Multitude Monday - Feb. 8

Whew...another week. I really have to get on here more than once/week. I will now I think b/c:

26. I'm thankful for a job. A small, not "putting anyone through college" kinda job, but a job nonetheless. With pay, with a company I adore, doing something I'm good at, on my own time, in my own home.
27. I'm thankful for the ways God reminds me (see #26) that I'm valuable. Yes, to him. But also, in general, to other people.
28. I'm thankful for the ways he distracts me and gives me places to serve.
29. I'm thankful for my friendships today - there are a few in particular that have always been good...but are slowly starting to deepen and have the potential to get Great. I'm always thankful when God shows up in my friendships.
30. I'm thankful for my daughter. I adore her. At times I just have to shake my head because the things that drive me crazy about her - I can totally see myself doing at her age. She's ME, in a big, big way. Today she "babysat" her brothers for the first time. I knew she'd do great - she's the most responsible, mature kid her age that I know. To say I'm proud of her is a huge understatement. To say that I'm blown away by the privilege of having her is a bigger one.
31. I'm thankful for my parents. They're in Mexico. On missions. Unless you know me well, you have no idea what a shocker that is. If you had told me 20 years ago...sheesh, even a couple of years ago, that my parents would be on missions in Mexico together I would have laughed out loud. Wow. Mom & Dad, I'm so proud of you both and in awe of where you've come together.
32. I'm thankful for scrapbooking. Not just the memory album part of it but the whole hobby/craft thing itself. It's been my therapy; my creative outlet; my sanity. It's allowed me to minister in different places that I never would have been invited, and to talk to people I'd never have anything else in common with. I know I seem obsessed to some people. And maybe sometimes it takes on that bent - I confess. BUT, it's a part of who I am. I'm a crafty person (not crafty-sneaky) but I never felt so "at home" as when I did my first scrapbook page. This is a part of who I am. One reason I know....is that when something hits me square in the face: a scripture, a quote, a song lyric, etc....and I'm convicted, or encouraged, or challenged in my core - the first thing I want to do is scrap it. On a card, on a tag, on a page with a photo of me, something to make it permanently stuck in my head. I think this year I'm going to allow myself to do more of that....scrapbooking stuff for the sake the art - but with the underlying purpose of preserving those thoughts that remind me of God, his love his provision.

This layout was in Scrapbook Magazine (UK) over winter. The photo was taken by Lynette - that girl is my camera-wielding heroine. I stared at this photo awhile before scrapping it and could think of nothing else except this verse so....that's the journaling for the page. I don't love winter, or snow, but somehow the beauty of it makes me wanna sing :)

And this is a mirror (sorry for the poor photo...it's hard to take a picture of a mirror). Our church had an "art gallery" a couple of years ago for those in the church who make art that's not necessarily a visible ministry in the church (teaching/preaching/singing, etc) but who use their gifts for God nonetheless. Making this piece was therapeutic for me - recognizing that every time I look into a mirror, I should be hearing God tell me I'm beautiful to him. This mirror still hangs in the prayer room at my church.

33. I'm thankful that I can use the word "nonetheless" twice in one blog post (now, 3x actually) and there's nothing you can do about it :)

Multitude Monday - Feb. 1

Monday again, already? Apparently I haven't blogged since last Monday. It's been a long week. I'm so very tired and so I'm keeping it short and sweet today.

25. I'm thankful for God's strength today. Strength to keep going when I'm too cooked to keep going on my own. I'm thankful that I don't have to rely on my own strength and that there are times when I get carried.

Multitude Monday - Jan 24

17. I'm thankful for life. We've had a tragic accident in our town this weekend and it took the lives of a mom & dad who had 11 children - 5 of whom go to the school I work at. I can't make sense of it all and we're going to be dealing with a storm of emotions at school tomorrow, but...
18. I'm thankful for a God who knows why, even when I don't.
19. I'm thankful that figuring it all out isn't my job.
20. I'm thankful for a snow day/PJ day today....I don't love the cold winters here but a day like this is a gift :)
21. I'm thankful that my kids love to snuggle. There were some amazing times today reading "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" snuggled up in my bed.
22. I'm thankful for cafe-mocha flavoured creamer for my coffee, and a great devotional time at 6:15 am this morning with that included said creamer with coffee.
23. I'm very thankful for extra sleep when devotions were done - and kids that entertain themselves.
24. I'm thankful that it's bedtime....after all these years, I LOVE that feeling of finally falling into bed at the end of the day....it almost always makes me sigh :)

For all you doubting Thomases out there....

