Amanda Molesa

Posted By admin on September 3, 2011

So, we are getting very close to the due date of our second son, Luke! The guessed due date is only 4 days away now. Today was pretty eventful with lots of braxton-hicks contractions and a really good working contraction that got us very excited. It all soon subsided so now we just wait some more This is one of the hardest parts of pregnancy to me… the waiting here at the end. I feel very anxious and excited to know that we could go into labor any day.

I finally packed a small suitcase with some clothes for Andrew, Jon, and myself along with some toiletries and snacks. And the diaper bag with clothes, blankets, and a few diapers for Luke. Jon put the baby car seat in the van tonight. So at least the labor “scare” got us in gear, a little With Andrew, I had everything packed and ready to go a month in advance. This time is very different!

Back to the excitement that I am feeling. I am so looking forward to this labor and doing things differently. I am looking forward to working with my body as it works to move Luke out. I am also looking forward to working with Jon, Leigh (doula), Marcia (midwife), and possibly Dr. Roque (ob/gyn) throughout this labor and delivery. Having Luke the most natural way possible and staying the most relaxed and in the moment as possible will be wonderful! God has given me an awesome support team and has strengthened and encouraged me so much during this pregnancy. I have, am, and will continue to lean on Him the most for support and guidance to lead me through giving birth to His blessing for us. Thank you Lord, for leading us in the right directions as far as the doctor/midwife, and doula. I thank Him for such an understanding and encouraging husband as well. I look forward to our little family growing.

“Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” Psalm 127:4-5 KJV

“And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” 1 Timothy 2:14-15 KJV

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Posted By admin on August 30, 2011

Things are moving along nicely. This past Saturday Jon worked on putting up the sheetrock in the master bathroom. He only has two 5″ wide pieces left to put on the face of the walls that encase the shower. It looks awesome! Last week he got the area for the a/c & furnace sheetrocked so they could come and install that for us. So they came by yesterday morning (8-29-11) and installed the unit, replace the drain pipe, and the flex pipe under the house. This unit has brand new coils also. So it’s like we have a brand new a/c it works and feels so cool!
The next step is to move the hot water heater again. It looks like a better place for it to live is in the new bathroom closet area. It can be encased and then hidden with shelves. And moving it completely out of the master closet will free up a ton more room for Jon’s things Along with the water heater move an exhaust pipe will have to be moved as well. This involves cutting a new hole in the ceiling/roof for the exhaust to go and connecting it through a new hole in the floor to the sewage pipe under the house. This one will be a pretty big job.
Then of course the puttying and sanding of the seams in the sheetrock will come after it is all replaced. Then we can paint!
Such an exciting time!

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2011

Today had to be one of the best days we, as a family, have had in a long time.

The day was brought in with wonderful conversation with my husband until about 2:00am.

The morning began with Jon going to the license plate agency and purchasing a “new to us” minivan from Mary Jean Warren. It is an ’02 Honda Odyssey, burgundy, leather, lots of bells and whistles. We are so excited to have this vehicle for our growing family It is a real blessing to us.

Before lunch the guys from Wilkes Heating and Air came by to install our A/C / furnace unit with brand spanking new coils (expensive! but worth it) So we now again have central air!! The house is nice and cool but I can’t get used to not hearing the hum of the three window unit air conditioning units that have been running non-stop practically all summer long This too is wonderful blessing.

We then left after lunch (in our new minivan!) to go to the baby doc. And we received a good report from Dr. Marcia! Baby Luke is in position, hasn’t “dropped” yet, has a great heart rate, and I am still only 1cm dilated (have been for three weeks now) but I have a very soft cervix!! yay for the evening primrose oil capsules I’ve been using So now we just wait on Mr. Luke to be ready to come when God so moves him to do so. I will hopefully be making another post very soon to get out some thoughts, ideas, and feelings about this pregnancy, birth, and delivery. There is too much to add to this one.

We have enjoyed one another’s company and God’s blessings to the max today! I don’t understand why He chooses to bless us with so much when we clearly do not deserve it. Thank you Lord for your mercy, grace, and blessings on our family. I can only give you my service and obedience back and it is flawed, unlike your perfect gifts, I only pray that you find me worthy.

