Twilight... the big craze right now!

So... my son came home from school a few weeks ago and mentioned this 'Twilight' movie that was out. He told me the 'just' of the movie and my first reaction to it was 'yikes!' that doesn't sound very good. He said it was about a human girl falling in love with a vampire. I have never liked the idea of vampires - my oldest sister used to pretend she was a vampire and come after me and I would cry and it would usually end up getting her in trouble from Mom and Dad. She loved it! Mean old sister - right Kathy???? I think we watched an old vampire movie and this made her pick on me.
Anyway to my point... Ben said that all the girls in his class had seen the movie and have read the books - I thought, 'wow, they are only 11 years old and are into vampires?' It bothered me for some reason (probably from my childhood fears). I also didn't like the idea that if the movie romantisized vampires it might influence kids to try and be like vampires or go 'goth' etc. I decided to check it out on my own. I went to the movie...
The movie was very well done, not scary like the older vampire movies I had seen. In fact the main 'Vampire' family in the movie were 'good', they only went after animals instead of humans. They had trained themselves to not give into their natural instincts to go after human blood. The relationship between Bella (the human) and Edward (the vampire) was very intense as their love for one another seemed to develop over night and was deeper than a crush... it was as though they were 'soul-mates'. Edward's family accepted Bella at once (besides Rosalie who didn't like the idea much) and that was very sweet. The bond between each member of their family was real and true unlike many of human family members in our world, and Bella's.
After seeing the movie I decided to read the book and I must warn you that the book is even more intense than the movie! It is over 600 pages long full of descriptions of every deep emotion that passes between each character. The book starts off with a quote from Genesis which I found very pleasing to me. It was regarding temptation.
In fact as you see above the cover for the book has a girls hands holding an apple... how interesting. It does make sense in the book as tempation is seen from all different angles.
I will not let my boys read the series until they are old enough to understand such deep emotions described in these books. I think it would just confuse them. There are many things in the series that come up that a mature mind can work through and digest - however, a younger mind may take to mean something else and romantasize where they really shouldn't go.
Overall I have enjoyed reading the series and look forward to seeing the sequel to Twilight on the big screen.
God bless you and have a merry Christmas everyone!
Kelly

Fourth Picture Tag

My dear friend Angel tagged me in her blog and so I am fulfilling the tag by posting the fourth picture in the forth file of "My Pictures". This picture is of our youth group at Church... I'm not exactly sure why they were posing like this... but they are always doing crazy things at youth.
So now... I get to tag four people to do the same for their blogs...
So I am tagging:
Nancy E.
Michelle (Creative Treasures)
Debbie
and Nicole
So it's your turn to post the fourth picture in the fourth file of your "My Pictures". Can't wait to see!

Thanks Angel for tagging me... this was fun!
Much love and hugs
Kelly

The Wonderful Life of Living On Effexor...And it's side effects...

