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.