#regardless i love the joy discovering beloved media brings me

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

running a blog where i try to dodge spoilers from a show that aired 30 years ago is adjacent to extreme parkour over a pit of bubbling lava. while being shot at with arrows.

[joshulanski-blog]

Dancing With The Stars 2009 Week 5 Recap: Donny Rules!

I started to create my typical "Dancing with the Stars" evaluation when I suddenly realized that I didn't feel like doing it. For the first time since the ABC television display started, I really wasn't that interested in what experienced occurred or even what was going to happen in the subsequent weeks. That was a mild bulb moment for me. But what Keara delivers to the table is not an additional pretty face with a nice voice - it is, rather, a distinctive combination of musical abilities that are adept much past her many years, matched with a serene, but youthful, vitality that retains her relatable to audiences of all ages. With an R&B acoustic audio somewhat reminiscent of a younger feminine counterpart to Bruno Mars, Keara (or 'guitarprincesskeara' as she's recognized to her 3000+ subscribers on YouTube) is ready to deliver a fresh edge to teen pop songs. I sat down with Keara just a few nights in the past prior to an exceptional performance supporting look at this web-site at the Concert For Our Future in Manville, New Jersey, exactly where she opened up about her desires and objectives for her promising long term in music.

Kathy Ireland. Will she be this yr's Josie Maran and get booted off the first week? Or will she use the athleticism she shown in the cinematic classic Essential Roughness and outlast the relaxation?

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Case in stage, singer Mya and model Joana Krupa. These girls are undeniably fantastic dancers and most likely the leaders of the competition. But who cares? Numerous viewers don't know enough about them aaron carter pictures to get invested and root for them.

Donny Osmond was a hit! His sister Marie was on back in season five of "Dancing With the Stars," and she produced it all the way to the last three regardless of being 1 of the weaker performers. Expertise-wise he's probably more powerful than Marie, and he has a great capability to perform the group. He completed his foxtrot with a twenty. During the team salsa, he was also easily declared the winner. Kathy Eire and Tony Dovolani. Kathy Ireland is a design, actor, Sunday school teacher and CEO. Will this well-known bikini design and company entrepreneur have what it takes to make it to the top? Her partner is beloved Tony Dovolani who has arrive near to the top of DWTS, but has never taken home the mirror ball trophy. His past partners were Melissa Rycroft, Susan Lucci, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Jane Seymour, Leeza Gibbons and Stacy Keibler. This group might get fingers-down in the looks division, but do they have what it requires to reach the end line? Perhaps so.

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Next 7 days it's all about males compared to women on DWTS season nine: No much more of this pansy women compared to ladies and men compared to males stuff. Keep in mind to catch subsequent week's spherical of the competition on Monday evening at 8 PM Japanese/Pacific on ABC. Or just verify in with me. You know I'll be watching! Dancing With the Stars followers are psyched about the big Season nine premiere. In the meantime, here's a chance to get acquainted with the couples, weigh their probabilities for achievement, and capture up on the very newest DWTS information. Strap in simply because this appears to be a bumpy, yet thrilling season! There were several fans that were shocked by the reports when they had been broken in the media, and now that it has been announced that read this article will be appearing on the news display, it is certain that followers will be tuning in to watch what he has to say about the story.

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Carrie Anne commented that whilst it was apparent he hadn't danced prior to, she liked that he revered the dance and display the joy of dancing, but he has to discover to use his heels. It began, curiously sufficient, when entertainer Donny Osmond's son Don Jr. "tweeted" congratulations to his Dad, noting that "You and Kym [Johnson] are going to get this season. You've received my vote every 7 days! Love ya!" Oops.

