I'm sorry it has been so long since I have made an entry on this blog.
I'm still here. I just haven't known what to say.
Yes, I have had plenty to blog about.
Merritt and Mason BOTH started school 2 weeks ago.
And we took pictures (that I just uploaded off of my camera.)
Molly is now 15 months old and is growing in so many ways.

I have just been in a strange place.
I've been soooo exhausted. I just want to sleep.
Which I think is a symptom of where I have been emotionally and spiritually
(not to mention that I need a new mattress and its tooooo hot to sleep well at night).
And as I have been praying about all of this, I am realizing that I have been grieving a bit -
grieving the loss of my expectations and hopes for a couple of my friendships
grieving for a friend over the loss of her expectations for her family
and in the midst of that, my grandma passed away last week.

But my God is so good.
He uses this time in my life to draw me closer.
To reveal himself as my comforter.
And to teach me.
He brings me joy in my tears.
He brings me new opportunities to be light to my loved ones.
And He makes Himself tangible when I need Him the most.

I am getting on an airplane early tomorrow morning to go to my grandmother's funeral.
She LOVED the Lord and soooo looked forward to the day she got to be with Him.
So as I grieve my loss, I rejoice for my grandma.

Next time I'll post pictures.

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How to...

Thanks for all the feedback on this post.
Since many of you wanted to know how I did it, I thought I would reply here.

Here is the original image straight out of the camera...

Using Photoshop CS3, I started by adjusting levels to get the mood I wanted in the picture. Then I got rid of the women's restroom sign and cropped the image in.

From there I processed the image using Totally Rad Actions (a birthday gift) - Boutwell's Magic Glasses to get a little more sharpness; and a couple of the textures (dirty lovin, dirt lip, dirty birdie) adjusting the opacity on each layer until I liked the finished product.

You can request a free sample of the actions here.
(The sample I received included Boutwell's Magic Glasses. You will love it!)

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I have been working on several projects lately. (One of the reasons I haven't had much time to blog.)
One of those projects is a wedding gift for some friends. We took some pictures at their wedding and are using them to put together their gift.
(They already know about the gift so it's not going to ruin any surprises if I share it with you here.)
The lighting in the sanctuary and the reception were pretty dim, which made getting good pictures a challenge (not to mention that we were trying to stay out of the way of the hired photographer and NOT take the same pictures.)
That being said, none of the pictures of the bride and groom exiting the ceremony came out clearly. So I decided to try and make the best of the situation and take an artistic approach to processing the image.

I kind of like the results, especially to use as a background image to put type over.
What do you think...?

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