about the OT. So many of the things I was reading about like in the books about the prophets were confusing and boring.

You may ask, "Uh, Lucy Rose, why didn't you read some books on the side to help you understand? Why didn't you consult your family's bookshelf devoted to theological studies? And once you got back to America, where they have huge libraries of stuff in English, why didn't you read about it then? Why didn't you ask your parents to help you!? WHY DID YOU PURPOSEFULLY STAY IGNORANT?!"

Well, Folks, I just DID, OK?! I wasn't very smart about it. I also sort of told myself that I just read the Old Testament cold-turkey. I just hopped right in there and the turkey was very cold. Wait a sec…That sounded strange. Sorry.

Back to the topic at hand:

Now I am taking an Old Testament class, because after four years of Old Testament cold-turkey-ing about I will finally understand what the heck Ezekiel was about.

It is kind of like developing a weird friendship over the course of four years with someone who never talks about their family. Then one day you go to their family's house for dinner and you're like, "Oh my gosh! I suddenly understand this person a lot more. That's why they never eat meat!"

That is a weird analogy. But do you get the idea? I am excited to learn about the Old Testament from an academic perspective after having been forming this strange relationship with it for the last four years.

I both love and hate the Old Testament.

Three reasons I love the Old Testament:

1) God constantly reassures His people that He loves them and want them back

2) I love the Psalms

3) There is some really hilarious, weird stuff in it. For instance, God tells the Israelites not to walk on steps up to the altar because he does not want to be mooned by them. (See Exodus 20:5-6 which reads: "And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.") 
Also take a second look at the book of Jonah. HE WAS SWALLOWED BY A SEA-MONSTER! That is just plain cool. (although if you read Jonah you will see that Jonah has little objective appreciation for the coolness of spending 3 whole days inside a sea-monster)

Three reasons I have a hard time with the Old Testament: (the original title of this list was "Three reasons I hate the Old Testament", but that sounded very sinful)

1) It is very long. Like thousands of pages long.

2) There are some very boring parts which I do not understand (I am looking at you, Prophets!) 

3) There is a lot of killing which makes it hard to understand God 

All of the things on my second list are things that I am getting over thanks to my new class. It is a very hard class for me, but I am learning a lot. 

Here is a portion of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. This piece is exquisitely beautiful and I think it captures the essence of the Old Testament. God is using the entire OT to tell His people that He wants them to seek Him and come to Him. (See Deuteronomy 4:29 "But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.")

An Apology and a Few Photos

Dear Folks,

I have been swallowed up in school, which started a few weeks ago. I have been doing activities and homework and work (babysitting now!) every waking moment. That is why I haven't posted for a while. I am sorry. 

Here are a few photos that I have taken in the last few weeks with my beautiful new phone. They are things that I have spotted and found to be beautiful. Hopefully you will enjoy them! 

Love,

Lucy Rose Till

PS

I have been posting photos of my artwork on Instagram because it is pretty easy to do straight from my phone. My username is: tilllucyrose

First Latte

Yesterday, I posted a drawing of my new (pre-owned) espresso machine. Today I made my first latte with it for my new RA and a friend. I love making coffee for people. I don't know how often I will be able to have so much leisure to make lattes for friends and sit sipping them in the sun of my dorm. But before school starts it is good and nice. 

Doodle #29 - Espresso Machine

Like I said yesterday I just moved into my new dorm room. Today it was finally time to try out the espresso machine which I purchased at a second-hand store for six dollars. Laura, my new roommate, and I lugged it down to the kitchen to try it out using the assistance of the old-looking instructional video we found on YouTube.

It worked like a dream. Laura suggested that we name the machine, because her Kuerig machine has a name. The name is Craig. That name makes me think of a song I know about Jesus's bad-news brother Craig Christ. But the song has several F-words, so I do not think I shall provide a link. 

ANYWAY, Laura suggested that my espresso have a female Italian name. We toyed around with several until "Brunela" was suggested. This has the appeal of a slight coffee-related pun. (BREW-nela, get it?)

But then Laura felt that the name Brunela had "too many subtle hints of Bruce". She felt the name sounded too similar to the name Bruce. 

This cracked me up because I pictured Laura at a wine tasting throwing out that line in response to a fine wine, "Hmmm, it has a good nose but too many subtle hints of Bruce."

