To the zoo!

When I want it to rain it won't and

when I don't want it to rain it does.

You guessed it.  We got soaked to the

skin yesterday!  When I got to Toledo

it was dry and the sun was shining.  

About half an hour later there were rumbles.

We were going to feed the giraffes but

they closed it so they could put

them in.  15 minutes later it started to

rain.  Just a little.  No big deal.  About

10 minutes after that it started pouring. 

I do mean pouring.  But we still had a

great time.  I didn't take too many

pictures because John always took tons

of pictures whenever we went anywhere

and we went to the Fort Wayne

and Toledo zoos a lot.  The one animal

I didn't take a picture of and should have

was a polar bear cub.  I was having so

much fun watching him I forgot to take 

a picture.  He was swimming, jumping

on toys, doing back flips, just having

a grand time.  I didn't even know a polar 

bear could do a back flip!  His mother

was on the cement pacing back and

forth keeping watch over him.  Makes

you think of Jesus.  Wherever we go He

is keeping watch over us.

Baby Galapagos tortoise

Doesn't this guy look like he's wearing

a tuxedo?!

One of my favourites, the Jellyfish!

I think my favourite animal of all is the

meerkat.  Guess where they were?

Underground.  Oh, well.

They had the coolest water wall which

there was no way to get a picture

of.  It had about two inch holes drilled into it.

The water was pure bubbles and  circled around 

all the holes.  It's hard to describe

but was very cool.  I tried to get a picture

but the water was  moving around so

fast that all I got was a blur.

Have a good Lord's day.

 

On Vacation

Dianne is leaving for vacation tomorrow.

Apparently my muse is over there helping

her pack.  The last time she went, my muse

went with.  I think it's quite selfish of

Dianne to allow my muse to tag along. 

So, this is the best card I could come up

with since she is MIA once again.

This card highlights a cross charm that Karen

sent me.  Isn't it pretty?  I sure wish I could get

the ribbon to stand straight up, but it's not

going to do that unless I tie a double knot

and I don't think that would look very good.

I probably won't blog tomorrow since I

am going to the Toledo Zoo with Nathan

and Crystal.  It  will be the first time I've gone

to a zoo without John.  Well, since we were

married anyway.  We enjoyed going to

the zoo and aquariums all over, Georgia,

Tennessee, Baltimore; where I rode a 

camel at the zoo.  The first trip we took

together was Chicago.  Shedd aquarium

is the second  best aquarium in the

country with Georgia at the top.  They are

there for a reason, too.  But the best 

by far was the very first time I got to

go to a walk through aquarium!  I was 

so excited.  It was at the mall of America

in Minnesota.  It was so amazing!  I will

never forget it.  The mall was great, but

the reason I wanted to go was for the

aquarium.  And the Rainforest Cafe.  If

you've never been to one of those, I

highly recommend it.  It was a lot of

fun. So, this will be a bittersweet trip

for me, missing John.  Crystal said he

will be there with us in spirit and I beleive

that.  I also believe he would not want

me to not enjoy things just because he can't

be there with me.  We loved sharing

zoos and aquariums together.  It was "our

thing".  But to stop going to them

because he can no longer be there

with me would not be honouring his

memory.  I'm looking forward to it.

I'll take some great pictures to put

on the blog next time.  Have a great

weekend!!

You are so very special

Neat sentiment, huh?  I was looking

for something small and came upon it.

I love how the card turned out in 

general.  I borrowed an idea from 

pinterest but totally changed it, so

no copying on this one!

Black, white and red just look so 

elegant together, don't they?

I was thinking more on the book I talked about

yesterday.  If you haven't read Randy Alcorn's

book "Heaven" it's a really great read. When I was

a kid I always thought Heaven would be

boring, that we would be bodiless spirits floating

around with nothing to do.  After reading his

book I started getting excited about heaven

-not that I'm ready to go any time soon...

But I think, and there's nothing Biblical about

this that I know of, we will be able to go under

the ocean without breathing apparatus, go

to distant planets and star systems, explore the

universe.  Why would He give us such

wonders if He hadn't intended us to experience

them?  He said He saw that it was good.  He

was talking about everything.  There are so many

things under the ocean that we cannot experience

in this life.  Sure, we can see some things in 

aquariums, but many of them most of us will never

be able to experience in real life.  Have you

ever seen a humpback whale in real life?  Me either.

