A Family Gathers

For my design team work at Faithfully Yours, I made this layout as a remembrance of the family reunion we had this past February when my dad was promoted to Glory.




Here are closeups of each separate page:





The journaling reads:

Many times over the years, our family has gathered around Dad and Mom. Mid-February 2008, our family gathered around Dad once again, except this time we were there to say good-bye. February 8th, Dad fell. On February 15th, Dad was ushered into the presence of the Lord he’d loved and served for so many years and was reunited with the wife he’d loved faithfully for over 62 years.

All of Dad’s children and two sons-in-law were gathered around his bedside when the Lord took him Home. Over the next couple of days the rest of the family began to arrive from all over the country. By the time of Dad’s funeral on Monday, February 18th, and burial on Tuesday, February 19th, all six children (plus two sons-in-law and two daughters-in-law), all thirteen grandchildren (plus four spouses and one fiancee), and all five great-grandchildren had assembled. Dad and Mom would have been thrilled to have so many family members gathered together. They would have looked on all the teasing, laughing, and story-telling with looks of pride, contentment and happiness on their faces. We all were comforted in thinking that they could watch us as we reminisced and caught up on what was going on in each other’s lives.

As we gathered this time, as usual, conversations would start with, "remember when...?" There were also lots of, "Well, as Dad used to say...." When the tears came, there was always someone available to give the much-needed hug. While none of us were ready to say good-bye to Dad, we all rejoiced to know that we WILL see him again someday. His funeral was a time of celebration as we remembered a life well-lived. Dad served the Lord faithfully from the day of his salvation. As people came thru the line to express their condolences, it was more than obvious that Dad was still having an impact of the lives of others up until the very end.

Dad and Mom left us a great legacy of spiritual faithfulness. It’s now up to us to make sure that legacy continues until the Lord calls us Home. May all who come behind us find us faithful.

The verse by Dad's picture is: Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

Lots & Lots of Cards

We found out June 24th that we would be moving. Since that time, we've been quite occupied with job-hunting (1 down, 2 to go -- Tim has a new ministry with Bible Truth Music, Ian & I are still looking), house/apt. hunting, telling people we're moving with all the different reactions we're getting, and trying to wrap our own minds around things that have happened so quickly. We've begun the preliminary sorting and have officially packed the first 2 of many, many boxes!

So, yesterday, I took a break from all the moving activities and made some cards. It was so nice to occupy my mind with something else. Since I'm participating in two different card swaps, I needed several cards. I got on a roll and before the day was over I'd made 17 different cards. I think that's a card-making record for me. Anyway, here they are.

This first set is made from blog candy (aka gift) I rec'd from my friend, April, at Artistic Paperie. I used a card sketch of Brianna Kimmel's that was featured in the 6/28/08 ezine of Faithfully Yours for several of my cards (the first four cards below were made from the sketch). It made putting them together so easy for me. Most cards have stickles as accents. They just add some nice sparkle.

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I used some paper available in the Faithfully Yours store from Daisy Bucket's Sweet Marabella line for the next four cards.

Then I just used random scraps for the rest.

Thanks for looking!! Hope you all have a great Lord's day tomorrow.

Doubt

The word for week #24 was Doubt. I deliberately kept this one simple. I put a tad of symbolism on the front with the knotted ribbon. Doubt can tie you up in knots. (OK, I know that's corny -- sorry). Anyway, here's the card:

The verse I used was: Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

A couple more cards

I made a baby card last night. No, not for another shower or new baby. The card itself is little (3" x 3") so its the baby. :)

I made a thinking of you card last week for my sister and forgot to take a pic of it before I mailed it. She graciously bailed me out and sent pics to me.

The Scraps-n-Such Princess of the Month for June is Angel. I made this tag to go with a few goodies I sent her. Princess of the Month is a fun RAK swap -- check it out!

I've made a couple layouts this past week but they're part of a DT (design team) assignment so I can't show them to you ....yet! :)

Kendra's Pride & Joy

Kendra's computer came in this week. She is SOOOOO excited. She got a cool (aka funky) design on the top of it. Nothing like a computer being delivered to get a teenager out of bed in a hurry in the AM. LOL Here she is with it -- wet hair & all.

The internal webcam takes GREAT pics. Here's a pic she took with it - she was on SKYPE at the time so that's why she has on the headset.

Truth

I am way behind on my Scripture Challenge cards. However, I do plan to eventually catch up. I got the card for week #23 done this week. The word for that week was truth and I thought it was quite appropriate since Tim just finished a sermon series on Truth in Today's Church. I did my card in black and white to symbolize that there is absolute truth.

The verses I used are:

Proverbs 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart.