You know how we all do stupid things once and awhile right? Well... I tend to do them often! LOL For instance, I recently decided that I needed to try and ween myself off of my Effexor which I have been on for several years now. Why did I do this? Well because my doctor scared the bajeevers out of me when he explained how this medication could cause a few problems in my body as I get older and if I gain any more weight. "What?" I didn't think I was that overweight but he thought otherwise. For one thing the medication has made me gain weight... it may not be the Effexor but possibly the Seroquel that I take with it for sleep... however no matter what the reason I knew I had to lose weight. I also knew that losing weight while being on Effexor is extremely hard... you have to go above and beyond just the normal changing the diet and exercise. So... my solution... I attempted to ween off my Effexor. I took my 150mg pill and opened it up and took 7 tiny balls out of it for one month. How did I do? Well my moods began changing immediately... but I was okay. I made it through the month with not too bad of a time. Then the next step came and I took out 10 more tiny balls... within three days I was a mess! I was getting flashes (like mini-blackouts) in my head, anxiety through the roof, I wasn't eating, sleeping or functioning too well. I recorded everything I did in my day timer, including my moods, exercise, diet or any stressful events that I experienced. The results ~ I lost 11 pounds but as I just stated I WAS A HUGE MESS!!! I began to think back to the beginning of my depression when my second son was born and it all started with post-partum. I remembered the 4 and 1/2 years of memory loss and the dark, dark, dark time in our lives as a family. I knew I had made a mistake! I couldn't put my family through all this again ~ it wouldn't be fair, and I didn't think I could do it anyway. My doctor has always said that I am a "Lifer" and that I should be okay with that. If I had a physical illness I would need to take medication for it right? Well, I needed to change my thoughts in this regard to make myself okay with taking my medicine. God got me through this depression by His grace and by His grace He also brought me to the proper doctors to get me on the medicine that would help me function as a normal person again. I should be thankful that I am here and functioning properly right?
My husband bought me a treadmill a few months back (for $100), a huge blessing as the family we purchased it from took excellent care of it and it is the perfect treadmill for me. I tend to take out a lot of my anxiety or moods on the treadmill and every second or so day I have been doing Yoga on our Wii Fit. I am also going to go to a Yoga class once per week.
Also, as I was researching Effexor and weightloss I found a health site that said to take Fish Oil, CLA, and Vitamin E and drink lot's of water to help with weightloss. I have been doing that and I am beginning to come around. I am still on a somewhat downward spiral of moods and lack of sleeping but hopefully with God's grace I will be coming out of that really soon! God is good and I know that He is in control.
God bless you
Kelly

Fall Daylight Savings Time

I don't know what it is this year about the Daylight savings time but I am really not liking the fact that it starts to get dark at 5pm. As soon as I'm walking outside the door from work it is almost completely dark. Maybe that is the difference... I haven't worked this late into the day in years and have not had to drive home in the dark. The entire atmosphere changes and it's almost like everyone in their cars put on 'Grumpy Gus' hats ~ probably because they are feeling the same way I am feeling. The day seems much too short for me and it makes me tired and grumpy.
I usually have a hard time this season ~ when fall turns to winter and the air outside becomes nippy. My doctor recommended that I purchase a S.A.D. light (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which should help my moods during the winter (I still have to purchase one). I am supposed to sit under this light 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night and I believe that is supposed to simulate sunlight. Basically I think you are tricking your brain into believing it is not lacking sunlight ~ it's like... "See Mr.Brain... I am not neglecting you, there actually is sunlight in my house!" LOL.
The light pictured above is from www.sadlight.com and on this site are many different mechanism's a person can purchase to help them through the long months of winter.
Let me know if you suffer from S.A.D. and tell me what you have done to help yourself through it.
Kelly

Name Doodle Tutorial

This seems like a simple task for me because I have been doodling since I could hold crayons... but if you aren't a doodler this is probably a difficult thing to grasp. Keeping that in mind I am going to note a few things that inspire me as a doodler that will help you to get going.
I like to doodle on normal cardstock paper - it is thick and if the felt's I'm using bleeds through there's no page underneath to ruin. That is why I tend to add these doodle pages to my journals afterwards (and more than likely the reason my art journal is so thick!) Plus I can cart a piece of paper around a lot easier than carrying my heavy journal around.
The markers I have been using lately are "Copic" professional artist markers, they come with fine tips from .05 all they way up to .7 as well as one brush stroke marker (set of 10). I found them in an art store while I was in Kelowna and they are probably online with a copic retailer. You can also use other markers ~ there are no rules to doodles so use what you are comfortable with. I have just discovered the "Copics" and I absolutely love them. But I tend to love all kinds of markers and find I can never have enough because you never know when you are going to be inspired to use a certain type of marker.
To doodle a name I simply use a long ruler and draw a top and bottom line with a pencil as to how big I want the name across the page. For example, I am working on my hubby's name above. I draw his name out rather simply and then fill it in with all sort's of different textures. I use texture sheets that I have drawn up that inspire me with all sorts of ideas to fill in the spaces. I have included a few of my texture sheets to help inspire you. If you want to create a texture sheet of your own simply create blank squares across and down a page and then fill them in with different textures you find around your home, outside, anywhere really. You will notice that I have made up many of my textures. It's all in the name of fun.
I hope this helps.
Happy creating.
Kelly