What got me thinking about all this was the zoo

trip on Saturday with my son Nathan and DIL

Crystal.  I would love to run up to a tiger and

give it a big hug.  In Heaven we'll be able to do 

that.  The lion will lay down with the lamb, remember?

And what about the new Earth?  I think it's going to

be just like this one only perfect.  The colours

will be like we could never imagine in our sinful

minds.  We'll be able to race a cheetah and hug the

huge bears.  Maybe even take a nap nestled

against them!  Think about it.  How cool

would it be to take a nap next to a gorgeous

lion?  Well, anyway, I do have one more

picture to show you.  

 

Isn't he a cutie?!  Heath is 7 months old

now!  The time goes so fast.  He looks just

like his daddy.

 

Hacked again!

I got my credit card statement yesterday

and someone helped themselves

to $40. worth of starbucks reloading

the cards they already purchased on

my debit card.  Obviously they hacked

a site I bought something on because

you have to have the security code to

use it online which is how they did it.

It's quite aggravating.  Now I have

to wait 7-10 days for a new card.

I'm certainly not keeping that same one.

I hope they enjoyed themselves.  Jerks.

I got to go to the dentist yesterday, too,

so I'd say it was a red-letter day.  Not.

Sadly, my friend, Dianne, in North Carolina,

(same name, different Dianne) lost her mother

so this card is for her.  I can't begin to

imagine what it would be like to lose a parent.

Cody and Pam have both experienced it.

I know it will be very painful when my time

comes.  I also know that I will see them again.

I saw that Tim LaHaye died Monday.  So

I was looking at his books and one of them I'd

never heard of, but I'm planning on getting

it.  It's called "Life  in the afterlife:What

really happens after death.  I think it will

be very interesting.  To be truthful I am

scared to die.  Not what will happen after,

of that I am certain.  I will be with God

forever.  It's just the dying part I'm scared

of.  Watching John didn't help.  Although

his was a peaceful death, I had never

seen anyone die before and the mystery

of the body just stopping is a terrifying

thing to me.  My sister once told me

that God prepares the body to die and

I didn't understand it until then. I know I

will see him again some day, but until that

day I miss him so much.  For some reason

it has been harder the last week or so.

I'm not sure why since no anniversaries

are coming up.  I just feel very alone.

Sigh.  I'll get through it.  I always do.

How do people go through things like

that without the comfort of the Father?

One other card.  I didn't sleep much

last night.  I have always been a poor

sleeper.  But morning is when I

seem to be at my most creative, so

I was able to make two cards

I am satisfied with.

Swirly scribbles

I searched "swirly scribbles" which is

how I thought it would be spelled

and the search corrected me.  I'm

not sure which is right, spelled with an "e"

(swirley) or without.  At any rate, my friend, 

Karen, was kind enough to send me

a bunch of die cuts from this set.

Sorry about the bottom, I didn't notice

it so didn't crop the picture.  I have no

clue why the picture came out blue, the

paper is white and the scribbles are

red and black, but you get the idea.  So

here is the card I made and I'm not happy

with it.  Obviously I need some practice.

It's OK, I guess, but I think it's a

tad too busy.  Maybe I shouldn't

have added the top flower....

Last night was the last of 4 review 

classes.  We played hangman.  How, you

ask?  Well, you sign a letter to the person

and they write it down if you get it,

if not, you know the drill, head, arms, etc.

If you solve the word you have to sign it.

No talking.  It was fun!  We also did

hand shapes.  How many words start

with the "A" hand.  Not what starts 

with "A".  Lots of words (of course you

can't think of them right then) start with

that particular hand shape, like "girl"

"with" , "aunt" and "sorry".  So that

was fun and challenging.  The next

classes start in September.  If she

offers it, I want to retake either

second or third level.  I'm hoping

she will have a finger spelling

class again, too.  I am really slow at

that.  My fingers are short for

one thing and for another, they

just don't want to do what I want

them to.  I also can't read it that

well because people spell FAST!!

If you get the first and last letter

sometimes you can figure out the

word in context, but it's still difficult

if they are spelling quickly. I guess 

I will have to wait and see what 

she offers and what days.

 

I'm still looking for a home for Luna

and put an ad in the paper which should

have started on Sunday.  Please pray

with me that I can find her a GOOD

home!  Thanks.

 

Rainy days and Mondays....

