Wishing on a Star

This kitty is thinking profound thoughts as he looks up at the heavens at twilight. He's thinking about scratching his claws on yonder tree as well. The rolling hills contain some tangles/patterns. The words in the fields say the magical words many of us learned as children: "Star light, Star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, get the wish I wish tonight."

Watercolor pencil, markers, black pen, silver pen.

Wishing you pleasant dreams,
Tricia

Parlez-vous francais?

Still having fun with my zentangles--this time just a wee bit (oui?) in the letters! ;) I'm coming along with my shading, slowly but surely. Still find it quite challenging, and my blender pen didn't work so great this time around, but it still turned out okay. I created these french vignettes from a stencil.

Sunbeams

Okay, guess I'll do one more tonight. I was encouraged by my auntie's and sister's (in-law) fast responses. ;) I call this one Sunbeams.

Unfurled

Well, here's another zentangle I created. I worked with lots of tangles (patterns) I've never done before and then colored it. I've been studying my Time to Tangle with Color book I recently got and having a blast. I especially like the one big "coil" pattern that goes through the entire middle of it all. My first time to draw it and it turned out pretty neat! Hope you enjoy!
All for now,
Tricia

Relief in sight

Here is a page from my art journal. The hut pretty wonky (hey, it's my first attempt at a jungle hut), as are the clouds and palm trees! ha! But hey, I like how the ADRA lettering turned out. I like the bold colors paired with black.

It's nice to know there are agencies in the world that provide comfort, relief, and tremendous support to people in the face of tragedy. One of my favorite organizations to support is ADRA, which stands for Adventist Relief and Development Agency. This agency has helped so many countries in need--Katrina, Haiti, Japan, you name it. They also help communities in developing countries learn how to take care of themselves, not just to survive, but to thrive. That's so important!

In the past couple of years, ADRA has created an inventive way to help people--through their catalog. You can go to this catalog online (or request one via mail) and see just where your dollars will go. For instance, as the mother of an 11-year-old girl, I found one particularly meaningful: for $20 a month, I can prevent a young girl from becoming a child bride. The money helps her parents support her, feed her and educate her. That is so great, in my opinion.

Sometimes it feels like there are so many problems in the world, it's too much for one person. But if I help one little girl, who knows where that will lead? It is incredible to think of what that little girl could be, could do, if only she had a chance. My Hannah will have many opportunities. The least I can do is make sure another little girl, from a continent far away, will have just a few of those opportunities.

I think I'm doing a little better emotionally. Yesterday's visit with the doctor went really well. She spent an hour with me--that's unheard of. But as she is also a Christian, she tried to help me remember that we all fail and mess up and that we just have to keep going forward. For some reason, I'm not very good at that. I live in the past too much, sometimes without even realizing it. But I'm trying to keep my chin up.

All for now,
Tricia

Light up the Sky!

I'm really digging the song by a Christian group called The Afters. I don't know anything about the group really, but John sent me their song, Light Up the Sky. The video and song are amazing to watch and listen to! It's basically about how so often we lose our hope in life, yet God continues to bring Light and Hope into our life, if we will only look up. The song/video deals with the major stresses in life: terminal illness, unemployment, divorce. Pretty heady stuff. (If you want to check it out yourself, go to youtube.com, and type in the search: Light Up the Sky official video.)

Anyway, lately I've been playing around with an art journal and decided to use the elements of this song and theme on one of the pages. I wrote the words of the song around the clouds. You can't tell, but the sun is completely filled with a gold-colored glitter and it really sparkles in real life. I tried my hand at a whimisical style font, as well.

I know in past posts I've listed some of the crummy things that have happened to us the last few months, but today I want to list some amazing things that have happened, which I see as little ways God has "lit" up our sky:

John is asked to teach classes at Tarrant County College, at the nearest campus location to our home!!

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John discovers, next to the DUMPSTER at our complex, about 7 pairs of shoes, all in excellent condition, exactly in his size. These include work boots, deck shoes, church shoes, and more!

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In the first ten days back from Christmas vacation, John is asked to substitute a total of five days, which I know will help us take care of the basics until the TCC checks are automatically deposited.

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I have no idea why, but because John is now working at TCC, we will get a discount in our rent!! Woo-hoo!

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Even though I really hated that our car was in the shop for most of our Christmas vacation, it really was the best time to get it fixed and not have to worry about how to get Hannah to school and stuff. The PTO check arrived just in time to get it fixed, too, arriving the same day Hannah's vacation started.

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We received gifts and some $$ from friends and family to help us have a wonderful Christmas, as well as tide us over during the tough times. We were VERY thankful for all our loved ones, and especially GOD, did for us!

These are just a few examples of little miracles that have helped encourage us the last few weeks and months!