Johanna Learns to Drive . . .

(...on an antique fire truck simulator at the Fire Fighter's Museum in Dallas - July 2002)

by Julia

Finally.

After working on this off and on for two months, I’m done! Part of the delay was that I just wasn’t satisfied with the facial expression. I still am not satisfied. It’s not "cheesy" enough. I managed to capture the "cheesy" better in a study I did. (See the sketch below. Sorry about the quality - I had to enhance the sketch because it was too lightly drawn.) I got the left eye and mouth right. It actually looks like our dear 4-year-old Johanna.

The finished portrait is a 100% enlargement from a 3x5 photo. (I used the grid-transfer method.) I had originally tried to draw it the same size as the photo. (See sketch at below left.) When it came time to do the face, it looked like a cute little girl, but in no way resembled a particular cute little girl named Johanna Ruth Kautt. No matter how much I sharpened it, the pencil tip was simply too wide – no room for error. Now I understand why some portrait artists prefer a larger format - even life-size - when trying to render a likeness. It’s easier to get the lines in the right place to capture the personality. I’m tempted to do a 400% enlargement of this – at least the face, - so I can get it right. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, as well! I gave it to Johanna as a late birthday gift. Belated "Happy Birthday!" dear JoRudy.

Pictures of Jaden

I wanted to post these two pictures of Jaden when he was a baby. Both of them were taken when he was only a few months old. Don't you think he's so cute?! :)

This is one of the best pictures of Jaden, I think. :)

"Keep your hands out of the cookie jar!"

Answering Darwin Conference - Part 2

Saturday: I let Abby go Saturday night, and stayed home with mom. So...I don't really know what happened that night, seeing that I wasn't there. A video presentation entitled: "A God of Suffering?", by Dr. Tommy Mitchell, was shown. This video presentation is great. Dr. Mitchell explains how there can be a God of Love in this world of death and suffering. Here are some more pictures from Friday & Saturday night:

Mischievous? Hannah & Phoebe (no not me! a different Phoebe!) :)

Isn't Ezra so cute?! :)

People...talking! :)

More talking!

Our mysterious visitor from Oklahoma was... Mr. Larry Amos (our former neighbor). More later.

Answering Darwin Conference - Part 1

Friday night started off good. Fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start, only a few people were there. But...about five minutes before a surge of people came and we had almost forty people! (Remember, this was our FIRST conference, ever!) Friday night we had a video presentation by Dr. Terry Mortenson, entitled "Origin of the Species: Was Darwin Right?" A very good presentation. We had great fellowship afterward, with snacks. That night we were at the church until 10:30! (We were talking, of course!) But, we were satisfied with the results so far. All praise goes to the LORD!


The door to the children's room

NOTE: our internet connection is not doing so well right now, so whenever it works better I'll be posting more pictures from the conference.

Answering Darwin Conference

Well...I think that the Answering Darwin Conference was a success. On Friday night & Saturday night we had over 30 in attendance (which doesn't sound much, but it is for a small church, and a first time "experiment" conference). On Sunday morning, with Dr. Jobe Martin as our guess, we had over 50 in attendance. Sunday evening we had just under 30. I had hoped we would have had more, but again, I think it was a success.

Anyway, we I get a chance, I hope to post pictures, and a little bit more about the conference. Maybe sometime in the next...month! No, just kidding. Hopefully in the next couple of days. :)

Also, we had a special visitor (from Oklahoma). Can anyone guess who it was?

Flowers!

In the past week or so, our daffodils have bloomed! They are so beautiful!