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The marathon: The 9 remaining couples danced simultaneously for the first marathon mambo. At stake: much more judges' factors. The initial few tapped out obtained two points, while the final receives 10 points. If nothing else, Ashley inherited one thing from his famous father, George: the smile. He did a good occupation with the footwork, but it truly didn't do a lot to stand out from the crowd. With a four from Bruno, Ashley completed with a 15. He also was last in his group salsa. He's just not exciting, and I'm really not sure he wants to be there; for that purpose, he should be the male contestant to depart on Wednesday. You can see that this exercise plan is not like any crap marketed on Television. You will never feel tricked, and your money and time will be ell invested. It brings together a great established of workouts with a balanced and nicely planned diet which will assist you obtain incredible results in a fairly short period of time.

[tashkandi]

The Blessing of “Unanswered Prayers”: An Adoption Story

I am still in awe of how abundantly my husband Tom and I have been blessed.  Like country music star Garth Brooks states so well in one of his songs, “I thank God for unanswered prayers”.  For years we prayed so hard to conceive a child.  We could not even begin to have known how much more joy God’s plan for us would bring.

Early years of marriage: waiting for a child

Tom and I met during our freshmen year of college so we knew each other fairly well when we married a year after college.  At the time of our marriage, we were aware that my medical history of severe endometriosis might make conception difficult.  (Endometriosis is a common health problem in women in which the tissue that lines the uterus grows outside of the uterus and on other organs of the body.) We were lucky in that we had the opportunity to discuss this before marriage as well as the fact that adoption was an option that we were both comfortable exploring.  But it didn’t make pregnancy announcements from friends and family any less difficult as we clung to the hope of conception for five years.

One of the most challenging part of those years of trying to conceive was attempting to navigate the world of fertility treatments and their moral implications.  At that time we had only a vague sense that most fertility treatments were in opposition to the Church’s moral teachings. (We have only in recent years come to understand the richness and beauty of the Church’s wisdom on this. [1])  Nonetheless, we stayed true to Church teaching and began exploring adoption.

Beginning the adoption process

For at least a year, we attended multiple information sessions of state run adoption programs, private agency programs, and even met with an adoption consultant.  Because we desired a newborn baby, we ruled out international programs and chose to pursue private domestic (within the US) adoption.  Most children adopted from overseas are older than infancy.

I was in graduate school in Boston at the time and had a faculty member who had just adopted a baby.  I set up a meeting with the same private agency that she used and we quickly compiled the vast ream of paperwork that the agency required.  (By the end of this process, I think that the agency knew more about us than our own parents did!)

Our application was submitted in January 2000.  We then began a series of home study meetings with the agency.  Contrary to popular media’s portrayal of these meetings as involving a stern looking woman entering your home for a white-glove inspection, nothing could be further from the truth.  The social workers that we met with were partially there to assess our motives and suitability to become adoptive parents.  At the same time, their goal was also to try to help prepare us for the process, experiences, and possibly even challenges that adoption could bring to our lives.

Receiving the call

Although the matching process can vary by agency, these days, many private agencies give the birthparents the opportunity to select their baby’s adoptive parents.  So we prepared a photo album that gave a sense of who we were and we wrote a letter to the birthparents to be included in the album.  The agency then forwarded albums to the birthparents so they could choose an adoptive family for their child.  I can only speculate, but I think that getting the call from an agency saying you’ve been selected by birthparents and the match has been made is somewhat synonymous to getting the much coveted call from the doctor’s office saying that your blood test was indeed positive for a pregnancy.  From this point, the little girl whose birthmother had chosen us to adopt her child was, in our minds and hearts, fully our child.  There is a saying that a biological child grows in the mother’s tummy but an adopted child grows in the parents’ hearts.  Nothing could be more true.

In August 2000, our first child, Katie was born.  Unlike many couples who are blessed with a more direct path to parenthood, we took nothing for granted with our blessing.  We “fought” for our turn to change her diaper (weird, huh?), feed her, and hold her.

