April 30

Remember a while back where we had a "family vacation day" and we did nothing - no cooking, cleaning, work of ANY kind, and just spent the entire day together playing? Well we did that again today and it was so refreshing and fun!

We took the kids to a new strawberry farm and got over 11 pounds of berries in way less than an hour's time. I do have 5 kids, ya know :)   I am so excited about eating these all up. There are like nine million recipes I want to try! They had a little frozen shop in the place we went and they had the BEST strawberry frozen yogurt I have ever tasted. Seriously! We ate said frozen yogurt before lunch, which we ate at some hole-in-the-wall place called "The Gator Cafe". No - there was no gator at The Gator Cafe just in case you were wondering :)

Our original plan was to go to the beach when we finished up with the strawberry thing, but my wonderful husband made a suggestion to change those well laid out plans. This is something that I don't typically go along with, but since it was *family vacation day* I was trying to be flexible. For at least a little while, anyways. So he suggested that we go to the river where people go canoeing, kayaking, and tubing. I had been there before and I was already worried...but, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and much to my surprise, it was beautiful. There was a great sandbar, and the water probably didn't go above my ankles for a long ways out. Did I mention that I have 5 kids? What more could a momma with 5 kiddos in tow ask for than a sandbar with ankle-deep water for 50+ feet on all sides? That's right, a sister and a husband tagging along to do the hard work :) Like putting up the sunscreen tent, oh yeah, and APPLYING the sunscreen to 5 kiddos, and helping me keep an eye on all those kids. Do you see why I haven't attempted to go near any large body of water in the last two years? (Well, besides the oil spill!)  It was such a great day and we are so excited to go back soon!

I will leave you with a few pictures for today:

I am so proud of this "accidental picture".  Can you see Claire's reflection? LOVE it!

Chloe was serious about playing with the sand :) Do NOT come between her and her bucket, mister!

Caleb is so stinkin' cute! That's all boy,  right there!

I wish some of these pictures would have shown you the beautiful clear sky we had today! Stay tuned though because I will be scrapping these very soon! They are high up the to-be-scrapped priority list.:)

April 29

I have been spending way too much time on the computer lately, working on classes and stuff. But today, I promised myself not to get even turn it on until I had cleaned the bathroom, did all the laundry, held and snuggled my babies and took way too many pictures :) Ahhh! Sigh of relief. All that and then some.

Caleb and I made the famous Potato Soup for lunch together and I even cleaned the kitchen immediately afterwards. Woo hoo! We completed our schoolwork before noon, which has been nearly impossible for the last two weeks and we read together for a while.

When the babies laid down for their nap, I let Caleb and Kagen play in the waterhose and in the baby's pool. I got the Dawn dish detergent and squeezed nearly half the bottle out for them to have a cold bubble bath. They loved it!

I love how you can see the water spraying here!

You'd think I used the whole bottle of Dawn with all these bubbles.

Could it be any better to be a boy?

My cheeks hurt from laughing at these boys playing together today!

April 28

This morning I had to go fill out paperwork for my kids to get in to see a new dentist. My mother in law kept all of the kids for me so I was able to be in the car and listen to music for about 20 minutes without someone fighting in the backseat :) Yay! I had an awesome time praising and worshipping this morning, in the confines of my van, with my radio blasting! I love times like this, when no one's watching and you are free to just be and feel and know who you are in God, and what He means to you without interruptions. We all need that kind of refreshing and renewal at some point in our day. It keeps me grounded and gives me that little push during the times I feel like I can't take any more! Surely you can relate!
Well I just have to share this amazing song and the part of the testimony that I heard this morning that put me in this mood to just praise and worship, and just be plain thankful. Thankful for a cancer-free husband. Thankful for healthy children. Thankful for a nice home and a hard working husband. Thankful for redemption and the freedom to share my faith. Thankful that God didn't see fit to send those horrible tornadoes here to my town. To my home. To my family.

Okay, well the lead singer of Sanctus Real, Matt Hammitt, and his wife have a blog about their newest little boy who was born with a heart defect of some sort. I don't know all of the details, but you can check out the whole story here on his blog, and you can also listen to the most AMAZING song. (The picture below shows where to click to listen to the song. I had a hard time finding it, so I circled it in red, and wrote "click here" on the picture so you'll be able to find it easily.)  It's called All of Me. He wrote it about his little boy, and how he has to give all of himself to his son, regardless of the outcome. There are so many personal situations that this song can be applied to, and I am claiming it today as my song. I hope it speaks to your heart, too.

