No balloons aloft

Well, my dad and I have gone out  last

night and this morning and it's just been

too windy for them to launch the hot

air balloons.  They're going to try again

tonight but I'm not sure if we will go or

not.  I've never seen a hot air balloon

in person before  so I'm bummed.  Last

night, though, they had two sky divers.

By the time I realized they were on the 

way down I was only able to get one picture

It was very cool to see in person.

The flag was flying on the way down

but I was so busy watching that I

didn't think to take the picture until he 

was nearly  on the ground.

This is a spotlight technique although

it looks much better

on a larger image or maybe I

should have made the circle smaller.

On the inside it says:

"May love surround you

May faith sustain you

May hope encourage you

day by day"  I like how it

turned out.

Our Hope

I know I've spoken about my sister Robin's

pastor in NC and the struggle of his precious

6 year old granddaughter, Mya.

The doctors have told them that short

of a miracle, which we know our God is

capable of performing,  there is

nothing more they can do for her.  They

are keeping her comfortable.  She's been in

quite a bit of pain recently.  My heart breaks

for these people.  I cannot imagine anything

worse than losing a child.  When Nathan

was in the hospital at 2 weeks old, another

child died while I was in the room with

him.  I watched her parents grieve.  I

just can't fathom the pain.  Prayers for

this little girl and her family are greatly

appreciated.  This card is in honour

of Mya.  I've been told that her countenance

and courage have been great testimony

to her caregivers as well as her personal

testimony of Christ her Savior.  At 6 years

old, this little girl may lead others to

Christ through her suffering and death.

While this doesn't take away the pain

her family and friends feel, it gives her

life meaning.  We know that if and when

Mya dies she will be with her Savior.

I always am reminded that our pain in

these situations is shared by and experienced

as well, by Jesus.  His example speaks

loudly in two words: 'Jesus wept'  (John 11:35)

Jesus knew perfectly well that He was going

to raise Lazarus from the dead.  And yet He

wept.  He understands our pain and goes

through it with us.  I don't know how I would

have gotten through John's death without 

Him and I know that Mya's family has and will

lean heavily on the Lord.   I have to admit

that I don't understand the death of

anyone, least of all a child.  I have told

God over and over that this is not fair.  But

none of us gets a vote.  We are here on

Earth to do God's will and when our mission

is accomplished, no matter how old we are,

He will call us Home.  Please pray for Mya

and her family.  We are all praying for a

MIRACLE!

Sympathy

Yesterday I was at the church food

pantry.  I used to go to this church

in Fremont and still love everyone. 

Every other week I take rubber band

bracelets I've made to them and they

pass them out to the kids who come

-and the adults, too!  I found out that

one of the ladies there lost her husband

just two weeks ago.  She didn't know

how to get a hold of me.  She used

to be my prayer partner when I was

mentoring a child at Fremont elementary

through a program called "kids hope".  It 

was fulfilling, but we had trouble with some of

the teachers so unfortunately it ended.

I am supremely happy with how this

card turned out and it came easily-once

I got the measurements right.  I had a little

bit of trouble.  I miss my math whiz.  John

was a math genius-truly.  He did algebra in

pen in middle school and once came up

with a process that the teacher said was

wrong until he found it in a college text

book.  To be fair, John thought he was

a genius in all areas, which wasn't true,

but you couldn't convince him. Every time

someone didn't know something, we'd

say, "go ask John, he knows everything"

Lol.  But in math, he really was a genius.

They had a show on years ago for child

geniuses and the math problems he 

got before they did.  I was proud of him. 

 I was careful not to stroke his ego too much,

though.  he had enough of a big head

as it was!!!  I say this with great love! 

I got the test results back from my

cholesterol test .  You can view your

chart online now.  My cholesterol

has come down!  yay!  I see the doctor 

later this month and I know he will

be happy with the results.

I had an interesting morning yesterday.

