July Photo-a-Day Challenge ON MY SCREEN

The theme presented today was a real challenge for me. Throughout the day, I thought of taking photos of the things I was looking at on my computer screen. Yet each time I hesitated because the images on my computer screen were not photos taken by me. I didn't want to run into any copyright issues.

Then I thought I would take pictures of what was on my TV screen instead, but that presented the same problem.

So instead of seeing what I came across on my computer screen today-- images of a lost child, of a procession of nineteen white hearses, of a Monterey Chicken recipe I want to try, of a gift idea that I'm going to use on some lucky recipient, or of a cool trick using rubbing alcohol, a cotton swab and colored pencils, you're going to see this:

A dear friend died last night. She was an art teacher to my son and many other students at a home-school co-op. Many children under her tutelage went from proclaiming, "I can't draw," to creating beautiful pieces that left me in awe at end-of-year school art shows. I don't recall ever seeing her without a smile beaming from her face. She uplifted, encouraged, and inspired adults as well as children.

Two weeks ago, we got some of her former students together to create a poster board card that they could all sign with their names and special thoughts or memories. I asked one student to handle the cover of the card. The result was simple yet beautiful. Thinking of You.

I took the card to her house. She was lying in bed, being assisted in drinking cold water through a straw. I waited, then presented the card to her. Her smile cut through any misgivings I was having about bothering her. She immediately said of her students, "I need to do something for them."  In agony, she still thought of them. She held on to the card, touched at the sweet messages of love it contained. We spoke briefly, then I could see she was exhausted so I kissed her on the forehead and said goodbye. That was the last time I saw her.

At 8:45 last night Utahna's smile left this earth. She showed us how to create true beauty, not only through paintings or sculpture, but in treating people as Godly works of art.