April 27

Do you ever want to learn how to do something new, and think you have it figured out and you are so proud of yourself and then you look a little closer, and you compare your stuff to someone else's and then you aren't so sure of yourself anymore? Well, I have definitely felt that way as I begin to try my hand at designing for digital scrapbooking. When I get interested in something it consumes me -- night and day until I get it figured out. I am not a very patient person when it comes to learning. That being said, I have learned that all of those feelings of self doubt are normal, and I am coming to terms with my inexperience. One of my classmates in the Art of Digital Design class shared a great article about the beginning process of becoming a designer. I am just going to take the main statement but the full article can be read here.
“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Isn't this so true? I love it! I printed it out and hung it on my bulletin board to remind me that it's okay I am just a beginner and I shouldn't be so hard on myself! Maybe this little article will help you, too!

No picture of the day today, but I do have some Visualize Inspiration for you :)

I added this to my sidebar, so go check it out!!! I added lots of cool pictures today :)

April 26

I just figured out that I could import my old blog to here :) How awesome is that? I have been so tempted to delete it, but I just couldn't bear to actually do it, until now! And it was so super easy! I just saved my old blog to my desktop, clicked on import blog on this one's dashboard, and picked the file off of my desktop. It automatically transferred all of my old posts. That is seriously exciting to me. haha! If only it were that easy to actually post...

Well, I am just going to forewarn you, I am planning on making some changes to my blog. I want to revamp it to include my logo and more links of what I like to look at here on the world-wide-web. I think you'll be very interested to check out some of my links! There are tons of good ones! Stay tuned as this will be an ongoing process!

For my picture of the day today, I have a couple of photos of the kids playing outside in the kiddie pool. This is serious cuteness!

Claire & Kalyn -- I love the expression on both their faces. They look so happy here!

Chloe - Does it get any cuter than this? She is a little ham!

Caleb and Tyler  playing with the waterguns :) Oh, to be a boy!

April 25

The post for today is being highjacked by my hodge-podge collection of all of sewing projects. They are in no particular order, except that they are grouped by the type of project. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the things I've made :) I am going to try to update this as often as possible to include my completed projects. Enjoy!

BURPEES
I need to make things. With Fabric. With Paper. With Pictures. With Food. With My Hands. I would love to be able to spend more time sewing, but since time is not what I have a lot of lately, I settle for little opportunities to make little things, like this yummy stack of burpies that totally want to make me have another baby. NOT! But they are really cute! I love how easy they are to make. I can usually make one in about 20-30 minutes, depending on how many distractions are requiring my attention :)

All of these fabrics except the green polka are from Heidi Grace who also happens to design scrapbook paper. I just love how colorful her stuff is.

These are the first burpees I ever made. They were for a friend who was having a boy. I loved the turquoisy (my made up word) bluish greens and browns together in this fabric.

PILLOWCASE DRESSES

I love going to Etsy to look for crafty ideas :) One day while I was searching for hats for the twins, I came across the cutest little pillowcase dresses. I had only heard of the idea one other time, when my friend Emily was telling me about them. I was immediately in LOVE! I knew I could figure out how to make them on my own, and after googling pillowcase dress tutorial I was in instruction heaven. This is the very first one that I made for Kalyn.

After having her try it on, I realized it was probably a bit too short to wear on its own as a dress, but it would be super cute with some leggings underneath. So I made another one :)

And then when I saw how cute it was, I decided that it would be really cute with a pair of jeans, too. So I made another one. Again :)

She's such a cooperative model :) She loves it when I make her things. She says that she will wear them even if she really doesn't like them, because it makes her feel special that I made them. Don't kids have the best way of putting things? So I guess maybe I should make a few for the twins next.

I've never seen a five pound jack-o-lantern look so cute :)

Here's our family picture from Christmas 2009. It's the only good (and it's not that great anyway) picture of the twins in their Christmas pillowcase dresses (that were more like shirts because I did not measure properly before cutting the fabric :( hehehe!)

We will be back to your regulary scheduled programming tomorrow :) I needed a break to get my house back in order from all the Easter festivities this weekend! Thanks for understanding!



April 24

Happy Easter!!! I love Easter, not only for what it means to me as a Christian, but also for what pure joy it is to be surrounded by all of the people that are important to me. Especially my kids. Something about a "holiday" just makes an ordinary day extra-ordinary. I am so blessed to have such a close-knit family, even on the side of my in-laws :) haha! In all seriousness though, I get along great with my inlaws and I love them as much as I love my own family. So, I made this quick layout of my husband's family. We hardly ever take pictures together, or even as couples so I made sure I got pictures of everyone today.

