Update (4/30/16)

Hey, y'all!  Hope your April has been fantastic!  Here is a short update from me. :)

I can't believe April has gone by so fast!  We had some nice rain, so that was very nice.

Since my last update, I've finished my portrait montage, and have started a few other new portraits - Sherlock and Moriarty from BBC's Sherlock, Lauren Daigle, and Tom Baker as the 4th regeneration in Doctor Who (He is my favorite regeneration.).  The finished montage is below.

I'm really excited about how much my art has improved over the past few years that I've been drawing portraits.  Below is a photo I posted on Instagram of some of the portraits I've drawn through those years.

L to R: Rose Tyler and Tenth Doctor, Lecrae, NF, Angel montage.

So, yeah, I've definitely improved!  I'm still really proud of my portrait of NF, just because I hadn't done any drawing in quite some time then, and that one had turned out better than anything I'd ever drawn before.  Drawing hair is still quite a challenge, but I think that's getting a little easier as I practice.  But I think David Tennant would be disgraced if he ever saw my rendition of his hair. ;)

Aside from art...

I'm going to have another sibling!!!  I am so, so excited!  Baby Ten is due this Fall.  Mom wanted me to crochet a baby blanket for #10, so I've started that.  It's a blanket composed of many Granny Triangles, and is very easy to work up.  I found the pattern HERE.  We chose a Fall color scheme for the yarn (I'm using Lion Brand yarn for this project.).

I've released a brand NEW e-magazine on the DiverseReflections Store, so hop on over and check it out - it's a FREE download!

I attended TeenPact again this year, and it was super fun!  This year's Alumni track was probably my favorite so far - The American criminal justice system.  Also, I got to meet the TeenPact-meme-famous PD, Elijah Knapp, who very nearly became the King of our state (the state would have been a constitutional monarchy). ;)  Awesome guy - my favorite PD so far!

Also, I met a young lady at the Church we've found in our new town, so I'm hoping that it will be the start of a new friendship - I have so much trouble finding friends sometimes.  Most of the people I know here are from the Deaf community, so I'm definitely learning more Sign, which is fantastic!

Well, that's about it for now!  I'll be updating again soon, so keep checking back and subscribe so you'll never miss a post.  Check out my photography business and blog, Diverse Reflections Photography too!

Have a lovely last day of April!

Book Review ~ Surprise at Yorktown

Hey, everyone!  I'm so excited to share my review for the 15th book in Adventures In Odyssey's Imagination Station series: Surprise At Yorktown.

Surprise At Yorktown is set in the Revolutionary War in 1781.  Cousins Beth and Patrick are on a quest in the Imagination Station, and find themselves on a dangerous mission to warn General George Washington of the British general's plan to win the war.  They question who to trust as they rush to save the country from the British.

As with all the books in the Imagination Station series, I found this book interesting, humorous and fast-paced.  Everything is so well-described so that you can almost see and feel the story around you.  In every AIO book, there is a secret word puzzle, and the answer can be used to win a prize.  The puzzles are easy and fun to complete, and many involve remembering parts of the book to decode them.

My siblings who also read the book said it was "pretty funny" and "historical," although my little sister said that it wasn't as good as the previous books.  I like that the book created some suspense with one of the characters.  James Armistead, a shadowy man who constantly crosses paths with Beth and Patrick, continues to confuse them.  Can they trust him, or is he a spy for the British?  This is one of the suspenseful questions that led me to continue turning the pages of Surprise At Yorktown until, finally, the truth was revealed.

Surprise At Yorktown was a fun read, and I believe any child who reads it will think so too!

(I received this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.)

My Long-Forgotten Update

Hey, everybody.  I'm a bit embarrassed due to the fact that my last entry was just before New Years 2015, and it is now New Years 2016.  Time flies and life happens, I guess.  But, I'm back and I have some big news to share with you all!

To start things off, I have a new photography blog - Diverse Reflections Photography.

