Quick update. My brother in law is doing ok. He should be released soon. From my understanding his heart and brain are not working in sync. When i learn more i will do a write up about it. I would like to thank everyone for their prayers.
They meant a lot to myself and my family. :)

I received a neat story in the mail today from a friend. It hit home for me, and i think a lot of people will relate. I thought i would share it here. So many times in life we all wonder why is it we deal with bad things. How could God allow them to happen? I have tried to explain it to others before, but I could not find the words that this story did. I hope you all enjoy it, and it makes as much sense to you as it did me.




SCARS OF LIFE

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided
to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to
dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes,
socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as
he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer
together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as
loudly as he could.

Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim
to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the
alligator reached him.
From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the
alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between
the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father
was much too passionate to let go.
A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck,
took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy
survived.
His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal.

And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into
his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if
he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with
obvious pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great
scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go.'

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not
from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are
unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are
because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's
been there holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He
wants
to protect you and provide for you in every way But sometimes we
foolishly
wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The
swimming
hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is
waiting
to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars
of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will
not ever Let you go.

Finally I fell in love with some of the tools in my drawing class. We used soft pastels today. I fell in love with how they glided across the paper, and how you could blend them with your fingers. This picture of a baby wild cat is the result of an hour and a half of working with soft pastels. Not perfect work, but it was enough progress for me to know i will be working with pastels again. :)

Looks for a sale on a soft pastel kit......

Prayer Request

I was asked today by my eldest sister to put out a prayer request for her husband, my brother in law. He is in the hospital as i write this getting checked out for dizziness, blurred vision, and all in all just not feeling right. They are unsure what is wrong. So if we can, please pray for him, that what ever is wrong will be minor, and nothing serious. I will update everyone as soon as i can.

Thank you! Your prayers are truly appreciated.

Hugs and blessings sent your way.

Above painting done by my niece who is 11 years old.



Above painting done by my nephew who is 8 years old

My in-laws left Tuesday afternoon, and all is slowly getting back to normal. They said they had a wonderful visit. We took them to see the local sites, and even took them on a small hour and a half boat cruise. Both my niece and nephew wanted to learn to paint, so i spent one evening and morning letting them paint the paintings above. What you see on their canvas's I am proud to say is all them. :) I have a rule I live by when i teach others to paint, if you are the artist only you are allowed to touch the canvas. I showed them how to paint on paper and they practiced then put it up on canvas. :) I think they did an awesome job. I was rather impressed myself at how well they did!

We all had a wonderful time while my in laws were here. It was great seeing them.

After my in-laws left i have been busy doing typical clean up stuff after one has visitors. Yesterday i spent the day at the printers. I now have summer nights in print! Yayyyy. While my son and i were in the city we did some school supply shopping as well as a few other errands. It was a busy day, but a good one all in all.

Truth be told I am totally exhausted. Between setting up this new website, running back and forth to the printers, entertaining company, and getting my sons ready to go back to school, I have worn myself out.

Yesterday I had my own small little break down. You know the feeling where you cry and cant stop crying, and you are not even sure why you are crying? That was me, last night.

Today i woke to find that I hurt all over, I am emotionally tired as well as physically tired. I feel like my energy is all used up.

I wish i could say i could rest now, but I still have two weeks to go where I need to get things done. I have prints to make, problems from my website to fix, drawing class to go to, Cleansing streams to host in my home on Mondays, two high school orientations to go to, and I need to continue to get my sons ready to go back to school. One goes back on Monday, the other the following week.

I need to keep the pace going for two more weeks. Then i think i am going to declare personal Tracy time. All i want to do is lock myself in my studio and do nothing but create art and sit quietly with God. Or better yet I would love to lock myself in the master bedroom, indulge in doing nothing but curling up and reading a book and sleep for several days.....

I am not sure how moms take on full time jobs while raising a family. (which in my opinion taking care of a home and family is a full time all in itself.) To all you working moms out there...... "I take my hat off to you, and look at you in complete awe"~! I admire every single one of you! It is amazing that it is done by mothers all over the world every single day.

