Lenten Journey

As I'm preparing for Lent this year, I thought I should share some of the resources I created last year. Our theme was "Journeying with Jesus to the Cross". To better visualize the journey, I created this illustration so each family could keep track of their journey through the 40 days of Lent at home, along with some short readings for each day of the journey.

On Sundays, when all the kids came forward for the children's message, we would talk about where we were on the journey, and then a few of them would color in the squares from the past week. I think the kids especially enjoyed having something hands-on to do, and the visual of drawing closer to the cross and the resurrection was helpful.

If you click the image below, you should be able to download a legal-size version of the journey printout PDF for your own use at home or at church. Happy journeying!

Ash Wednesday 2012

I've been busy planning my first Ash Wednesday service (along with the rest of the Lenten season)...well, I guess most of it is fairly traditional, but it's fun to be responsible for putting it all together anyway.

We'll be doing the traditional readings from the lectionary (Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10; Matthew6:1-6, 16-21), plus some responsive readings from Psalm 51:15-17 and Isaiah 58.

For music, we'll be singing "Come O Sinners, Poor and Needy," "Kind and Merciful God," "Kyrie Eleison, Have Mercy," and "What Wondrous Love Is This."

I also decided to include the Litany of Penitence (though I use the word repentance because it's more familiar for most of us) from the Book of Common Prayer. We'll pray this very exhaustive confession once all have received the imposition of ashes.

Looking forward to it!

Epiphany Season (Year B) Bulletin Cover

In these weeks leading up to the season of Lent, the gospel passages in the church lectionary introduce us to the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry. In Mark 1:15, Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of God has come near; the invitation to all is to repent, believe, and to come and follow him as disciples, learning how to live in the world while acknowledging Jesus as the ultimate authority and ruler.

To tie this theme together, I created this bulletin cover. I tried to find a photo of a country road here in Nebraska, since we follow Jesus right here and right now.

Thank You Notes

I have a love/slightly-despise relationship with thank you notes. On the one hand, I sincerely enjoy expressing my gratitude in my own hand writing. On the other hand, I have a lot of guilt about the thank you notes that don't get sent. Five years after my wedding, I can still remember a few of the thank you notes that were returned to me because of a wrong address; I was unable to re-send a few of those, and I still feel bad that those people weren't thanked! Plus, there are certain very generous people in my life (primarily my parents and my inlaws) to whom I owe approximately 1,492 thank you notes each. That's a lot of catching up to do.

One of the things that makes a thank you note extra special is when it's made by hand. I made most of the thank you notes for wedding gifts using paper leftover from our invitations. This photo is of the most recent set that I made, using hand-carved rubber stamps I designed. I was really blessed by several folks when I graduated from seminary, and I just had to send them something special, so I made these.

Bulletin Cover

Our church recently voted to embrace "Going deeper in Christ and further in mission" as our statement of response. With John 15:5 as a foundational verse, one of our pastors thought the image of a tree with roots and branches would help visually communicate our desire to remain in Jesus, going deeper in our spirituality and walk with God, while we also bear much fruit, going further in the mission that God has for us. So I created this image, which is now on the cover of our bulletins, incorporating our church logo in the bottom right corner (which I did not create). I had fun doing it, and as I worked on those little details on the roots, I found that I was praying for my own roots to go down deeper in the love of Christ!

Retreat Poster

I created this poster to advertise the retreat for all the students graduating from seminary this year (and faculty and staff!). I'm really looking forward to spending some time with the colleagues that have been so important to me over the past three years, and to reflect back on the path that we've been on and where it is that God is leading us!

Latin Posters

At the beginning of my husband's second year of teaching high school Latin, he wanted to get some fun Latin quotes up on his wall. When he explored the options out there, he discovered that there haven't been many Latin posters designed in the last couple decades! So, he picked out a few of his favorite quotes and I had some fun designing some posters that we took to the print shop and he was able to hang up around his room.

In the chance that you're a Latin teacher too and stumbled across this, let me know if you're interested in getting your hands on the high resolution files for these posters, and I'd be happy to send them along.

Women's Brunch Invitation

I created this image for the Christmas Brunch at my Mom and Dad's church. My Mom asked me if I could do it during a week with lots of other things going on at school, but I loved using the right side of my brain for a break!

Many Blessings Poster

I designed this poster for one of my brother's first gigs with his group, Lucas Gillan's Many Blessings. It was an awesome concert!

Susan & Christopher's Wedding Invitations & Programs

I designed and created wedding invitations and programs for my sister-in-law's wedding in September. Before they were engaged, Susan & Christopher traveled to Burundi with a group of friends to do some missions work, so the acacia tree was a significant image for them. Last Christmas, I asked for a linoleum cutting kit, and I finally put it to use to make two different acacia prints for the invitations. I also used purple thread and my sewing machine to hold them together. I lined the envelopes with pretty purple paper. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun!

Party Invite

I designed this image to email out to friends to celebrate Greg's defense of his master's thesis and program completion at the University of Georgia. UGA's red and black combined with a classical-ish mosaic!

Insurance Publication

I designed this publication while working as an Administrative Assistant at the University of Georgia Family & Consumer Sciences Extension.

Page 1 & 4 (outside)
Page 2 & 3 (inside)