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Posted By admin on June 15, 2011

Well we began our water damage restoration last Saturday. Jon had his Dad, Mom & brother come up to help. They were able to tear out the walls that connect the pantry, master bath, and master closet, as well as cut out the section of damaged floor. Jon also treated the floor studs for mold that had grown this week. Things are looking good as far as drying out so more work can be done. We also removed the never used garden tub from the master bath and are now trying to sell it.
We have decided to do some remodeling to the bathroom and closet while we have the opportunity and and blank slate available. This is a pretty big task seeing as now the toilet, shower, sewer and exhaust pipes will all have to be reworked. I have an amazing husband who is willing to do all this because he knows it will make me happy. A side benefit is he will also get some pleasure out of the finished product. But the fact that he is willing to do all of this extra work because we have daydreamed about it in the past proves what a very sweet and thoughtful person he is.
When it’s all said and done, we will have about 5′x3′ extra space in the closet as well as a couple new storage cabinets in the bathroom. I am so looking forward to this! We really need the extra space and these changes will make a huge difference.
A happy surprise came about when Jon was talking to his dad one day this week. He offered to make a new vanity cabinet for our bathroom! I am so excited about this! I have always thought the current vanity was too short and have not enjoyed bending over so far to brush my teeth; haha. I have already searched and saved a few pictures of what I want the new one to look like. Jon’s dad is an amazing woodworker and Jon is really looking forward to learning from him as they work on this project together. It will also give them some good ‘ol father-son binding time

I also recently had an eye doctor appointment and had my contact lenses prescription changed along with ordering a new pair of reading/stigmatism correcting glasses. Well, I went to pick them up today and drove home wearing them and… I could actually read road name signs as well as business signs and message boards. It was wonderful! I was so excited and giddy like a little school girl I read everything I could get my eyes on to Andrew the whole way home; haha What a blessing!

We also had Andrew’s hair trimmed today. He is growing up so quickly into a little boy. He looks so handsome and I just adore his little hair cut He is simply amazing to me and I am in awe of all that he is learning and how quickly he picks up on things. His vocabulary is growing daily and his understanding of his surroundings is abounding. He is such a little smarty (he gets that from his dad).
I am also beginning my third trimester of our second pregnancy today! What an exciting time. Only 3 more months until our new bouncing baby boy will be here. I am looking forward to the challenges and happiness he will bring to our sweet little family.

Things, they are a’changin’ ’round here… and I like where we are headed

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Tags: family remodeling

Posted By admin on June 4, 2011

I haven’t blogged in a few years now. My topics of interest have changed to include many new things. I will not be only focusing on photography and graphic design, but will now be including family, arts & crafts, home renovation, general ramblings, as well as spiritual topics.

Since the last time I blogged a lot has changed with myself as well as my family. I am now the proud parent of a son who will be 2 in August and am expecting a new little guy at the beginning of September. My husband and I have gone through many changes and learning experiences that have drawn us closer to the Lord and have strengthened our walk in the Lord together. We are not perfect and still have some rough times but we know that we will make it through them as long as we lean on the Lord and allow him to work through and change us into more acceptable followers.

I think there are some amazing things getting ready to happen in our lives and would like to document them here. If anyone finds this blog and reads it and enjoys it that is just a plus. I am really looking for a creative outlet to get some ideas down and hopefully to share some interesting stories with family and friends.

I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful blogging journey.

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2007

This is a list of the parts of a standard SLR (single lens reflex) camera. It is always helpful to know the technical terminology so when you read more information about photography you will better understand the material.

• Shutter Release The button you push to take the picture. It allows the shutter to open and close.
• Shutter: Consists of blades, a curtain, a plate or some other movable object. They control the amount of time light is allowed to pass through the lens to reach the film. It also covers the aperture.
• Shutter Speed Dial: The control dial for the shutter speed. For example 30 is 1/30 of a second, which is a pretty slow speed. (and you thought a second was fast! )
• Aperture: A circle shaped opening (hole) in the lens that light passes through to get to the film. It is created by an iris diaphragm that can be made smaller to let less light through or larger to let more light through to the film. This is measured in f numbers; for example f/8 or f/11. The smaller the number the larger the opening for light to pass through.
• F-Stop Ring: The control that sets the size of the aperture opening. The stops range from 2 or 4 to 22. Again 22 being the smallest opening.
• Hot Shoe: An accessory holder found on the top of most cameras that is an electrical contact. For example a flash could be inserted here and when the shutter release is triggered the flash would be fired.
• ASA Dial: Set this dial to the ASA number assigned to the film you are using. The number reflects how sensitive the film is to light or how quickly it will react to light. This is also referred to as the film speed. Anything over 200 is considered a fast speed. An ASA of 400 is a good all-around film as far as lighting (indoor/outdoor) and motion is concerned. 200 is a good outdoor (high) lighting film but not for any motion shots. 800 is best for high motion and low light since it is more reactive to light.
• Film Advance Lever: Used to advance or move over each small piece of the film after a picture has been taken. You must wind the film after each frame/photo is taken before you can take the next one (my camera will not let me take the next picture if it has not been advanced so there is no double exposure).
• Lens: Lets the light into the camera and lets the image focus on the film. These attach to the front of the camera and the f-stop ring and the focus rings are found on the lens.
• Focus Ring: Controls the focus of the image through the lens that hits the film. You can see if the image is in focus through the viewfinder.
• Viewfinder: The window you look through to see the image you are taking a picture of. SLR cameras have a mirror that reflects the image that is coming through the lens into the viewfinder. This way you see exactly the image that is going to be put on the film.

