Bedroom

This is one half of our living/bedroom! Its about the only spot in our apartment that I have done... I still have all of my picture frames waiting for me to hang them up and organization that needs to happen. I also spent about 7 hours last night giving my kitchen a good cleaning. Sheesh, I'm tired. But, its all coming together and I'm super excited! So, here's a little bit of a comfy spot:
(Ignore the messy dresser and the bad cell phone picture!)

Re-do

We're in the process of cleaning up and re-doing our apartment. Paint and swapping rooms! I'll post pics when we're done!

I'm Messy- With a capital M

Its true. Ask my mom, she'll tell you. I've been in my studio for three days and I've managed to make it look like a tornado hit it. Granted, it wasn't spotless when I left for Christmas vacation...

See? I told you. Messy.

Blank canvas that is sitting and waiting for me to start painting on it.

A canvas frame that needs canvas and an unfinished painting. There's a lot more to show of my studio but all I have on me in my camera phone which doesn't take the best pictures in the world. But, I wanted to share where I am most of my life. Where I spend all of my free time and where I hide away from the world. Cozy, eh?

Website

I just realized that I never actually anounced on my blog that my website was up and running! Tohny really did a fantastic job on it. :)

Here are some screen shots: (click on the images to go to the site!)

What If I Could Show You My Faith?

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want my final show to be (for my undergrad degree). Then I had a thought, What if I could show you my faith? So, this sketch is kind of the first of many to come. :)

Self Portrait time

I tried to take a self portrait that was stripped of everything.. more natural I guess? But I suppose natural isn't the right word since I have make up on but, hopefully you get it. Here it is:

Not that exciting.. but I wasn't in the mood for anything elaborate.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for my family. My dad suffered a heart attack the day after Christmas and had quadruple bypass surgery about a week ago. He's home now and recovering faster than anyone expected. My oldest brother, John, came all the way from Georgia to be here with us (my other older siblings were all here too) and the day after he got back to Georgia, his wife went to the hospital for chest pains. If not for our deep faith in the Lord and knowing He never gives us more than we can handle, I think we'd all be losing our minds.

Here is my dad before bypass surgery:

My father really is a fighter. He's determined to get better and he's so thankful to be alive. He's excited to see was God has in store for him and so are we. :)

A part of me doesn't want to leave my family right now. I've been trying to help my mom out, making meals, getting dad things when she's busy. I worry about them a lot... I know my mom can handle taking care of dad on her own, especially when he's doing so well but, I hate to leave them now.

But, another part of me is missing my apartment and my studio. My own spaces and my artwork. So, starting school next week is going to be bittersweet, I think.

OH, Hey there! I have a blog..

Sometimes I forget about my blog. I guess that doesn't make me a very good blogger does it?

Well it is almost 7:00 am and I've been awake since 2pm. I'm a bit of an insomniac. When 4:00 I decided I should try and stay awake instead of going to sleep. You see I was faced with the same delima two nights ago and well, I didn't wake up until 2pm. And now I'm awake again. Ah the cycle continues.

Well I don't have a lot to say at the moment. I'm getting to the stage of tired where I loose track of all space and time! So here is an image of a drawing I'm almost finished with!

Salvation and Prayer

When I was in 7th grade, I was the fat kid in class, I wasn't very nice to people and I really thought my parents were going to get a divorce.

I struggled a lot personally, with kids my own age and being teased. I wasn't in a good place and I couldn't get bad thoughts, thoughts I don't even want to repeat, out of my head. I felt like I was drowning sometimes and I cried all the time. The only thing that kept me from completely losing myself, and falling apart was praying. I prayed every night, every time I had a bad thought and I prayed for my family to be happy. You see, my dad had an addiction to pot for a long time. An addiction I didn't know about until well after he was saved by God. But, at the time, all I knew was my parents fought a lot and I fought with my dad most every night.

One day, I was laying on the couch in our living room and it was a particularly rough day. My mind was running to places I didn't want it to go and I layed on that couch, crying and praying. I prayed so hard that my mind would ease, that God would take care of my family and take care of me. And then as if a hand was on my forehead, I had this complete feeling of peace. I knew in that moment, everything thing would be okay and that He would take care of me. I knew it wouldn't happen overnight and I kept praying and have prayed ever since.

I prayed the next year and a half and by that time I saw my mother and father be saved by God. I saw my family being happy and together. I saw a love between my mother and father that I hadn't ever seen. I knew from the moment I was lying on the couch praying, that I would see this day. It has instilled in me the faith that God will always take care of me, that he will always be there to fix what has gone wrong if we just trust in Him and pray with all our might. I've had many other struggles since then but He has always provided whether it be something big or something small.

I'm writing this now because lately I've felt such a negative attitude toward God and toward Christians. It makes me so sad for people when I hear them speak negatively about Christianity because I KNOW, and I mean know, what He will do for you. I know the love He has for us and how He provides for us. My faith is such a huge part of me and I think it is one of the things that defines me the most.

I have never had a problem with being friends with people who believe in different political stances or different religions. What I find sad and unnecessary is the lack of respect I've seen toward something I hold so dear in my heart and soul.

New Website!

Here is a preview of my new website! Tohny is doing it for me and he's so amazing. I'm super excited! Hopefully it will be up and running in a few weeks. :)

For Fun

A couple old picture from when Tohny and I first started dating. :)