In the months before my last post, I'd noticed The Godly Photographer had slowly grown from the first tiny posts with no more than a captioned photo into longer posts that weren't limited to photography.  I've become a Tyndale House book reviewer, Compassion International blogger, and storyteller on this blog.  Anyway, I decided that I wanted to take my photography to a new level, and in order to do that, I felt the need to create a new blog solely for photography, Diverse Reflections.
However, I found that I missed having a blog where I could share my thoughts and review books and just write about whatever without worrying if it sounded professional.  It's kinda nice having a place to write freely, you know?
So, have no fear, I will (hopefully) continue writing on this blog while still building up Diverse Reflections.  But, I probably won't have quite as many photos posted here, so check out Diverse Reflections for my really good shots.  :)

Also, I have a little sister!  As some of you may know, it's been a long, long time since there's been a baby girl in our house (and there have been lots of baby boys), but the wait is finally over!  Azzy and I just shared a birthday...did I mention she was born on my birthday?...and we're preparing for a Birthday Girls photoshoot.  I've already planned out our future birthdays (i.e., making the waiters at restaurant sing Happy Birthday twice, and give us two separate desserts - we can share one, and the family can share another ;) ).  Ooh, it's so surreal having a little girl in the house!!!

And we've moved...again.  We move a lot.  I've gotten (sort of) used to living where we are, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of the best friend I had to leave.  Paprika, you are awesome! ;) ♥♥♥
In the months since we've moved, I've joined a fun group at Starbucks where Deaf people meet (I'm super interested in Deaf Culture, and hope to become a Deaf Interpreter).  I'm excited about where this will take me.  I've also volunteered at a Deaf children's camp, and have met a few interpreters who have given me advice for when I go on to College for interpreting.

Oh!  I'm now on Instagram!  Check out my account @megan_diversereflectionsphoto for my photography and art.

Speaking of art...Even though drawing has always been a hobby of mine (I drew lots of simple paper dolls when I was 8 years old), in the last two years my art style has changed a lot!  I switched from Manga to realistic portraits.  Let me tell you, my portraits weren't very realistic two years ago!  They looked more like Picasso had decided to keep the oversized features and place them in the correct position on the face!  Yeah, that bad.  But, about 5 months ago, I finished a portrait that is my personal best to date.  And now I've started a new portrait montage of Angel from X-Men: The Last Stand, which I hope to finish in time for the County Fair.  Once I'm finished, I'll post a photo of the drawing here on the blog for you all to see.

I guess that's about it.  I'm thankful for all my great readers who have kept following me all this time.  Thank you very much, everyone!  And happy 2016!

So Long, 2014

Here's to a happy, happy, happy new year!

Sunny Palomino

During our family trip to Colorado this Summer, we rented out a ranch cabin, and it was right next to the barn where they kept the horses.  In the afternoon, one of the owners left a pretty palomino in the barn, and (as usual) I got super excited and got my camera. 

He stood in the dark for a little while before walking out into the sun.  That amount of light added a new dimension to the shot, in addition to the darkness in the background.  Also, the horse's face is in direct line with the wooden beam, which isn't dead center in the photo.  It's a good rule of thirds, and the colors blend well.

Any ideas or opinions on this photo you would like to share?  Tell me in the comments below!  And don't forget to subscribe to the blog to receive post updates!

Moving

This past month has been a huge whirlwind of activity!  I finally got on to my site today, and I was so shocked when I saw that my last post was November 17!  Happy December.

It's been very different moving to the city after nine months in the middle of nowhere.  And the fact that our neighbors are extremely nice is, dare I say it, just a tad creepy.  I mean, I have never had such nice neighbors in years!  So when three different people rang my doorbell on the same day, I started to get nervous and happy at the same time.

We stayed in a hotel until we had unpacked a majority of the boxes, making it a livable place to stay!  It was kind of boring though, because the only thing we could do when we had time off was either eat at a restaurant (we didn't have all the kids with us, so it was less expensive), go back to the WIFI-less hotel and watch TV, or go to bed.  Basically, all I did in the hotel was watch CNN and Fox News while crunching ice.  I agree with you if you think that is weird.

 Now, we're all moved in (even though there are still millions of boxes...oh, if you could only see our garage!), and Kip, our dog, has a fenced-in backyard.  That's a lot better than a huge field without a fence.

Have a great December!

Red Clover

Sunset is coming earlier these days, and the weather is getting very chilly.  This flower, a red clover, is one of the last survivors in our yard.  Its vibrant color against the green and brown background is still there despite frost.