New Scrapbooking Room Mascott

Hello, Everyone
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!
I WON!!!!

Meet Loopa, the newest addition to the Scrap booking Room. I won her if you hadn't figured it out yet, with her pouch full of products my favorite being the new Merry glow round Light Box and Exacto knife, and empressor. How exciting for someone who doesn't usually win anything. What a gift to me from God. Don't think I'm crazy, but have you ever felt or heard that still small voice that tells you to do something or be somewhere? Sometimes we listen to it sometimes we don't. Some of us call this voice or feeling Women's intuition and some of us believe it is God speaking to us, or even just everyday feelings. I would have to say I felt that way Saturday I told my mom while we were celebrating at our local scrap booking stores anniversary that I thought they would do the drawing for loopa at 4:00. I wasn't sure because they wouldn't tell us and you had to be present to win. I had not planned to go back but God was nudging at my soul and saying go, go, go, so I left my house at around 3:15 and got there at about 3:40 and at 4:00 they drew for Loopa. Imagine my surprise when they called my name. Amazing I was shocked and I was happy. Loopa will have a happy and fulfilled home here at our home in my scrap booking room. It is hard to sometimes recognize God's voice and then obey it. I'm ashamed to say there has been may a times in my life that God has spoke to me in that voice and I didn't recognize it as God leading me and directing me. How great that I obied this time, it really was physically beneficial for me. but all those opportunities that I've not obied, because I didn't recognize it or even because I didn't choose to listen. How many spiritual Gifts have I missed out on because of my disobedience. I challenge everyone to listen hard and wait for that voice and obey it!!!! You will be so glad that you did.
Good Night.

Travel Post

Good Morning it is Thursday and I've not blogged for a week. There hasn't been much going on here. Schools coming to an end, which in it own right seems to be a little stressful. Memorial Day weekend is coming up this next weekend. We are planning on going to the Drive Inn. My son had one request when the new Spider man 3 movie came out, it was to go and see it at the Drive Inn, when it got to the Drive Inn so that is what we are going to do Sunday night since Mark doesn't have to work Monday. We have told everyone we know that is what we are doing, So please join us if you want. Jacob's favorite thing to do is the Drive in we have been there twice already this season and this will be the third time. I'm not sure how many Drive Inn's are out there still, I know there isn't as many as there use to be. I love the Drive Inn, I remember going to the Drive Inn when I was a child with my parents and it just heart warming to be able to share a fun piece of my childhood with my own children, and maybe someday they will be able to share that with there own children. We have been making plans for the summer mostly plans to stay close to home minus a reunion or two. I've been wanting to do the Thursday Thirteen thing but I haven't been able to get the little graphic to work so well just skip the graphic.



1. Gas prices are outrageous
2. Your in need of a vacation from your vacation
3. Traffic is crazy, to many motorist on the rode
4. Construction is in full force in the summer
5. no leg cramps or sleeping checks
6. At home you can take as many bathroom brakes as you need
7. Less packing need the less you travel
8. less house sitters or pet sitters needed
9. You spend less time deciding where your going to stay
10. Meal planning is much easier when your not on the road
11. Less fighting in a confined space
12. Less traveling allows us to take advantage of local events
13. Allows us to spend more time with friends, and having people over
Can you think of Thirteen reasons to travel less this summer or more if you don't travel at all.

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Thursday Thirteen!!
Thirteen reasons to travel less.

Gift of Friendship

I was given a gift Yesterday. A gift of continuing friendship, there is a group of us who get together and crochet, yesterday the group had some signals crossed, most thought it was canceled and the rest thought it was moved to my house. I was one who thought it was moved to my house thankfully and then there was the wonderful friend of mine that is seasoned with wisdom and love who also showed up. I know that sometimes in life we are set apart to have a Divine appointment with someone that only God knows about and I think that yesterday was one of those days. My friend and I were set on a collision course for a Divine appointment set up by GOD. We spent several hours talking and getting to know each other better. She helped to set me back on a course I hadn't been diligent with. I believe that the one thing that God desires more then anything is a little of our time each day to get to know us better or should I say for us to get to know him better. God created man in order to have a relationship with him someone to shoot the breeze with, if you will. I had committed a little over a year ago to get up at 5:30a.m. and have that relationship with God. Not that I don't pray and have some time with him through out my day, but I decided that God didn't want my left overs and I was going to put him first. So what I did was made an appointment with God to meet him every morning at 5:30 to have a one on one meeting with him first thing in the day, my first fruits. It was great it was like I could feel God sitting there listening to me almost to a point where you could reach out and touch him. When you make an appointment he is there, he never cancels on us like we do him. I found myself after a period of time wanting to sleep in a little longer but he was still there. I could feel that still small voice or presence saying I'm here I'm waiting for you. I began not getting up and justifying in my heart and mind that I pray during the day it really doesn't matter that its not first thing in the morning, but it did matter for several reasons one I need to be a women of my word, even when God is the only one who truly knows if I'm keeping my word or not. Secondly and most importantly I desire to know Jesus. He has a Peace that passes all understanding and I need that Peace.

