Journaling and Blogging

I think journaling, which is now in the form of blogging, is fantastic.  The great part about blogging is you can add pictures, links, and other information all in one spot.  Today, Warren flew up to Dallas to see a back specialist at the Texas Back Institute.  He tells me it is a huge place.  Tomorrow he gets examined, and I am so hoping and praying that he will have some good news.  I know these past few weeks have been very hard on him, yet he continues to plug along and function as best he can.  With him heavy on my heart, I went to my favorite website, jessicasprague.com, to catch up on what was happening in her community.  I was excited when I saw the art journaling prompt and challenge was the word "BE."  I could do lots of things with that word, but since my heart and mind was on Warren, I wanted it to "be" about him.

Be appreciative of your husband!

 And since I am writing about art journaling prompts and challenges, the one earlier this week was on "Surrender."  I used a picture of Sawyer & Tate and came up with a page.  I was so excited when the administer of the challenge commented that my page was the sweetest thing she had ever seen, and she thought my take on the word was interesting.

I don't know was more worn out from trying to get "the shot"...me or the twins!

Photo shoot

I went on a photo shoot with neighbor and photographer Stephanie DeFranco to try out my new flash photography skills and she was trying out her new softbox flash.   Stephanie asked the Fresquez twins to be our models...these were former swim students of mine, and I know their grandfather very well.  As you can see these girls are knock-out gorgeous, and you don't have to direct them very much--they just know how to "get the look" and pose.  Most of these are straight out of the camera.  I did absolutely no retouching on the girls.  I did sharpen, and used an effect on a couple.  Such amazing girls.

The pink hue on the left is one of the pink petals from the tree.  

I wish I could wear heels like this...I think they are awesome!

Thought for today

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

-La'o Tzu

Sepia with the distracting background removed. 

More pictures...

I am in the process of going through all my pictures for various reasons, and have some more to share.  Bear with me, the "going through" process will be ongoing, so there will be occasional posts out of the past of some of my favorites.

She is fixing her hair.  I am amazed she does it so well.  Much better than I could ever do.
Maybe that is why God gave me boys.

While some may not particularly like this picture, I love it.
 I like the crooked smile,  and the beauty of her face.

I finally uploaded the pictures of the twins birth that was taken by some wonderful nurse or technician.  I thank them because they did a wonderful job of capturing the moment. It is like we were there!

Proud Dad.  Sawyer left; Tate right.
Sawyer seemed to be the one that looked around more.

Doesn't everyone have this picture of the Dad?  

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. Psalms 127:3

Photo contest entry

I heart faces has a photo contest every week.  I always think I will enter, well, this week they want black and white pictures which I just happen to have done on my new twin grand babies last night. I thought I would enter one of Sawyer and Tate.  Here they are in a galvanized bucket.  They are fresh from God, and the bucket is fresh from Lowe's.

Sawyer facing left; Tate facing right.

Every Good and Perfect Gift

The whole creation testifies of the Lord.  While I am not a morning person, I appreciate the Lord  giving me a gift each morning as I sleepily start out on a walk.  He thrills me with His masterpieces.  How can anyone believe this is happenstance?   "All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights."(James 1:17).  Take a look at my gifts from God.

Blooming Plum tree in my neighbor's yard. 

A fence by the my walking path.

Another fence, and the pecan orchards along my walk.

Naturally, God's gifts are all around and not limited to time of day or night.  Here are some other gifts from God as He awakens His creation in time for spring.  I cannot believe it is almost spring...did we even have a winter?  I can only remember the one bad snow storm over Christmas.  It was not much of a winter...at least in my mind.  I welcome spring, but not daylight savings time.

Up close of the Plum tree.  

Busy Bee...pollinating the flowers.  There will be plums for sure!

Not to be forgotten in the collection of God's gifts are grandchildren.  Laurie asked me to take silhouettes of the kids, so I did.  I think they turned out great.

Grandson

Granddaughter

I had a lot of help from my friend, Kelly.  She offered to let me use her studio, (Peek-a-Boo Photography), and she set up the lighting.  She had just purchased Easter props, and we got to experiment with them.  After the silhouette photos, my grandson, was done with photos as you can see in picture.  Hmmm.  I cannot image why he wasn't thrilled with spending all afternoon letting me take pictures!  

Looking thrilled with it all!

Lastly, I had to post a picture of my doodling.  I had a lot of fun playing with the different mediums.  I think it sort of looks like a county fair with the Ferris wheel on the right, a roller coaster, and the mass of bright colors.  

The Doodle.  

Soul Surfer

Now that Jane, my neighbor who I am taking care of, is rehabbing from a broken hip at Casa Maria, I pass right by Albertson's grocery store everyday.  It is one of my favorite grocery stores since they have a lot of unique foods that none of the other stores carry--although the newly remodeled Lawrence Brother's grocery is giving Albertson's a run for the money.  Anyway, I stop into Albertson's almost daily on my trip home. ( I love fresh veggies).  Lately, I have picked up some movies from the Red Box that I have wanted to see.  One was "The Way" which is a story about the "Camino de Santiago" catholic pilgrimage in Galicia, Spain.  I heard about it on the Laura Ingraham Show.  It was a pretty good movie.  Tonight we watched, "Soul Surfer" which is about Beth Hamilton who lost her arm in a shark attack while she was surfing.  What a fantastic movie!!! A must see for sure.

Fire and Ice

Lately, I have been having an allergic reaction around my eyes and I cannot figure out what is causing it.  My worse bout was the day Warren and I flew out to NC.  I woke early in the morning (4 am) with my eyes itching like crazy.  I got up, looked in the mirror, and scared myself.  It looked like I had been beaten up.  My eyes were swollen almost shut, and they had a very nice red ring around them.  I looked pretty racoony.   I decided I needed to get some ice on the eyes.  It helped a lot, but my eyes were still red and swollen when we boarded the plane.   When the stewardess came around with the beverage order, I used my cup of ice for my eyes rather than for my beverage.  I used my napkin to hold the ice, and placed in on one eye at a time.  It felt so good, but I am sure I looked like an idiot to those who could see me.  It took a couple of days before my eyes returned to normal.  I thought my problems were due to an allergy to my eye make-up, so I threw it all away, and bought another brand, but I am not sure my make-up is the culprit.  I had another bad flare-up yesterday.  Out came the ice pack.  Warren and I were quite the sight last night when we went to bed.  He was on his side with two heating pads on his leg, and I was on my side with an ice pack on my eyes.  Fire and Ice-- aren't we the poster picture of romance?  I sure hope I can figure out what the source of my problem is--being female and not being able to wear make-up can really be a scary thought indeed.

With our internet being variable, the repair men here, and our constant winds these past few days, I  had not been able to complete my Flash photography assignment.  I finally got it done today, which is a good thing since today is the last day to post the assignment.  I have loved this class.  I like the dramatic lighting effects, and the quality difference in the pictures.  This week's assignment was to use the flash with ambient light.  Thank goodness Warren was willing to pose for me.

Our creative assignment of dragging the shutter produced an interesting effect, which I like very much.  For this one, since the shutter speed was so slow, I could be the subject and give Warren a rest.  The picture was taken at 8 p.m. with the Christmas lights being the only light other than my flash.  I like the effects of the blur on my hair, light reflections in the bush, and the star flair of the lights.  I knew there was a good reason I had not taken down my Christmas lights.  And I don't have any make-up on either.