Courageous!

Yesterday, the new movie "Courageous" opened across the country. It is made by the creators of "Fireproof" and "Facing the Giants", so we were really looking forward to it! I have actually been watching the progress of the movie on Facebook all during filming and editing.

I surprised Gil with tickets to the movie on opening night. Our church bought a block of 200 seats, so many from my Adult Life Group (Sunday school class) were also there. It was so fun to go to the theater and see lots of friends! Gil and I got there early and were first in line. So we sat down and watched everyone come in... wondering if we knew them, too! Most of them, we did.

The movie was awesome! So worth seeing!!! It was suspenseful, action-packed, family-friendly, funny, and heart-wrenching. It's message is Truth, and a call to action for us all. We loved it! We will definitely be buying this one. We absolutely recommend it!!

It has been really fun, too, looking forward to our date over the last couple of weeks. We need to do this more often!

31 Days...

I am challenging myself to blog everyday for 31 days! Thanks for joining me as I blog each day in October!

{Day 1} Courageous!

{Day 2} Fun Fall Outing

{Day 3} What a Great Sunday!

{Day 4} This is SO cool!

{Day 5} What's up with all the blog posts?

{Day 6} Got Box Tops?

{Day 7} Cute gift!

{Day 8} Mystery Reader

{Day 9} Sunday Thoughts

{Day 10} Glorious Day!

{Day 11} Devotions
{Day 12} The Man I Love

{Day 13} Jacob's big adventure

{Day 14} Praise!

{Day 15} Saturday Snapshots

{Day 16} Youth University

{Day 17} Pastor Appreciation!

{Day 18} Bye Bye Grama!

{Day 19} Layered Quesadilla

{Day 20} Custom Photo Gifts

{Day 21} Amazing Raffle Baskets

{Day 22} Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing Recipe
{Day 23} Sunday Thought

{Day 24} Packing Lunches Made Easy!

{Day 25} My Sweet Little Trooper!

{Day 26} Homemade Hummus Recipe

{Day 27} Shhhhh.....

{Day 28} Beautiful Fall Day with my Boy!

{Day 29} Thankful

{Day 30} Laundry -- I love it!

{Day 31} 31 Days Wrap Up!

Going with the flow

This was the week I was going to get organized...



I was determined to conquer my paper piles in the kitchen. I was really looking forward to clear counters. But life didn't quite go the way I had planned.



Gil took Monday off from work. Jacob had been sick over the weekend and was still feeling badly. So we kept him home from school and took him to the doctor. Poor baby has strep throat. Gil decided to spend the afternoon mowing the lawn. As he came into the garage after, he noticed water all over the gargage floor! Water was pouring out of the hot water heater in a steady drip. The troops {Zachary & Abbie} were called in to help move stored boxes and carry wet books into the house.



I am doing my best to save the books that I can, grateful that only a few boxes of books were damaged. We should have a new hot water heater tomorrow. We are going into our third day without hot water. The kids don't mind the lack of showers.



Time to heat some water on the stove so I can wash some more dishes. All the clutter around here is driving me just a little crazy. But first, I think I will make another scrapbook page!

My Business Card!

I just read a post by my friend Kim at Everything Etsy on creative business cards. I realized that I haven't shared my business card before... and I think it is somewhat creative! I designed it with my software, dropping one of my favorite scrapbook pages in as the photo. It is actually 1/2 of a 4x6 photo. So for the price of printing a picture, I got 2 business cards. I think they are fun! What do you think?



{Just for August 2011, my software and all the artwork is 50% off here!!! Wow!!}

A weekend with my "best friend"!

Beth Moore came to Charlotte this weekend!!! For the past 12 years, I have been doing her Bible studies. I have completed about 11 of them, and some of them I have actually done 2-3 times. I love her teaching! I was blessed to see her in person in 2004 in Colorado Springs. I was very excited to have the opportunity to see her again. Beth Moore is so down-to-earth and open... anytime I see her on video I feel like I am reunited with my best friend! I think she makes everyone feel that way!!

Our theme for the weekend was "hold fast". The Lord is holding fast to us... will never let us go, if we have trusted Him for our eternal salvation. We need to hold fast to him for earthly security and abundant life (not a life that is pain free, but a life that works). He loves us SO much!

We had 9400 women in attendance. Lots of women from my church were there... I kept running into groups of them all over the arena. I was blessed to attend with my sweet friend Leah. In fact, I nearly didn't get to go to this conference... but Leah surprised me with a ticket a few weeks ago!!! We have spent the last year and a half doing Bible study together, so she knew how much I really wanted to be there. I was touched, humbled, blessed! What a truly wonderful friend Leah is!

We ended up making plans with a number of other women to ride the light rail to uptown, have dinner, and then find seats together for Friday night. It was an adventure, and lots of fun! It was also wonderful to grow closer to some women I didn't know as well before this weekend. This morning we met bright and early at 6:30 to carpool back to uptown. The worship and teaching this weekend were just amazing! I will be absorbing and processing all we learned for the next week or two and beyond, I believe!