I posted this picture a little while ago of my scrapbook room. It was a disaster of monstrous proportions. I'd just recieved 2 huge boxes of product from my DTs; I was just coming off of a nearly-overnighter (4am) trying to get CHA projects done for SRM Press and Clear Scraps; I'm a bit of a hoarder as it is and well-overdue to purge for a garage sale; and, well....I have family too so...sometimes clean-up goes undone when there's Rockband to play and meals to make, IYKWIM.




and now....earlier than my 2 week goal....here's some of the after pictures:

This is my hutch. I LOVE it. I "inherited" it when my parents moved off the farm they'd lived on for 35+ years. It's not perfect...and the style maybe doesn't completely go with the rest of my scraproom, or our house, for that matter....but I've got SO many great memories of Mom's sewing supplies being in here...and her writing supplies (for letters) and Dad's "important papers" and back issues of Cattlemen and Country Woman magazines. To make it my own, I've painted it out white with a green interior and just this past week, I knocked one of the shelves out, put in a 3" lift, and now my shelf (below) is 15" high instead of just about 12" and it holds all my cardstock & patterned paper perfectly!!

A view of the whole hutch

Patterned paper storage - I know....not perfect, but it works for me and I could tell you exactly which sheets of paper I have in here so I'm feeling pretty good about that :)

Cardstock & cardstock scraps. All lined up and organized by colour. You have no idea how happy this makes me. I could just stare at this for hours.

This is a re-purposed bookshelf that I got at my local thrift store. It sits on top of my work table now, giving me essentially 4 shelves within arms-reach of my work surface. I LOVE it. It's also been painted out white, with green interior and my plastic boxes that used to house hot wheels cars (before our collection outgrew them), playmobil (ditto), lego (uber-ditto), etc....now house (from top left, over and down....)

1. scraps cut and ready for cards
2. Card kits, with envelopes and journaling papers
3. Chipboard and 3D alphabets
4. Sticker & Rub-on alphabets
5. Flowers
6. Stickers & Rub-ons (sentiments, images, etc)
7. Photos and projects to do
8. Ribbon

And finally....last but not least - a shot of the room from the same perspective as the "before" shot. Can you see it? I had a table under there. This used to be our kitchen table before we bought my parents antique set off of them. I leave it set up in my room with the leaf in (for obvious reasons) but now that it's cleaned off....the chair on the other side of it is empty and there's room for a friend - any takers? Anyone wanna come play with me?

On my desk - there in the background, it's hard to see from here, but I've just made my first thing in a LONG long, time....a Valentine tag that I'll be posting on Feb. 5 for a "14 Days of Valentine's Tags" blog hop/newsletter event sponsored by Scrapbook News and Review. It's made with the very, very new Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety!! Yum.

That's it.
I knew I could do it.
And for those of you who believed in me....thank you.
To those of you who thought it was impossible.....in your face :)

A different kind of crafting tonight

Cale is in a play in school next week and one of his friends has to be a knight so he, remembering a knight helmet pattern from a book he has at home, volunteered that he (and by he, he meant me) would make a knight helmet for his friend for the play. If I had more time, I'd paint the whole thing silver or something - I was hoping by some stroke of luck that I had silver spray paint on hand, but I don't...and I'm not sure he wants a red knight helmet. So, the grey cardboard is going to have to do.

This is the inside - a collage of some of our favourite sweet cereals LOL.

I'm feeling pretty good about my thrifty-mom-skills right now :)

Multitude Monday - Jan 17

It's still Monday, so I'm still on time....and, still thankful :)

