The Photoshop Club

I am an un-official inductee to the Photoshop Club. You know, the club that has it's own special language (hexagonal lassos, channels, layers, etc.), software, and overall smartness? Well, I guess I should say I am an honorary member, because I have only learned 1/1000 of what there is to learn. Dad taught me how to do the "flatting" for his graphic novel. Click here to see what it is: http://pixelstrips.com/extras/tutorials/flatting/flatting.pdf If you don't have the time to look it up, basically it is outlining the major images on the comic page and filling them in with any color. He then comes back and can select that color without having to do all of the outlining part, and he colors it as he wants.

He thought I would love it and I do! I'm still learning how to use the Wacom tablet, but I'm slowly picking it up. Dad is hoping to have his first several pages completely colored by Monday. So far, it is looking just amazing.

I finally got the hallway painted, and it looks great! I took pictures, but it's sorta boring without the wall hangings up. I need to add some new photos, particularly of Daniel and Jess. For some reason, I've got plenty of the younger set (including Matt & Jamie of course)!

After I get done with the flatting for Dad, I am planning on sewing matching outfits for Nates three kids. I'm gonna make 2 sun dresses just like what we did for the bean's wedding and a button up shirt for Isaiah. I plan on using the leftover yellow fabric from the wedding too. Excited about that!

Dad & I are hoping to go to Colorado in April, after the comic book is done. Paul Little (a nice guy from Eastgate) is wanting to fly us out to a cabin for a week for some R&R. The cabin is free I guess for pastors and the like: Elijah Ministries. We'll see if it really happens, but if it does, it'd be cool!

Ok, back to work for me-love you all! I have read all of your posts, sorry I did not comment on them, but they were great to read nonetheless-

Mom

FINALLY

So ever since this blog has been up, Jessica and Janelle have been giving me a hard time for not updating. SORRY! My computer is refusing to open anything google related, so i have to sit down at my 'rents computer to do this. I think its some sort of anti-google virus i got from all the illegal Harry Connick Jr albums i downloaded.

Anyways, I am really excited about this blog! Now you all have to at least skim through this and leave a nice comment so I don't cry myself to sleep.

We had our first Alpha meeting last night and it was wonderful! It's so refreshing to talk to people who are really searching for what life is about and seeing if Jesus really is who he says he was. This quote from CS Lewis is one of the main points in the packet we are using for the class:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

There was this old crazy guy at our table who kept (successfully) trying to make me feel stupid and uncomfortable, and I think he was just doing that because of my age, but who knows....maybe God gave me him because I specifically prayed for no crazy people. I should've known better

Other than that, same old same old. Love you all and love the posts!

-Matt

God is good

Lately I have been wondering at all of the blessings in my life. God has truly been so good to me.

I am surrounded by so many loving christian friends. I've never had friends like this. They all are honest christians who are struggling on the journey like the rest of us. But, what makes them so amazing is the way they love. I have only been here for about five months and I feel closer to some of the girls here more than friends I've had for years. It just really hit me this week. I have so much. Amazing friends, a wonderful family, a decent job and an over all really good life.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just now finally understanding what it means to be a christian. Lately God has really been opening my eyes to how much control I have in my own life and that he's ready for me to give it up to him.

I've been going to a women's bible study on Thursday nights and it has been so filling. God is really challenging me to step up and be the woman he has called me to be. Yes, I'm still struggling with the same old messes I love to get into, but I'm fighting them and that is what is important. One day at a time.

I've also signed up for a pathways class called "Lifeway: Practical Devotion." It starts tomorrow night. I'm a little worried because Tuesdays usually are late nights at work for me, but I'm just praying that everything goes smoothly and I'm able to make it to the class on time. Today was very productive so I'm hoping for the best.

I can't begin to tell you how much I love each of you. Dad, Mom, Daniel, Bradley, Jamie, Matt and Janelle: you, more than anyone I know have shown me God's love and I can't begin to describe how much it means to me. Like I said, I love you lots and lots!!!