My Name Doodle For Today

I have been so excited to have time to doodle on my vacation this past week! I haven't been feeling well as my hubby gave me a cold ~ so I have been sitting on the couch doodling and watching some movies. No complaints from me though. I don't know why I decided to do my name, I guess because I have been working with letters lately (from Nicolette's creative lettering course - Nicolette Anderson) and I have been experimenting with different techniques in embellishing letters as well.
I did my third texture page... I created two of them about two years back when I first got into art journaling and then was so glad to see this technique in the new group I joined (Doodlehaven at Yahoo Groups). Next name I am doing is my hubbies and then I will try and do my boys.
Hope you enjoy them.
Happy Creating
Kelly

Loving The New Challenge of "Tangles"

I love a new challenge in my art work... I guess that is why I am always researching new techniques, different mediums etc. I think I strive when I am challenged by something new... and believe me ~ this is all new to me. I used to hate trying new things, anything that I thought I wouldn't be able to perfect to my own standards. it took me years to try 'oil painting' because I knew that my Mom had already conquered that one so why even bother trying. I don't know why I thought that! Then I gave it a try and finished my first oil painting and guess what???? I love it! Now I have stumbled onto this new technique called "zentangles" but I don't really like using the "zen" part of the word. I find that is a very 'new age' word and I am plain and simple a Christian woman. So... I call this one my 'Doodle Woman'. As I was researching this whole 'tangle doodle' business I came across a few doodles with eyes and faces... that got me thinking. "I can do that!" I said to myself. So here it is... my first doodle woman. Let me know what you think.
Happy Creating.
Kelly

My Newest Doodle "Zentangle Doodle"

I was searching through pictures on this group that I have joined called "Blissfully Art Journaling" (a yahoo group) and I saw a photo of what was called a 'Zentangle". This intriqued me so I searched on and found a group called "Doodlehaven" also a yahoo group, and it showed a whole bunch of "Zentangles" and I absolutely loved them. I couldn't wait to get started on one! So lastnight while I watched a couple movies I doodled my way to my first "zentangle doodle". It was so much fun thinking up ways to fill in spaces and even things out to look the same. I am going to google to determine what exactly a "Zentangle" means.
I hope you enjoy it.
Happy creating everyone.
Hugs

Recent Journaling Time

I have enjoyed being on holidays from work sooooooooooooo much! I really missed sitting down and journaling! I never thought that working just four hours per day would take me away from my art for so long. Now the only time I get to journal is on a long weekend or on holidays! The rest of the time I am usually walking on my new (new to me anyway) treadmill. (My hubby got a deal from Used Calgary.com and were blessed by a beautiful, excellent condition, very well built treadmill for $100. I was using it almost every day for 1.5 to 2 hours each time. I am feeling much better getting some exercise now. My back, nor my knees have been hurting (that is until I slept in the tent trailer). I will get back to the treadmill tomorrow.
Anyway, the first picture is my doodles of camping. It's pretty much self-explanatory except for this new idea I used of a circle and a little bit of zen-tangling (not sure what that means) but I saw it on another site in blissfully art journaling (a yahoo group) and I thought I would give it a try. I also joined another group called doodlehaven (also a yahoo group) and there are some pretty amazing doodles posted.
My second one is from the my hubby's bible under the notes section: there is this list of places to go when... and I loved the list so much that I had to journal about it! I really like how the color of this page turned out with all the beautiful oranges.
I hope you enjoy them.
Happy creating everyone.
Kelly

