Jesus Ascending into Heaven

Well, Easter is over.  But Jesus is still the leader of His people.  His work continues on the Earth too.   Many days after His resurrection Jesus took his Apostles to the top of a hill near Jerusalem.  He told   them to,

"Go ye into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

Jesus was  taken up into heaven to sit on the right hand of God.  

This drawing does not show the other 7 Apostles...  (imagine them off to the right and left of the picture).   There were only 11 apostles at the time because of Judas' betrayal and subsequent death.  A new apostle was chosen shortly after this.  

Drawing is Copyright 2017 by Robin Andrew Lyman.  Permission to print and color page is granted.
Click on 'Free Printable Downloads" at the top and scroll down to see all pages you can print and color.   

Elf Warrior Princess Tori

Tori Undomiel Elf Warrior Princess

There was a history on our planet long before our age, the age of Men.  We knew nothing about it until "The One" communicated to the mind of a linguistics and English professor named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.  Back then much of the Earth was known as Middle Earth.   This is Tori,Undomiel...a cousin of Arwen Undomiel.  The two princesses shared a last name.  Undomeil means Evenstar.  When the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings stories were revealed to J.R.R. Tolkien the story of Tori was left out.  Tori was a brave elf princess who also helped defend the forests of  the Woodland Realm.  She had to deal with orcs and the occasional troll.  She would also visit her relatives in Rivendell for years at a time...especially when she had had a hard few years like when Smaug took over the nearby Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor in The Lonely Mountain.

Tori had a friendship with a dwarf noble who she met in her people's trading negotiations with the dwarfs.  She had a huge influence on her friend Tauriel.  So when Tauriel met the young dwarf prince-ling Kili she was willing to give him half a chance.  (That relationship never worked out because Kili was killed in the Battle of Five Armies.)

Tori eventually ran into her dwarf  nobleman a few years after Smaug destroyed the dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.  Tori had not seen her friend for several years but when she was on a trading mission for Rivendell, staying at the Prancing Pony, she ran into him.  He had been living in the Iron Hills.  Their friendship was rekindled, along with love, so she ran away with him.    The dwarf nobleman she married was named Hadoras.  He took her to a small valley in the Iron Hills and they raised a family.  Interestingly enough, their offspring looked very human and were eventually incorporated into the population that now rules the Earth...in the Age of Men.  So, there are people among us who are part dwarf and part elf.  This is not a well known fact.  If you are particularly lucky it may be that you have some of those magic genes of power from your ancestor Tori Undomiel.... the elf princess.  Of course, it could be that you are a decendant of Arwen and Aragorn instead. When a descendant of Tori and Hadoras meets a descendant of Arwen and Aragorn, they feel a familiarity and often get married.  This helps preserve those precious elf genes in our population.

I am convinced that this is why my wife, Laurel, and I felt such a familiarity when we met.   That or some kind of premortal existence we must have shared together.

The above drawing is a coloring page drawing of Tori.  The below drawing is not a coloring page.  It is Arwen, Tori's cousin.  This my fan art drawing.  It took MUCH longer to do than a coloring page drawing.  I think the actress, Liv Tyler did a magnificent job portraying the Elf Princess Arwen in The Lord of the Rings movies.

Arwen, by Robin Lyman

All drawings on my blog belong to me, Copyright:  Robin Andrew Lyman, 2016-17, however, the drawing of Arwen was done in 2008, so Copyright 2008.  "Artist Corner" is where I do my detailed drawings in pencil or with pastel chalk.  My detailed drawings are not printable on this site.  My art teacher is Tim Bird and he has greatly improved my art abilities.   Free printable coloring pages are available to download by clicking on the 'FREE PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS" link above the blog pages.  Permission is granted to print any of those printable pages and use at home or church or in the classroom.  If you want to make comments to me there is a comments link at the bottom of the FREE PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS section.  

The Real Meaning of Easter

Easter is fun for us.  We always enjoyed the Easter Egg hunts etc.  
But for this post lets think about what we are really celebrating:

Those of us who  believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God honor our Savior's resurrection at Easter.  It reminds us that no matter how hard life is on you, no matter the physical defects and mental challenges etc...we one day, after we die, get to be resurrected and return to Earth with Jesus Christ.  Our bodies will not be flawed like many of our bodies are.  We will not be sick ever again and we will live forever with our Savior.   Being a Latter Day Saint Christian I also believe that I will get to live with my family there too.

Jesus Suffered for our sins.  This process started in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Jesus was crucified and died outside of Jerusalem.

After his death, Jesus went to the Spirit World to teach the spirits His Gospel.

Jesus was Resurrected after three days. 

Jesus appeared to His Apostles after His Resurrection. 

Someday we will all be Resurrected.  Even those who died in war.  

Country Bunny

Remember to check out the song parody at the bottom of this post.  

Country little girl Bunny

Today's post is in honor of the great children's book, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. I first read this as a kid myself.  It tells the story of a country bunny who is scoffed at for aspiring to be one of the 5 Easter Bunnies.  It is a tale of following your dreams and of being brave, wise, swift and kind.  She grows up and gets married and has 21 babies.  Then she teaches them to help around the house.   (NOTE to parents:  A study was done on successful people and they had only one thing in common:  They all had chores to do when they were kids.)  Eventually Mrs. Bunny's kindness, wisdom and swiftness makes her so impressive to old Grandfather Bunny that she gets to be one of the Easter Bunnies!

