Lifetime Story Challenges 2010 @ Faithsisters!

2010 is going to be super exciting over at Faithsisters! Come join us for an awesome year-long challenge of scrapbooking YOUR faith story...read on for details:

As the year is coming to an end we are busy planning for next year. In 2010 we are going back to the basics of leaving a legacy of faith. This years challenges are all focused on YOU and your lifetime story. When you join us in this challenge you will be creating a mini-autobiography. We are counting down the days till January 6th because we are so stinkin' excited about the My Lifetime Story challenges!!! Wouldn't you love to know what your grandma's favorite toy was as a child, how she felt when she met your grandpa, her favorite scripture and the song that expressed her heart? Your children and grandchildren will have that treasure when you join us in this challenge! We will start out with your family roots in January and move into your childhood in February. We will continue throughout the year with your teen and adult years as well. The last challenge of the year will be a letter to your future generations or anyone who reads your book. Each of our stories is important. This is a book that everyone should create about themselves. It will be the most treasured album of your family. As you create this album about your lifetime story you will be leaving YOUR LEGACY OF FAITH. This is an album that can make an impact in your life as you create it, but it will also create a major impact in the lives of your family both now and in future generations. As your children read your story in this scrapbook that YOU created, they will take your stories to heart. Your stories may have more impact on them than even Bible stories, because they are personal and from someone they know and love. When friends and neighbors pick up your storybook and look through it you will be witnessing without even saying a word. They will read your lifetime history and discover your of Jesus, and His forgiveness and faithfulness in your life! The My Lifetime story challenges will begin the first Wednesday in January. A new challenge will be posted each Wednesday all throughout 2010. The last challenge will be posted the last Wednesday of December. Just because the challenge series ends at the end of 2010 doesn't mean your lifetime story album is finished. We will continue to offer periodic challenges to continue your autobiography and keep it current. Please join us in this year long challenge! Some of these challenges may be layouts you have already completed. That is ok! We need to get these all compiled in your lifetime storybook. Everyone deserves to be the star of their own book, including and most importantly YOU! If you don't put some time aside to create your My Lifetime Story album now, you may never find the time. If something were to happen to you, would your legacy of faith be lost forever? Take action now, join us as we create our lifetime storybooks for the next generation to see the glorious work the Lord can do in the life of a woman that loves God! Begin thinking about what size album you would like to use for your My Lifetime Story challenge. Michelle started hers in an 8x8 but now has decided that she needs more space so is moving up to a 12x12. Sunny is doing hers 12x12 also because she knew she had a lot she wanted to fit into this album. What size do you prefer? Start gathering your supplies now so you will be ready to start when we kick off the first challenge January 6th! Next week we will post a Photo List so you can start gathering photos that you will need for this challenge.

Hope to see you there!

Milestones...

Happy Friday! What a crazy crazy week...we had trick or treating last night, then my Signature Home party last night, then just got back from Brennan's Harvest party at school...I tell ya I am one whipped little puppy...so glad for the weekend to almost be here.

Some random ramblings...cause it's been a long week and I can't seem to stay on a train of thought long :-) So reflecting on some milestones I've acheived lately...Hubby & I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary...Colton turned 7 not too long ago...but another milestone that will be acheived this weekend that proves to me that in fact my babies are growing up...my eldest is going on his first out-of-town Youth trip and Mommy & Daddy won't be there to monitor him...going to be interesting...for both of us. I'm so used to keeping my babies close and it's hard to believe that my first baby is old enough to be in Youth...scary! But it's true.

Things I'm thankful for:

- God's beauty in the leaves and the awesome canvas He paints for me everyday!
- The fact that daylight savings time is this weekend! I so need that extra hour sleep!
- That the puppy we found wandering around loose last night found it's owner! Thank God!

Sorry to make this short, but B & C are getting out of school early today...early dismissal day, and I need to go get them before they thik I've abandoned them.

Have a super great weekend!

Giveaway tip for ya...

Just popping in for a neat giveaway that is going on at All Scrapbook Steals.com until Nov. 2nd. Check it out...and while you're there check out their amazing scrapbooking deals...especially their American Crafts cardstock...some of the cheapest prices I've been able to find on some pretty amazing cardstock.