Back From Camping

What started out as a week long trip to Mt. Kidd finished as a 5 day/4 night camping trip! The nights were so cold it was very hard to one, get to sleep and two, stay asleep. We went with five other families for the long weekend and we had a wonderful time (regardless of the rain). It really rained on Sunday night ~ while everyone hightailed it to the lodge to play board games, Ben and I stayed nice and warm in the tent trailer we rented for the week, we also rented a generator so that we could have power because we were all booked on non-powered sites. However, we couldn't run the generator all night long because it would be like sleeping beside a running car. So we toughed it out for four nights anyway. Everyone left on Monday afternoon and boy did we ever feel their absence. We missed everyone right away and decided that evening that we were going to go home the next day. Camp isn't as fun when there is just the four of us. Plus in the non-powered area everyone seemed to have left and there were only a few sporadic campers.
My one girlfriend, whose son graduated this year, planned a party for all the grads on the Sunday night (before it poured down rain) - it was a "Super-hero murder-mystery dinner". Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that event as I was in bed resting my back from playing a four hour long game of scrabble sitting at the picnic table. I'm sure many pictures will be posted on facebook this coming week!
Our oldest son Josh had a blast with all the teenagers going from site to site playing board games and then walking down to the river ~ he's a true teenager. We held Ben back a bit from doing all the "teen" things to give Josh a little bit of freedom with the gang. Ben was okay with that after he spent time at the campfire holding-his-own with the grown up conversation. I guess they are not my babies anymore but are grown into young men wanting and needing a bit of freedom ~ how sad for mommy!
I for one am glad to be home in our nice comfortable bed and warmth of our house! I admit it! I'm a homebody!
Hugs
Kelly

Movie Review: MAMA MIA!

If you love ABBA and musicals you will absolutely adore this movie! I love both and so this movie was very well received by me. I highly recommend it! It is based in Greece at "Villa Donna" so you can pretty much guarantee the amazing scenery. The hilarious storyline will draw you in with a fabulous cast of well known actors/actresses. The main theme is this; a young woman is getting married though doesn't know who her father is ~ rooting through her mother's boxes she discovers three possibilities and invites all three men to her wedding ~ it continues on from there so use your imagination as to what comes next... I had no idea that some of the cast could sing as well as they did, and others... well you will just have to see it for yourself to know what I mean.
After seeing the movie twice; once with my Mama mia and second with my girlfriends I still love it as much as I did the first time - and I bought the soundtrack too!
Enjoy... and if you do see it, let me know what you think!
Hugs and blessings

Experimenting Through The Transition

Giving up my 'crafting' side and turning towards my 'art' has been a tremendously freeing experience for me. I had used card making/stamping/beading/and other miscellaneous crafts to get me through some pretty rough times of anxiety and depression. It was like God spoke to me one day and said "let it go". From that moment on I have not touched my cardmaking/stamping etc. supplies other than to sort them from my art supplies. I realized that I no longer needed to use it as an outlet to get through ~ I was finally free to be creative on my own and transition into my trup passion which is my art. I have been experimenting with different mediums ~ pencils, pencil crayons, watercolor, felt pens (Copic Markers/Prisma Color markers/and others) I have been learning how to use different inks, colors, blending pens etc. Above are just a few examples and projects I have been working on. I did start to paint one painting but kind of have 'artist block' with the sky. It will come. I am enjoying this transition immensely ~ Thank you Lord for working in me in this way. Amen.
God bless you with many blessings.

Kelowna Was Beautiful

We got back from Kelowna on Saturday night. It was a beautiful week - the weather was awesome and I got a great tan. We all enjoyed it so much we didn't want to leave. I'm thinking next year we will book for two weeks and hang out while Randy is working again. The place we stayed had an outdoor pool and a gorgeous view of lake Okanagan. The boys and I explored a few shops by the water and discovered what a pawn shop is ~ we had never been in one, we also got to enjoy some of the outdoor art work as you can see above with the metal fly. We rented a peddle boat and made our way through the lagoon area ~ what a workout!!! We also had tubes and little dingy's that we paddled out on the lake one day ~ I think that was the most fun. We had such a blast. We got to see some birds we've never seen before in the wetlands beside the condo and got a good taste of Kelowna night life down by the water on the pier (at least I did when I took Mila for a long walk one night). I can't wait to go back again.
My mom and I went to see two movies in one night... because the first showing of Mama Mia was sold out, we went to see 'Get Smart' which I had already seen, but then we went to see MAMA MIA. Awesome movie! I loved it soooooooooo much I am going to go see it again with some girlfriends this week! I highly recommend it for a great laugh and especially if you enjoy ABBA!
Much love and God bless you all.

