Dream big.

Dream big. Make plans. Enjoy the process. It may get messy. It will be worth it.

If you think that was something out of a life coaching session, you might be right but it was also what took place this past week in our Architecture Camp. I simply love how a creative maker-space lab opens up the creative mind. There are problems to solve, projects to accomplish, a set amount of time, and the supplies you need to get the job done. The experience is so invigorating. Kids move about in organic ways as they experiment with the supplies in order to make their ideas come alive. And besides the occasional danger of enduring a burn on their finger thanks to the glue gun, the fellow architects are happy even when their ideas change or don't come out as they imagined.

Collaborative Mural of Places in Marietta

With various safer gluing options, kids are often willing to risk the glue gun. I suppose they judge that the outcomes are worth it. Or perhaps they like a little danger aspect. In this particular camp, making other things with hot glue became a hit. Several kids discovered that dried hot glue looks a lot like water for a lake in their city block display. Other kids tried to find molds to fill with hot glue in order to make a fish tank for their room design.

Let's talk about the mess that falls by the wayside of a beautiful creation. Can an artist make something beautiful without surrounding himself with unwanted fragments of what it takes to make it? Can the junior architect make her imaginative world without pieces of foam core, and markers littered by her side? This is part of the process and I think it is one of the most enjoyable for me to see. I don't like the clean-up and clutter as much as the next person but I see the fruit of enduring it for the sake of allowing my young friends to be unhindered in their making. Clean-up will take place eventually like my wise mother always said, but the experience of carefree creation is more valuable.

Lastly, is it ok to work hard and have your big plans fail? We attempted to make a giant geo-dome. It mostly worked out! But some of the cardboard triangle units were not strong enough and they didn't hold their shape too well. The kids were still able to go inside it and see light coming in through the star-shaped cracks. We learned that when building something things may not always work out but we gain experience and that makes it worthwhile. We build in faith!

Geo Dome

Thanks to all the parents and partners who support this ministry.

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:10 NIV