Also if you happen to be in my neck of the woods tomorrow night and aren't too tired from trick or treating, stop by for my Signature Home party...lots of great and darling things for your home...especially for the holidays! Hope to see ya there....starts at 7:00 p.m.

Hope you are having a good week....

Coffee, Tea and Me

Yes, again it has been over a month since my last post....Wow I feel like I've just been to a Catholic confession (no offense to Catholics) but wow...yes it's me and yes it's been over a month since my last blog post...Yikes....yes life is very much in full swing in this household...still!

To sum up the last 6 weeks...we had our annual County Fair...though I didn't have time this year to enter nearly as much as I usually do, I did manage to put in a few photographs and my scrapbooks. I received 2 third places and 1 first place in photography and a second place in my scrapbooks. I was happy with that. I made just enough to pay for my fair ticket, which is usually the goal anyway. It's funny though how the older I get, the less I enjoy the fair...it's just not the same when you are a kid. :-)

Had our family pictures taken...finally...by an amazing girl (who I actually used to babysit as a teenager...yes I feel old!)...check out her work here. I'm hoping to have pics soon to post here. The photos were my Christmas present this year and I couldn't be happier!

The weather here in Ohio has gotten much chillier...and I've been trying to not drink so much coffee, cause it was getting a bit obsessive...yeah...a bit...but now I have found a new found love to tea...thing is I have to watch how much I drink cause it causes havoc to my kidneys, but I'm doing my best to drink it in moderation...I like to drink my Twining's English Breakfast tea in the morning and then Numi's Honeybush tea at night...YUM! And I've learned to drink my tea without cream and find it quite tasty! So as long as I drink only a couple cups a day, so far I've been fine...which is a blessing!

On another note...homeschooling...is going...well, we have our good days and bad days still...Monday was a good day, we went on a field trip to New Concord and visited the National Road Museum and John & Annie Glenn's house....and of course got to visit my favorite "sister" Chelle at school where she works....it was a good day....yesterday...not so good day...tough test....Austin didn't do well at all...made for depressing day...though I like this idea of homeschooling, I'm still debating in my head whether I've done the right thing for Austin or not...not only that, I'm still debating whether I'm really cut out to teach....I didn't get bad grades in school, but I wasn't an A student either. Just not sure I'm believing in myself enough to really pull this off and the last thing I want to do is harm Austin's academic career...but today is a new day and I'm trying to look at it with new eyes for today and not think about yesterday...God will get us through, I know He will.

On a more religious note...I've been reading the Old Testament lately...mainly the journey of the Isrealites to the Promised Land. I have been feeling a lot like the Isrealites lately...wandering in the desert...mainly because of disobedience...and trying to find my way to the Promised Land. I am searching...I am walking...and yes I am stumbling along the way, but I'm coming to realize that no matter what, God is always there for me. He never, ever leaves me...He may not like what I do, but He is always there and loves me. So right now I'm currently trying to seek Him more, to learn how to fight battles that I finally need to bury once and for all, and realizing that these fights are from the enemy and not just some flukey thing I'm going through...believe me, when I finally get around this mountain in my life, there WILL be much rejoicing! But until then, I pray, I read, and I'm learning to rely on God more and trying to rely on me less. Hard to do when you like to control things :-)

So I also took another online class from Big Picture Scrapbooking from Cathy Zielske called "An Encyclopedia of Me"...let me tell you, if you are a scrapbooker and you love to laugh...you MUST take one of Cathy's classes...she is a hoot and she rocks with the scrapbooking let me tell ya! I'm just about done with my album, and I had so much fun writing and creating this one...hopefully I can post some pages on here soon. I know Cathy is teaching her "Designing My Life" class sometime in early 2010 and if you are just beginning scrapbooking or like me, just want to hone your skills and learn from a genuine pro...run to Big Picture and sign up for her class...you will definitely not be disappointed! She is truly amazing.

Well I really need to get busy and get something accomplished today, but I just felt the need to update this, whether anyone actually reads this or not, at least for posterity purposes.

For now, have a good day...or should I say month since it will probably be that long before I post again? ...Anyway...blessings and hugs to you all!

I can't believe it!!

Has it seriously been since May since I posted last?? Wow...all I can say is that life has been super super busy and no chance of letting up anytime soon.

Summer was a blur...June came and went pretty quickly...not really sure what happened with June....seems like forever ago.

