Cardinal Tree

Cardinal Tree

In order to dance and succeed,

you must let Him take the lead.

No matter your plans,

You are in His hands.

So, be still

and accept His will.

Let loose of what you want to do

and grow where He plants you.

You are the one God sent,

so get comfortable in your environment.

All around, His blessings are blooming.

So, stop uprooting what He's doing.

Don't brush away

the birds that want to stay,

Listen to then sing

and be a branch for their weary wing.

He's growing so many branches for so many birds,

Many opportunities for your encouraging words.

Keep growing where he planted you,

Trusting His plan will prove true.

 

Poem by me, Tabitha Morgan

 

I made these picture below that coincide with the portrait.

 

 

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE

 

I  LOVE DRAWING!

but,  I really hate drawing portraits.

I feel like everything I do looks like Trisha's Portrait

from Napoleon Dynamite.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JNYttUZRKc

 

But I pushed through and did all lot of work (like 3 hours) on the bottom lip. lol

for real though, I did.

So, I guess it turned out ok. It's the idea of it that I am happy with.

 Many things inspired me to create this picture.

But it all came together in my mind this weekend after the TAEA Conference.

 

Mostly my teaching position over the last 4 years inspired this picture.

 

I taught middle school art for 10 years and loved it. I felt happy, successful, wise and confident in my career. I had a life change and moved to another town and taught elementary art. I KNOW it was a God move. I prayed about it and He gave me very clear signs that I was to be at the grade level and this school. I teach at Krahn Elementary and we are the CARDINALS.

I love my little cardinals, really. But, my first 3 years there I felt

sad, unsuccessful, clueless and defeated. Kindergarten ate my lunch for 3 years. I did not want to make teacher friends because I knew I didn't want to stay. I distanced myself from anything that brought me comfort because staying was not MY plan.

Proverbs 19:21, says,

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

 Every year I tried to switch grade levels.

Each year I was unsuccessful with transferring. Finally, I decided after three years to just stop fighting my spot. I had to quit being stubborn and start being still. I had to take my shoes off, get comfortable, stay a while, let my roots loose in the dirt, trust God, try to do my best, look at the positive and grow where I was planted. I prayed for His perspective, strength, wisdom and acceptance.

I'm happy to say, This year things are different.

I don't even want to leave anymore. Not even on my hardest days. My cardinals are my children. What I once saw as a curse, I see as a blessing.

I teach the ENTIRE SCHOOL! This is hard, yes. But hard is good.

Hard is resistance. Resistance gives strength. I am the teacher these kids will have consistently from K-5. Art may be their safe place. Art may be their only light all day. I will get to see them grow from babies to young adults. This IS a BLESSING.

 The background...

TAEA 2017 Conference in Galveston, Texas

Native Lee (Speaker at conference) and her paper bag technique,

Matthew Brundage (Copic Marker guy),

Marantha Liga (Artist of "Wishing Tree Me") on display at TAEA,