Movie Reviews

Get Smart has a hilarious movie. I went to see it before I took my kids to see it so that I would know if it was good or not. I think they did a great job filming it even though some things are a little predictable it was a cute movie. I recommend it for a light movie that you don't have to think to hard to watch. Good summer movie.


Hancock I took my thirteen year old to see this one. It has a few rough edges to it, but nothing he couldn't handle. It was funny and sad and we enjoyed it very much. Another one I would recommend, but for older kids I think. There are a few things that Hancock deals with like Alcoholism and going to prison, but the choices he makes are good ones in the end. Not your everyday super hero movie like Batman or Spiderman, but it was funny and intelligent none the less.


Wanted Definitely a movie you don't want to take your kids too. There was a great deal of violence and graphic scenes that I wouldn't want my kids to see. As for me, I love movies with action and interesting concepts, this movie had both with a matrix type feel. There was one sex scene that I wouldn't want my kids to watch. Really graphic fight scenes that would be too much I think. I am able to see things like that and then get rid of the images. I really liked this movie and the character development of the main character (James McAvoy) was great.

Let me know if you have movie reviews to share. I would love to read them.

Blessings Pouring Out Among Us

I love this picture and the saying that goes with it... "Don't forget to Fly?" Isn't that beautiful? It reminded me that we have so much potential, God gives us wings to fly in this life but we often forget we have them... we forget to fly. There is so much we can accomplish in this life as we rely on God to guide us, feed us, nourish us, and give us His wisdom to do the things we need to do. I have been on again off again sick for many months now, I am thinking almost a year. It has been really hard for me to get to the gym and work out so that my body can get healthy. I have wanted a treadmill for so long but we have always been unable to afford it - other things have taken priority, other needs. Then on Thursday my husband called me at work and told me he just found a treadmill for a hundred dollars. My first thought was "Oh great! What kind of treadmill could he have possibly found for $100.00?" I laughed at the thought. Then after work we went to see these people and discovered it was actually a pretty good treadmill - one that absorbs shock so it is easier on your knees (which I need). They had company coming to stay and they really needed the space. What a blessing! What an amazing blessing! We of coarse bought it and I have used it and it works awesome! Even my son Ben had a great work out on it yesterday! I am certain that it will work out perfect for our family.
Next huge blessing... I was at work yesterday just casually asking my boss what I would look for in a video camera should I want to buy one. He asked me what I was going to use it for and then said "Well, you could buy our old one as we are never going to use it again." I said, "Really? How much would you want for it?" and then he said "$150.00. I immediately said "Okay, sold". It is a really nice video camera with a touch screen/charger and extra batteries, he even through in a package of disks that we would need to record on. Thank you Lord... again. He is looking out for us in so many ways. God is so good!
Enjoy God's blessings everyone ~ they are all around us!

Jeopardy Answer: What is Pleurisy?

Udate on what was going on with my chest last week: I went to my doctor last Friday and he believes the chest pains were due to something called Pleurisy. Basically, an inflamation of the outer lining on my lungs due to possible pneumonia that I had and didn't know. I have been sick twice in the past two months with a really bad cold/ with respiratory symptoms but I didn't think it was bad enough to go to the doctor. Silly me.
What Is Pleurisy?
Pleurisy, also called pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, which is the moist, double-layered membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the rib cage. The condition can make breathing extremely painful. Sometimes it is associated with another condition called pleural effusion, where excess fluid fills the area between the membrane's layers.
The double-layered pleura protects and lubricates the surface of the lungs as they inflate and deflate within the rib cage. Normally, a thin, fluid-filled gap -- the pleural space -- allows the two layers of the pleural membrane to slide gently past each other. But when these layers become inflamed, with every breath, sneeze, or cough their roughened surfaces rub painfully together like two pieces of sandpaper.
I went for xrays and bloodwork on Monday and haven't heard back from the doctor's office so I'm thinking everything is better now. The pain in my chest has subsided mostly and I am feeling really good. YAY. Thank you Lord that it wasn't something more serious.
My mom lives about 8 hours from us (by car) and when I told her about my chest pains attack the first thing she thought about was that it was my lungs - Mother's instict or what???? I laughed when I got home from my doctor's appointment. I guess my mom really does know me! LOL
So, just to update y'all - everythings fine! Amen

Life Is Precious

What does it take to open our eyes to the fact that life is precious? Each moment is a gift of time, love, peace, joy, experiences, adventures etc.