July went just as quick...and cumulated in a 3 week vacation, a week spent cleaning and making some extra $$, over a week of that spent camping in Kentucky then the rest of the vacation cleaning up after the vacation....and needless to say after we got back home I wanted to go back on vacation...I LOVE camping! (There was a LOT going on as soon as we pulled into the drive it seemed...funny how life works that way...though it wasn't funny at the time let me tell you!) We went to Kentucky to see my baby brother get married...it was so sweet. Never thought he would do it...and they have such a pretty area where they live!

August consisted of pretty much getting things ready for school and just trying to get back on track sort of...I've decided to homeschool my oldest...it's going OK...we have our good moments and we've had a couple meltdowns, but overall I think it is working well...just trying to get into a routine that works for both of us. The other two boys are enjoying school. Brennan seems to be doing really well this year...and Colton...he's of course in his element with his friends and enjoying being the class clown :-)

I of course have come down with a cold...and not that I'm surprised...I've had a very awful time sleeping lately and I know I let my body get run down a bit...I've kind of gotten away from my workouts this summer..but I've been able to maintain my weight so I'm OK with it for now...but I do want to get back into a routine once life gets back into a routine...and I get over this blasted cold of course!

I know this is short for being away so long, but I have to help Austin with his Social Studies.

Have a good week!

Here I am...barely breathing...

If you hear a huge sigh...that would be me...after the month of May pretty much whomped my sorry tushkuss...May is usually a busy month for me, but this year takes the cake by far hands down...looking at my calendar...I had a total of three days...count them...3....that I had nothing planned...I was one busy busy momma. Considering the month of May was field trip central for all my boys...it was like "Hey let's cram as many field trips as possible in one month"...Craziness! But we all had fun and weather for all the field trips were good, thank God...but I am one worn out woman...my busy month is about over...today is the boys last day of school YIPPPEEE!!! So happy about that...bring on summer! Then tomorrow my parents are taking me to Columbus to see Joyce Meyer for my birthday...probably a BD's Monogolian Grill trip in there somewhere as well I imagine ;-)

So yes I've been busy...house is a wreck so please don't visit me until at least mid-June :-) Kids are good which is a GOOD thing. Brennan and Colton have had straight A's the past nine weeks and this nine weeks. Austin is not far behind with only 2 B's. I'm highly considering homeschooling Austin though next year because I just don't feel comfortable sending him to the Junior High just yet...I just don't feel that he's ready for that...but I'm getting a little slack from some people saying that it's not the right thing to do...so if you have any experiance with homeschooling and can give me some pointers or tips or just some support...I sure would appreciate that.

My baby brother FINALLY popped the question to his now fiance and will be getting married this July...so sounds like a camping trip to Kentucky is in the works this summer! My baby sister just moved to the Westerville area in Columbus to find a better school suited for my nephew Treyce...I admire her dedication to him and all that she does to make sure he's got the best he can get...amazing!

Went to celebrate hubby's birthday this past Saturday with a trip to Easton Mall in Columbus and of course a trip to BD's Mongolian Grill. Lots of fun and great food of course! My dad got to cook behind the grill...unfortunately I missed seeing that or I would have had pictures...I'm sure he was like kid in a candy store though! Then we did a little shopping ending with a trip to the Apple Store to drool all over their equipment...Is it wrong to pray specifically for an iMac??? I want one...heck I need one since my computer is down again with another nasty virus, just had the mother board replaced...now I'm using Austin's computer again...ughh....come one money tree...grow already!

Well need to clean a little bit of house at least and do some laundry...going out to lunch soon with Kevin and his father and step-mom for an early birthday lunch at English Ivy....YUM! Maybe I can have a birthday week like hubby did last week :-)

Hope all is well with everyone and I hope to post more often than once a month now that summer for me will officially start at 3:15 p.m. today! Yeah for the last day of school!!!!!!!! Later peeps!

For what it's worth...

Silly me has been dealing with a cold off and on for the last three weeks...one day I'll feel great, next day lousy...and it just will NOT go away....I'm so sick of it...come on Spring officially get here already so I can get these germs out of my house!