Well, it's Monday at least.  I think

it rained last night at least a little

since the driveway looked  wet, but

it looks like we have zero chance

of any precipitation today.  Bummer.

It will probably be too hot to mow

but the up side is that no one else is

out there either.  

My muse was in fine form yesterday

and I managed to get a card done that

I really like.  

I was thinking maybe it would have looked

better to have the dragon fly and "thanks"

in another colour because the brown blend

 in, but any other colour would blend in, too,

unless it was stark white and that would

look really bad!  Maybe I should have

thought ahead and rearranged the tiles

a little differently.  Oh well.  I always see

things wrong with the card after I get done

with it!  Never mind me.  LOL

I also made a set of ATC's  (artist trading cards)

this morning.  These are backgrounds

that two other people will add art to.

Get your thinking cap on, Karen, these

are coming your way!!

Count your rainbows

Ignoring the true meaning of the

statement, I'd rather count my storms!

Sometime during the night it rained.

I'd rather have had a storm, but

I'll take the rain, too.  Now if it would

only cool down so I could mow the

lawn.  Early in the morning it is cool

enough, but I'm pretty sure my neighbors 

would not appreciate me mowing at

730 in the morning.  Besides, the grass

 would probably still be too wet.  One

of these days!

There was no way to get a good picture

of this card.  But you can see the sheen

from the perfect pearls.  After you dust

it on and then brush it off it leaves a sheen

near the clear ink under the stamp. 

There's a little too much on the right side

and I'm not sure why that  happened, but

it shows up much better in the picture than

in real life.

The sentiment is popped up over the

card.  I stamped it directly on the card

but the little girl's name didn't come

out all the way.  So I covered up my

mistake, naturally!  There are a lot

of stamps with children's sayings, names

and ages on them.  They are so cute,

especially the younger ones.  I think I

posted one a long time ago about having

a good day when you haven't hit or 

bitten anyone.

 

This one I'm not as fond of.  It didn't come

out the way I thought it would, but that 

happens.   Maybe it's too much brown and

I should have added a touch of colour.  I

might go back and try that, maybe a flower 

or butterfly.  If I do and I remember, I'll

post it again.

 

Happy Sunday worshipping God.

 

Batman junior

My grandson, Tyler, posted this

a few days ago.  I can't believe Heath

is six months already.  Things change

so much in six months.  Babies, life in

general.  There are times when I wish I

could turn back time.  (wasn't that a

song by Cher??!)  but God moves

us on for a reason.  He puts people

in our lives and then just that quickly

yanks them back out again.  No

explanation.  Sometimes we can

surmise the reasons behind His decisions

but we can never be sure, I guess.  We 

just have to go through the pain and

emerge on the other side better

because we listened to His voice.

So I guess the meaning of all this is

that when God removes someone from

your life don't go chasing after them.

He did it for a reason!  How did I

get from a sweet baby picture to all that??

Anyway, isn't he a cutie?  I am hoping

to get to meet him next month when 

I go to North Carolina to see my sister.

I haven't done spirelli in so long.  We called

it string art when we were younger....Everything

has to have a fancy name these days.  Those

were on a far larger scale, though.  This

is quick and easy.  No nails to pound

in a board, either.  I think it turned

out really well.  I'm not sure why I

got in the mood to do it, but I am afraid

you might be seeing a few more

like it.  Once I get stuck on something

like this it's hard to get out of it.

Speaking of stuck, I keep hearing "killing 

me softly" by Roberta Flack in my

head.  I haven't, to my knowledge, heard

that song in years.  So here's one for

all of you.  What if the hokey pokey really

IS what it's all about?  Now tell me you

don't sing that song in your head the

rest of the day!  Why should I be the

only one?  giggle.

Take two

This is the same basic card, just

two different ways.  I think I like

the portrait one better.  Sorry about

the paper clip but they were being

stubborn and wouldn't stay shut!

I think they turned out fairly well.  I had

to free hand the circle on the top mats

which I'm not good at, but I couldn't 

figure out any other way to do it.

I'm sure there's another way....I

just couldn't find it.

The oven only cost me 140. which was

way less than I was expecting.  I'd rather

have not had to do it at all but since

I eat a lot of pizza it was kind of needed!

