What do your walls teach?

I was prompted to ask this question when I read that walls are one of a home's best teaching tools in Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. In all honesty, I'm not sure what our walls teach at the moment! I have taken pictures of some of our walls to give you a little tour.

Elnathan has a bug Grandma drew and a growth chart from friends in South Africa. The little pictures include two cross stitches I made as a child and two pictures made for me by childhood friends.

On the other side of the room we have the quilt I made of Australian and South African animals. This quilt represents Elnathan's heritage as the child of a South African and an Australian, and there is a special message on the back about how we want him to love both places. You can also see a teddy bear I painted during an art class I attended as a teen, and a clock Gran in South Africa gave Elnathan. On the drawers are three toys I made as a teenager.

Step out into the hall and we have a collection of wall ornaments from South Africa. A friend made the collage of people who could not make it to our wedding.

In the bathroom we have a picture from Cradle Mountain, where we went for our honeymoon. You can see one of our elephants on the windowsill reflected in the picture!

Step back into the hall and you see another African item, which Dave purchased on one of his trips in Africa. The little red item is a beaded bug Dave enjoyed purchasing from a stall on our first trip together to South Africa.

In our room we have a wedding picture over our bed (sorry about the poor photo).

I was also recently able to complete this picture which includes our full wedding vows. It is wonderful to have the reminder on the wall all the time!

We also have a picture of a man, a lady and a house. I love the images of fruitfulness in this cross stitch, and the verse about God giving to us according to the fruit of our doings. It seems appropriate for a family like ours as we love to grow things.

In our living room we have two prints of John Glover paintings (one is pictured here) and two watercolours. You can also see our Advent calendar in this picture! All the pictures in our living room are of Tasmania.

In other parts of our house we have lists of words we are trying to learn in Zulu, photos taken by Dave and by my younger brother, a map of Africa, a framed BA certificate, and more handwork.

I am not sure what Elnathan will learn from our walls, but here are some thoughts . . .

* We love Tasmania and Africa.

* We appreciate making things and displaying the things others have made. Making things is a valuable thing to do!

* We love to delight in the beauty God has given us, and the memories of special places and events.

Perhaps walls serve as a tool for remembering and displaying what the family cares about, and what defines them as people.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!