Click to see larger in a new window!

Credits: Template: Tiffany Tillman 52 Templates #10
 Papers: Joy Ride Cosmo Cricket; Chrysantheums Spring & Summer 2011 by Crystal Wilkerson

I can't wait to print this out and give it to my mother-in-law! She actually framed one of my layouts that I did of the twins and has it hanging in her living room. That is so awesome! I totally love going over there and seeing that she thinks it's good enough to display on her living room wall.

Hope you all enjoyed Easter with your families, too! I am planning to do scrapbook pages with my kids, too so try to be patient with me :)

April 23

So I am feverishly working towards finishing my kit for my Design Class at JessicaSprague.com, and while the class has been great, I still feel like I don't have a clue what I am doing most days that I am trying to design stuff. Scrapbooking, yeah, I feel like I have that part down, now in both Photoshop CS5 and Elements. But I also feel like I need more education and experience under my belt! So what's a girl to do? Google it!

I have now started taking classes at ReneePearson.com and I am completely loving them!!!! Laura Coyle is a fantastic teacher and I am now the proud owner of yet another Adobe product, Illustrator CS5. I really should have bought the bundle...

I am also signed up for a class with Tiffany Tillman, which starts at the beginning of May. It's called Scraphic Design and it's all about design principles and techniques. I have taken her Summer Templates class and I am really impressed with her work, too. The layout I did yesterday was made from one of her free templates that she gives away on her blog every Thursday.

So again, I took no pictures today :( But I have hundreds of ideas for them stored in my head, thanks to the visual and mental stimulation I am receiving in all of these fabulous classes! I would love to have any of you join me in the message boards and on this journey to becoming a designer!

April 22

Okay, I know I promised a couple of days ago that I was going to take pictures at the park. Well, let me just tell you how that worked out for me. :( Not so great! I go to the park with my sister, my husband, and my friends all the time, but never have I ever, gone by myself - as the only adult - with five mobile kids.  Now I know why! Now that the twins are both mobile, and more often than not, going in completely different directions at any given time, it is incredibly difficult!

There were a couple of extenuating circumstances today, too. We had an extra kid, my sweet small group friend's little boy, my two boys and my twins. Kalyn, who is my right hand helper was at my Mom's salon getting her hair done. My oldest boy, who is 6, and a B-O-Y, which basically disqualifies him instantly as being any real help was having too much fun playing with his friend to help out mom. :( And then there's the 4 year old who can think of nothing else but escaping the minivan faster than his brother and his friend, so that he can beat them to the jungle gym ya know? hehehe! Ahhh, the simple life of little boys...I digress.

So Chloe is going one way, as fast as her sweet little feet can carry her, right toward the HUGE climbing thing with a bouncy bridge and what seemed like nine dozen different 10 feet high drop offs and slides...AGHHHH! And then you have poor, little scaredy cat Claire, who is deathly frightened by the construction noise going on the school behind the park. And let's not forget my Moms's warning that there had been gang activity at this park, and she thought it dangerous for me to go alone with all the kiddos. Really mom? I have lived here 4-EVA and I have never heard of such in this area. Don't you just hate that? Not knowing that there was something else to be feared, and then you find out? And no matter how unworried about it you were before, you can't be that unworried again? Yeah, well that's where I was today. Or yesterday, I mean.

So I told you all that to tell you that's what I love about scrapbooking :) Make sense yet? Probably not, so I will explain further. Haha!

I can bottle up all that anxiety about the crying, attached-at-the-hip, fearful baby, the completely adventurous and elated baby, the two little boys who were having a contest to see who could swing the highest (on the opposite end of the park) and the random jeep with a strange man that is parked and eerily watching, the rumors of gangs, etc. and just focus on this little guy:

Click to see larger in a new window!

Credits: Papers - Crystal Wilkerson's Oh Boy! Party Time & Party Time Extras

Template - Tiffany Tillman 52 Templates #9

It's amazing that in the midst of all that anxiety, I was even able to take pictures, right? Let alone take the time to scrapbook them :) But seriously, this is what I want my kids to remember, that I took them to the park. That they loved going to the park. And that I can't wait to spend time with them again. So are you wondering why none of the other kids made it in the scrapbook for the park day? Again, that's the beauty of scrapbooking. If it's not in the scrapbook, maybe they won't remember. Haha! I heard a quote once that said, "Be nice to me or I'll crop you out of the scrapbook." Okay maybe I am the only one who thinks that's really funny, but I totally did that today. Kagen was the only one cooperating with me, so he's the one that got featured!