Just a friendly reminder:  To those

of you who have a keurig, when putting a

cup under it, make sure it is RIGHT SIDE

up!  Fortunately I was only running

water through it to clean it after a cup

of salted caramel hot chocolate (YUM!)

and somehow the water was all contained

in the drip catcher.  I'm not sure how

that happened, but I was glad not to 

have a huge mess underneath .

I'm looking forward to having lunch

with Dianne this afternoon.  We are

going on the cheap and going to

Wendy's!  I think I'm going to opt

for a salad today.  I know they still

have zillions of calories, but not as

much ad a chicken sandwich and

fries would have!

It is what it is

That sums up how I feel right about

now.  I had to  have the fire department

here yesterday because I smelled

gas.  It happened once last week,

but a knob was a little askew so I 

just attributed it to that.  Not the problem.

He said the igniter needs to be replaced.

I have no idea how much that's going

to cost.  More than I want to spend, I'm

sure.  I looked online and the prices are

$20.-25.  Online, that is.  Even if it

is that cheap, you still have to figure in

a service call and labour.  Just after

I had to have my a/c worked on.  This

is when I miss John the most.  He would

have handled all this stuff and I 

wouldn't have to.  I hate being alone.

Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself

today, apparently.  I guess you can't

keep a smile on your face all the time.

At least I got a pretty card out of it.

Isn't my sweet little girl ladylike?  She was

eating a chew stick.  I couldn't resist

taking the picture.

I hope y'all have a better day than I'm expecting.

 

Good friends

This card came out exactly how I 

envisioned it.  That doesn't happen

too often!  When I was in school

I wasn't in the "in crowd".  But I had

friends (who were also  not in the 

"in crowd").  as kids we thought you 

could only have one best friend and the others

were only regular friends.  I think

that's wrong.  You can have more than one

 best friend.  Best friends are ones who

truly know your heart.  They are there

to cry with you, laugh with you and

sit with you when no words can be

spoken.  I have several best friends.

I know I can count on them whenever

I need to and I hope they know that

they can count on me as well.

I'm taking the birds to the vet today for

grooming.  They are both pretty sharp and

it's hard to maintain an upper hand

when the bird is so sharp you can't stand

to have her on your hand.  With Lili

you really have to have an upper hand

as she is very headstrong .  She knows what

she wants and she wants it.  Period.  Well,

sister, there are times when you just don't

get what you want.  We've had a few

discussions on this subject.  That's where 

the "beak occupier" AKA backscratcher

comes in.  Sometimes we need to keep

that big beak occupied so it doesn't

stray down to the hand.  She gnaws on me

frequently, but never hurts me.  Much.  LOL.

That's the nature of a scarlet macaw.  She

will clamp down when she doesn't want

to go in her cage for example.  But she

never draws blood and knows just

how much pressure she can put on me.

She's really a great bird with a headstrong

personality and we get along just fine.

Luna, on the other hand, drives me

crazy.  I didn't want another small bird

in the first place but John wanted her

so much.  When he was sick he said she

"comforted him".  Since he has died I 

have lost my tolerance for a lot of noise

and trust me when I say conures make a

LOT of noise.  Constantly.  So any bird

owners that read this blog, I know you

will think badly of me and that's OK.  She's

going to have to go to another home.  I can't 

take it anymore.  I will do my best to

make sure she goes to a home that knows

about conures and the noise that comes

along with them.  Again, this is the nature

of this particular bird and I understand

that, but I'm just not the right person for

her.  I'm sad about it, but it's also not fair

to her.  I'm hoping the vet can help me

with this, but if need be I will put an ad

in the paper and then screen out anyone

I think won't give her the best home possible.

If I get any takers that is.  Please help

me pray about this.  Thanks.

Our cross to bear

You know, you hear the phrase

"that's my cross to bear"

and it makes it sound like a

bad thing.  That's how people

mean it, too.  On Sunday (I know,

I'm a little slow) the pastor pointed

out something I'd never thought of

before.  Our cross to bear is the

things that bring Glory to God.

Witnessing, being there when someone

needs a friend, visiting someone

who is sick or shut in.  I never realized

that before.  But think about it-Christ's

cross to bear DID bring Glory to God.

Bearing our cross is a good thing,

not a bad thing.  I know I don't really

do much for the Kingdom.  I'd like to

be better at witnessing, but each of

us has things that we are better at than

others.  Witnessing is not a strong

point for me.  The body is made up

of many parts, both the human body

and the body of Christ.  You can't make

an arm take the place of a leg.  Each 

part has an important part to play.

