Art and A Home

Weekend Escape at the Krusi's

Awakening My He[art]

So Monday rolls around, its a week away from Labor Day weekend, and I'm trying to decide what I want to do.  God forbid I not take advantage of the 3 day weekend and travel to see a friend or find some kind of adventure.  I find out that all of my friends are going to IHOP {International House of Prayer} in Kansas City - which is a great steal for a spiritual retreat.... but I wasn't feeling it.  By Thursday I finally figured out what I really wanted to do with my weekend - what I really wanted was to spend the weekend off campus, but close by, retreating at a home.... So I prayed that the Lord would provide someway for me to do that.  

I ended up at the Krusi's house. The Lord answered my prayers in every way and nurtured parts of my heart that I had been left unattended for awhile.  

The Krusi's are a Swiss family with 5 grown kids (Hanz and Charlotte grew up in Switzerland and came to America when they were adults).  Charlotte is an skilled painter whom I got to know through helping her set up art shows at Teen Mania.

10 am on Saturday Morning - after sleeping in and taking time to feel beautiful.... I drive into the Krusi's long driveway in the woods. As I open the front doors of their brick house I can see straight out to the lake in their backyard through the wall of windows and walk into a room of high ceilings covered with Charlotte's paintings.

Charlotte greets me with a warm hello and quickly makes me feel at home with a cup of tea (Orange Roibous) then, takes me out to the porch for breakfast. 

What I thought would be an apartment to stay in and a porch to sit on became a family to spend a weekend with and a woman who awakened apart of me that has been asleep for a long time.  

I enjoyed many parts of my weekend 

A few to note: 

• Mornings on the Porch overlooking the Lake
• European Food/ Swiss Traditions (Small spoons and forks... Fried carrot and apple squares, bread and cheese for lunch, tasty pasta (Made by her son Stephen), really yummy salad, and most of all swiss chocolate). 
• Inviting friends over to join me (as the Krusi's love to have company)
• Seeing Jupiter and 4 of its moons for the first time through Stephens telescope at Moon Hill 
• Painting with Charlotte during the service on Sunday at CCF
• Canoe rides
• Painting lessons with Charlotte
• Quality time with their family

This weekend was packed with beautiful moments, but amidst it all something truly extraordinary happened!  

The artistic part of me awakened.  As I spent time with Charlotte I began to be softened by her free spirit, even her home carried a sense of peace and freedom; a relief from a very fast and high paced executive atmosphere I have been raised by at Teen Mania.  With every brush stroke, discovering the workings of oil paint, a very familiar part of myself began to come alive.  

I forgot how much art is apart of who I am.... what a gifting it is that the Lord placed inside of me.  Two 9-11 year old girls came to help us paint on Sunday morning and all of a sudden I put myself in their shoes and remembered that my first memory in life was when I was a year old sitting at that old gray cardboard table coloring.  My childhood is filled with these kind of moments: coloring in the lines before kindergarten, coloring contests, creating my own art projects, bead and braiding kits, art class, making cards, scrap-booking, and finally painting.  I don't know when this part of me was set to the side... but I am so glad that it was awakened again.  

Charlotte said that it seemed like I was "starving for creativity."  :) 

My heart truly comes alive when I'm outside, in a refreshing atmosphere, especially a home and nurtured by loving family.  It is in this place that my senses come alive and the Lord speaks to me in so many ways.  When I paint, or draw these heavenly thoughts become expressions. 

I pray that the Lord would show me how to allow this part of me to flow in who I am, and how use it for His glory.  It has been so good for me to develop strong leadership and business skills at Teen Mania, now I think its time for me to learn how to integrate the very artistic - sensing/ feeling side of who I am into that.  

Thank-you Lord for nurturing my heart and thank-you Charlotte for being who you are and taking me under your wing.  

I completed the painting for Felicia's home - but you will have to wait until after the wedding until I  post it on this blog. :)

I also accomplished one of my life goals this wknd too: Taking Painting Lessons

Shalom