Yesterday I had a little scare that opened my eyes in a huge way. I was standing in my kitchen preparing some breakfast for myself when I began to have sharp pains from my back to my heart/chest. They were so sharp that I was dizzy and weak. They didn't last for long maybe a minute and then they would go away. Then they would come back every couple of minutes. I started to get really scared. My husband was out on the deck and he came in when I didn't answer him. The pain was so strong I couldn't speak right away. He checked to see if my eyes were dilated and if I could squeeze his hands with my hands - I could. He made me lay down on the ground hoping that would help and then he told me to put my feet up. The pains were still coming and then I started crying because I didn't know what was going on. Randy grabbed his phone and called 911. At that point I think I had an anxiety attack because my face went numb and my left hand was tingling. The firemen were the first to arrive and they basically calmed me down and took my blood pressure and asked me questions about the pain and where it was etc. The EMS arrived shortly after and they took over for the firemen. They also checked my blood pressure and my heart rate and then hooked me up to their machines placing all these sticker thingy's all around my chest and pelvic area. They too asked me many questions and in the end determined that everything was normal, my vitals were all normal, my heart was good and normal etc. They could not determine where the pains came from. After all the "excitement" I was left dizzy, weak and confused. The EMS said that I should get things checked out though not necessarily at the hospital. If it happened again I should call EMS. I was going to make an appointment to go see the doctor but I was so dizzy and weak feeling I just went on our deck and layed in the shade.

As I was lying there my mind was reeling with the thought of how I had reacted in the midst of the incident. I didn't know if I was having a heart attack or not, I truly feared that I was having one. I thought about my Dad having his heart attack when he was only 51 (as he died from his). All of a sudden my worries about my husband having a heart attack early transferred from him to me. I never thought it a possibility that I could have a heart attack, I always feared that Randy would have one and I would be left alone like my mom was. It troubled me deeply.

Then my thoughts disturbed me further because of the fear that had embedded itself into me. Why was I so afraid? If indeed I were having a heart attack the worst thing that could have happened was that I would die and be with my Father in Heaven. I never really thought that I would react with such fear facing the possibility of death ~ I always thought that I would be at peace. I prayed and asked God to forgive me for allowing this fear in. As I am His child I am no longer a slave to the fear of death. I have eternal life through Jesus so why be afraid? The Lord calmed me as I prayed and helped me to feel okay about my reaction. I realized that my fear was mostly not about me, it was about me possibly leaving my husband and boys without a mother/and wife. Then I too realized that even then that they are in the Lord's hands and He would be taking care of them too. I had nothing to fear.

This whole experience made me see that Life is precious. We need to take advantage of the time we have and not be consumed with fears and worries about the time we might not have. I pray that when God does eventually take me that I will be at complete peace knowing that God is in full control. He is a God full of grace and loving mercy ~ He takes care of all of His creations even when we are worrying about nothing!

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

I Am So Blessed

A lady from Austin e-mailed me today - she works for a foundation that helps children and adults in their healing from violence and/or trauma. She is developing a therapeutic game that will help in the process of healing with education for her patients. She has asked me if she can use two of my paintings on the back of her educational material. I feel very honored that she contacted me because I painted these images with the specific intention of being used to help others find healing. That is my entire reasoning behind my artwork, it is not for self-gain but for others, unless you count my own healing process for myself as self-gain because it has helped me immensely.
Thank You Lord for this amazing opportunity to touch other peoples lives in a way only You can do. I pray that you help whoever see's these cards to have hope in their healing and that they will come to realize that they have a huge glorious loving God just waiting to heal them. Amen
Signature ID **** 54486-104-0814F235638E146494EE9339B81997AB

Fact #51 - I Love Birds

Fact #51 - I Love Birds! I could sit on my back deck and listen and watch birds all day long every day weather permitting. I find it so peaceful. When we go to Kid's Camp with our Church I find it very relaxing listening to the birds found only in the woods. I can't wait to go camping this year and bring my binoculars. I find it funny (no offense) but my friend Nancy is afraid of birds and doesn't care for them at all! I think she had one fly at her one day or it was stuck in her house - yikes. That is pretty scary!