I looked at my bank statement online and

found 4 charges to starbucks...wait for it

Yesterday and the 4th....here it comes... in

Pennsylvania and Washington DC.  I'm

pretty sure I wasn't there, not to mention

that I've never been in a starbucks to my

knowledge.  Someone had my debit

card number and undoubtedly was

ordering gift cards online where you

don't have to have a pin.  Needless to say

it is cancelled and when they post (it looks

like two of them hadn't as of yesterday) I 

will be reimbursed.  Probably a skimmer

on a gas pump or something similar.  Who 

knows, someone from Walmart could have

grabbed it.  I doubt that, but you never

know.  Walmart is my bank.  I spend

a lot of time and money there!  But it is

all good, I got it straightened out.  I kept

feeling this little nudge to check it and

I'm sure that was God.  Thank you, Lord!

Life is a circus

Isn't that the truth?  Sometimes

you just have to laugh or you sit

down and cry and who wants to

do that?  I've done my fair share in 

last three years, losing my birds, John,

Neelix, and another bird.  I'm tired

of crying.  Of course, I cried yesterday

because I received Sadie's memorial

stone.  I found a company that makes

memorial river rocks.  I couldn't

believe what an amazing job they did 

for only 35.00.  Hopefully I will

never have the opportunity to use

them again.

If I wrote about this before, forgive me.  The

reason I called her Green Girl is because 

when I first got her, Cody was 7 and asked

me several times, "what is that green bird's name

again?"  So I started calling her green girl.

I thought it was nice to have her nickname

on the stone.

And in keeping with the title of the post,

here is the card.  Inside it says, "life

is a circus".  I think it's kind of hard to

see, but the front mat is embossed.  I'm

thinking I should have done a pattern

that was more visible, but I didn't

want it to be the focal point.  The ribbon

knot may be gone before I mail it because

it doesn't want to stay on well.  I shouldn't

have used such a slippery ribbon.

Fingers crossed it's going to rain!

It's looked like it for two days, but

today (supposedly) it's predicted.

Okay, so the chances are small, but

I can hope, can't I?!

Playing with perfect pearls

Before I show the card, I have

to say I am very disappointed in

my neighbors.  They used up all 

their fireworks on Sunday night and

all I heard last  night was a few booms

here and there.  Oh, well.

The panel was inked with perfect pearls

ink which is a wetter ink than the usual

ink pads.  Then I dabbed on the perfect

pearl powder.  I wish the picture could

show the shine it has.  When you brush off

the excess powder it leaves not only the

image but also the entire paper shiny.   it kind

of shimmers, actually.  It's very pretty

in person.  All  you need to do to set it

is mist some water on it.  Some people say

to mist it in the air and then wave the

piece through it, but I haven't had very

good results with that so I just hold the mister 

as far away from the paper as I can get

it and it doesn't really get the paper all

that wet but sets the powder nicely.

I was going to put a sentiment on the front

but I thought it would detract from the

panel.  I always feel like I should

have a sentiment on the front, but

normally, my cards are notecards

and most of the time you don't find

sentiments on notecards.

On Star Trek the next generation, the

character Guinan once said that the worst

thing one person could do to another was

not live up to their expectations.  I have

had that experience as I'm sure all of

us had at one point or another.  I was

praying about signing the other day 

and was reminded of the fact that we

don't have to worry about living up to

God's expectations because all He

expects of us is to do our very best.

I talked about Coleen interpreting 

on Sunday.  I have been going to the

band practice on Saturday and trying

to learn to sign the songs.  I've told

God that I can't keep up and I will 

do the best I can.  Some songs I can

keep up with, some I can't, but I still

try.  I'm still not sure what He has

in mind for me learning signing, but

I'm enjoying the learning process and

that's enough for now.

Happy Independence Day!

My neighbors celebrated last night.

