a truly wonderful day

The twins came home from church camp just about the time the girls and I were done working to help set up for the church garage sale. And yes, when I said girls I meant both of them. Ashleigh came down and worked with us also then came back to our house for dinner. It was so very cool for me to have all 4 of my children around the dinner table

I am so excited for Thursday

the twins will be home from church camp and Ashleigh is coming for dinner with us. I am so excited to think of all 4 of my children around my dinner table :-)

ever get one of those reminders?

The ones that come directly from God and tell you how much He loves and cares for you? I got one today . Once again I am so humbled and thankful for the good people He has placed in our lives.

Here is another of my favorite songs these days....it is called "Who am I"

Thanks to the ladies who attended Christmas in July yesterday

We did a set of 10 from 3 (ten cards created using 1 random stamped cardstock, 1 patterned paper and 1 solid cardstock), a pocket card with a pull out tag (perfect for giving a gift card), and a buckle card. As always I built in lots of opportunities for the ladies to add their own creative twists and I had a blast watching how they all came out. Renee Young was the door prize winner and went home with a very fun Tropical Santa stamp set :-)

look what my sweet Amanda sent me

just because she loves me :-)

this one is sooo sweet
http://www.123greetings.com/view/LY10725004559556

and this one she said she thinks of me as both mom and dad. (kind of sad but also makes me feel good that she thinks I am "enough" and doing a good job :-)
http://www.123greetings.com/view/ME20725002358719

Christmas in July card workshop

Don't forget this Saturday, the 26th, is the Christmas card workshop. If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late.............I still have a couple of open seats

Praise You in This Storm

Another excellent video featuring footage of our service men paired with the lyrics

trying something

I found a great site called godtube that has Christian music videos. I am attempting to upload my favorite Matt Redman song....hope it works :-)

Ever feel like you just can't win?

That is how I feel when dealing with my ex. I have tried my best to remain on friendly terms hoping and praying that he might someday wake up and really want to be a dad to his children before it is too late. But he just keeps making it harder and harder. Amanda is not only refusing visitation again, she is basically refusing all contact with him. And rather than trying to find out why she is that upset he alternates between blaming me and getting angry at her....... calling her feelings of hurt and betrayal disrespectful of him rather than being honest and admitting it was his behavior that caused them and trying to help her work through them. Typical but disappointing to say the least.

Visitation this weekend has been rocky at best and today he caused a huge commotion right before church which could have been totally avoided had he just been able to act like a responsible adult. He had everyone in tears and it took most of the church service to calm them down. The twins are still quick to forgive and wanted to go back to him after church but Jeremy ended up calling me in tears asking me to come and get him because Dad was being mean. It seems anytime they don't behave exactly as he wants he "threatens" them with sending them back to mom's house as punishment. Well today Jeremy decided mom's house was a better place to be when he got sick of dad yelling about how horrible I was and then yelling at Jeremy when he tried to stick up for me. I feel like 2 years later I still can't do a good job protecting them and find myself wishing he would just go away!

Thanks to a friend

I have jumped "out of order" in my daily bible reading and spent some time each day in Philippians. It all hit home pretty well for me but especially 4:19. I tend to "worry" everything to death. am I making the right decisions? Am I doing the best I can for my children? Am I being strong or unforgiving? Am I working hard enough to provide for my family? Is my walk in line with where God wants me to be?

I start each day off trying to give all these worries to God (and looking back over the last 2 years I can CLEARLY see the imprints of His hands guiding us along the way) but by the end of each day I find myself taking them back again in spite of all my good intentions. It's not a matter of trust..... I trust Him totally...... it's myself I have doubts about. And my doubting of myself has led to almost nightly nightmares that are severely impacting my ability to sleep. Spending more time in this area in study and prayer has helped to calm down my nightmares.

I would love to have people share with me here other scriptures that help them find peace.

some scrappy news!

Have I told you about one of my new favorite online sites? www.shopscrapbooksupplies.com This would be the place I discovered to order the chipboard word books to start with. Then I discovered a very cool storefront with great quality products and excellent customer service and also started hanging out on the message boards and in the gallery. There are a ton of very fun and creative people there. One lady shares the most fabulous sketches every day! They have games and contests to play.........very fun.

And now for the exciting part of my news. I was chosen as a guest Creative Team Member for their CT for the next year! I am so excited. I have not done a CT or DT position in a while and I am ready. LOVE the challenge of getting new products in the mail to create with :-)

Stepping out in Faith: a personal post

Sometimes so hard to do but so very worth it in the end. I can still remember how absolutely terrified I was 2 years ago that I would not be able to take care of my children on my own when I made the decision to end my marriage. And God was so faithful in placing people in our lives that would do and be just what we needed when we needed it. I am still in awe as I look back at the path we have walked over the last 2 years and finally feel like we are emerging on the other side of the mountain. I have absolutely no doubts that I made the right choice. Am I sad sometimes? Yes but not in the way I thought I would be. I don't ever find myself wishing my marriage back. Sometimes I find myself regretting that I did not make the choice to end it sooner.

Another huge step for me was being able to forgive both Rex and myself for mistakes made and pain caused. I spent so many years thinking it was MY responsibility to make HIM happy. I now can see that I was enabling but not helping. I am able to step back and try to do the right things to maintain a friendship for the sake of the children but feel no need or resonsibility to "fix" him anymore. This is huge for me!

Another huge step has been making new friendships and TRUSTING the people I am making them with.

and here is one of my all time favorite songs by Matt Redman

You Never Let Go Lyrics

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

(Chorus)

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Class reunions

Do you go? My 30 year class reunion was this summer and I so wish I could have gone but NY is a long way from Oregon. It is a little weird for me because I doubled up in what should have been my Junior year and graduated at 16. So the kids I spent most of my school years with are not the ones I graduated with. Still, being a small town, I have no doubt I would have reconnected with many and have in fact been emailing with a few from the email list that went around. What fun to read the stories being told. Now I want pictures :-)

Another very fun crop night :-)

The second Friday crop was last night. It was sooo much fun! Since there is no school in the summer we started at 3 instead of 6 and played until 1am. the last of the ladies helped put away tables and load my car.

and....... are you ready for this?????? I even completed 5 pages! I will try to get them uploaded later this weekend.

Thursday thoughts

Wow! You don't realize how much you depend on and appreciate your internet access until it is gone. My laptop finally died a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty much a problem from the day we brought it home from Best Buy and I won't be buying computer things there again. I decided to shop locally this time around and after some investigating I went to Eastern Oregon Computers on Main street (by Zimmerman's) Steve was great to work with and I now have a brand new computer built to do exactly what I want it to thanks to my wonderful mom.

Ready for a scrapbook night?

Friday, July 11th, 3pm until???????? in the Roger's Room at First Presbyterian church :-)