{My Simply Stylish Predesigned Pages made it so quick and easy to make these pages in just minutes!!!}

Wednesday Words...

Fun Cutting Tools

I love my Jumbo Custom Cutting System Patterns for making quick, traditional scrapbook pages! With one simple cut, I get a neat border, plus a piece to add to another page. Two pages from one piece of paper!


I have been working on Jacob's toddler pages... really enjoying my trip down memory lane! Here is a page I love, using the circle that was left over when I cut a border for another page, using the Jumbo Circle Pattern.

Now, when I started out with that red circle all by itself, it looked a little too much like a Japanese flag!

So, I decided to cut it up, and shift things around a bit. I started with one straight cut off of one side... no need to be exact.
I then made a second cut of of the larger piece. Again, just eyeballing things.
I took those 3 pieces and arranged them so that all the straight edges and corners were against the outside of the page.
I added a photo mat, 3 pictures, some fun embellishments, and some title stickers. {Using a Power Palette ensures that everything matches, and really cuts down on time!} I think it turned out pretty cute, and only took about 10 minutes!

You could do the same thing with any of the cutting patterns. {Good news! Through June 30th, 2011, all of our top cutting tools are on sale for 20% off!}

Pictures of Pictures

One of my friends was saying that she didn't have any photos of her mom that aren't digital. Trying to scan her pictures was too much trouble. So last week, when everyone was changing their profile pictures on Facebook to their mother's photo, she didn't participate.

Well, I have a fix for that! I often use my camera to take pictures of pictures.

I also use my camera to take photos of children's artwork, receipts, scrapbook page ideas, and other documents.

Now, if quality is really an issue, then scanning will yield the best results. But many things can be successfully photographed, quickly and easily.

This is especially nice to know when you have large, bulky artwork that won't fit in a scanner, or are out and about and want to capture a great idea. {It helps to have a nice, small camera and carry it with you!}




Here are my tips for taking photos of photos:

1. Set the camera on auto {or if you know how, engage the "macro" setting}
2. Turn off the flash
3. Place the document or photo on a flat surface in a well-lit area with indirect light
4. Position the camera so that you are looking straight down on the picture you are photographing
5. Zoom in, or get as close as possible
6. Hold the camera steady and take the photo

That's it! Let me know if this makes life easier for you!!

Love never fails!

Life gets hard and I get silent. My face smiles as I complete the normal, daily routines, but my heart despairs. I find that I tend to turn inward, not sharing, reaching, or showing my need. I long to express myself, but the words won’t come. And when they do, the tears race to get there first, so it becomes easier to not even try. This is exactly when I need to turn to the Word of God. And there I am comforted: “Love never fails.” (1Corinthians 13:8a)

It has been a tough week (month… year… few years…). The cares of this world, the stress from my never-ending To Do list, the circumstances of bills greater than the bank balance, the busyness of days multiplied by children with their own schedules and deadlines—these all threaten to overwhelm me. I am bound to drop one or more of these balls I am juggling. I fail. Thankfully, in the midst of all is a beacon of light: “Love never fails.” God is love. God never fails.

“Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.” (Psalm143:8 / ESV)

Bare branches bursting into bright blooms announce that the darkness of winter has given way to spring! Those blooms are a resurrection reminder. Even in the darkness, the Lord is doing His greatest work. The enemy would love for me to wallow in my self-centeredness, to be ineffective, and to bring others down. Instead, I need to choose to seek the Lord. I thank Him for the words of Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Likewise, I am soothed by the numerous verses throughout the Bible that speak of God’s unfailing, steadfast love. No matter what darkness I face, I choose to cling to His Word. There I find rest, comfort, peace, and hope. Even at my worst, my lowest point, He loves me. “Love never fails.”

What circumstances cause you to forget about God’s unfailing love? What are ways that His unfailing love has manifested in your life?

Photo Taking Tips for the non-professional!

Isn't he cute?!? I am not sure which is my favorite photo. But to get these cute shots... I had to take quite a few pictures! I am an average photographer with a decent point-and-shoot camera who is always striving to get good results. I am going to share a few of my tips here.

We were visiting with Grama and Grampa out on the screened porch a couple days ago, and Jacob was talking. I just kept clicking away because he looked so cute and I wanted to catch the perfect picture.The great thing with digital, is that we can take lots and lots of pictures!

Here are a few of my tips:
1. Take lots of pictures
2. Get in close with the zoom
3. Turn off the flash
4. Try the "kids and pets" setting on the camera and take multiple shots in a row
5. Take pictures often, and the kids (or adults) will not really be aware of the camera
6. Try not to pose your subjects, but catch them in action
7. Delete the duds and showcase the best!
8. Contact me if you need help with easy ideas for accomplishing #7!!!

Grama & Grampa are here for just 6 more days... I'll be taking lots more photos!