Night Photos

My night photography class was only three evenings. Here are some pictures I took holding the shutter open, and some where I used light painting.

The next three were taken at the same time, but at different exposures.

I like the darkest one best.

The next five were also taken at the same time, but with different shutter speeds and exposure times.

Painting with light

Painting with light

Painting with light

Painting with light

Painting with light

 Painting with light

Isaac Livesay's Answers

A while back I did an interview with Isaac Livesay who lives in Haiti. Some of you asked him questions. He sent me the answers this week. I hope it will give you a glimpse into life in Haiti--for missionary families at least. To understand life in Haiti for a Haitian, you'd have to go see it for yourself. Life is very hard. There is so much we take for granted. Like medical care. Food. Clothing. A roof over our heads. Some time I will share my three Haitian sensations' stories. But for now, here are Isaac's answers, and next week I'll post his brother Noah's interview.  

If you missed the interview, you can read it HERE

Here were your questions along with his answers:

Cynthia T. ToneyMarch 13, 2016 at 3:40 PM

Hi, Ike. What are Easter and Christmas celebrations like in Haiti?

At Easter we get together with friends at a friend’s house to eat, talk, have a church service, and then get our Easter candy. On Christmas we do all of the above except the Easter candy and the meals are bigger.

You can check out their Christmas extravaganza videos HERE and HERE (oldest ones, so cute) and the newest one HERE 

AnonymousMarch 13, 2016 at 5:13 PM

Do you help with the ministry with your parents? If so, what do you do?

I do not help out with the ministry, although helping my parents around the house is an overall help.

Jasmine RoseMarch 15, 2016 at 4:33 AM

I like to draw dragons too. What else do you like to draw? What do you like to read? I like Maze Runner, Percy Jackson, Divergent, Hunger Games and Kingdom Chronicles.

Other than dragons I really enjoy drawing  scenery, like mountains, lakes, Forests, oceans etc. For books  I really enjoyed Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and Harry Potter.

Jayden CollinsMarch 16, 2016 at 7:46 PM

I have some questions:
1. Have you always lived in Haiti and do you plan to live in the US when you are an adult or at least in college?
2. Do you think you get along more with your brothers and sisters because you aren't around a lot of other kids so they are your best friends?
3. What is your school like? Is it more just like a family group?

 I haven’t  always lived in Haiti, for the first four years of my life I lived in Minnesota. Ever since then  I’ve only gone back to visit every so often. Yes as an adult and a college student  I plan to live in the states. I think that because I’m not out and about it gives me lots of time to be with my siblings at home. So during those times I’ve been able to spend time and hang out with them.

You can follow the Livesay's journey on their blog HERE

Learn more about their ministry HERE

And consider donating to their ministry HERE

Book Review: There You'll Find Me

There You’ll Find Me

Jenny B. Jones

Finley Sinclair is struggling with grief after her older brother’s death. That grief leads her to Ireland for her senior year of school in order to follow her brother’s travels as documented in his journal.

Instead of finding the peace she hoped for, Finley meets famous teen actor and heart throb Beckett Rush, known for partying, is assigned a cantankerous dying woman as her adopted grandmother for a school project and searches for a Celtic cross pictured in her brother’s journal. She’s sure the cross holds the key to finishing her composition for her upcoming music audition at Manhattan music conservatory so finding it is a high priority.

Although her brother felt close to God in Ireland, Finley can’t seem to find that same peace or the cross. When Beckett insists she be his assistant in exchange for him being her tour guide, new problems arise, including an overly jealous classmate who tries to discredit her at every chance.

Things spiral out of control as Finley battles a new issue while dealing with the stress of trying to complete seemingly impossible assignments and hoping for closure both for herself and her newly assigned grandmother.

As things start to both escalate and resolve, Finley wonders if God could have been with her all along.

I read this book on my phone while waiting for appointments and was drawn in by the realistic characters and Finley’s search for the cross that she believed would bring her peace. The characters were pretty typical of the ones you’d find in most high schools, and while Finley was the “good girl,” she was also flawed.

A bit predictable, but a good read.

From the author's website:

Jenny was born and raised in Arkansas, growing up with a love to read and create stories. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English, a Masters in Teaching, and a Masters of Library and Information Studies. 

She sold her first book, In Between, in 2005, and has gone on to write Young Adult, New Adult, and romance. She’s been a RITA finalist, a Christy finalist, an RT Top Pick, RT Reviewer’s Choice nominee, and has won four Carol Awards.

Jenny has spent nearly twenty years in the education field, teaching English, drama, creative writing, and speech. She currently serves as a library media specialist for one of the largest school districts in Arkansas.

 When she’s not writing, Jenny loves to travel, watch movies, spend time with her family, and obsessively decorate and redecorate her house.

Always Learning Something New

One of my goals is to always keep trying something new, learning, growing.

Last year I learned to scuba dive and got my Padi basic certification along with my daughter who was 14 at the time. Tyler, my oldest son, did a couple of dives with us.

The visibility is great, and I'm over 40 feet down.

Why am I bringing up last year's diving? Because Ty and I have decided to go for our advanced certification. We'll start in a couple of weeks. We are wimps and waiting for the water to warm up a little!

Another thing that I tried last year was photography. It had been a long time since I shot with manual settings! And that was on a film camera. In the fall I took a basic class on how to use the camera. Then in the spring I took a class where we went to different places and took photos.

These are some of my favorites:

 Some of my kids were able to join us for one of the location shoots.

Here are some photos I took on spring break.

We climbed up 93 stairs, a ten foot metal ladder and through a scuttle hold.

Now I'm in night photography to expand my knowledge. I don't like it as well as my first two classes.

When I held the shutter open longer, it gathered the light from all the car headlights and made a trail that looks like snow.

It was actually dark but this time, but I left the shutter open longer to collect light.

I'm not sure what's ahead from me. More scuba of course. Maybe more photography. And it's almost time to get the kayaks out. What else? Motorcycle class? Learn ukulele with my daughter who will start it this summer? Or trombone with my son who just had his first class? Parasailing. Yeah, No. I have height issues, and I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.

What's the last new adventure you had or thing you learned?