Happy Belated Mothers Day

I wanted to start out by saying Happy Mothers Day to all who it applies in a traditional sense or nontraditional sense. What a crazy week it was last week. I had two different mothers day tea one with each of the children and there school, plus I taught Art Outreach twice last week at the Elementary school, attended a women conference on Saturday featuring Kathy Troccoili, and her friend Elli. What a weekend and Sunday I worked at the visitor sign in booth at church it's to register the children who are visiting so they can attend Sunday school. What a weekend, sometimes I wonder how relaxing is Mothers Day for most MOMS. I guess the older the children the more relaxing it is. I don't know about other children but mine love mothers day, they love to make me cards and pictures, with my youngest everything she picks up and gives me is a mothers day present. A dirty sock picked up off the floor and handed to me is a mothers day present. How funny!!!!!!! It also is extended over several days not just on Sunday it starts Thursday and goes until around Tuesday. I'm not sure how much I will be able to write over the next couple of month it seem that June will be very busy for us but I will try to write at least once a week. Well I hope that everyone's days or weeks were fulfilling and happy.

My Thursday Thirteen is going to be thirteen things to do with my children over the summer!!!
1. Plan one Drive-Inn trip a month
2. Go to knights action park once at least this summer
3. Spend a couple hours once a week at the park with friends
4. Go to Michigan on Vacation once this summer.
5. Watch as many firework displays as we can find (the children love fireworks)
6. Take the family to see Spiderman 3 hopefully one of the drive-Inn trips
7. Read 4-5 books me, 100 books each of the kid age appropriate of course.
8. Work on scrapebooking with them at least once a week in there 9" books
9. Visit with the Cousins and Grandparents at least once this summer
10. Pick out some artsy crafts to do
11. Go to New Salem and have a picnic
12. Take advantage of some of the site seeing in springfield
13. Teach Jacob to ride his two wheeler bike

A Little of This and A Little of That, Summer Fun

I'm so excited my friend who also has a blog just posted that her husband has finished putting the children's new swing set together. What a great gift to there own children but to several others that spend time at there home. Mine are included in that I'm sure all the children will have hours of fun on that new swing set. If anyone who reads this wants to see the swing set or read about the journey her husband had in putting it together toknowhimjesus.blogspot.com is her blog what a great story.
On a new note just purely information my daughter has 3 more days of preschool and my son has about 3 more weeks. I usually feel a little overwhelmed at first thinking what am I going to do with them all summer put usually I get to the point where I can't believe the summer is over and I didn't even get to do half of the stuff I wanted to do. We will have to keep our travels to a minimum this summer due to skyrocketing gas prices but I'm sure the kids with be glad of that, they are getting to the age where they fight in the car and just can't seem to keep there hands to themselves. This last December we went to visit my family in Michigan for Christmas and it's quit a long drive for one day but not enough to stay the night somewhere, we decided to purchase one of those traveling DVD systems for the kid to help keep them form fighting so much. I very shortly began to wonder if that had been one of our brighter ideas or maybe one of our naivete's? About an hour and a half into the trip (or was it a minute and a half I'm not sure can't really remember) we began the threats "you need to turn that volume down or we are going to turn it off, stop fighting over which movie your watching , who cares which persons screen gets the DVD, you have to watch the whole movie before putting a new one in" and so it went on and on and on. Can anyone relate, it's like Calgon take me away:) Movie systems in the Car a life saver not so much for us at this stage in life maybe someday not today. Anyway that was a little tangent. We have a couple of family reunions to attend and a few trips to the Drive Inn to plan, it should be a full summer.

I just want to be myself today

Today as my son was getting ready for school he decided "I just want to be myself today" which meant please don't Mohawk my hair I'm going to leave it down. I just want to be myself today, I didn't realize he was being someone else. Are there days when we all feel like saying to the world I just want to be myself today? For me that would be staying home with my Pajamas on until Noon or so and then changing into my most comfortable cloths which sometimes consist of an upgrade to jogging pants ( which I never go out in public in). Mondays are usually my "I just want to be myself today" day so if you want to visit you could be in for a surprise. What day is your "I just want to be myself today" if you have one and why?

The Journey

When I think of a Journey there is so many ways to use that expression, right now as the school year comes to an end in millions of Schools around the country we will use that phrase as we talk with the seniors, we talk about the Journey as we talk about our parents, our children, and our selves.We have a small group in our home once a week. For those of you who know us this isn't entirely new information. We have been blessed with a melting pot of Christian men and women, a variety of ages, and stages of life. I want to mention one couple in particular that God has just brought to my mind. I will refer to them as The Runner and his Wife. The Runner in our group has a goal to run a Marathon in every state, and he is just a few Marathons away until he reaches his goal. At the moment he has taken a brake from the Marathons to hike The Appalachian Trail. If you embark on this particular Journey you start in Georgia and continue on until you get into Maine. He has to be very careful, he has to watch every step, every move he makes has to be very intentional in several area. He has to pack very light, he will be walking for five months and that's a long and heavy journey if you pack to much. Sometimes I think our journey with Christ is the same way. As Christians we have to watch what we say and do so we can always please God. We have to be very intentional in areas such as honesty and humility, we want others to see us as real people with real problems and a real GOD to help us. Shortly after our friend started his journey he had to send about five pounds of stuff to his daughter who lives in Tennessee because his load was to heavy. Isn't that true of us as Christians as well, we drudge along day in and day out with our packs to heavy not with cloth, or toothbrush and paste, but with worry, anxiety, guilt, shame, the list can go on and on. You don't have to go The Journey alone, there is someone who wants us to ask for his help and will give it with no strings attached, but the bigger question is will you let go, and let Jesus Christ Guide you and lead you through your JOURNEY. We ask him to take control of our live so he can guide us and lead us to do what he knows is best and wants for our lives yet we hold tight on to the steering wheel from the passengers seat, some of us are holding on from the back seat. I know that there are journeys in my own life that God has planned for me to go on if I will just let go of the steering wheel. Commit yourselves today to be open enough to take that Journey that you know GOD is telling you to take, respond to the nudge.