1 Samuel 12;24 Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you.

Melissa's Circle Journal

I worked on a circle journal layout today. I used two different sketches from Triple the Sketch for my pages. The left side was sketch #6 and the right side was sketch #12.

I was to do a 2-page 8.5 x 11" layout about a time when the Lord taught me some lessons. I chose to do a layout on the lessons I learned before we had Kendra. Most of what I learned can be summed up in one word....Submission



The journaling says:

Submission seems to be a dirty word in our day & age. But one of the lessons the Lord taught me was the blessing of being submissive to my husband as well as to Him. I once read that submission is cheerful acceptance. Wow! That’s tough at times.

When our son, Ian, was about a year old (approx. March 1987), I began praying that in His time, if it was His will, could we please have a little girl someday. At that point in time I didn’t feel "ready" for another child but knew that someday I would. As our son approached his 2nd birthday, I was bitten by the "baby bug." My husband, Tim, however, was not bitten by the same bug. While he certainly knew how I felt, I did my best not to nag about my desire for a baby. The months passed & Tim didn’t seem any closer to agreeing to have another baby.
Finally, I prayed, "Lord, Tim is the head of our home. I need to submit to his leadership in this area. Help me to have a cheerful acceptance of his decision in this even if it means we never have anymore children." When I was able to pray this prayer, & sincerely mean it, I felt a peace I’d been missing.

Several months later, my husband told me that we could begin trying for a baby.
Months passed & I didn’t get pregnant. This was an unexpected difficulty for me, because we’d had no problems getting pregnant with our son. In fact, I’d gotten pregnant with him when we weren’t even "trying" for a baby. I’d also thought that since I’d (finally) been submissive to my husband pregnancy would quickly follow. I went to the doctor for fertility counseling but my husband & I agreed that there would be no drugs that would"get our picture on the cover of Time Magazine" as my husband put it. I truly learned that it is the Lord that opens & closes the womb.

Once again, the Lord had to bring me to the place where I could honestly pray, "Lord, You are in charge & You know what is best for us. If You don’t want us to have another baby, I accept Your will in this." The Lord graciously answered my prayers for another child with a "Yes" & Kendra was born May 1, 1990.

I learned a lot about submission. Not that submitting is a magic formula for getting what you want because we all know it isn’t. There have been many times where I’ve been submissive & things haven’t gone the way I thought they should. More times than not, later on, I saw where what I’d wanted would not have been a good thing. What I did learn is that submission brings joy, peace, marital harmony, & a knowledge that I’m doing what’s right. I am so glad that the Lord didn’t put me as the head of our home. That’s a responsibility I do NOT want. Even when it’s hard, being submissive, whether to Tim or to the Lord Himself, is always the best. God’s way truly IS the best way & you’ll never be sorry for putting the Lord first.

Recent Cards

Father's Day Cards

I won some "blog candy" (prize) from April at Artistic Paperie. They were digi cards that I could print out and use. I printed out 2 copies of each one. I cut out various elements on one set and used pop-dots to attach the elements to the base card for a 3-D look. Here is how they turned out.

Baby Shower Cards

One of the young married ladies at church is expecting their first baby next month. She is a good friend of Kendra's. I received some stamped images several months ago from April at Artistic Paperie and had been saving two of them just for such a time as this. I made two cards to accompany our gifts.

Thinking of You

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Kendra's Graduation Party

Kendra's graduation party went really well last Friday night. She really enjoyed the evening. Here are a few pics of the evening.

Decorations & Such

Sasha loves to perch on this set of drawers on my scrap desk. She was investigating Kendra's banner. She's fascinated by the letters & pics on it. Silly kitty.

We found this mini-cap from Ian's party & she said Sam was graduating from Kindergarten & Darius from pre-school. Obviously, they really enjoyed wearing the cap. NOT!!

Sam

Darius

The Food

My in-laws gave her a hand made hope chest made of walnut & cherry. She was thrilled. Later she showed them scrapbooks about her.



Family & Friends

This was taken after the party when realized we'd forgotten to have someone take a pic of the three of us. However, we were all exhausted and looking pretty blah! (It was 97 on Friday! Always a good thing for my hair - NOT!!)


This was Kendra's mentor when she was in Grades 4-8. Kendra used to work with horses & show them with this lady & her husband.

All three of these girls are Class of 2008. Kendra and the girl on the left were both homeschooled; the girl on the right is from a local public high school. Both girls are friends from church.

Our Asst. Pastor & his family

Opening Ian's card. The front has a cat and says, "Ack! Ack! Ack!" The inside says, "Just a little something I coughed up for you."

This last one is just 'cause I like it.