Family

I think being a Scrapbooker has made me appreciate "Family Moments" better. Not only am I glad for all of the photo opportunities but just being together making memories. I realize as my sons get older that those times are fleeting and I cherish all of the ones I get at this point.

This layout brought tears to my eyes for that very reason. As I look at the picture I realize both my sons are taller than me. When did that happen? LOL! It's a physical reminder to me they are growing up and getting closer to moving on with their own lives. We had a GREAT time at Christmas. I'm so thankful my layout depicts how pleasant this time was for us! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper: SU! Dashing DSP, Stamps: SU! Big Deal Alpha, Ink: SU! Old Olive, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Versamark & Clear Embossing Powder. Layout scraplifted from book "Doodling for Papercrafters" by Maelynn Cheung

Trust

The "word" for this week from One Little Word Challenge is "Trust". I was looking through my box of pictures trying to figure out what I wanted to use for the 1st page in DS 2004 Book (the last page to complete the album!) and I ran across this photo. I don't know why it struck me to put these two together but when I saw it, I knew for me this was a "trust" issue. That Christmas both boys got Dell DJ's and their "music" world opened up because all of a sudden they could find songs they liked and download them to their MP3's. It was a strange feeling for me to think they had access to all sorts of music and lyrics I didn't even know existed. There were many times I flipped through their DJ's just checking out the songs and listening to any I wondered about. For the most part, all of them were ok but I knew that I had to keep talking to them about what they were listening to and what effect it could have on them. It's not often these days you don't see them with IPod earbuds out of their ears as they both are enjoying them. I'm so glad we talked about TRUST and the songs they listen to because we're still doing good on what they download.

I used scraps to complete this page and got the layout idea from a great book "Doodling for Papercrafters" by Maelynn Cheung. It's one of my favorite books right now! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper - SU! River Rock, Very Vanilla C/S, Making Memories DSP, Ink: SU! Real Rust, River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Sharpie Black, Stamps: CTMH Serendipity, Rustic Flowers, Free Spirit

Life

This is for the Pencil Lines #72 Sketch Challenge.

Today we sang a song in church, "I Stand In Awe". The chorus goes something like, "I stand, I stand in awe of you. I stand, I stand in awe of you. Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of you." When I pulled in the driveway coming home, I sat there thinking of how AMAZING all the steps our life has taken to get us where we are today. We all truly believe God led us here and there is no doubt He is blessing us immensely. When I look at my sons and the opportunities and school life they are having, I am thankful for God's love and His direction. I especially see His Love and direction taking place in Brandon's life right now. He's growing up and experiencing lots of changes. One of the biggest life changes for him is his exploration and discovery of life outside gymnastics. It's been a really rough year (with injuries) . Although I've always told him that "Gymnastics is WHAT you do, not WHO you are" I think he had to experience that himself to understand. Fortunately, he has great Coaches who have been there with him every step of the way and been so understanding. God is Good! I stand in awe! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper - We R Memory Keeper Precious Metal DSP, Archivers Textured C/S, Stamps - CTMH Sans Small Caps & Lowercase, Ink - CTMH Chocolate, Old Olive, Coasters - Imagination Project

More Memories

I just wanted to get my page for the Pencil Lines Sketch Challenge #71 posted tonight since tomorrow is Sunday and they'll have a new sketch challenge to enjoy. I'm really happy with this page as it's the last page of my vacation pages. It's so peaceful and perfect as it's the pictures I took of the sunset. Scrapbook Supplies: Paper: Basic Grey Sublime, SU! River Rock & Groovy Guava C/S, Stamps: CTMH Joy Forever & Solo "F", Inks: CTMH Chocolate, SU! River Rock, Groovy Guava & Ruby Red, Buttons: SU! Clear, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla

Rejoice!

I had a conversation with my oldest son the other day about not taking what I tell him out of context. If you have children or been the boss and had employees, you know how frustrating and crazy that can make you. Fast forward to today. I'm grumbling away while I'm cleaning the house, increasing the complaints when I get to the bathroom. Suddenly, a verse pops into my head, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24) "yea, ok, except when you're cleaning the bathroom". Well, and then there's also the Saturday mornings the alarm clock goes off at 0600 because Brandon has to go the gym and the nights I have to rush home only to find everyone is hungry and no one has started anything for dinner, and the list went on....It was then it hit me that I like my sons was adding *asterisks*, exceptions to what my Father has said! He didn't say that on day's you feel like it, when you're not busy or on days you don't have to clean....Laugh! No! He said "rejoice". How easy it is to grumble. Psalm 68:3, "...May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful." So it seemed alittle strange but I turned up the Praise music and finished the housework. You know, it really wasn't as bad that way :)