Whats been happening in my little world.


It has been a busy week. One filled with running to printers, checking proofs, reordering more proofs to be done, because colors are still wrong, ordering tubes for prints to be mailed in, working on websites, spring cleaning, taking classes, shopping for school clothes for my sons, and getting ready for in-laws to come for a visit. All in all i feel like my head is spinning, and my world has become a blur. You know that song "they are coming to take me away hee hee, ha ha! To the funny farm??" That is how i feel about now. Laughing my father used to sing this to us when he was feeling the same when his world was spinning.

I am looking forward to having a few days off to relax next week. That probably wont happen until weds.

I am sorry i haven't been great in visiting my blogger friends. I have tried to keep up with a few here and there, but if i haven't gotten around to your blog yet, know i will soon! All my blogger friends are important to me, and i want you to know you all are in my thoughts through out all this spinning!

The good news is another print was ordered! The first print of Ray of hope will be shortly sent off. Yayyyy. I am so excited.

If you haven't checked out my new site yet please do. Even if you have, i have made changes, so you might want to take a look again. Click on the site below to see it.
Spiritual Brushstrokes

The changes to my site I think are an improvement and I feel my work is easier to see, and the general layout of the blog is easier to move around and look at everything. I have written up the meaning or my thoughts behind each painting, and I have also added paypal and how to order a print from me. I think the whole site is better then where it was.

You all will have to let me know if you agree! Feed back is always welcome.

My in-laws leave Tuesday, so I probably will not be able to blog until then.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sending blessings to you from me!

MY NEW WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING.
Introducing : Spiritual Brushstrokes Art by Tracy Jo





Come visit me over at : Spiritual Brushstrokes Paintings by: Tracy Jo

Please let me know what you think! Comments are welcome!

Yayyyyyyyyy

Does a Happy Dance......

I HAVE MY FIRST PRINT SALE! Wooohoooooooo

I sold my first print!!!!! I do not even have the site up and running yet! The person who wanted to buy the print said they couldn't wait for my site to open! They are excited about owning Heavens Gateway. They asekd me if they could buy the print now since it is already made? GRINS. They became even more excited when I said yes, and knowing that they have the first print ever made of my painting!

The site will be up and running soon! I am making a print of Summer nights to make sure this process works, before I officially open my site to the public, and that should be ready soon! I also am trying to figure out handling costs as well as working on ordering tubes to ship the prints in.

The first print of Heavens Gateway will be shown in a doctors office! woot woot! I am soooo excited. Thank you to the person who bought my print!

I am soooo excited that I already sold a print. Yayyyyyyyyyy


Hugs and blessings to my friends in the blogger world.

We are like teabags,
Whose true strength comes out when we're put in hot water.
So, when problems upset you...
Just think,
You must be God's favorite cup of tea!
(saying found online under inspirational quotes)


I am up early and thinking about my friends and family who are struggling with the problems of life, as well as thinking of my own personal problems.

At times we all feel like we are alone in our troubles, and feel weary from having to deal with all the frustrations that life brings our way. I certainly have felt this way myself, in fact I have felt this way very recently.

Years ago I used to sit with a friend and we would have a cup of hot tea together sharing not only our troubles in life, but our joys. I always felt better after we finished our tea. I find myself lately missing that time I had with my girl friend.

It occurred to me that I did have someone to share tea with. I forget that God would love for us to sit with him and have tea. If only we would quiet our thoughts and our souls, and sit with God and have that tea with him, we would realize we are anything but alone.

God wants to be our friend, and our confidant. I think instead of wishing for the times I had a close friend to share tea with, I will pull out my chair, pour myself a cup of hot tea, and invite God to sit and share a cup with me.


Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.


Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

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A PRAYER REQUEST


I was told tonight that my Aunt Billie was found on the ground in her home after being there for two days. She is now in the hospital and in serious condition. My twin Stacy called me tonight and also posted about it on her blog. My father has asked for a prayer chain to be put in place. This is his only living sister, and he is pretty shook up about it. She is 84 years old, just 7 years older then my father. Please pray for not only my Aunt but also my father during this time of need. My twin and i greatly appreciate it.