Doodle #27 - An Early Suitor

Dearest Readers of My Blog,

In my 21 years I have had little romantic drama. I am pretty much OK with this, because I know that as fun as romantic drama is to read about, it is usually very awkward for everyone. I would, of course, love to have men falling all over themselves for me, but this rarely happens. What happens instead is that I go along living my daily life and every once in a while a random member of the opposite sex will peel away from the general crowd worshipping at the feet of worthier women to pay me unwanted attention. In these situations I find myself bewildered and panicky. But there is also a part of me which realises that they are hilarious. That is why I shall share an early such instance with you today. 

In the seventh grade my homeroom class split into two groups for foreign language classes. The English students got to stay in the class room and the German students had to move to the other seventh grade's classroom for that period. Somehow it happened that the German-learning half of the class had all the rowdy, most misbehaving kids in it. I am absolutely serious. This is in no way meant to be a political commentary or racial slur. It was just true. English class had Zuzka, Jana and Pepa who were all academic angels. German class contained Matěj, Patrik and Tomáš; none of whom wore deodorant.

Anyway, to continue with my story… My sweet friend Claire and I sat together at our desk as far away from our fellow German speakers as possible and usually had a lovely time drawing notes back and forth all throughout class. Claire and I were in German class because we were some of the only two Americans in our Czech school and we already spoke English.

After class we would gather our belongings and prepare to move back to our homeroom. At the same time, the other seventh grade class would be returning from English class. This is when Petr first spotted me. We must remember that in the seventh grade I was about thirteen. This was a period in my life when I accessorised primarily with home-made Sculpey beads. I had bushy hair and wore a long thin braid behind one ear in order to look like a Jedi padawan learner. Petr found me irresistible. (Or perhaps he had picked up on the Star Wars reference in my hairstyle and thought I had Jedi powers)

He would make a beeline to my desk every afternoon as I gathered my textbooks. His main flirtation tactic was to confiscate my pencil case. Then, while rifling through its contents, he would ask me questions about myself and try to look deep into my eyes. I would answer his questions curtly avoiding eye contact. I would try to leave the classroom quickly. But of course, I had to somehow snatch back my pencil case before I could leave. Once my pencil case was rescued, I would scuttle back to the safety of my own classroom so I could pass encoded notes to Claire about how weird and awkward Petr was.

Looking back on this chapter in my romantic history I see it with more perspective. Petr was a nice boy (for a thirteen-year-old). He was skinny and a little goofy, but nice and probably would have been fun to talk to. He was able to appreciate me despite my geekiness. I probably didn't need to be as repulsed and dramatic about his attentions as I was at the time. But then again, I was thirteen.

Doodle #26 - Ruthie and Her Brother

Thankful Doodles - Part Three (Doodle #25)

This is the last day of the Thankful Doodles. Enjoy! 

Check out Parts One and Two here.

P.S. Sorry, the photos are such poor quality. I left my phone with the good camera at church and took these blurry guys with my webcam. 

Watching Nacho Libre with Friends. 

I saw it with my good friends. I had never seen it before. I laughed very hard. Perhaps I would not have laughed so much had I not been with such fun people. My favourite scene was about eating toast. Here's the link. Something about chastely crunching toast on a first date while wearing nightgowns cracks me up. Probably because I feel like it is the sort of thing Sheldon would dream up; "Lucy Rose, would you like to come to our apartment to make origami birds?"

Getting to Buy Post-It Notes, a Pen and Erasers. 

There's a scene in one of my favourite novels The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West in which the mother and daughter buy a paper bag of raisins despite the fact that they are broke. They revel in the ability to purchase something that simple and dub it a luxury. I felt similarly about buying 20 erasers to cover the terrible erasers on all the pencils at our church. I also bought a felt-tip pen and Post-It notes for us to make flip-book animation. It felt like a "luxury" to buy those simple items. 

I Had a Good Day At Work.

 Self Explanatory.

Some Time to Walk with Sheldon.

"Yeah yeah. Stop being so gushy, Lucy Rose. BORING!"
"Well, So-reeeee! I really thought you would be more happy for me than this."

The Blue Shirt My Daddy Got Me. Thanks Dad!

I felt pretty and smart in the pretty blue shirt my dad bought for me when he visited a couple weeks ago. I sent him a selfie of myself in the shirt and he replied that I have always done well in blue. He sent me this photo of myself as a baby to prove it. I felt so loved. (Plus I was a pretty, dang cute baby.)

A Postcard From Barbora.

Dear Barbora. I love you. I miss you. I see cool tattoos and think of you. But I don't think I could get another one without you. 

Thank you so much for all of these blessings, My Lord. 

Good night.