April 21

Do you remember my post about Kalyn and the hot rollers? I did the CurlyQ I love you page here about our experience with them. Well, she has been begging me to let her get a perm so her hair would always be curly like mine. And I finally gave in :)

 My mom did it this morning and it looks great! I was a little concerned how she would do with the change and how she would react if she didn't like it. Never fear -- we both LOVE it!

I love that her personality allows her to fit in any situation. She can hang with the boys, getting dirty playing in the mud, and wear her pajamas all day long. And then she can go straight to being all girlie girl, fancy schmancy and you'd never know she was playing in the dirt with mud on her face 30 minutes prior. She's such an amazing little girl, beautiful beyond words, and I am so lucky to be her mom.



Well I guess I'll be wearing my hair curly for a while now, too :) 

April 20

Another day without pictures :( I just haven't had time to do anything different, and I am kinda bored with taking pictures in the backyard. I am planning to take the kiddos to the park tomorrow morning while Kalyn gets her hair done so I will take plenty then :) Kinda looking forward to it!

But for today, I am actually going to confess that I am a complete and total stalker of all things Crystal Wilkerson. So much so that I went back through every single page of her blog today. Yikes! Did I actually write that? on my blog? Like I don't have better things to do, right? Not really sure if it's okay that I downloaded pictures of the layouts I want to scraplift, but I figure I am just using it for inspiration and I am crediting it all back to her so hopefully in blog etiquette, I have my bases covered :) I also own nearly everything she sells and I could actually duplicate these layouts :) When I have more free time. Sigh.  There's a permanent link to her blog on the sidebar of mine. You should check it out, too!

This is all stuff from her Sweet Summertime kit. LOVE that one. I really wish I would have taken the heart-belly picture like this when I was pregnant, any of the 4 times :)  I wonder if I could photoshop something like that in....hmmmm.

This is from her My Litle Brother Collection. LOVE that one, too :) And seriously, this has got to be one of the most inspirational pages. I wish I could dream up journaling like this to put on my kids pages. I really want to, but this sort of sappyness just doesn't come naturally to me. I could completely cry right now!

Okay this caught my eye, first of all because her daughter's name is Chloe, like mine :) And secondly, because we are trying to teach our babies their body parts, too! How cute is this layout? Seriously, people. Everyone needs a sweet little girl with kissy lips like this! This is all from her August 2009 Collection.

I love this layout, too -- how it shows the same kid in different outfits. Jammies, in particular. I love my babies pajamas and I always seem to get one picture of them that actually turns out so I am totally going to do a layout like this with all those random pictures. This is her July 2009 collection if you want to have it, too :)

Well, I hope that you all are inspired now, too. Go - make a page for your kids!

April 19

I made another layout today. Last weekend Jonathan took the kids to Benny Russell Park and they had so much fun. I used today's freebie Template Tuesday at DigiLovely.com, and supplies from Echo Park's Dashes Kit and a few things from Bella Gypsy's Mischief Kit.

Click on the picture to see it larger in a new window.

April 18

So I finally broke down and did some digi-scrappin today. Yay! It felt good to be able to use some of the stuff I forgot I had. I fell in love all over again. I also needed to catch up on my Template Tuesday layouts so woohoo! for killing two birds with one stone :)

Click on the picture to see it larger in a new window.

This layout was created with Carina Gardner's Hippity Hop freebie kit. I just love her style! And I like her even more after getting to know her on the forums at our class at JessicaSprague. I am already looking forward to taking her new design class in the fall :)

April 17

I have seriously spent the ENTIRE stinking day working on reorganizing my computer files. Do you ever have a feeling that something is wrong with your computer and it's on its last leg? Well, I kinda have that feeling. Plus, now that I am learning how to design on my own, and I have spent more time developing my own style, I really need to clean out my files of all the junk I downloaded when I first learned of this idea of digital scrapbooking. I was so excited to get something for free, (like when that works out with coupons! Yay!) that I went download-crazy and snagged everything I could get my hands on. And basically, it's a lot of junk that I have never used and probably never will. Say goodbye to cluttered files! I am so excited about how everything turned out and how beautiful and ordered my file system is now. Ahhh, sigh of relief.

Here's a layout that I did a while back since I didn't take pictures today.

Click on the layout to see it larger in a new window :)

This was one of the very first layouts I ever did, and I am not 100% sure where everything came from, but I think it was by Bella Gypsy. They were one of the first designers I ever came across and I loved all their bright colors and patterns. The babies were only about 6 months old here. My, how they have grown!

