the unlikely orange

i don't know if you can see the little green caterpillar crawling in the broccoli in the picture above. we sure didn't. we got much of our vegetables last summer from a farm co-op, which provided us all kinds of fresh, locally grown vegetables in exchange for our financial support of their farm.  it was a great arrangement, that put all kinds of good food on our table.  we were very blessed by this.  but the kids weren't quite as enthused when we discovered that a green caterpillar or two had been cooked, along with the broccoli.  they were even more disgusted when i showed them that it wasn't a big deal by eating one right in front of them.  they thought that i had ascended to the very peak of mount disgusting, and it was quite the topic of conversation in our home for a few days.  the next time they helped shannon to prepare some broccoli for dinner, they closely examined it before cooking it, and sure enough they found another little green caterpi...

this weekend our little caedmon turned eight years old.  our family tradition is to have a bigger birthday party for their eighth birthday party, and you may remember jackson's a couple of years ago.  normally, we just have family parties, but when they turn eight they get to invite their whole class from school and we go all out with a theme.  some may say that we go "over the top," which may indeed be the croatian meaning of "milinovich," but we can't be sure.  regardless, like any pole-vaulter worth their salt will tell you, there's only one way to go, and that's over the top. cade wanted a narnia theme, so we worked hard to make the entrance to the church basement the wardrobe door, which, when opened, revealed a rack of coats and furs.  Once you passed through the coats, you came to a group of evergreen trees, in a snowy white room, punctuated proudly by a beautifully handmade lamppost, which actually lit up!  many thanks to shannon...

"lent 7, 2015: hope" mixed media collage (tissue paper, wallpaper glue, acrylic paint, gel medium, and a found stone on stretched canvas) march, 2015 gregory a. milinovich here is hope? here in the midst of stones? here, with carved rock and granite graves? here, in the valley; in the shadow of death? this is where our journey leads? to the chill of earth-cold stone, and it's deathy darkness? here? this is hope? yet what if the stones have been moved? what if the rocks have been rolled? what if death's icy grip has been broken? what if this cemetery is really a birthing room? what if love could crush fear and brokenness? what if life could emerge, even out of death? what if "good" and "very good" were worth saving? what if the Maker would do this, for what was made? what if the icy sting of the grave turns out to be birth pangs? what if....resurrection? here? among the stones?  among all this death? here is hop...

each year for lent, for the last several years now, i have added a discipline to my routine, rather than give up chocolate or soda.  i am still giving something up: it's called free time.  the discipline that i've added is the act of reflecting on the text and proclamation for each sunday of lent, and responding to it creatively by making a collage for each week. above you can see the results of this year's effort.  there are 8 collages because i technically began with ash wednesday, and then continued with each of the 7 sundays of lent.  from top left they are: 1.  "ash wednesday: with dirty hands" 2. lent 1: connected 3. lent 2: self 4. lent 3: work 5. lent 4: temptation 6. lent 5: money 7: lent 6: struggle 8: lent 8: hope you can see that there is a stylistic theme woven throughout, and that is the use of the same size canvas, covered first with wrinkled tissue paper, then painted a different color, and ripped to allow the color of the tissue p...

"lent 6, 2015: struggle" mixed media collage (tissue paper, wall paper glue, acrylic paint, found object on stretched canvas) march, 2015 gregory a. milinovich for the sixth week in lent at our church we talked about struggle.  we used the palm sunday story as our text, and compared it to mark 15.  in mark 11, as Jesus enters jerusalem, the crowd shouts praises with their arms raised upward in joy.  just a few days later, the crowd shouts condemnation with fingers pointed in hatred and fear. life is full of valleys. in fact, this whole series has been meant to reflect the struggle that is a very real and present part of every day - every step - of the journey. that is why i have used the tissue paper as a backing for the paint in each collage. the tissue paper wrinkles and tears so wonderfully that it very aptly (at least for me) represents the brokenness and messiness of life.  there is struggle everywhere.  everyday.  in every chapter, sea...

"lent 5, 2015: money" mixed media collage (tissue paper, found money, found game piece, wall paper glue, acrylic paint, gel medium on stretched canvas) march 2015 gregory a. milinovich i’m a chronic over-packer. if i’m going to be gone for 3 days, i usually feel compelled to bring enough clothes for about a week, just in case. what if i decide to go for a run? Better bring my exercise clothes. and what if we go somewhere nice to eat? i’d better bring something a little nicer to wear. and i just can’t decide if i like this shirt or that shirt better with those pants, so i’ll just bring them both and decide when i get there. can you identify with this? and i haven’t even gotten to the shoes yet. i just pack way too much. i don’t care if i am going for an overnight stay, in my mind i always think that i’m going to have all these choices and all this free time, so i will bring some big book to read, and maybe even a second one just in case i finish the firs...

top of the mornin' to ya'! happy st. patrick's day!  from us leprechauns here in sunbury, we hope you have a great day!