Youth Pastor's Conference

Goodness gracious!!! Wow, did I have a good time at the Youth Pastor's conference!!!!

I can't tell you we had crazy amazing events or anything, but God really did a work in my heart! This blessed me so greatly that I would take these days learning in His presence over a thousand elsewhere...
Is it better to gain the whole world and forfeit my soul? (Mark 8:36)

I have been born again for 15 years now, but a good many years of those were eaten by the locusts. I do believe that God allowed this to grow me more into the woman He wants me to be.  I was still baring fruit in my life, but a lot of it was simply getting eaten away.
"I will repay you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you" (Joel 2:25)

About 4 years ago I really began to feel God starting to restore those eaten years. My family moved into a large home with my in-laws in 2008.
That alone made it a trying time, but not long after the move my baby brother almost died, this caused a snow ball effect for other life changing things to happen.

During his 4 months in the hospital I was breaking down and getting torn apart.  There were many family struggles and hurtful words said. The support system I thought I had in place really broke down on me.  God wanted to show me that He was all I needed. He had a plan.

I started going to a Christian Physiologist soon after. God used this time to show me He wanted to put the broken pieces of me back together again. His plan of healing consisted of me being broken down again. Did you know a fractured bone can be stronger after it's been broken? Well, God wanted to work on my rebelliousness and call me even closer to Himself.

He called us out of our church... and to say the least, this transition was not a smooth one. He definitely used it for our good.  During this move He took me to my Damascus road and He removed the scales from my eyes.

With our church move, we ended up moving to a new home as well.
At our new church I have a beautiful group of friends and these were some of the friends I was at this conference with. I am happy to have my roots grow deep here and also to have them be intertwined with the roots of my friends as we withstand trials together.

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I know a lot of what God showed me this week was things I simply needed to be reminded of, but I am excited in the fact that a promise has been made to me. A promise that God is restoring by broken vessel.
You see He told me my obedience here is just the beginning. He said "go home and turn not, for in doing so you will turn it upside down".  I have been convicted for too many years to tear down the idols that have been built up in my family from generation to generation. I took this issue strongly to the Lord in prayer, I gave this to Him, and that was my obedience.  You see these idols have torn parts of my family to pieces and I don't want that to happen to me and my husband, or to my children or their children, I want to turn things upside down in The Lord's name!

I am convicted to be a woman of action, and I am excited to say that I don't think I have ever felt as much hope as I do now!  I actually am excited about obedience!  That is CRAZY for me!

What's even MORE crazy is all these years I have learned of God's grace, and even taught of His grace... but I never allowed myself to receive that grace. In my own pride I always believed I didn't deserve it even though teaching it, I know it is something that no one deserves.

My youth pastors years ago always taught me that it had to be more than head knowledge, it had to be heart knowledge. Now my pastor as of late has been teaching on how this grace has to drop... drop from your head to your heart! Listening to these messages have been frustrating because I knew this was not something I could simply WILL to happen within myself, so I prayed and I'm pretty sure I was even grieving over it.

Well this week, it DROPPED!

I realized after listening to Pastor Levi Lusko's first message, along with thinking on my son's 7-11 story (which I don't think I've written) and how we could have lost him, but we didn't... but Pastor Levi lost his daughter!

This was when I really understood grace! I don't deserve my children! They are a gift! I didn't deserve for God to keep my son safe, but He did... I could have woke up in the morning with my front door wide open and my son gone! But God brought my son back home to me! "How does a mom go through this and flipping NOT understand grace?" I said this weeping... ...then I realized it dropped.

I realized this is exactly how God's grace is for me in all things. ALL of them. I don't deserve it, but HE loves me, so He gives it, amazing!

I am so Blessed

Wow I am amazed at how sweet you guys are, coming in and checking on me.  Thank you Crafty Mama of Four for visiting me even when my blog was not in the land of the living! :)

And you too Mary, especially for telling me you missed me!!!
This blesses me more than you know.



So, let me try to fill in the past 2 years - oye!

My Blog...
Well obviously it hasn't been very appealing to me, I have been all over Facebook, more recently on Instagram and I'm now new to Pinterest which I LOVE!  Most of that has been from my phone, which is another huge reason I don't blog... I just don't often get on my computer anymore.

As I come back I realize I like things more simplified now.  The layout of my blog before was driving me away.  I wasn't quite ready to let go of my framed pictures yet though.

Life...

As you my have noticed from the updated pics...
I am now blonde... my hubby has a beard...
my kids are HUGE...

AND... there is an extra stranger in this picture here.  That's my lil brother, he's been living with us for about 7 months now.  He was living with our oldest sister and her 5 kids, but her hubby passed away in May, so we took the responsibility of him off her hands.

We plan on moving very soon, possibly buying a house.  This is both terrifying and exciting all at once!  All 7 of us are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment!

I am no longer homeschooling my children.

I still struggle with depression, but I fight it MUCH better now.
Let's see... I really wanted to dreadlock my hair, but found I get traction alopecia from the pulling tension of even smaller braids.