So it's been a while since I've posted and a while since I've commented on American Idol. Since this is pretty much the only thing I watch on TV of course I have to comment. I have to say this has been an OK season. The judges are driving me nuts personally with their "You really need to change the song and make it your own" and then comments like "You shouldn't change that song, it's great the way it is"...it's no wonder some of these guys seem frustrated.
But beyond that...I honestly think the first two spots are pretty much cinched at this point...that being Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. These guys have been solid since day 1 and if I were a betting woman I'd say the final show will be between these two. Danny though being the front runner, because for one I LOVE him and his heart in his music. But I love Adam too because he's so different, which I feel will be the reason why he won't win...because it seems that with Adam it's an either "you love him or you hate him" thing...but either way you know both of them are going to end up with a contract somewhere.
So about the last results...I wasn't totally shocked about Scott going, though to be honest, I thought that Lil would have been the one to go this time. She's got an amazing voice, but has yet to wow the people...she's great for karaoke, but not much for originality or showing us who she really is. I knew Scott would be on the chopping block soon, and his song this week was probably the worst he's done yet. I have to say I did admire his heart and how he has not allowed his disability to squelch his dream. Anoop...I haven't been a huge Anoop fan (sorry Jackie)...but there is just something about him I don't like...his attitude at times for one. Though his rendition of "True Colors" was very nice, but not overly original.
Ans though Lil managed to escape being chopped this week, I think she's really going to have to step up her game in a huge way to avoid being chopped next week.
So here are my predictions: Top two: Danny & Adam
Third spot is a toss up between Allison and Kris.
Next to go: Probably Lil.

Well I'm off to take some more meds and hopefully kick this cold before Easter Sunday...I have to lead worship...YIKES!

Have a great week!

God keeps blessing...

Just found out that I got 2 more layouts published in the March issue of Scrapbook News & Review. The issue comes out at the end of the month so I'm soooo excited...God has been good.

Brennan was sick yesterday with a cold....Yesterday was a busy day!

So far today has been a good day....had to work today...which was hectic as usual, but good cause it went fast...Scrapbooking tonight at the church...oh and it's St. Patty's day....corned beef and kraut for dinner...YUM!!!

Hope you are having a blarney good day!

How has time past this quickly??

I'm sitting here wondering how time has past this quickly...today is my oldest son's birthday...he's 12 today! How is this possible?!?!? Where is my little baby?!?!? How did he go from this little bundle.,...

to this handsome young man??

God only knows...

Happy Birthday Austin...We love you!

Slice Giveaway

Just a quick note...a sweet lady that I've met at Faithsisters.com and fellow blogger is doing a sweet giveaway on her blog...please go check it out here...HINT HINT...if you have ever wanted one of those new Making Memories Slice Die Cutting Machines...then you definitely want to check it out.

Hope you are having a good week!

Say it with me...God is good...all the time...

I know by now I shouldn't be amazed or should I say shocked at what God can do, but every time I pray a specific prayer, God amazes me and comes through in ways that astound me. First of all by blessing me with people who watch out for me and are God's hands in my answer to prayer. Let me regress for a moment...

Back in October I may had mentioned I was praying for a job or a way to make some extra $$ to help with the family income. The job had to be something I could do while the boys were in school...well a friend of ours at church just out of the blue asked me if I was looking for a part-time job working in the cafeteria in the school system...I said I was indeed interested in a job and filled out the application. The day after I did this was when Pastor Rod had asked me about filling in for our church secretary while she was out on medical leave. Needless to say, I took that job, LOVED IT, and it was perfect...working during the time the boys went to school. As you all know, Shirley has come back and working great like nothing had happened to her (PTL God is good!!) and that found me unemployed again...not that I was overly complaining cause my house was needing me. But that extra $$ was coming in handy. So now fast forward to now...

I was just praying a week or so ago that God would help me again to find another job where I could work while the boys are in school. I kind of forgot about the job with the school cause I never did hear anything...well the same friend asked me last week if I was still was interested in the cafeteria job that the lady who was doing the hiring was looking for someone to fill in while 3 of her regulars went on medical leave. I said sure...placed the call telling this lady I was still interested in the job. I went and got my TB test today (I guess it's required to work in the school system) and this afternoon I got the call that I start on Thursday from 10:00 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. at the high school (A little nervous about that...but oh well God will get me through). Anyway I am so amazed how God blesses, in an economy that isn't that great...and granted this is only a sub position...I'd only work when someone calls off or something, but I have a feeling that something good is going to come of this. I'm excited, I'm humbled because God answers so perfectly...He is so good.
So in honor of what is happening in my life thus far...I think I should make this week's blessing...