So what is my cross?  I guess I'd

have to think about that for a while.

I'm sending this to Robin to send

to Mya's family.  On the inside it says

"thinking of you at this difficult time"

Doesn't that sound so feeble?  It's 

definitely  a difficult time.  What do

you say to someone who is suffering?

I just can't fathom the pain of losing

a child, especially one so young.

The fact is that I have been thinking

of them and praying for them.  It's a heartfelt

sentiment, but it just sounds hollow 

considering what they're going through.

I'm getting tired of making sympathy

cards.  I can't wait until there will

be no more sorrow, tears and death!

Thinking of you

This card didn't come out exactly as

I envisioned it, but I like it nonetheless.

Is that even a word?  Well, my computer

didn't flag it so I guess it is.

I love my distress inks!  And I'm so

glad that I went ahead and got this script

stamp.  I stamped it with versa mark (a wet

ink that you emboss with) and then embossed

it with clear powder.  Once that was cool

I inked it with several colours of distress ink

then rubbed a paper towel over the piece

to remove the ink from the script.  Remember

when we used to do that with crayons

in elementary school?  Voila!  Resist.  I love

how it looks.  The sentiment is popped

on the piece although it's kind of hard

to tell.

Yesterday I noticed that the garage looked

a little dark and sure enough the light

was out.  So I went to take the bulb

out and it broke off.  This morning, after

making sure with my brother in law that

the house wouldn't explode if I turned some

breakers off (hey, I've never done this stuff

before!!) I got it out easy peasy which 

was surprising since I thought it was going

to give me a hard time.  For some stupid

reason, the previous owners never put

any sidewalk or stepping stones to the

front door and although we talked about

it, we never got around to it either.  The

garage door is right in front of the driveway

so we just use that.  The only people who

come to the front door are people selling

something so I know I don't want to talk

to them.  To be polite I open the door

and tell them through the glass that I

don't want to talk to them.  I mean, it's

only right.  I don't want people to think

I've been brought up in a barn, after all!

Imagine

I guess I should have waited to put

this card on facebook because most

of you have already seen it, but oh, well.

I don't have anything else ready, lol.

I love how it turned out!  I don't use

this mesh stamp very often.  I should.

I have to admit I pretty blatantly 

copied it from pinterest.  Well, I added

my own flair of course, but the core

idea came from there.

Many mornings I can smell the baking

bread coming from the McDonalds bakery

nearby.  It's one of the best smells in the world!

This was not one of those

mornings.  It smelled like someone had

cleaned out their barn.  Since we are 

not exactly in a rural area, I'm not sure how

the smell wafted here, but  I'd rather

have the baking bread smell!

My garage light went out and when

I went to take out the bulb it broke in

the socket.  I look at the breaker box and

it lists the garage as #15- that's NUMBER

15, not HASHTAG.  When in the world did

the pound/number sign become a hashtag

and why is everything hashtag this and hashtag

that?  Anyway, I digress.  I look at the

breaker box to turn off the electricity so I

can get the bulb bottom out of the socket.
As I said, it lists it as #15.  The problem is 

that there are FIVE #15's!!!  What will I

do?  What I always do when I have  an

issue such as this.  Call my brother in law

Larry.  Maybe I can get them to play some

cards tonight, too.  Laurel and I need to

redeem ourselves.  He's worse than John

when it comes to winning.  Or losing for

that matter.  If he loses he says, "Well, I'll

let you have that one".  If he wins he says , "You 

tried your best" or "poor card management"

(he borrowed that one from John).  Very 

condescending and infuriating. I mean, it's

all in good fun, but we are all highly

competitive when it comes to cards and try

to set each other whenever we can.  I was

up to phase six (the card game is phase 10)

with 30 points and he set me 6 times in

a row last time we played!  I need to get even

somehow!  I'll let you know how it turns

out in the next episode....

Finally! Balloons!

As usual, it was too windy for

the balloons to launch, but they

inflated!  We watched them do

that which was so fascinating

and we were as close as they allowed

us which was pretty close.  After dusk

they did the glow.  That was so fun!

We also talked to one of the pilot's wives

while they were inflating and she 

answered questions that dad had so

that was really neat.

Those things are HUGE!!! The person you see with

the rope was holding the top as it went up.  Each

balloon had at least one person doing that.