Here's the news on the Lataillades at Eastgate

Hey kiddos...check out the news reports on the Lataillades visit with us.
Channel 7 news: http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/84919062.html

The News Herald: http://www.newsherald.com/news/beach-81649-city-panama.html

Channel 13 did a story too, but they don't seem to have it online.

yay

Thanks again for posting. It makes me sooooo happy to see what's going on in everyones life! I hope that you guys dont stop....please

Right now I'm at work- i get to go home soon- yay! I just found out that we get to hire April on at the clinic and she is starting tomorrow. I'm very excited about this because I know she has a great work ethic and knows tons about animals, computers and smiling. We are going to ride to work together tomorrow, which is kind of fun. It makes me think of when Jessica and I would ride to beach scene together.... remember Beach Scene?? Yuck!

Carl is overweight. Seriously. i found out these treats we've been giving him daily are very high in fat and are causing him to literally be considered "overweight". Matt and I turned on the kitchen light the other day to find him on the table eating cheese scraps- he just stared right back, not backing down on his treasure.

I'm in "moving mode". I keep mentally putting all of our stuff in boxes and rearranging how the stuff on the walls should go. I want to start painting over the stains, renting a rug doctor and saying my goodbyes. I know I'm going to miss everyone so much here, but I hate this weird 'not staying, not leaving' phase im in.

Matt and I will be starting our Alpha class tomorrow night at the church. Its the class for new beleivers or unbelievers with questions. Its mainly discussion and I'm very very excited. Matt and I will be running our own table (he's the leader, i'm the helper... dumb), but I think it will be awesome to watch people grow. I'm hoping it will start a brighter spark in me as well. I've been in such a weird "numb" phase lately and I hate it.

i love you all so much and i can't tell you how wonderful it is to check this and see new posts!

-Janelle

Short Poem

When I go to heaven, I will have this tightly held in my fist, and I will have a million co-authors write ahmen:

I called to God for help;
and when it came,
I had no idea
it would look like that.

At the beginning of the new year, Jamie and I were upset. We were going to a seeker-friendly church downtown called Willow Chicago, and we had settled on this church after several months of fruitless searching, even once visiting a unitarian universalist church by accident. Willow met at the Auditorium Theater, a famous concert house underneath my school, and had some thousand-plus members and visitors each Sunday. It was nearly impossible to see the same face twice, and though a desire to serve weighed heavily on my heart (I really wanted to use my writing and teaching talents to serve others), I kept meeting obstacles. Also, we both had agreed we wanted to take some sort of Biblical finances class so we could have a better grasp of Godly principles for our money, but Willow had no such programs. But the worst thing was that Willow's structure is predicated around the supposition that members can find a small group to plug into, to get deeper fellowship and deeper study; but the combination of our class schedules had prevented us from joining any groups in 2009. And so, when our schedules continued to conflict when the new, 2010 class schedules came out, we began to suspect this was a sign.

Some of the pages I've been working on

Actually...instead of being a smart-a$#, I thought maybe you'd like to see a few of the pages I've been working on? These are pages 1-3, inked. I just took photos with my phone, so they're kinda' blurry, but you get the idea.

Me am busy

I am up to my ear-bones in trying to draw a comic book.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

AAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

I'm supposed to draw a comic book, did you know that?

AAAAAAAAGH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

But it IS nice to hear what's going on in everyone's life.

Mmm... I'm Hungry!

It's past noon and I'm still in my pajamas. Of course, I should do homework, but Brad has rubbed off on me, and now I'm getting into the habit of reading blogs! Mine are mostly craft blogs though. Since I have the extra time (job hunting is surprisingly difficult) I want to learn to do something like quilting, or paper crafts, or knitting. I just don't know where to start. I really really want to learn to quilt, but I can barely sew right now, so I should probably take it one step at a time. Maybe I should just try knitting...or weaving...or watercolors....blah!!