God Answer's Prayer

God is good all the time and He always answers...granted in His time, but He answers. I am amazed that the secretary job came about at just the right time, that when that ended God knew I needed a little bit of a break (and that my house needed some TLC) at just the right time, and now this cafeteria job came as an answer to prayer...at just the right time. God is amazing...God is powerful...God IS good! I praise God for His faithfulness to me, even though I truly don't deserve it!

Have we reached the bottom of the barrel on America's talent?

Ok...as many of you know I'm not one to sit and watch a lot of TV...just so many other more interesting things to do in my opinion...but I always seem to get sucked in like millions of other people by...yes...American Idol. Everytime one of my favorites gets bumped off I swear I'm never going to watch again, but find myself every season glued to my TV. And now with the glorious invention of DVR...I can watch it whenever I want to...awww technology.

But with that being said...I have to say how sorely I'm disappointed with AI this year. If you are a watcher too, then I think you'll agree...these folks are just not getting it! Though there are those VERY few rays of sunshine so far have to say this year is just alll out puzzling me...I mean after the laughing hyena Tatiana...and the Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle or whatever his name is...(Though I have to admit he is HILARIOUS and I really did like his performance this week...but seriously did he really think he would get through on that...but truthfully...he HAS now made a name for hmself and I guarantee we'll see him in Vegas somewhere...) I always said I would never want to WIN AI...just get far enough along to make my name known and go from there...after all...how many winners besides Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are really making a name for themselves?? After all I bet if I were to check Chris Daughtry has probably sold as many or maybe even more albums than any of those that won...but I will set bitterness aside and move on...

This season is just one of those season's where you wonder where the talent is...again, how did Tatiana make it through to the top 36 other than for her annoying laugh?? And can we mention Stevie Wright's awful performance...sweet girl she seems...just totally hacked her moment. And it all seems to be based on song choice...come on people...you for one don't pick a song recorded by a megastar unless you are cocky enough to say that even come close...you are taking a risk picking songs by Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the like...also for the most part a girl shouldn't sing a guy's song and vice versa unless you can really change it up...with the except of Danny Gokey...He right now is my fav and I loved his rendition of Hero by Mariah Carey...beautiful...he was the exception. And AI is more than about singing the song...it's about performing as well. How painful was it to watch Matt Breitkze's performance...he pretty much just stood there...I thought I was at a club watching karaoke...not that he sung that badly...just no life in his performance.

So here are my top three thus far:

Danny Gokey: To me the forerunner and I just LOVE this guy!

Alexis Grace: Not only a cutie...but she can truly sing! I like her a lot!

Adam Lambert: He's raw and edgy....he's definitely marketable and has a cool voice.

So just my two cents for what it's worth...my first choice of course is Danny...he blows everyone away. Alexis and Adam I feel are going to go far in this competition...After all never have I seen such a gap between good mediocre singers and great amazing singers...I think these three alone have it wrapped up...so the question is...has America finally reached the bottom on singing talent?? Hmm...we still have one more group to go I know, but so far I'm not holding my breath...they couldn't have saved all the great singers for the last round after all right??

Congrats Brennie!

First I want to start off with the busy weekend we had...Brennan and Colton had their Father/Son Cake Bake and Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts this weekend. I have to say that Kevin was a real trooper as though he likes to bake, doing it with the boys can sometimes be a challenge for him since he has that Type A perfectionistic quality about him, but he stuck it out...even with the fact that they didn't get started baking until around 7:00 p.m. and after making and decorating 3 cakes (it was supposed to be 2, but more on that later)...by 12:30 a.m. they were done and after already working a 9 hour day I was proud of him! Here are some pics of their evening:

Brennan's was a camp scene cake that he totally designed pretty much on his own. He even sketched his idea on a piece of paper first before he decorated it. Colton's was a sunflower cake made with yellow Peeps and chocolate chips in the middle. We also made a baseball cake because Kevin had initially thought of making a 4 layer popcorn bucket cake, but it got so late that we ended up doing the sunflower and baseball instead. Brennan ended up getting best camp scene cake at the banquet and we indeed got to keep all three cakes...we brought the camping one and sunflower home...the baseball we gave away...and the camping cake was enjoyed by our Junior Church kids for snack yesterday...and boy did they enjoy that!