Be sure to let me know if there a part of the camera I forgot to mention or one that you would like to know more about.

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Posted By admin on September 11, 2007

I found these tips to be very helpful and hope that you will too. These are in no particular order and the list is not an all inclusive. If you have any helpful tips please feel free to share them.

1. Look the subject in the eye.

• Use your position to help get the best shot. Change your angle if you need to.

2. Use a simple (plain) background.

• Make sure your background doesn’t compete with your subject. (Don’t let               something look like it’s sticking out of someone’s head.)

3. Use the flash outdoors.

• Using the flash outside helps to eliminate most shadows on your subject. You can either use a fill flash for a subject that is less than 5ft. away, or a full flash for a subject that is more than 5ft. away.

4. Move in close.

• Don’t be afraid to get up close in order to get facial features or textures on            objects.

5. Move the subject out of the center of the photo.

• The subject does not have to be in the middle of every shot. When it’s not this helps to tell a story about the subject since you’re able to get its surroundings.

6. Lock in your focus.

• Before you push the shutter button make sure one more time that you are still in  focus. Sometimes the focus lense moves and you haven’t realized it.

7. Know the range of your flash.

• If you are outside or some place dark and you are using a flash make sure that your subject is in your flash range or else you aren’t going to get anything but darkness.

8. Watch the light.

• This is the most important part of taking a picture. If you do not have your light right your picture will not come out the way you hoped. Always check your light meter in your camera.

9. Take some vertical photos.

• Don’t be afraid to turn your camera vertical. A lot of times this will help make your shot much better.

10. Become a director.

• Tell or move your subjects where you need them to be. You are the director of every photo that you take so it’s up to you to make sure you get the best shot.

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Posted By admin on September 7, 2007

I unfortunately made a terrible mistake just the other day. The very first assignment in my photography class was to go through a roll of film taking different pictures to get used to my camera and to check out all the different functions it has.

Well, the first thing you have to do before you can begin taking pictures is to… load the camera with film, right? Right. So. I bought a new roll of film at a local store and decided I wanted to capture a beautiful scene at our county’s reservoir. I take the film and put it in my camera while I’m sitting in my car at the lake. I was so excited to get to take some pictures, so I carefully and very thoughtfully took approximately 30 pictures. I thought wow this roll of film sure is long. My instructor mentioned in class that you are usually able to get more than the 24 exposures that the packaging claims. So I gave up on reaching the end of the roll and start the process to rewind the film. Well, it didn’t feel like it normally did when I had done this before. There was no tension on the winder. I thought to myself how strange… so I opened the cover and the film had not been wrapped around the spool the entire time I was “taking” pictures.

My husband felt so bad for me after he saw the disappointment in my eyes. He took the roll of film into the bathroom (because there is no windows) and somehow took it apart (there was a lot of banging around going on) and pulled the film back out and put it back together again. He is so sweet to do something like that for me.

Now, with the almost new roll of film I made sure when I loaded the camera this time I got it all the way around the spool. I was able to get developed 16 out of the 24 frames. However this batch of pictures weren’t quite as thought-out as the first ones I thought I was getting.

It is very important to make sure you load your camera correctly. Please double check that your film is around the spool before you begin taking any pictures. I told my instructor about this and how ignorant I felt about it. He then explained that it had happened to him before as well as most photographers, too. So if you have had it to happen to you or when it does happen to you for the first time, just remember, you have learned a valuable lesson that you will never forget.

It is better to try and make mistakes (and learn from them) than to never have tried at all.

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Posted By admin on August 20, 2007

I just recently began my second year in graphic design school at Wilkes Community College. This semester I am enrolled in a photography class. I am so excited about this class due to recently discovering the pleasure of photography. We will only be using black and white film and will be taking approximately 12 rolls of film throughout the class. I will be posting all of my pics here and will use this site as my photo journal for now. After this class I will probably make this more of my portfolio site including not only pictures, but other graphic design works as well. Please feel free to leave any comments good or bad, no one gets any better at what they do without constructive criticism.

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