Health & Fitness...

I am now around 145 lbs.  This is 10 pounds below what I told you my last goal was.  I still have maybe another 5 or 10 pounds to go... depends on muscle.

I DID finish another round of P90x and now I have moved on to TurboFire! I like this program a lot!  All the intense cardio we do does great things for my fatty tummy!  The HIIT training makes me sweat harder than P90x ever did... well other than Plyo!

I am not currently on top of my game with eating clean... I have also been sick as of late and do not find enough energy for my work out videos.

Scrapbooking...
I haven't been scrapping much at all.  I have most my stuff packed away for moving, but I do plan on picking it back up to at least finish a baby album for each of my children.  The first 3 LOVE looking at their albums, so I definitely cannot NOT make one for my littlest man!


My Walk...
Just yesterday I was reading back on a note my friend wrote for me in 2009.  She had taken notes on what I was struggling with at the time, and now 3 years later it was really nice to see how much has really changed.  God is so good in my life.  I love Him now more than I did yesterday, and I pray that is how it will ALWAYS be.


Thanks for visiting guys, I will see you again soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Memorial Day

My family had a wonderful day! We have a new church home and that church had a Memorial Day picnic we went to! It has been exciting to be so loved and welcomed right into the family. I can't wait to see all that God has in store for us there. Here are some pictures of our day today, it was so much fun!

I tackled the Backyard!

First of all let me say I have lived here for 6 years and I have always HATED my yard as long as I have been here. It was always easy to be lazy and blame it on a lack of money to do such a big job. But now I am tired of all the complaining and I am ready to clean up so me and my kids can go outside!!!

Even if it is still never a real lawn, it will be clean dirt without WEEDS EVERYWHERE!!!

My before shot is actually the other side of the backyard that I have not finished yet, and the after photo is the side I planned on finishing today, and I really got it done!!! Thanks to a good friend of mine who came over and helped when I called her all frustrated and angry (yes still struggling, but I am figuring out what helps).

Notice how happy my daughter is in the after shot!!! It's totally all worth it for a photos like that! I also have a picture of my hubby playing with my son....

I want to say a HUGE thank you to 5 minutes 4 mom to encourage me every week to get something tackled, life has changed since tackling things with you gals... thank you for your obedience in the form of a blog :o).

We had a Party

And it's now over, but you can still look at all the fun we had!!! :o)........

#1 Our first game all the early risers shared (on their blog) the best sleepy photo they had, I had a tie between my two little ones...

• The winner of this game is Wendy for the Mini Accordion album tin by K & Company!!! Thanks for sharing Miss Wendy :o)

#2 Veteran Blogger game... bloggers left me comments or emails letting me know the date of their first blog entry, mine is HERE, the oldest "veteran" won.

• Our participating "Veteran Blogger" is Karla who has been blogging since March 15, 2006 and she wins the Beginner ScrapPack donated by Haley at Quiet Romance. Congrats Karla!!

#3 A Real Women?... this game was dedicated to Tasra with Real Women Scrap I love boasting that I am a real women quoted in my friend Tasra's book I even won a game on her blog back in November for the "precarious balancing act" in my fridge... well to prove that I can keep it real I shared my most hated yet very real photo of my front yard!!!

Then I had others share a photo of something around their house that showed me they could also keep it real.

• The FlipFlop Moma was the only one to share a "Real" photo so she is our winner of the CourtYard Memory Building PageKit by ChatterBox.

#4 Share your first layout ever... I was sharing my first layout with a friend of mine just the other day, I was telling her that I wished I had a scrapbook mentor in the beginning to tell me not to start scrapbooking with such important photos. Oye! my wedding should have been scrapped AFTER I figured out what I was doing, and after I was comfortable, after I knew what NOT to do!

But my husband (being the sweetie that he is) tells me he likes it because it shows who I was right when we were married, an 18 year old still trying to grow roots, it's nice to find the positive in the negative. And I like that my husband likes it.

I had others share their first layout, post a photo or scanned image on their blog and share why they like it. Here's mine...

We had two winners for this game because I was just happy to see them participate. It's always refreshing to look back and see how much we have grown isn't it?

• Living for God wins the Hot Fudge Scrapbooking kit donated by Tamara
• Karla wins When Couples pray by David & Jan Stoop

#5 a Scrapping Servant?... now we shared a layout that shows you serving, or a story of you serving through scrapbooking such as the time I shared of me doing a memorial album for my friend's late wife Lila. If you wanna see it is HERE.

Our participating Scrapping Servant was Terri for the beautiful story about her friend, be sure to read it! Terri is winning the 6x6 accordian album from All My Memories.

#6 Share the link love game... I had everyone Mingle :o) ...and they kept a list of who they visited in a blog post.

After hearing all of the comments for this game I was so excited that we really did seem to get to know each other, I was blessed to say there should be many winners but I had to choose Rae... she will be winning the Wedding Altered Paint Can created by yours truely.