April 16

Okay so my last few pictures of Claire have not been happy ones :( I had to redeem myself, for her sake if she ever reads the blog one day and wonders why she's been so sad. hehehe! She truly is a very happy, loving and ADORABLE baby. She's probably my most easy going child, and by far, the best sleeper. Love that pretty little face!

Wanna kiss?

April 15

The boys were so excited to spend the night with their Mimi Evie tonight! I had a hard time keeping them entertained until it was time to go, so we spent some more time outside and I was able to get a few cute pics.  My sister came to clean for me so my house smells good again :) Yay! haha!

Do you see what his shirt says? It says, "The Paparazzi just won't leave me alone!" This is SOOO my favorite t-shirt of his :)

My beautiful "big" girl, Kalyn. She's was riding Chloe around in the bike trailer that Jonathan last weekend when I was on the retreat. That has become one of their favorite things to do when he comes home from work.

And Caleb :) This boy is too stinkin' cute for words! Just sayin'. You know I'm right!

April 14

I have been plugging away at my design stuff for the Digital Design class at JessicaSprague.com. It's a lot more work than I thought and I am really behind. You know how I get, all hyperfocused on one thing until I figure it out. Must be my A.D.D. kicking in. Sometimes I just have to get outside and away from all the thinking and the blinding white of the computer screen. So I took the babies outside to play :)

Seriously cutest face I've seen all day!

Okay, maybe this one's a little cuter :)

And seriously, Claire? This has to be the saddest face I've seen all day.

Or maybe it was this one :( Boo hoo! What's a momma to do?

She just wants someone to hold her :)

April 13

Bible Study this morning :) We have had a few new ladies join our group over the last few weeks and I am really enjoying getting to know them all better, too. Seriously, that's the highlight of my week. Every week. It's so wonderful to have a support group of like-minded women to share my life with every week. They encourage me to be a better wife, mom, Christian, and just a better person all around. They inspire me with their ideas on biblical parenting and challenge me to spend more time with my Lord when I see Him working in their lives. I hope that you all have a group of wonderful people in your life, too. These women are such a blessing to me.

After our Bible Study this morning, my sister asked me to come over and go swimming. Umm, yeah, let me think about that. 90 degrees outside, 5 rowdy kids and a messy house I don't feel like cleaning? Yep, be there in about 15 minutes!

Kagen had so much fun when he and Caleb were making waves together.

Oh yeah, he was having a lot of fun chasing everyone down and getting them with this water gun contraption.

This is Chloe, stomping her sweet little feet in the water runoff from where the boys made waves. If only I could have captured her face, but wait no more. I did, in the picture below :)

I love this sweet little girl!!!

I didn't neglect to take pictures of Kalyn. She was at work with her dad :) She loves to go with him because Daddy always buys her a drink, takes her to lunch, and usually gets doughnuts on the way to his job. Such a rough life, huh?

April 12

I know I promised to share pictures from the Women's Retreat a few days ago, but I wanted to make an actual layout instead of just dropping the pictures from a random file on my computer. This was truly an amazing time and I enjoyed every bit of it. I am so thankful for my husband, who sees the importance of making sure that we can afford to send me on trips like this, and also that he's willing to keep all of our kids. That makes me crazy most days, so for him to do it, without complaining (which I never can do) is amazing! I love that man!

The only person I have to credit here is me :) Yay! All of these elements and papers were designed by me, myself and I :) Oh shoot, I forgot! I used one of Tiffany Tillman's Summer Templates - #9 I think!

April 11

Kalyn and I worked on this layout together today. I am so happy to be able to share my passion for scrapbooking with her. I get so excited when I explain something to her, and she tells me, "Mom, I already know how to do that!" I am looking forward to spending more time with her working on our scrapbooks this summer.

I used Tiffany Tillman's Summer Template #5  and the papers and elements are from Echo Park's Life is Good Collection. 

April 10

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mom! We had fun hanging out with my Mom and Dad today. We brought over Steakout for her birthday lunch and I stopped at Target for some Key Lime Pie and Girl Scout Cookie Icecream. YUM! I am stuffed :) Inspite of the fact that this dress makes me look pregnant, (which I am not, so please do not ask! haha) this is a pretty good picture of me and my Mom.

Supplies: Bella Gypsy Mischief; Tiffany Tillman Template; Font: Porcelain; Delicious Scrap Shop: Acrylic Frame and Diamond Accents

Click on the image to see it larger in another window.