Adopting again

In May 2002, Tom had a new job and we were preparing to move to another part of the state.  Katie and I were having breakfast with a friend who asked if we were planning to adopt again.  It seemed like a crazy time to proceed since we were trying to sell one house and were in the middle of building a new one.  Her questions seemed to light a fire in me though, and I became a woman on a mission.  The details fell easily into place (despite the fact that we had to change adoption agencies) and by June 2002, we had submitted our second adoption application.  Even though we had so much on our plates with a toddler, a move, and an impending adoption, I felt a profound peace from that day in May straight through to the day in January, 2003 when we were blessed with the birth of our second daughter, Meaghan.  (I was even fortunate enough to be at the birth!) Meaghan was born in Georgia, which required a two week stay as we waited for the legalities of the adoption process to be finalized.  Gratefully, we were blessed with mild Georgia weather while our home state was buried in snow and a record-breaking cold spell.

A boy and a girl!

In December 2004, we submitted our third application for adoption.  The process was uneventful and much easier by the third time.  Katie was four years old at this point and whenever we asked her if she thought this third child would be a boy or girl, she confidently replied “Both!”  We would soon discover that she must have had a direct line to God.  Our son, Andrew, was born in Ohio in September 2005.  Once again, we remained in Ohio for a couple of weeks as we awaited the legal process.

The day after we returned home, I was sorting through a box of baby clothes (and putting away the pinks and purples), when I was moved with a profound longing for another little girl.  Now, mind you, I was thrilled to have Andrew in our life.  He was a sweet and easy little baby.  So, I was befuddled why my heart felt this so keenly.  One week later, I had my answer.

When Andrew was only three weeks old, the adoption agency that we worked with to adopt Katie called to inform us that Katie’s birthmother was pregnant again and wanted to know if we would be interested in adopting this child who was due in four months.  I suddenly understood my strangely timed interior longing for another girl and chuckled as I reflected on Katie’s childlike prophesy of “a boy and a girl.”  I knew, without a moment’s hesitation, scared as I was by the situation, that this was God’s plan for our family.  Molly was born in January 2006, and once again I was blessed to be present at the birth.

Life as an adoptive family

Almost eight years after the birth of my fourth child, I rarely think about the fact that these are adopted children.  I just know that they are “our children”.  They know that they are adopted and it comes up periodically in conversations.  They just started at a new school and were commenting on how people often don’t believe them when they say that they were adopted.  Minimally, we reflect on it at that point each year around their birthdays when we send letters and photos to their birthparents (via the agency).  Otherwise, at this point we have no direct contact with the birthparents.  I have no doubt that at some point, some or maybe even all of our children will seek out a meeting with their birthparents.  When that time comes, and they are of the appropriate age and maturity to do so, Tom and I will stand by them and support them in this process of self-understanding.

There are times when something like completing parental health history on their medical forms call to mind that they are adopted.  There are also the occasional school projects about the students’ ethnicity that creep up.  Otherwise, we chuckle on the many occasions when Tom or I have been told how much our children look just like us!

I would be misleading you if I told you that it was all easy.  The adoption application process, at times, felt profoundly invasive.  But if you talk with many new mothers, I think they might describe the birthing process as rather invasive.  There are some challenges that are unique to adoptive mothers and fathers.  It is difficult to explain to adopted children that just because they were “given up” for adoption, it does not mean that they were not “wanted”.  (The term used more widely now is “placed for adoption,” which helps highlight the selfless generosity of birthparents in choosing an adoptive family for their child.) When we reflect on our children’s future weddings, we understand that there is a remote possibility that we might have to share the “parent pew” with their biological parents.  Then we remember that these four little blessings were only given to us to “borrow” for a short period of time, but they don’t belong to us, or to their biological parents.  They belong to God.

About the author

MaryPat and her husband Tom, shown above with their children, have been happily married for 20 years, regardless of the fact that they have very few common interests – except for God and family – proving that opposites really do attract! MaryPat worked in college admissions and as a high school guidance counselor until she became the full-time mother of four adopted and much beloved children. With all four children now enrolled in school, MaryPat has begun working with families as an Independent Educational Consultant through her new business, Compass College Advisors. Tom is employed in the banking industry and spends his time sharing his deep love of the Catholic faith with anyone willing to listen. They reside in the Archdiocese of Boston. 