I would also like to thank Mike for already getting a prayer chain going. Ty Mike for being such a warm hearted man.

Hugs and blessings.

An Update on whats happening in Tracy land.

Things have been pretty slow trying to get my online print business up and running. I am however learning why prints are so very expensive! I have been trying to get just one good print done of my painting Heavens gateway. I did get a good print of the painting, but the colors were not "my" colors I had painted. I am not sure if i should be insulted or laugh because when i got the prints home my husband and one of my good friends took a look at the print and said they love it! The colors are more vivid then the real life painting. They said they personally like the brighter colors in the print over the original painting. laughing! I had to think hard about whether to sell the prints or keep trying for the original colors. I do not think i can live with myself if I sold a print that wasn't as true to the original as possible. I guess it is a pride thing. A pride in my own work, and well honestly the print just wasn't my work... make sense? I do realize that I probably will not get an exact match, but i want the prints to be pretty darned close to the originals.

So back to the printer I went. They then informed me of a process where they take the painting themselves scan it, and make a proof from that. Since most of my paintings are larger then their scanner it would be done in sections in what they call splicing.. They then do the proof from the spliced together scan they made. They assure me that I will be so happy with the end result! They say the prints will be 99.9% exact to the original piece of art. The catch is that it is an expensive process! I decided the process and cost would be worth it. So on Monday i go and look at the proofs from this process. We shall see if they are true to their word and looks closer to my original painting.

I know that this is all taking time, but in the end I believe that being patient and waiting for the prints to be to my liking will be more then worth the time cost and energy i am putting into this business.

In the meantime I am going to keep busy painting, and working on my website ideas.

In other areas of my life, hubby and I are taking another class. We are actually hosting the class in our home. :) This is a class I already took called Cleansing Streams. It had such an impact in my life, I was praying my husband would take the class also. My prayer was answered!

Having the class hosted in our house is a huge growth step for me. I tend to not like to be around large groups of people, and I tend to stress if people come to my house and it is not perfect. This class is 10 weeks long. So every Monday I will have large groups of people coming to my home! I need to work on not becoming stressed about my house being 100 percent perfect every week. With my fibro, I am sure I will have weeks when i just can not keep up with all the demands of keeping a perfect home.

Add the fact that not only will people be in my home but half of the people coming are men, I am hoping I keep my nerves under control. I know most of you do not realize this, but I shake when i am around men I do not know. Sometimes I even shake around men i do know! I have major panic attacks, and most times end up having to leave the situation and go home. Since I wont be able to do this, because the place that is my safety zone is where everyone will be, I need to come up with a plan to deal with these panic attacks. I am not sure how I am going to do this, but I am sure that this is all a God thing. Another way God is trying to heal me, so I guess I just need to trust God and give my panic and fear over to God.

Last but not least, I have now taken 6 classes in this so called drawing class i signed up for. I call it such because there has been a total of one day that WE actually did any drawing in the class! The very first day we learned how to draw a flower. All of the other classes we have used markers! No joking! Not only that but no real instruction has been given. We have been told just to use the markers to make abstract work and color it in! I feel like i am five years old playing! I am so frustrated, i feel like the whole class was a waste of my time energy and money! If not for the fact my two girlfriends I am taking the class with are having a ball i would stop going! I go because they love using markers and making pretty pictures , and are having a blast. I have no interest in doing that at all! I signed up for a drawing class, i expected to learn drawing techniques, and at least draw with pencils or charcoal!

I guess I am going to have do what I have always done when i want to learn how do so something, and teach myself! I did that with baking, and cooking. I did that with my painting, and with learning how to knit, I guess I will have to do this with drawing. Shakes my head! :) Markers!!!! hmmmmmmm, shaking my head again and rolling my eyes while laughing..... guess i should just laugh and chalk it all up as a learning experience.

That is what is happening in my world, what is happening in yours?

Hugs and blessings sent to all my friends out in blogger land!