Finishing the house stuff early gave me time to get another scrappin' page done today! There was a GREAT Challenge on SCS yesterday on the Scrapbook Diva Challenge #14, use stamps for the border and use more than 5 stamps. I hid the journaling. This picture is very special to me because we were leaving Florida and it was just the 5 of us out to dinner one last time before we left. We had a great time just chatting and reminiscing about our vacation and other fun family moments. Very Fun Challenge! Easy to "Rejoice", LOL! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper: CTMH SerendipityDSP, Stamps: CTMH Serendipity, Rustic Alpha, Ink: CTMH Indian Corn Blue, Chocolate

Gifts

Today I was in the airport waiting for the Ground Transportation Driver and I was sitting by the guy who shines shoes. He's a VERY pleasant gentleman, always very chatty. He didn't have a customer at the time so he asked me if I needed my shoes shined. I told him "no" they were already ruined by the salt and no amount of "shining" was probably going to help. He agreed that salt was hard on shoes & told me that in weather like this (5 inches of snow) I really should wear boots! He did go on to show me his shoes and I have to admit they were beautiful. Not fancy, handmade leather beautiful but regular shoes shined up VERY nicely. You would have never been able to tell he walked through salt/snow with them! I told him they looked great and he than began to explain to me how he keeps them so nice. He told me, "The Lord gave me the Gift for Shoes." I must have given him a quizzical look because he went on to explain, "God gives everyone a special gift. That ONE thing they do better than anyone else. Might be small, might be big, others may have the same gift, but they don't/won't use it the same way so everyone's special gift is their own." His, he explained was "the gift of shoes. No one can make regular guy shoes look quite as nice, it's my gift." He went on to tell me that he's a Reverend at a little church on Sunday's and Wednesday's but during the week, he shares his "gift for shoes" at the airport. As he was packing up to leave (the weather was too bad for more flights to come in) he asked me, "So, what is your special gift?" He caught me by complete surprise and since I didn't have an answer, I said the only thing I could think, " well, we both can tell it's not shoes." He laughed and said, "oh no, that's mine. You need to discover your own." So all day I've been thinking about what I would consider "my own special gift". What's Yours?

My son Brandon has the gift of being able to get along with anyone and everyone. He's a great mediator and he's one of those people that others just like instantly. He always has lots of friends and acquaintances and seems to always be smiling and positive. He's so adorable, but then I'm prejudiced! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper: Elsie Papers, Stamps: SU! Big Deal Alpha, Priceless , Ink: SU! Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, StazOn Black

More Vacation Memories

Ok, it may just be where I'm at in the book OR it could be that the gray, cold days have me thinking of HOT Summer Days. Whatever it is, I just finished Another vacation l/o of us at the beach! I took me awhile as it was one of those l/o I fiddled with, still didn't like but finally just gave up and stuck it down. The picture l/o wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started...I actually started with a Sketch By Suzy #43. Somehow I lost the plan on page 2. I still like the colors and the photo's make me smile as it was such a FUN day spent out playing in the sand. Scrapbook Supplies: CM Perfect Fit Aqua, Shades of Yellow, Archivers Tropical, Embellishments: Memories In the Making, Ink: SU! Old Olive

Memories of Vacation...

It's so WONDERFUL to look back at our vacation pictures and think of all the fun we had...~sigh~ I guess that's what a GREAT Summer vacation does, gives you great memories to think about getting you through the cold winter, gray days...LOL! This layout was inspired by this week's Pencil Lines Sketch #69. I knew as soon as I saw it, it was PERFECT for more of my vacation photo's. Here's to Sun & Fun! Scrapbook Supplies: Paper Archivers Tropical, CM Perfect Fit Yellow, SU! Tempting Turquoise c/s, Ink: SU! Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Stamp: DMD Palm Trees, CTMH Solo "F"

Trendy

This was for another Scrappin' 2008 Challenge - Trends. Scrap a page showing something that's trendy for you or your children right now. I was planning to do this page anyway but it sure was perfect time to get it done. I got the boys Ipods for Christmas because it was the first item listed on their Christmas lists. It seems every time I see one of them now, they have little white ear buds in and I have to repeat myself at least twice before they hear me, laugh! What a trend. I laugh to think about all the trends we've gone through at Christmas time - Barney, Power Rangers, Light up tennis shoes, Spiderman, Yugio (sp?) cards, Toy Story (Buzz Lightyear)...oh my! Well, as they grow up, those trends change but someday it will be fun to look back at this page and laugh about the Ipod trend. I have to say, I just may have to get one as there are several podcasts I'd like to listen to...LOL! The top "Ipod" has a transparency over it and I stamped over it. Looks neat IRL. Scrapbook Supplies: Paper: CTMH Grey Flannel B&T, Stamps: CTMH Doodle Alpha, Rustic Alpha, Solo "F", Magical Season, Ribbon: CTMH Ribbon Round Black, Ink: CTMH Barn Red, Rubber Stampede Silver, Black Staz On Assessories: Photo Hangars, Brads