  [1] See USCCB document about infertility and ethical reproductive treatments: “Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology” (2009).

from For Your Marriage http://ift.tt/2yjOLN0 http://ift.tt/1NctfYb

[doodlewash]

The Backstory

Throughout my life, there have always been two interests that stand out among the rest: animals and art. I’m pretty sure I’ve loved animals every single day of my life, and I’ve been drawing for as long as I could hold a pencil. As I grew, my preference in media changed from sketching to photography to sculpting to painting.

During summer before my senior year, I found myself short of the minimum community service hours required for graduation, and as fate would have it, my mother found an ad in the newspaper for teen volunteers for our local zoo’s summer program. And it was that volunteer experience that would end up shaping the rest of my life.

During that summer and the year to follow, I would end up logging nearly 500 hours at the zoo before leaving for college. During college, I studied both zoology and psychology and got my first paid position at another zoo as a camp counselor. Unfortunately, my college days would come to an end earlier than I anticipated when my health started to decline.

Upon returning to my hometown with two associates degrees in hand and no idea what I was going to do with my life, I began working as an assistant at a photography studio while also returning to my local zoo as an intern with the hopes of joining the staff someday. A couple years later, my dream came true. I got a job as a full time zoo educator at the zoo I had been visiting since my second birthday.

I adored every second of being a zoo educator, even the ones where I was at my wits ends with the kids or covered in animal feces. I eventually rose to the position of managing the department, but unfortunately, I learned the hard way that my INFP personality was not well-equipped with traits that would allow me to enjoy managing people instead of actually educating. With my health once again deteriorating rapidly, I made the impossible decision to leave my zoo after well over a decade of commitment to them. 

Discovering Watercolors

As luck would have it, I found watercolors through the zoo as well. In those last few months I was working there, I was planning a craft for a new program when I came across these little watercolor animal silhouettes and very suddenly, it was like a flip switched in me. I was immediately drawn to the way that watercolors flow and the range of color, texture, and emotion they are able to evoke. I had to learn more about this medium.

So, one thing you might want to know about me is that I have a bit of an obsessive personality. When I latch on to something that I am passionate about, there’s really no turing back. I’m not great with anything technical and my chronic pain makes it difficult for me to remember important dates or what I ate for breakfast yesterday… but it’s been fourteen years since I first learned to handle an opossum and nearly three years since the last time I taught with one, but I could still talk your ear off about all their fascinating adaptions. The same thing happened to me when I found watercolors.

I had painted with oils and acrylics before, but I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know professional watercolors were even a thing. For whatever reason, they weren’t a part of either of the only two art classes I was able to take in school and I hadn’t even seen a set of Crayolas for years.

But after that first spark of curiosity, I spent months researching the ins and outs of watercolor, what colors to chose for a palette, how different pigments reacted with each other… I read blogs and watched videos for hours on end, all to learn as much as I could and teach myself.

And to be entirely honest, after two and half years, I haven’t stopped.

Inspiration from Africa

It shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise that I find my inspiration in wildlife. I have the utmost respect for our planet, and I feel it is our responsibility as a whole to take action and stand up against all the wrong humans have done and are currently doing to the millions of other species we share it with. As cliché as it might sound, I am inspired by a greater desire to help speak up for those who do not have voices, and I hope that my artwork serves as an extension of that passion in some small way.

My ultimate lifelong dream was to visit Africa and after years of saving, I finally took myself on that trip to Botswana and South Africa in 2013. Due to my work schedule, I had to travel during the off season which led to an incredibly interesting adventure in more ways than one. I was traveling by myself to another continent, and the company I booked with changed guides on me at the last minute to someone I had never spoken to and with whom I’d be alone with for the next week and a half. There was plenty of panic, anxiety, mishaps, and rain that trip, but I was standing in Africa and despite all the bad, nothing could compare to the comfort I felt from Africa herself. There aren’t words to express the absolute bliss I felt standing on African soil.

