Exhibit A

This week, I got in the photos of my senior art show, Exhibit A. I was really pleased with the quality of the photographs, so I thought I would post some pictures, ecspecially for people who wanted to see the show and couldn't come.

This is a photo of the pre-show preparations. Kayla and Emerald helped with a lot of the cooking. Kayla and her fiance, Darby, were helping me set up the refreshment's table just minutes before the door was open.

This is the group who I did the show with. Hanging above us is a whole bunch of A's. We each made about seven of these over the preceding week. The word Jazz is also in the grouping. This is because we had a live jazz band performing at the opening.

I love this photo because it is me talking to the person in the artwork we are standing in front of. A couple of summers ago I drew a charcoal picture of my brother, and it was in the show. So this is the model standing next to the artwork derived from him. Pretty cool.

I like this picture because I think it shows how chaotic the evening was. There were just tons of people there the whole time. Also, this is a good picture of what the gallery looked like as a whole.

This is my favorite picture from the evening. BJ and I are just standing around talking in the midst of the loud, busy room. I still can't really believed that I had a husband at the gallery opening. I never would have expected to have that sort of a guest at my senior show three years ago when I started my art degree. Life is funny.

An update

I got to see Grandma today, and it was really difficult seeing her in this condition. Just a week ago I was sitting at a wedding reception talking to her. Today, she looked fatigued, breathing was a huge labor for her, and she constantly feels uncomfortable. The doctor reconfirmed with our family this morning that Grandma does not want life support or the paddles used, and he took her out of ICU. At first, we thought it was a good sign that she was out of ICU, but it seems that he mainly did it so that the family is no longer limited by visitation hours. In other words, we're just waiting for something we don't want to acknowledge we're waiting for. She told Mom yesterday that she has lived a good life, she has been happy, and she is okay with going. Knowing she feels that way helps with letting go, but it is never easy.

Seeing Grandma's eight children anxiously sitting in the waiting room and holding her hand when they go to her room despite her very contagious pneumonia has really made an impression on me. The very people she brought into the world and now helping her leave. It is beautiful.

I would like to ask for prayers for our family. More specifically, I ask for prayers for my mother. She talked to Grandma everyday 2 or 3 times a day for as long as I can remember, and they have never lived more that 22 miles apart. Mom has quite an adjustment to make whether or not Grandma miraculously pulls through. For Grandma, I just pray for peace.

Craziness

Well, this is the longest I've ever gone without writing a post, but I have a good reason. I went to Menard (where there are hardly any working computers) for a little of my spring break, and my grandmother ended up getting severally ill, so I've been consumed with that situation. I just got a call from mom that Grandma is doing better, though. Our family would appreciate prayers, though.

I have enjoyed getting to see my family, but this has been a tough break. In fact, I think I can safely label Tuesday night one of the worst nights of my life. There where two contributing factors to the horribleness of this night. First, everyone (including the doctors) seemed pretty certain that Grandma was going to pass away that night, so I couldn't stop thinking about the phone ringing. And to make matters even worse, Gus had found the tuna and dry food of my parent's cat, Abby. And he ate it ALL. Basically, he had three days worth of food in an evening. I probably don't need to write this out for anyone, but he was really, really sick. So I was trying to run him outside the whole evening plus cleaning up things when we didn't make it out in time. Finally, at around 3:30 a.m., he and I got to sleep, but he woke up at 6:15 with the same problems. In fact, it never really ended until about noon.

End the end, though, the night turned out all right. Grandma made it through and is improving, and Gus finally got all that food out of his system.

It's a boy!

We have a new addition to the family. Meet Gus. He is an Old English Sheep Dog mix. And he is HUGE!!! The vet could not believe he is only about 6 weeks old. He is very fat, and very furry. BJ calls him a box with a head. I love him. This blog post is a dedication to our new baby and our two other crazy, loveable pets.

This is a close-up of the head part of the box. Pretty precious.

This is Gus's manhood. Ruff! (Uncle Bro's in the background. He is continually amazed at the cuteness and craziness of his niece and nephews.)

This is Gus and Sienna bonding. It was a short moment, but BJ managed to catch it in a picture. Most of the time, Gus is trying to play with Sienna while Sienna is trying to figure out why he is still in her home. She was really excited when we brought him home, but she has since realized he isn't leaving.

This is BJ and Tony recovering from the exhaustion of having a new puppy in the house. Before we got married, a lot of people doubted whether BJ and Tony could live together. Well, here's proof. They can.

What???

Today in my figure drawing class, we were drawing portraits of our model as always. Things were pretty calm and quiet. Then, all of the sudden, our model broke down crying and ran out of the room. She didn't ever come back, so we had to take turns modeling. It was one of those moments where I realized that although I may be a girl, I don't understand girls.