So now that my weekend is over...the boys are now in school...I've been thinking about something that God has been layong on my heart for a week or so now...and I'm using it as my blessing word for this week...and that is:

Quiet Time

If there is something that God has been convicting me about is spending quiet time with Him, which is sometimes really hard for me because I am one who is always doing something, working on something...there is always SOMETHING to do or needs done. To just sit and be still is a struggle...but that verse in the Bible has been speaking in my head all week...Be still and know that I am God...and also the verse Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. So this morning for the first time in a while, after I dropped the boys off at school, I got out my Bible...read a little...prayed a little...and just reamained still and listened. And it was nice. I made it through a half hour, not that time is important, but considering unless I'm in front of the computer or scrapbooking...for me to be still for 10 minutes is hard. So I want to remember the blessing of having just those few moments to BE STILL and just enjoy God's presence....may this be a reminder to me.

Well off to do what mommy's do best....have a good week!

This Week...

Again..a little behind, but hey...what's a girl to do. So this past week's blessing for me is

Kindness

And no one shows kindness better than my son Brennan...he is the sweetest, kindest and gentlest kid I know. And boy can he pray...he is a true prayer warrior...he always is willing to pray for anyone who needs it...and he does it straight from his heart.

Speaking of Brennan...my Brennie Gene celebrated his 10th birthday this week...Happy Birthday Brennan!

Been another busy week with birthdays, Valentine's Day parties at school, going to the Chocolate Extravaganza in town for Valentine's day and eating some decadent wonderful chocolate...I was in heaven!

Then another busy week ahead...of course. Cub Scouts tonight, Scrapbooking at church on Tuesday, Wednesday is Prayer Meeting, Thursday is our Couples Group (we are doing a Bible Study on the movie Fireproof...BTW if you haven't seen this movie yet...GO...Go and rent it now!) Friday I will be watching hubby and boys making cakes for their Blue and Gold Banquet which will be Saturday for Cub Scouts....could be interesting. So full week.

Hope you have a great week yourself.

This week...and Blessings

It seems no matter how hard I try I can never seem to get on top of things, but maybe that's OK...maybe I just need to take time to take things in instead of tryng so hard to get things done...for in my busyness I miss on those little blessings that God tries to give to me each day.

This weeks blessing (I know I'm late on getting to it...oh well.) is:

God's creation

This past weekend I went to Columbus to go to Winter Jam with our Youth group (great time btw) and on the way over the sun was shining and of course everything was still ice covered...especially the trees...I just couldn't help staring in awe at the tress as we drove by (thank goodness I wasn't driving LOL)...as the sunlight hit the trees it looked as if they were covered in diamonds...they just glistened and sparkled. It was a truly amazing sight! And I know that I've done my share of complaining about all the ice and snow we've had the past few weeks...but here God was trying to show me just how beautiful this stuff really was and how HE sees it...I was truly humbled and again in awe at His creation. God is good!

Stumbled across an amazing video that was on Cathy Zielske's website...please take a moment to check it out...it is somewhat long (16 minutes) but I swear you won't regret it...it's sweet and touching and may just be what you needed today ;-)

Hope you are having a great week.

Blessings for this week

Though honestly I haven't done my blessing layout for this week for FaithSisters...I have a good excuse...I have been down with the flu and cold since Thursday night and I'm having a tough time making it completely go away...I think I start feeling better then BAM, I'm sniffling, achy and exhausted again...so if and when I get a chance to do a layout my blessing layout is going to be about

Health

Don't realize how you can take your health for granted until you aren't healthy anymore...and not only that as many of you Mommies know that when mommy is down the house goes down with it...though hubby is being nice and taking care of me, there are just those things that only a mommy can do....so I'm doing what I can and letting some things go.

Speaking of health...I did go to the doctor on Thursday cause I was concerned about a spot on the bottom of my left leg and since skin cancer runs in my family I wasn't going to take any chances. Come to find out it was nothing...just dermatofibroma...which is basically scar tissue from a hair follicle that keeps scaring over I guess...so I'm thankful and praise God for that!