The experiences I shared there are enough to inspire me for a lifetime. I got to watch a small pride of young lions trying to stay cool under a tree in the hot Kalahari sun. One of which was playing gently with a butterfly like a house cat might. We came quite close, a little too close for comfort, to a herd of bull elephants along the road outside the Makgadikgadi Pans and watched them under a moody grey sky. I was privileged to have an incredibly rare opportunity to watch a couple of adolescent hyenas babysit two cubs while we heard the rest of the pack in the distance, presumably in a hunting party. And among many other experiences, I got to fall asleep to the roar of a rare subtropical storm filled with the beautiful chorus of frogs, insects, and birds as it poured down in Maun. It’s been over four years, but the memories are so vivid still that it brings tears to my eyes thinking about what a breathtaking experience the trip was.

Artistic Process

There’s no secret here. Regardless of medium, be it photography, painting, or sculpting, my love for animals inspires nearly every piece I create. Having been a photographer who loves to paint the same subjects that I photograph, I’m well-stocked (pun intended?) as far as references go. Whenever I’m stumped for a subject, I need only to open up my storage files and take a look for something that calls to me on that given day.

In connection with my desire to help spread conservational messages, I love featuring flagship species (beloved animals that help people to focus on a broader conservation effort) and some of the lesser known beauties in my artwork to help spread awareness. I have a very strong preference for painting animal portraits, and one of the comments I get most consistently in regards to my artwork, whether photography or painting, is that people feel very connected through the eyes of the animals I paint. This is perhaps the greatest compliment anyone could give me, and am still humbled each time I hear it.

Tools of the Trade

My first and greatest love in watercolor paints is Daniel Smith. When I first began researching color selections, I came across the wonderful Jane Blundell’s website and, paired with many other resources, began building my palette of Daniel Smith colors, which I used almost exclusively inside an 18-well Mijello Fusion palette for my first year of painting.

I will never be able to say for sure if those paints and that palette are only my favorites because they were my first real watercolor supplies or if they would have ended up there regardless, but I do adore them. My other favorite brands include M. Graham for their vivid pigmentation and eco-friendly business practices and Schmincke for their silky smooth texture and soft coloration.

As far as brushes go, I have several in my arsenal I happily use including a Princeton Elite Size 12, a Silver Black Velvet Size 10, an Escoda Versatil Size 8, the Princeton Neptune Size 4 Quill, and the very convenient Pentel Aquash Water Brushes. Arches 140lb Cold Pressed is my go-to watercolor paper, though also have been using some Strathmore 500 Series lately. I also recently took on the challenge of compiling and testing over 25 types of watercolor paper from different brands and there are some I’m quite eager to add to my collection as well.

Recently I’ve started enjoying other water-based mediums such as gouache and inks, but I owe them a lot more time before reporting any findings.

The Working Artist

A little over a year ago, I decided I wanted to put all of this silly, obsessively-compiled information to good use and started an educational YouTube channel. I primarily focus on product reviews, tutorials, and other geeky mini series like my Color Spotlight series where we focused on a different pigment each week for eight weeks. Last month I also had a ton of fun producing daily time lapse videos for World Watercolor Month!

My chronic pain unfortunately pushed my out of a career I never expected to have to leave. Coming to terms with that has been very difficult, but I have found a renewed joy in sharing both my passion for watercolors and my love for animals with my community. I am diligently working to spread my passion for both watercolors and animals while also making my artistry and educational materials responsible for my livelihood. Thanks to my amazing Patrons and those who support me through my online shops, I get a little closer to that goal every day.

I am very active within my YouTube and Patreon communities and love forging connections with other aspiring artists. I’d be thrilled to see you all around if you’d like to join us! 

Thank you so much to Charlie for sharing my story and my artwork with all of you lovelies on Doodlewash. Happy Painting!

Denise Soden Website Etsy YouTube Patreon Instagram Facebook Doodlewash Gallery

#WorldWatercolorGroup GUEST ARTIST: "In Liquid Color" by Denise Soden - #doodlewash #animals The Backstory Throughout my life, there have always been two interests that stand out among the rest: animals and art.