As the balloon would rise it took them for quite

a wild run!  One of the questions I had was

what did they do with the ropes in flight.  The pilot's

wife said that if they were going to fly he would

shout "bring it in, bring it in" and they would

anchor the ropes to the basket so they didn't

get caught in trees, power lines, etc.  It was

so awesome to see!!

 

I'm not super enamoured with this 

card, but I wanted to play with the daisy

embossing folder.  What I intended to

do (which I don't think would have made

much difference) is to pop it up with dimensional

tape.  I forgot to do that, naturally.  But it's an

OK card, I guess.  I have a much

nicer one to show, but I wanted to

put up pictures of the balloons first.

 

 

A temporary goodbye

It is with a broken heart that  I  must tell you Mya

has gone Home to her Savior.  I've never met her

or her family, and met  her grandfather only once

last year, yet I share in their pain and sorrow.  The

Bible tells us in Romans 12:15 we are to:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

And in Job 2:13 it says:
Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
 

When part of the body dies, we all suffer. 
  

 

I remember a woman in a grief 

group I attended saying that she didn't understand that
dying meant dead.  As strange as that sounds, I realized
that I felt the exact same way but had never been
able to put it into words.  When we experience a slow
death from cancer, sometimes we wish their pain
would just go away.  But we don't want them to die!
 They are still there with us. 
When they die it is a shock  How do you
process something like that, especially when
it involves a child?  God has mercifully given us
an  anesthetic so we are able to process our
pain little by little.  As we experience the pain
of our loss He is with us each step of the
way with His comforting touch.  As Believers
we know that our loved ones aren't truly
"lost" though. We know exactly where they
are; with the Savior.  But that doesn't take away
our pain.  Jesus understand this.  He also
understand when sometimes our pain turns
to anger.  My sister once told me that God
"has big shoulders"  He understands our anger
and that it is only a result of pain, not the loss
of  Faith.  We aren't angry at God, only
the unfairness of it all.  We know that our
 Heavenly Father understands all these emotions
because He experienced them as well. 
What better way to understand than to become like us.
Please continue to pray for Mya's family.  They
will need the support of the body as they
travel through these uncharted waters.
 

Today belongs to you

Technically it belongs to God,

but our decisions are ours,

so we need to make good ones.

Like Paul said, I know whats right, but

I do what's wrong anyway, like

buying that candy bar when the

doctor says I have gained weight...

Well, OK, Paul didn't talk about

a candy bar, but it they had had

candy bars in those days I'm

sure he would have bought one too!

I like how this turned out.

Add a little grunge and it really

spices up the card. Those stamps

and the die set for the flowers were

really a good buy.  Kind of expensive

but I'm getting a lot of mileage 

out of  them.

It rained a lot last night, all at once.

Lots of wind and I found some 

sizable branches in the front yard.

So if it warms up a little and the

grass dries I'll have to go out

and mow the lawn.  I praise God

every time I mow, that I am strong

enough to get out there and do it.

I know people who would love

to be able to do simple things

easily, like my mother, not to mention

physical things such as mowing the

grass and I am reminded of it every 

time I do it.  So, thank you, God,

for being able to mow the lawn-

and for the warmth.  I'd rather mow

than shovel snow any day!!!

Mighty Mya

Mya's family posted yesterday

that everyone is calling her 

"mighty Mya".  

She is hanging in there.

I'm still praying for a miracle for

her and I hope everyone who

reads this will pray for that as well!

My grandson, Sammy, has a birthday

coming up so I thought I'd try this

monster card.  It was supposed to

say "have a monster of a birthday"

on the outside but I forgot to write

that, so on the inside I wrote, "have

a monster of a day".  I'm not happy 

with it.  You can't see the teeth very

well.  I think he'll be more interested in the
money inside anyway.
I know the sentiment looks crooked

but that's just how the card was tilted

when I took the photo.  Surprisingly

it's fairly straight!

I ordered this bumper magnet yesterday

Vote parrot party!!   He's the right
bird for the job!  The captions they

put on Felix's pictures are hilarious

He's my candidate!

A trip to the "beauty parlor"

B'Elanna just got groomed.  Isn't

she purty?!  I have them give her a 

"puppy cut" since it's hot out and I

don't want to mess with her long hair. 