Tomorrow, our group from church is having a Valentine Social/Potluck. The guys are making the main courses, and the women are making desserts - my favorite! So tonight, a few of the women are hanging out, making a two-tiered cake for the social, and eating spaghetti. I'm thankful for little opportunities like this to get to know some of them better.

This is Bradley and I having lunch at the church...yes, it was delicious :)

Work Shmirk

First of all- I am soooo happy to see everyone posting- and no Daniel its not okay for dad and brad to not post- no excuses.

Second of all its awesome to know what is going on in everyones life! I was sooo excited to come back from break and see so many new posts!

This week has been a little nutso for me. I've been working extra this week because of unforeseen circumstances at work and then yesterday on my day off we had to to take the car into the shop- yuck! however, i only have 2 1/2 hours left of my shift and then I am off until MONDAY!! ( i was working from 7a-6p monday-wed. w/ no break)

Tonight, matt is having a guys night (stupid...) so I am going to stay home and watch cheeziee movies- starting with Fireproof. I'm excited! I plan on going to bed at 6:00p with a bucket of candy and a cat that's trying to kill me in my arms.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Happy Friday!

I love you guys. I'm pretty sure we have the best family ever!

This week has been good. I've been going to a women's bible study on Thursday nights and last night was on obedience. It was really good for me. I have been going crazy lately with craving boys and all that fun stuff. It was good to have a reminder as to why it's important not to let my hormones get the best of me. So, if you think of it, be sure to pray that God gives me wisdom and strength to run away from any bad situations that I love to find myself in.

In other news, tonight I am going to take pictures of a concert at the Vineyard tonight. Tracy called me and asked me to take photos for their facebook page. I just thought it was funny because that's exactly what I used to do for The Corner. (The Vineyard is moonlighting as a venue now for high school type bands.) Whoo. Wish me luck with that!

I love you all!

-Jessca

Work & Home

Well, if you all haven't heard, I have another job. It is working for Whit Roberts at Destin Podiatry, doing his bookkeeping. He just bought a practice and will only be there a few days a week. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but I'm really liking it all now. He told me that the computer in the office is already set up for remote log in, which I LOVE, so I am doing all this work from home. I even setup my computer from the The Family Clinic for remote log in so I am now one day in the office and one day at home.

I just got done doing some work for both of those businesses and am gearing up for some home-work. I'm going to paint the hallway and re-do all of the pictures, frames and the way I hang them when I'm done. I will paint it the same color as the front entryway, which is a light beige-y sort of color. In order to find that particular color and the old paint can, I took every can off the shelf in the garage, and am going to sort and throw away the unnecessary paint-it's a mess right now!

After I'm done with the hall, I want to paint the guest bathroom, then eventually my bathroom. That will make every wall in the house painted since we moved in (except the laundry room, but does that room count?).

I guess it's spring fever.

Tonight we are going to mom & Chuckies for beef stew.

Mom

I am going to attempt to use this.

Whelp... things are happening. Many things... It looks like I will probably be asking Melissa to marry me pretty soon here. I have already recieved permission from her father. I'm not one hundred percent firm on how I will go about this, but I'm mostly sure it will not be excessively gooshy. I suppose, if you feel so called, you could pray that I have the courage to go through with it and that she actually says yes. Hope this is a good start to this blog. I look forward to checking the updates... Now, I do believe that some members of the family, specifically Brad n' Dad have their own blogs already; so personally, I could understand their hesitation in wanting to participate. That is all...

- Daniel

My plan!

Hello family!

i was thinking that I don't keep up with everyone as much as I would like, and I thought this might be a fun way for us as a family to stay connected.

I know its my fault, but I don't even see Jessica and Daniel that much and we live in the same city! So I thought by making a family blog, that is just for us we could stay updated with what is going on in every ones life!

So the purpose of this would be to post a blog with what's going on in your life, funny stories, or just nice things about me.

so if you hate this idea then write about it! (in the blog)

love you guys. I miss you all! I'm going to attempt to make you all admins so work with me here if I'm not able to make it work.

-Janelle