April 9

Today we had the pleasure of hearing one of the most precious, wise and faithful ladies in our church, Mrs. Sue Sanders. She talked with us about Jochebed, who was only mentioned twice in the whole Bible. Once, as the wife of Amram, and again as the mother of Moses. Jochebed and her husband were Egytian slaves and yet they raised their children to know and love God. They weren't identified as anything/anyone significant in their own right. We can learn from Jochebed that the world doesn't revolve around us, but around God. He isn't here for us, we are here for him. Do you go through life in the princess mode -- feeling like someone else should be doing all the hard work? Jochebed didn't. She was Moses mother, and she had to completely trust God to take care of her baby, building a basket and putting him into the river and walking away. She was faithful to God, and that provided her the opportunity to raise her son, for the princess. She worked all day, and she still taught Moses the laws of God and trained him how to be a servant. We need to be striving everyday, being faithful and obedient. And we can be thankful we don't have to do what Jochebed had to do! When Moses was of age, she had to let him go to the princess. But she could do it, knowing that she had done her best to raise him right.

Leah shared something about one of my favorite verses in the Bible, today, too. She talked about how when we are discouraged, we sometimes give God the silent treatment. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". The problem here is that's where we want to stop. We sometimes fail to read on and apply the next verses -- "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. We just want the prosperity part, without the work of having to see the Lord to get it.

After our session this morning, we opened the floor up for testimonies and so many women shared stories about how Satan had attacked them this week and tried his best to prevent them from coming. We were all so happy that we made it there and excited to see what God was going to do in our lives from this day forward. We confessed our weaknesses to one another so that we, through the power of prayer, can make one another stronger in the Lord and be an encouragement to each other. We learned that true God-honoring faith absolutely cannot be anchored in our feelings but needs to be wholeheartedly anchored in our FAITH, and knowing that God does provide for his people, and we have the ultimate and final victory. Feelings and emotions will constantly change and control you. Faith is eternal and needs to be kept in the proper perspective.

I hope that you were able to get a couple of little nuggets (at the very least) from what I shared here over the last few days. I want to post a video of Leah's new song that was one of my favorites for today. Maybe tomorrow I can post pictures of the actual retreat. :)

April 8

Our first speaker today was Taube Lansing. She sat at our table during her time at the retreat so we all had a chance to get to know her a little during the "icebreaker" session. As much as I was trying not to focus on digital scrapbooking on this retreat, imagine my surprise when she told us how her messy handwriting was so bad even she couldn't read it sometimes. Hallelujah! Just so happens, that's exactly what I am looking for :)  In fact, I liked her handwriting so much, I asked her to write out the main Bible verse of her message for me so that I could make a digital paper out of it. Keep your eyes out for it here on my blog. I will share!!! You know that just goes to show -- God cares for us even in the little things, so much that He provided that for me. I am sure no one else probably cared that she had messy handwriting, but it made my day! I know, I'm weird :)

Before I share what her message was about, I want to share one of things that God has been speaking to me about. You know how when something in your life happens, you just HAVE to tell someone about it? Sometimes they give you good advice, but sometimes they give you advice that you know you shouldn't follow? Well, this is something that I personally struggle with -- needing, or feeling like I need to talk to someone (or many someones :) depending on the circumstances) about what I am going through. I feel like God is really trying to teach me to become more dependant on Him when these issues arise in my life, and not so much on the other someone(s). Does that make sense? Well it's what Taube spoke to us about tonight so maybe it will make more sense after I explain that :)

Taube said that she had a message for the weary. Amen, sister, preach on! I need to hear a message for the weary...cause this is one weary momma! First of all, what does it mean to be weary? Weary means to be exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness; having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted. Yep, that's me alright. I am sure you all can relate, too! So this is a normal feeling, right? Of course! So here's how to deal with it, or rather the temptations to avoid when you are feeling weary.
1. Avoid the temptation to make your own plan. Think about Abraham, and Sarah when they wanted a baby. Instead of asking the Lord, they went to Hagar. God wanted to give them a child, but in his appointed time. When we force things by making our own plan, we only make it more complicated.  Proverbs 10:22 says, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." God doesn't want to give us sorrow with the blessings, we bring that on ourselves by not being patient.
2. Avoid the temptation to think that you are inadequate. What about Moses and how he said he wasn't a good speaker? Don't forget that God made you, with your inadequacies, and He can use you, inspite of them. What about the people? They complained -- the Bible likens that to hardening their hearts, and not remembering what God had done for them in the past. Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it, as he was commanded. Numbers 20 tells us that disobedience is the same as unbelief, and Moses did something rash, based on his heightened emotional state.
3. Avoid the temptation to doubt your faith in times of darkness, forgetting what God gave you in a time of light. Job was a great example of someone who praised God even through the times of darkness in his life, and his life was definitely much darker than mine, ever! We have to be very careful who we talk to during these times of darkness in our life -- our "friends" can cause us to doubt God's provision and our faith.  We have to surround ourselves with people who won't questions God's goodness and at the same time not be condemning toward us, like Job's "friends" were when they told him that he must have been a horrible sinner. Job was a great example of true patience - which in his situation can be defined as staying in the wilderness until God's appointed time, wanting nothing.