Well, to be fair, they've been celebrating

all weekend, but last night was louder than

the other evenings and the guy across

the street had fireworks that actually

went up and sprayed like the ones you see

when you go out and watch them.  I'm

kind of burned out on fireworks, having

seen the same displays over and over, but

when they're visible from your front yard,

why not watch?  The best fireworks I've

ever seen was when I lived right outside

of Las Vegas, in a town called Henderson.

It was small then....Anyway, Las Vegas did

a wonderful job and we could see them

from our house!

I'll be surprised if any of my neighbors

have any fireworks left for tonight which

is the REAL independence day, but they

may surprise me.  Last night I had a

pretty bad headache so I pretended they

were thunder and went right to sleep.  

John would have called the cops.  He

was just that kind of guy, LOL.  I mean, 

they were shooting them off well after midnight

but I don't care.  It's only one time

a year.  Except for new years eve.

Except for Sonny's birthday.  Except

for The lady who had triplets.

Except for...except for...I'm just kidding.

My neighbors are pretty reasonable.

Yesterday my son, Nathan, his wife, Crystal

and Bri all came over.  I guess Ethan was

busy with teenager things.  We all had

a great visit.  I thought about taking a

picture of all of us then got distracted.

I have a script stamp but it wasn't a full 

page so when I saw this one about a month

ago I jumped on it.  It didn't hurt that I 

had a 40% off coupon.  I just love the

saying on the picture.  It's so true.  God never

told us anything would be easy.  In fact,

He told us it would be hard, but that

He would help us through it.  If things

were easy we wouldn't need God. 

Yesterday my friend, Coleen,  interpreted

for the church service.  She's been signing 

for 4 years, but even so, that's a scary thing. 

 She did wonderfully, but said she kept wanting

to switch places with Pam.  Pam interprets

for a living at a school and has been doing

it for 25 years.  I'm so proud of Coleen for

resisting Satan and continuing.  We really have

to listen to the "Voice of Truth" as the song

by Casting Crowns says.  Satan does his 

best to drown that voice out, but we have

to tune him out and tune into God.  Not

so easy sometimes when the hard

times come.  And that's when we

need Him the most.  How tempting it

is to just do it alone.  I don't know about

you, but every time I try I fall flat on

my face.  I don't think I'll ever be

ready to sign for the church.  Right now 

I'm lucky to keep up with the choruses

of most of the songs.  But if I am ever

called to do it I hope I will listen to

His voice and trust Him to get me through.

Inky fingers

I've been trying several techniques with

alcohol inks this morning.  Definition

of alcohol inks: (borrowed from a site)

Alcohol ink is specifically formulated to create interesting patterns and effects on a number of craft projects. The acid-free ink is permanent and dries fairly quickly. It is used to produce a shiny, metallic background or finish. Alcohol inks adhere easily to a variety of materials, many of which are often difficult to apply colorants to. While glossy paper provides better results, this ink can also be applied to acrylic, plastic, metal, foil, glass, and many non-porous surfaces.

Nothing I did this morning turned out 

like the tutorial and pictures.  I finally

gave up and went with the tried and

true method which is putting several

drops of ink, more than one colour

usually, and a little blending solution

on an applicator.  Then I "pounced"

it on some glossy paper.  I also

dropped some more

blending solution on the card stock

after the pouncing. The results

are different every time and usually

quite beautiful although I had some

difficulty this morning.  Maybe because

I woke up at 430 am?  I'd really like to

stop doing that, but my clock is off again,

apparently.  So here is the card

that I ended up making:

Now that I'm seeing it on the computer

it almost looks like the bokeh technique, but

it doesn't have any standard ink on it.  I

wonder if that would work on glossy paper?

Probably not.  The ink would probably

rub right off.  I don't have any white staz-on

which is made to stay on slippery surfaces.

Today would have been John's and my

17th anniversary.  Happy Anniversary,

John.  I imagine he's too busy trying to

run things in Heaven to think about trivial

things such as an anniversary that never

happened.  But I remember and it's a

bittersweet day.