7. I'm starting a Beth Moore study at church - that's where I was this evening. It's a revised version of her Breaking Free study she wrote 10 years ago. I can already tell after the introduction that this is going to be crazy-good for me. So I'm thankful for my church and the women at church who've brought this study to life.
8. I'm thankful for a husband/family who will make these nights available for me to participate.
9. I'm thankful for already being in a place that's primed and ready for some change like this....getting free has been on my mind and my heart recently anyway - this just feels like a little hand-holding direction.
10. I'm thankful for 2 ladies who came to my home a few weeks ago to do some "counseling" with me....I could list about 400 things I'm thankful for that came out of that session but right now, I'm thankful for the gentle reminder to listen to God....to open my mind up to hearing what he's saying, and to picturing what he has for me. I got a picture tonight at this study that scares me a little...it's not a bad thing, but it will require some work if it's to come to fruition. Better push up my sleeves.
11. I'm thankful for sick days (I'm taking one tomorrow). I'm not a big union fan, but getting paid to go back to bed and sleep off this cold after the kids leave tomorrow is a very nice perk to my job!
12. I'm thankful for 17 years of marriage - it was my anniversary this past week. According to our original prediction, we have 63 more to go (bringing us to the ripe old ages of 100 & 101).
13. I'm thankful for my hobby. I scrapbook and make cards. It's meaningful, and theraputic, and I'm not sure what I ever did before this. It's such a good fit for me.
14. I'm thankful for the ability to learn. I've signed up to learn some new art techniques online through my new gig at Scrapbook News and Review and I'm giddy with excitement about learning again and about playing with new stuff. Also thankful for the Christmas money that both Moms & Dads gave me - some of it went to new art supplies for me - thank you very much.
15. Back to serious.....I'm thankful that I serve a God who's on my side. My devotions this week had a blurb in them one day that said, "The enemy is standing on your God-given gound and daring you to take possession" (Beth Moore again). When I read it, I knew exactly what that was about in my life. And I'm prepared to go to war over it. Look out.
16. Music - check out "Perfect Peace" on the sidebar music player. Laura Story. I love her. In fact, I had to go read her bio because when I first discovered some of her songs, I wondered if she had gone through EXACTLY what I was going through. Turns out, no....different....but somehow applicable. I must have played this song 100 times over and over this past fall. How sweet to know where Peace is when you can't see it.

Snow-mama and letting go again

Trev & I were in a canasta tournament yesterday. We play in this same tournament every year. It's the only game of the entire year in which we are partners. Usually we play with another couple and it's always Boys vs. Girls. But apparently we don't make too bad a team, Trev & I....we are the only couple, in the 7-year history of this annual tournament to win twice. Yep, we won yesterday. 16 teams - we are the champions (I know, the song's in my head too LOL). Mostly it's bragging rights, but we also came away with $60 cash ($20 more than we put in to play).

Our kids look forward to this annual event too because it means an entire 10-hour stretch at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They look forward to messing up G&G's pristine backyard snow, eating at the store (waffles usually), playing with G&G's dress-up clothes and Lego, and this year - a new highlight...doing, and leaving done, every single puzzle G&G own. We had to go downstairs and view this impressive art gallery of puzzles before we could leave with them in the evening. Also this year, it was 5 degrees outside (very unusual for mid-January) so there were snowmen to be built, or in this particular instance, a SnowMama with her baby in her arms (look closely - I thought it was boobs the first time I saw it too - oops.)

Today's highlight for me? Skipping church....is that bad? OK, I didn't skip church because I can't stand it or anything. I love my church. What I can't stand, is having a cold and sitting in church hacking away and sneezing and being totally distracted and feeling miserable. So Trev took the kids and I stayed home. I got buns made for lunch, laundry and vacuuming done for company later in the evening and then before I tackled my clean-up job in the basement (see previous post), I had a very nice cup of coffee and really good devotions.
I memorized this verse:
1 Peter 5: 6-8
"Humble yourself therefore,
under God's mighty hand,
that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him
for he cares for you."


So, I spent quite a bit of time then, wondering what it looks like to humble myself under God's mighty hand and what that might look like in my life right now....and came to the conclusion, that it ultimately means for me, giving up my plans and dreams and all the things that I think should happen in my life - the pride and self-sufficiency of thinking I have it all figured out (which obviously I don't).
Letting go.
I'm back to that.
You may or may not have seen my post earlier -


I found this piece of art online and it speaks to me in the same way the lyrics to Francesca Battistelli's song "Letting Go" does. I'm also reading Sandi Patti's book Falling Forward right now - falling forward, as in, Into God's arms of love and forgiveness, as opposed to backwards into self-pity, guilt, more sin, etc. I love it. I love this whole picture of letting go and falling into God. I also love where this picture leads my mind....if I let go of MY plans, I know for sure that a.) God has a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11)
b.) His plan for me is good (John 10:10)
and
c.) Even the best plan I could make is nothing compared to what he can do (Eph.3:20)

SO, I'm letting go.
Again today.
And I'll probably have to tomorrow too.
And the next day.