What really struck me during her message was that I don't and shouldn't need to run to everyone else with all my problems, because first of all, they can't do anything about them! God is in control of my life and he is orchestrating every circumstance within it -- my focus needs to be on Him.

We had a wonderful time of worship with some of my favorite songs. Our worship leader, Leah Taylor, shared a beautiful song called Passover with us. I can't wait until she releases that one! Anyway :) She said something that really spoke to me as well -- "Our reactions determine our reach." and  "War and destruction are inevitable, but so is God's final victory." I hope that I can remember these two quotes. I wrote them on a post-it and put it out where I would see it everyday. Maybe I should do this as a word art for my digi-kit....

Our second speaker today, Heidi Nadolny, has got to be, hands-down, one of the most beautiful and godly women I have ever met. Ever. She is one of those women that you can look at, and you are just like, "Wow, I want what she has!" By that, I mean her desire to please the Lord, and the joy you can sense just by being in her presence. She has a contagious smile and such a sweet spirit. She had a powerful message to share with us, too. It was exactly what I needed this weekend. She spoke about Leah and her struggles with rejection. As uncomfortable as it is, that's something we all experience, isn't it? Rejection. From our parents, our spouses, our friends, even our children. 1 Peter 3: 12-14 tells us that we can give God our hurts and rejections because we can completely trust Him. (See also Psalm 116:1-2; Psalm 37:4; and Ephesians 4:31-32) Leah experienced some MAJOR rejection in her life, and yet she was not bitter toward the people who hurt her. She praised the Lord, and continued to focus on Him, and not was she wished she had. She had joy (Psalm 118:9) and hope (Psalm 39: 7-8). She learned that God would defend her, and exalt her. We must not do that ourselves -- Let God do it for you. (John 8:4) We have to do right, even when other people are doing wrong to us. Leah's 8th son was named Zebulon, which means honor. God will restore us from the pain of rejection if we are willing to be obedient. Job 42:10 tells us that God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends and gave him twice as much as he had before!

So what can we do with our rejections?

1. Ephesians 4:32 tells us to Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another. Just remember to ask yourself this, "Jesus died for me. Can I let this go?"
2. Matthew 5:24 tells us to love our enemies.
3. Forgive them.
4. Fellowship with Christ and his sufferings. Remember that Christ suffered and was perfect. Do you really expect not to suffer? Your sufferings are nothing that Christ Himself didn't endure.
5. 1 Peter 2: 19-21 - Ask God for healing.

Remember -- YOUR worth is not determined by what other people think of you, but by what GOD thinks of you.

I John 4:19 tells us to love because He first loved us.

Heidi asked Leah to sing this song tonight, and it was perfect for what she spoke on. Love it!

April 7

Today was the first day of our Women's Retreat, and I must say it couldn't have been any better. I had an easy morning getting the kids ready and was fortunate to have my ever helpful mother-in-law watch the kids for me so that I could go early and carpool with my friends. I am so thankful for her! I was able to "arrive" with my friends and we picked our room and bunks and set all our stuff up together. Sometimes getting away from the comforts of your own home can be intimidating, even when you know the people you are going with :) It made me so much less anxious to not have to go through that part on my own!

I thought I would just recap what happened during the retreat on my blog if that's okay with you all :) (You know you don't really have a choice, right? haha!) Our first session started with a pajama parade after dinner. Despite my searching for hours and finding very cute pajamas and matching high heels, I was definitely out of my comfort zone when I realized that part of the pajama party was to actually parade around the meeting room. I am probably still blushing from the whole experience. Seriously! I was all too happy to start the worship/message portion of our first session :)

When I learned that the theme for the retreat was "Anchored in Faith" and that it was supposed to be about different women in the Bible, I was immediatley excited. I love learning the Bible stories about the women in the Bible and how they were able to be used of God, despite their often less than desirable circumstances. Women who trusted God, and were obedient to Him, inspite of their feelings, because of their love and faith in Him.

