Dawn of a New Year

The New Year
~ Martha Snell Nicholson 

Dear Lord, as this new year is born
I give it to Thy hand,
Content to walk by faith what paths
I cannot understand.

Whatever coming days may bring
Of bitter loss, or gain,
Or every crown of happiness;
Should sorrow come, or pain,

Or, Lord, if all unknown to me
Thine angel hovers near
To bear me to that farther shore
Before another year,

It matters not—my hand in Thine,
Thy light upon my face,
Thy boundless strength when I am weak,
Thy love and saving grace!

I only ask, loose not my hand,
Grip fast my soul, and be
My guiding light upon the path
Till, blind no more, I see!

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DD dearest,

May this coming new year be like flowers,
Bursts of colours bringing cheers to my heart,
Gentle velvety softening of my heart,
Fragrant in smell drawing hearts,
Little surprises bringing pleasure to my heart.

May my soul, my thoughts, my speech, my actions be captured in You, my dearest first Love!
For it's only in You that my eternal live lies.
May my priorities be right -
Heart abounding in love, life abounding in joy, heart abounding in happiness, soul abounding in peace.
Find rest, oh my soul, in the arms of my Protector, my Love.

A Prayer in Spring
~ Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil

Batik Painting

I bought three batik painting kits for kids some time ago after chancing upon them in a kids' arts class nearby my favourite coffee house.

They are meant for me - something safe and simple to recapture my amateurish hobby.

Sea world themed

I chose to do the simplest - 'Nemo'

Each kit comes with a brush and six colours.

Some instructions and samples at the back of the kit.

They are meant for kids, 3+ and above.

The batik canvas is stapled to a cardboard frame which is meant to serve as a picture frame for the finished product. I tore out the centre so that the colour will not wet the cardboard and mess up the canvas.

The edges of the cardboard could be tucked together to form a raised surface for painting.

This is how it looks like raised.

Ready for the paint.

Voila! The completed kids' art. It took me about 30 minutes. However, I'm not that pleased with this piece. Something is missing and seems like I've lost my sense of colour.

This piece of 'Nemo' was done last year and was gathering dust on my work table. I've bought some magnets and hung it on the fridge last week. It's my temporary display before framing all four to be hung on my wall.

Voila! Side by side for now.