I was a country kid, with big dreams myself.  I find this book inspiring so I read it to MY kids when they were growing up.  I read it to my students when I was still teaching.  I also wrote a song parody to the tune of "On Top Of Old Smokey."  I sang the song with my own kids and my students.  I am including the song parody here if you want to sing it with your kids or students.   My daughter helped me write a couple of additional verses last year.  I think this is especially inspiring for little girls.  .   . but as a little country boy I liked it too.

The Amazing Book, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

 I see the book every year at this time, Easter time, at Barnes and Noble.  It is also available on Amazon.com.  I highly recommend it!

My drawings from this post are fan art, they ARE inspired by the book The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, but they are done in my style and they are certainly not exact copies.  

Country Bunny taught her kids to work.

Country Bunny delivering Easter Eggs

Country Bunny Song

Sung to the tune of:  On Top Of Old Smokey

Copyright by Robin Andrew Lyman 1987 verses 1-3
Copyright 2016 by Robin Andrew Lyman & Kimberly Sullivan,  verses 4 and 5

A small country bunny

Said I'm going to be

A great Easter Bunny

Just you wait and see

She had twenty one babies

She was wise swift and kind

She was the best mother

Grandfather could find

He made her a bunny

Who brought all the eggs

And gave her some gold shoes

When she hurt her leg

Other Easter Bunnies

Really did not mind

Cause to be Easter Bunnies

You're wise swift and kind

So if you're some-bunny

Who has a big dream

You may turn out to be

Much more than you seem

Ellie the Maltese

Ellie Dog, our Tiny Maltese Doggy

Today I am paying tribute to our sweet doggy Ellie.  She passed away yesterday after a sudden medical problem.  She loved to go bye bye and she loved her "Mamma."  Namely my wife.   She went blind two years ago and got along much better than you would think.  We taught her "No" when she was walking the wrong way.  We taught her "Yes" when she walked the right way.  We also said "Bonk" if she was going to run into something.  She had some doggy dementia going on, but it was not too advanced yet.  She is in Doggy Heaven now.  

Ellie Inside

Ellie Outside

Grizzly Bear Mother and Cub

Grizzly Bears are the largest land predator on Earth...although some biologists give that distinction to Polar Bears.  In Alaska a type of Grizzly called a Kodiak Bear is absolutely huge.  The largest Kodiak Bear ever found was 2,500lbs (1090 kg).  . . and they can stand 14 feet 94.3 meters) tall.  Generally though, the majority of Kodiak bears weigh between 800-1500 lbs (363-680 kg).

Grizzly bears are omnivores.  They can eat both plants and other animals.  They eat berries, salmon, even larger prey like deer, moose, and elk.  I was told a story from a military officer who told of two soldiers seeing a Kodiak bear take down a moose or elk.   Mother Grizzlies have one or two cubs that they care for.  The cubs stay with their mother for up to 2 years.

A funny story I experienced when I lived in Juneau Alaska.  .   .   I just moved into a basement apartment at a large house in the woods near the Mendenhall Glacier.  The landlord called me out to see what had happened to his large plastic garbage dumpster.  About 100 yards (91 m) into the woods was a torn up dumpster...in little pieces.  There was bits of cut grass scattered all over the snow.  It was late spring but some areas in the forest still had snow.  It seems that Kodiak Bears LOVE grass!  But they can't graze on it easily because they have sharp teeth up front with canine teeth.  So to eat grass the bears have to bite it from the side of their mouth.  My landlord has just mowed his grass for the first time in the spring so when the bears smelled the cut grass in the dumpster they hauled it into the forest and had a grass eating party!  

Cartoon Dinosaurs and a Pterosaur for Kids

Today we are looking at some fun cartoony drawings.  The first is an Allosaurus mommy with her chick.  Yes, a baby Theropod dinosaur is called a chick.  The modern animals in the crocodile family carry their babies in their mouth so we could infer that baby Theropod dinosaurs, like Allosaurus, may have also carried their babies gently in their mouth.  Allosaurus was a dangerous dinosaur to be around, unless you were her chick.  Theropod dinosaur eggs were found in Portugal and the babies were born with little teeth but clearly needed parental care. So Theropod dinos must have been caring parents.  Other evidence indicates that Theoropod dinosaurs mated for life.  So BOTH mommy and daddy took care of the chicks.  By the way, the meat eating dinos are called Theropods.  This would include dinos like T. rex, Velociraptor, and of course Allosaurus.  Allosaursus was one of the top predators of the Jurassic Period.  Notice that there is no grass.  Grass had not evolved yet.

Allosaurus Mommy and Chick

This second picture is of a young Sauropod dino with her friend, a young Pteranodon. This drawing is from the Cretaceous Period.  There were Sauropods in both the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, but Pteranodon lived only in the Cretaceous Period.  Also, Grass first appeared in the Cretaceous Period.   So if there is grass in a dino drawing, it must be the late Cretaceous Period.  There was also a lot of volcanic activity during the late Cretaceous Period.  By the way, the Pteranodon was NOT a flying dinosaur.  It was a flying reptile called a Pterosaur.  Pterosaurs ate primarily fish, but probably were scavengers too.  Some of the larger Pterosaurs may have hunted dino eggs and baby dinos when a nest was left unguarded.  

Sauropod and Pteranodon Friend