One of the funniest people I have ever met, Heather York, who's an English/Drama teacher for special needs high school students, was our speaker for the first session. Her stories about her students are always hilarious and I was excited to hear what she had to share with us. She is an amazing woman, whom I admire very much, not only for her faithfulness and dedication to the Lord, but also for the example and encouragement she is in my life. The woman of the Bible who she focused on was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She took us all through the story of when/how Mary found out she would be pregnant with Jesus and what her response was. She said, "Let it be unto me as you have said." and how that's the attitude that we as Christians need to develop within ourselves to be a servant of the Lord. She also spoke about what Jesus' name meant, "God with us" and how appropriate and true it was through the personal examples from her life that "God was there" with her through all the trials and the blessings in her life. She encouraged us to look for God to be there when as we experienced the changes in our lives and to welcome them the same way as Mary did, with faith and trust in the Lord, knowing that He was there, with us. 

As she was sharing her stories of  her own "God with us" moments, I didn't have to think very hard to remember my own. Looking back on those times when I didn't understand the why's of my circumstances, now that I can see the bigger picture,  I am so much more thankful for God's hand of provision in my life.  I can clearly see that "God was there" and was orchestrating the entire thing to bring us closer to Him and was constantly revealing Himself to us in those difficult moments.

I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit of what we learned about tonight and even though I am definitely no Heather York, I do hope that my interpretation will remind you to stop and remember those moments in your past when "God was there" for you, too. I also hope that you will be able to do as Mary, and in faith, say, " Let it be unto me as you have said" the next time God asks something big of you.

Here's one of the songs we sang today. I don't think I have ever heard this one before, and I loved it. I hope that it blesses your heart, too.

April 6

I am so looking forward to going away to the Women's Retreat this weekend! I leave tomorrow :) I have been packed since Sunday if that's any inclination of my level of excitement. So instead of cleaning the house and cooking and catching up on laundry again, I made another layout this afternoon. It's from Halloween, which I know, is SO not on your mind right now, but I love layouts like this with room for so many pictures and I had a lot of really good ones from Halloween.

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Supplies: Jessica Sprague Template; Echo Park Apothecary Collection

April 5

I love how this layout turned out. It really shows Kalyn & Caleb's personalities well! The colors are great, too. Hope you like it!

Template Tuesday #10 - I used Crystal Wilkerson's Me & My Baby Brother's Collection to make this layout.

April 4

Okay, I have gotten a couple of weeks behind on my Template Tuesday layouts at Jessica Sprague. I am all caught up now though, and I am planning to share the layouts over the next few days. Today I cleaned the house and caught up on laundry so that my family would have clean clothes while I am gone. Wasn't that nice of me? :)

Have you ever been scared in bad weather? I don't mean a hurricane or tsunami or tornado bad weather, but just your regular thunder and lightning storm. Well, I can honestly say that I have never experienced a tsunami, but I have seen a couple of tornados, up close in person, and I have certainly experienced a BAD hurricane (inside the safety of the barely standing walls of my roofless church while I was nine months pregnant -- but that's a whole other story for a whole other post!), but I have never been shaken to the core with fear like I was tonight. I *don't know why* I went to Walmart tonight, after 10 o'clock, right before a storm rolled in, but I did. It started pouring down rain while I was at the checkout, with the S L O W E S T cashier ever, and by the time I got to the doors to leave, the manager had locked the main doors because the wind was blowing so hard that there was a LOT of water on the floor inside the entrance. It was ankle deep, people! I had $140 worth of groceries that were about to get soaked. I was wearing flip flops, which are always a terrible idea when you have to run in water-filled parking lot, but I had been standing there, by the side door, sipping my cold Diet Mt. Dew and waiting patiently for about 15 minutes, watching the rain and wind, while all of my frozen items were melting. Thanks again, S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! So I thought I would just have to make a run for it. As soon as I opened those doors, it was like the bottom fell out. Thunder crashing, lightning striking, horizontally raining, and wind blowing so hard it will make you fall down and flip the buggy into a puddle, almost make you pee your pants. Loud & scary. And that my friends, was no exaggeration. But God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Not quite sure how I made it home tonight, without being struck by lightning, or getting into an accident since the wind literally blew my contact right out while I was dashing (oh yeah, I meant swimming) through the flooded Walmart parking lot. What. was. I. thinking?

That's right. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking I would get caught in the longest line ever with the S L O W E S T Walmart cashier ever! But I did. I was so worked up about the whole trip I decided to stay up late and do a new layout. My cure-all, stress relief :)

Click on the picture to see it larger in another window.

Supplies: Template Tuesday #9; Echo Park's Be Mine Collection