How I Spent My Weekend - Girls Weekend

Okay... when I say 'girls weekend' I am meaning myself and my Mila puppy. My hubby and boys were at spring camp for our Church. They had a blast and I missed them terribly... but I did manage to have some very much needed time in the sun and with God. The weather here has been so up and down (I'm talking snow blizzard one day to almost 20degrees (27 on my back deck) overnight. And now we seem to be back to a rainy snowy day as I look out my window! No... it looks like a light snow. Oy vay! What's going on with our spring. I got a sunburn on my back neck and shoulders on Saturday. I couldn't find our sunscreen anywhere but I HAD to sit in the sun. Now I am paying for it bigtime!
Anyway... back to what I did. On Thursday night we went out to dinner as a family and then I took my boys to Chapters. As they picked out their Spiderwick (Ben) and Guardians of Gahoolie (Josh) books, I made my way over to the "Arts and crafts section". I found two books, the first was Art Journaling - how it leads to healing... and the second book was Faithbooking, prayer journals and more. I was taken away by these books as God has made it such a passion of mine. As I read the first through some of the first book... God took me on my own journey of what I have experienced in my life and how far I have come. I spent three hours just writing, writing, writing ~ hence the sunburn. I wrote about what God has done for me, what I have dealt with, the process of healing He has led me through, what I have given up and what I have received by letting go of things I once thought I needed to hold onto. The above journal pages express some of what I journaled this weekend.

The first picture is from different magazines I have collected over the years. There was an article on Sifing Your life - letting go of yourself and latching on to God. That inspired the page with the big tree 'Transformed By Faith' as I thought through how God has shown me how to sift myself and then how He has been right here with me through all my storms. The next page "Describing the Experience" was about how I hear God in the still quiet moments of my life. How He transformed me through these moment and how He works is nothing short of miraculous. The last page I did the background with my distress inks, the colors are rather dramatic because I wanted it to show the dramatic way I have been transformed from a life of regret, to a life with no regret. From a life gripped with fear and loneliness to a life of forgiveness, and pure love. God has lifted me from all that I thought I knew, to filling me with His heavenly wisdom allowing me to be content and protected in the shadow of His wings. I know I say this over and over... but I am amazed, I am in awe of what an awesome God we serve! If we allow Him in He will restore us, make us new, wash away all the murky waters transforming us into His children.
Happy creating everyone. God bless you.

God Speak - Journal Entries

The first page I brought out my pastels and I had an image of a woman praying. It isn't me as I have brown hair, but it may have been me when my hair was much blonder. What I wrote was what I was feeling at a particularily hard time in my life ~ how I would cry out to God earnestly seeking His presence in my life. He was good and is always to be with me. He has brought such healing and peace and joy to my life, a comfort straight from the arms of God that I will share to others as God places them in my life.
The next two pages I created with Tim Holtz distress inks for the backgrounds. CHF Stamps of trees and Ranger Products Acrylic Daubers. The images just called for verses from the Word. The one page I haven't been urged with the verse that is trying to speak to me ~ I will add it in His timing not mine. I love playing with distress inks and alterable items. They are so much fun.
Well, Happy Creating once again everyone.

I Had To Add These Pictures To My Journal

I was at work one day, a day in which was particularily slow... and so after getting the mail I saw a magazine that my boss Cynthia ordered ~ April 2008 Country Living and so I browsed through it because I was bored and I came across the most beautiful advertisement I have ever seen. The above pictures are the ones that came from that advertisement. The colors drew me in and the whimsical feeling of all the pictures. It made me wish that I was a size "2" so that I could where clothing like those pictured. I don't think they would look as good on my size "12" body. Maybe one day I will miraculously lose the weight and then I can order clothing like them. I don't know why but it felt very "Southern" ~ and I don't know what "Southern" means except that it was the first thought that came to my mind. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did.
Happy Creating Everyone!