So until I feel better...here is to Health and hopes that I get back to 100% soon!

Have a great week!

52 Blessings

As part of a new challenge they are doing over at Faith Sisters, they are doing a 52 Blessings challenge where you think of a blessing a week and scrapbook about that blessing. Though I'm abotu 3 weeks behind at this point I want to give three blessings I have so far to catch up.

1. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him I truly am nothing.

2. My husband...he takes very good care of us and he makes me smile.

3. My three wonderful boys...they are truly a treasure... a blessing from above.

What blessings are you thankful for?

As a sidenote...do you have any idea on how to import a template on Blogger?? I've tried and just not getting it....any help would be appreciated...I need a new look here.

Let's Recap...

Since my posts as of late have been quite sparce (hoping that will change soon), I thought I'd do a little recap of life thus far.

My last official day of work was Tuesday at the church, though I'm filling in next Wednesday and Friday because Shirley has Dr. appointments to go to. I have to admit, though it's nice to be home again...for one my house really needs my TLC since I haven't been able to give it the attention I'm used to giving it, yet part of me is sad because I really enjoyed filling in at the church. It was nice getting to know people and getting to know some people even better. I'm glad that I will be filling in whenever Shirley needs me to and that Pastor Rod has appreciated the job I've done. Working these past few months truly has been a blessing to me in more ways than one.

Christmas and New Years came and went and in a way I was glad for it to be over...only because I truly was way too busy. Note to self for next year I guess.

And no I have not made any New Year's Resolutions...I don't believe in those anymore...it truly only sets me up for failure and then I feel bad at the end of the year (or usually much sooner) for not attaining my goals...I'm just refocusing on my life and trying to get it back into some sort of order that I can live with. My word for this year is MARGIN. Pastor Rod has been preaching these sermons the past few weeks on having margin in our lives...these messages have been truly speaking to me...and thank goodness I have them on tape so I can listen to them over and over (since I teach Junior Church during Pastor's message, they make a tape for me.) So I'm going to try and refocus my life and create a little more margin so I have time for more important things.

Was supposed to go away this weekend to the Scrap Studio but they had a water pipe break and won't have it fixed by the weekend so I'm not going. In a way I'm sad cause I really wanted to get away, yet part of me is relieved since I really wasn't prepared to go and I was truly scrambling to try and get things packed and stuff. Hopefully now that I'll be home a little more now and hopefully the weather breaks soon and then I can go...maybe in March or April. We shall see.

I've become a permanent member on the FaithSisters site, which I'm very honored to be a part of. I love FaithSisters,and though I haven't been able to give it the attention I would like lately, I love this site and what they stand for and how we are all working together to get the message of Christ out there in the scrapping world.

Boys are growing like weeds...hard to believe in a couple weks Brennan is going to be 10 and a month after that Austin will be 12. Where is the time going?!?! They are growing so fast.

I'm finishing up a class I was taking over at Big Picture Scrapbooking and hoping to finish it this weekend. I'm also starting a new class in February called "Library of Memories" taught by Stacy Julian from Simple Scrapbooks. I won this class for free over the summer during Big Picture's Big Wig Bash and I'm so excited to be taking this class. I so loved the Cathy Zielske class I just took and I have no doubt this class is going to be just as educational. Though it's not as much about scrapping as it is about organzing I'm hoping this class gets me organized to be a better scrapbooker.

I'm also teaching a scrapbooking class at our church. We are creating a prayer journal that is going to take us through the whole year. I'm pretty excited about this class and I know the ladies I'm teaching are too. God has really led me in this class and it's truly been a blessing.

Well I've got to go do some laundry and hoping to get to my craft table tonight. Hoping 2009 is working well for you all so far this year.

We got several inches of snow today...and I just heard that tomorrow is a snow day for the boys...it's Kevin's day off and I am not supposed to work (Unless Shirley can't make it in)...so sounds like a nice sleeping in family day....aaaahhhhhh. That sounds soooo nice. Thank God for snow days ;-) And I leave you with this picture of my hubby during our Christmas play at church...it was his singing debut...and yes he is doing the "Saturday Night Fever" dance...needless to say he was the hit of the play...and it truly was a once in a lifetime moment. He was truly born 10 years too late ;-)



Have a blessed week!