God of Hope

By Amy Carmichael

Great God of Hope, how green Thy trees,
How calm each several star.

Renew us; make us fresh as these,
Calm as those are.

For what can dim his hope who sees,
Though faintly and afar,

The power that kindles green in trees
And light in star?

Nature Journals- Autumn 2010 OHC #1

Although we haven't posted in ages, we have still been out enjoying nature. I just have had trouble finding time to take pictures and post about it. I think it probably has something to do with keeping up with our almost 2 year old.

This week my mother was here and that freed me up to take some pictures of the boys drawing in their nature journals. This challenge was supposed to be done in our backyard, but since my mom was here we decided to take it to the Japanese Gardens! I only wish my backyard looked like this!

First we walked around (well the boys actually ran and jumped, but I walked). Then we found a great place to sit and draw.

My only instructions were for them to find something beautiful to draw. While the three older boys drew, my mother and the baby fed the fish...and I took pictures!

Once the boys got going, they did multiple drawings.

It is never too soon to start a Nature Journal. We have used many different types of journals. My favorite is a medium sized journal with watercolor paper (above), but we have used all sizes and all kinds of papers. For little ones it is nice to have one with not too many pages, so they don't feel overwhelmed and they quickly have a full book.

I let the journal be truly theirs, meaning I don't try to control it. We have ones with upside down pages and sometimes something like a rocket slips into them, but mostly they are filled with wonderful pictures and great memories.