Lazy-Breezy Summer Days
Grab your curiosity and sunscreen—this June edition is ready to explore.
It’s summer, the kids have done their due diligence and are bursting to escape! Pssst…don’t tell them now, but learning should be lifelong–even in the summer! Adults CHOOSE to learn for the joy of discovery and sharing those moments with others. This month, author development was my goal when I attended Write to Publish in Wheaton, IL. The weather was iffy, and a tornado warning sent over 200 authors to the basement. However, we dodged the 17 tornadoes and benefited from workshops ranging from Marketing to Inspired Writing.
Summertime is perfect for learning. This issue is packed with ideas to foster your own personal enrichment. Who doesn’t smile at a rainbow? Further down is a Rainbow Craft to do with the kids or the grandkids that’s perfect to fill their summer. To get you started on your own quest, check out my downloadable free nature journal lesson designed to stir God-connected nature discovery.
- Start a Phenology Journal: Choose one plant, tree, or insect. Track its changes, behavior, and growth throughout the summer.
- Be a Citizen Scientist: Download the iNaturalist app to photograph plants and bugs and have them identified by a global community while contributing to real scientific research.
- Rock and Fossil Identification: Start a rock collection from creek beds or walking trails.
- Nighttime Sky Study: Identify star constellations
Be Bold – Action Step
Just choose one thing in nature that stirs curiosity. Research through books, nature center visits, or even the internet! Check out unusual armadillos & opossums, weird fungi, or learn bird chirps. My summer library book is “Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie” by Kelly Kindscher.
Summer Promise Rainbow
Did you know….Rainbows are perfectly round? We usually just see a colorful arc from our ground vantage point. But from an airplane you can view a full continuous circle. A rainbow is a type of eternity circle. It was richly created by our eternal God. A colorful, beautiful promise of His love given to Noah (and to us), that he would never flood the earth again. It is comforting to know that God keeps his promises and is loving and merciful. His love, like the Eternity circle, has no end.
“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning”
- Lamentations 3:22-23
Promise Rainbow Craft
Reusable rainbow cards to explore God’s colorful nature.
Do This: On white card stock, draw 7 rainbow arches.
Color in the arches: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple.
Next, seal the card with two sheets of clear contact paper, then trim the edges.
Go Explore: Hunt for nature that matches the colors of the rainbow. Record on the rainbow arcs your discoveries.
With a dry-erase marker, draw or label big finds. Or, attach smaller treasures to the rainbow with double-stick tape.
When you are ready for a new exploration, simply wipe off the marker with a tissue or peel off the tape.
Seeking More Ways to Find God in Nature?
Your garden’s fragrant mint leaves is summer’s gift,
that shouldn’t be overlooked.
What a thrilling week it was at Write to Publish. Enjoyed meeting up with longtime friend, Linda Taylor.
At the Naples Botanical Garden, they showcase gardening in a way accessible to everyone.
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