When we first got her we just had

her trimmed and I combed her every

day.  That got old fast.  With a

great deal of maltese in her, her hair

can grow quite long.  So I keep her

hair short all year round, but I'm

sure she appreciates it most in the

summer.

My mother has a friend who just lost

her daughter to alzheimers  disease.

Here is the scary part.  She was

only 58 which is how old I will be

next month!  How sad is that?

So my mom called and said that

her friend had always admired my

cards and asked if I would send her

one.  While trolling on pinterest

I saw a verse right at the top and I

am pretty sure God put it there

for me to use.

Isn't it a great verse?  I offset the circle in 

the middle so there would be room

for the flowers and I think it balances nicely.

New phone and raspberries

I have had problems with

my phone since day one.  Cody

says it's my fault as I have had

trouble with phones before, but I

think I just got a dud.  So I got a

new one yesterday.  More problems.

I can send but  not receive texts.  After

searching online I found that I'm not the

only one who has had the same problem 

with this phone. I removed the battery,

put it back in and voila, it works.  I'm

convinced John is haunting me since

he told me I couldn't have a smart phone.

So....now I'm going to have to take it

back and see if I can find someone

knowledgeable to move the SD card

from the old phone to the new one.

I don't even know where it is!  But

I will when it's over.  I'm learning

all kinds of things that John always

took care of.  Not that I want to,

but he never would teach me anyway.

He always said he could do it faster.

Besides, he wasn't a very patient person.

But then, neither am I.

In order to show the photos today I

had to take them on the old phone.  It's

still good for one or two things.  If I

can get the screen to turn on.  That was

the problem.  The phone was on but

nobody was home.  Frustrating.  I'd

have to take out the battery and reboot

it.  But I do have pictures to show.

Dianne brought me some more raspberries

yesterday.  The golden ones are about gone,

but she managed to get some for me.

Guess what I'm having for breakfast?!

I made another triple time card.  This time

with a much easier stamp.  I think I got

it lined up, but it's still challenging.  I'm

thinking I should have used another colour

mat, though.  It doesn't show up as

well as I thought it would.  Plan ahead.

I'm not good at that.  Obviously.

Wow, it looks better online than it does in

person as far as getting it lined up goes.

I went back to my old church here in Fremont.

Friends have been asking me to come

for a visit and hear their new pastor.  The

church has grown!!!! And it is on fire!!!

I was so happy to see that.  They have

got lots of children now and it was just

full to the brim with people.  I don't think

I've ever seen it that full before.  Even on 

a holiday and that's when most people

go to church.  I miss the church, but

I love learning to sign in church as well

as classes and I think I'm where 

the Lord wants me right now.

Triple time

Before I get to the card, dad and

I thought  it was probably too windy

yesterday for the balloons to launch

and after being there at 530 am, decided

not to go.  The wind died down and they

launched and we missed it.  We were

both so disappointed.  Oh, well.  There are

other balloon shows this summer.  One is in 

Montpelier, Ohio later this month which

is about half an hour from here.

No news on Mya.  The last post from

her family was that the doctor said,

"it won't be long". As far as I know 

she is still fighting.  I was so proud

of John for fighting as hard as he did.

Sometimes, though, the body just

gets tired.  I still am praying for

healing for her, but I'm sure her parents

have turned her over to God and

will accept His will no matter how

hard that will be. Songs really touch

our hearts and say things that we

might want to say but just can't.  One

song that got me through was by Plumb

called "Need you now"  I would listen

to that song and sob.  But I always knew

He was there even if I couldn't feel

Him through my pain.  My prayer for 

Mya's family is that He makes Himself

known in such a way that there is no

doubt He is right there in the room with

them.  Peace that passes understanding.

Keep praying.  If God decides to take

Mya Home, the family will still need 

so much prayer.  It's hard to be left

behind.  We know they are in paradise

and that is a great comfort, but

it doesn't take away our pain.

This is a triple time card.  It is

so hard to get lined up sometimes

and I'm not sure I did it very well,

but I guess it's close enough!  Some

people set the middle one  off center

and it looks really cool.  I think I tried

it once and it didn't work very well

but maybe I will try it again. I love

how it looks, but it's a pain to get lined

up with a stamp like this.  If

I were to use a different stamp with just

a line drawing it might be a bit

easier.  Maybe I will try it for 

tomorrow's post.  

This is the day the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be happy 

in it.  

-Psalm 118:24