Help your Scrapping Servant...

Send me an email telling me what your most favorite and least favorite things are about my blog, be truthful, I only hope to improve upon the craziness I have designed.

Thank you all for blessing and helping me with your compliments and suggestions.

Oh!!! I almost forgot, I would like to give Jess @ Scrapbook Ideas a prize for the generousity of her time to create the digital kit just for us!!! She will be receiving the Love Ya Bunches stamp set donated by Wendy :o)

And here's your party favor from Scrapbook Ideas...

I asked you all to get creative with it :o) Well I would like to reward Heidi for doing a beautiful job with this digital kit, by giving her the $10 gift certificate at Making Scrapbooks!! Enjoy!

2 Happy Children = 1 Happy Mommy

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you Mommy's out there.

I am running late on everything lately... I have been going through a bit of spiritual warfare with anxiety, anger and depression, it's totally not been fun. I figured the culprits are not getting out of my house enough and not enough exercise which means too much energy... so I have been riding my bike on it's trainer and I have been going for walks just to get out... I only hope I can keep up the motivation.

Wordless Wednesday

We call him "uncle"... but he's not... he's just one of those really close friends. So close I have an embarrassing story to share that is also wordless...

On Saturday at my son's birthday party I was sitting next to my hubby and "uncle" was sitting next to him, well I decided to lay down next to my husband and put my legs up on his lap since I was tired and not feeling well... just to let you know when I am tired or falling asleep I usually wiggle my feet (I know weird)... well I was "wiggling" my foot up against our friend's leg!!! When we all realized what I was doing my husband got up, I fell on the floor hiding my face laughing and EVERYONE else was busting up too. It was so embarrassing!

Just Sharing

Yesterday we had my son's first birthday party and I cannot believe it was only one year ago that he was born! Time goes by so fast! I am so blessed with the children God has given me it brings tears to my eyes.

This layout I am sharing is one of the layouts I made when I was scrapbooking my second baby to scrap my way through the sorrow of loosing another... so it is more special to me than what you see on the surface.

I used my Cherish book to get the idea for this layout, and my friend's ink and waterbrush to paint the color onto the storks, it took a while but it was so therapeutic to put my heart into something so special for my son.

Pictures Taken

Frustration received!

My day so far made me need to come home and rest, so I am now venting to you. I am never going back to Picture People, they do NOT have good customer service!

I went both there and to Kiddie Kandids today... it wasn't that I was unhappy with the photography, or even the photographer at Picture People, I am just upset with their policies and lack of communication.

They were going to delete my son's 10 month photos without even warning me! So I had to spend $100 to get the ones I wanted today, because they failed to tell me two months ago that if I don't purchase at least one sheet the day of the sitting I cannot view them online, and they will not keep them any longer than a couple months... even though they told me they would email them to me two months ago! And even though I purchased some today they are still not going to keep them in their computer, so what I get it is what I get and that's it. I am sorry, but going though this is not worth $18 - $25 per sheet.

I am stickin' with Kiddie Kandids! They were so nice to me today, I went to sign-up for I time slot before my scheduled appointment with Picture People and since Picture People was so annoying I ended up late for my turn, but they took me anyway, they were polite about it, and they had no problem with emailing me my photos even though I wasn't purchasing on the spot, no questions asked, no dirty looks given.
*sigh*

Wordless Wednesday

Too cute... he got stuck in this split position up against the entertainment center and didn't even care... I love my son! Plus I think the one sock thing is cute too!

Friday for...

JBrooke7 and her Five Little Monkeys :o) Whom I just stumbled upon yesterday after visiting TopMama.com. First of all, I am proud of you for having five kiddos... kudos to you! And now, what am I going to do for you today?
Well, I loved your post with little Noelle scooting tummy up, and thought I would take a video for you of what my son just started doing today! He only scoots, he doesn't crawl, but he is already pulling himself up to stand against the couch! :o)

Happy Valentine's Day

 I just wanted to share with you my attempt at a Valentine photo for my husband. This is the perfect glimpse at my life with a 2 year old and a 10 month old, I know many of you out there can understand.

On the other hand, there is some fun that comes with my darling daughter being two... She likes playing with her clothes (which are always easily accessible because mommy has problems either getting the laundry done all the time, or getting that age clothes swap thing done before we skip a size completely). So she has found the bag of 18 month clothes (that is supposed to be packed up and put in the garage) and has chosen some bloomers as her new favorite play hat :) She walks around the house with them all the way over her head and totally crashes into things, it's adorable!!!

Bright Colors

I thought I would share one of my most recent page layouts with ya'll. I actually had a little bit of a difficult time with it because I don't naturally like working with such bright colors, but I had to make it match the album itself (which I always do) because it is the first page or "title page" in my sons album. But once I started using some of the Basic Grey papers to match the K&Company space paper it was smooth sailin'! And I LOVE the Basic Grey rub-on on the photo mat! It says "batteries not included" if you cannot read it :o).