Getting It Together

So, wow here it is the middle of January and a New year has begun. Happy New year everyone. I have been doing a lot of personal work with my life and am ready to focus. That is if I can. I have begun to be more organized and really want to focus on a few things. 1st I love my beading and card making and magnet making and any other thing that suites my fancy when the inspiration hits. Thanks to my good friend Tracy I am now considered to be creative. I will load up my "Etsy Store" soon and will post the link again if you are interested check back in a week. Tracy inspired me to bring out the creative side of me and it has been wonderful. Recently I made lanyards for several ladies at the Beaverton School District and have two more to drop off tomorrow. I have included pictures. I hope they like them. Rachel gets to help out with most of my projects so this is a nice bonding thing with us.

Second, I have taken on "Event Planning" How cool is that. An "Event Planner" Another friend of mine that is the General Manager for the Jewish Community Center here in Portland, see link http://www.oregonjcc.org/index.asp, has asked me to coordinate a healthfair for the Center and her staff. The date is set for April 6, on Sunday, from 1 to 5 or noon to 5. It will be a lot of fun and I am hoping you all will come by.

Third, my friend Loren was in a car accident on Dec. 23 rd and is now in a nursing home. He is 43. See link for picture http://www.katu.com/news/12799297.html. Lucky for him his core and brain were saved but his arms and legs need a lot of rehab. My kids and I go up to see him and Larry gets to go too. It's fun for all of us. But probably not that fun for Loren to be in there. :(

Fourth are my fitness goals. I am determinded to get to a level 3 in my tennis. Without that it is hard to find people to play with and I have been in level 2 classes for over a year. I am frustrated with that and need to move on. I took lots of semi private classes this past December and am now in a class that is 1.5 hours long Tues./Thurs. I love this thing called spinning and go to classes at 24 hour fitness on Mon., Wed. and Fri. at 10am. They are really hard and I love it because I come out of the spinning class just drenched with sweat.

Well there you have it. This of course is all in my spare time because Rachel has started basketball, Austin has started Classic Spring Soccer and yes I still have laundry, groceries, dinners to make and generally hold down the fort.

Hope

Hope! That is my theme today. I think I just might hang one of these in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and my work station to remind me to hope.

I have been working like crazy trying to open my on-line shop. The other day I came up with a new idea. Cocktail Napkins with chain and charm. The chain-charms can be used as wine charms or hung from a purse or what ever other creative idea comes to mind. Check them out on my on-line shop. These make a great hostess gift or just a little small something to let that person know you love them,

The Fire

Austin's team "The Fire" takes State in Soccer. Austin started playing with the Fire when he was 9 years old. At that time they weren't quite the Fire yet because they were in a development program. It has been a true blessing to watch these boys go from little boys to young men. They are all fine boys too. Polite and respectful. We have been blessed by having Austin on this team. For more pictures go to fire07statechamps.bloger.com.

My Online Shop!

Hello Everyone! I started my own on line shop. After years of collecting sterling silver and restoring, collecting beads, beads and more beads, I am plum full of to much stuff. In order to support my hobby/habit I have decided to start selling. In my shop you will see a variety of items. I love all things pretty, fun and spiritual. I love charms, swarovski crystals and real gem stones. I have lots of everything. I love to make things for people that I know. It really helps me make a connection to others.

For those of you that I see there will not be a charge for the shipping. I will add a small handling charge of 20 cents and 3.5% of the item. These are my charges from Etsy. Etsy is a fun place to look around, it is where artists sell. Have fun in it. My friend's store is tracylovespink.etsy.com. Tracy has been my inspiration in helping me find my creative brain and I am very grateful for her presence in my life. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Just one more thing, if you see something and want a custom made piece, please let me know.

Hey Rachel, get that camera down here so I can take a sniff!
Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!
Okay now picture play is over.
Nap time begins! What a life :0)

Rachel's 1st Communion

She did it, worked hard and now she has received the body and blood of Christ. I am so proud of her.

Arise and Shine

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come! and the glory of the Lord is Risen upon you.

This is a picture one of my friends took one morning, about a week ago. She had a few kids in her car anticipating the day ahead. Suddenly a bright light from her review mirror caught her attention. She looked and was amazed at how spiritual she felt about what she saw. She stopped the car and pulled out her camera from her purse. With a click, this is what she saw.

On Sunday nights a few of us, middle school moms, get together and pray for the young people that are attending youth group from our church. While reading a few passages from the Bible she heard one and said that is what I need to put with my picture.

It is very difficult to slow down and hear God sometimes. I am grateful for my friend that she did and has shared her experience with us!

Beauty in a Rainy Day

It has been raining here forever. We haven't had a break in a long time. Sometimes you just have to search out the beautiful things in life. My Mother-in-law gave her two daughters and daughters in law bulbs of these pretty amerylis during Thanksgiving weekend. By Christmas only two out of four of us had planted them. Oops. I am not much of a planter. This past summer I went for fake flowers. The curb appeal was just fine for me. So not being a planter myself I didn't plant mine. When she visited for X-mas I tried to hide the bulb package in hopes she wouldn't remember. It only took her about 30 min. and she remembered. She planted if for me and late in Feb. this baby popped open. It truly is beautiful! I wonder how long it will last. I have taken up shop in my dining room/living room so I have it in there now.

FAMILY

While in Phoenix I visited family. My sister came from the snow and my Uncle Chip stoped by since he lives in Phoenix. After the game Jami, Chip, Chip's wife Colleen and I went back to our hotel room to discuss rasing teenagers. Chip and Colleen have three teenage boys, Jami has two and I have one. We laughed til we cried. Can't wait to do it again. There just insn't anything like getting together with family and talking about stuff.

Soccer in Phoenix

So it all starts out with a friendly game of World cup in the pool. See coach smiling. See the boys smiling.

Then it gets serious. See coach not smiling. See boys not smiling. Hey whos' that boy not listening!

And we are off. Lost 3 won 1. Had more fun than won games. Good team experience. And great sun!

Peace and Love

Peace and love. Two of the main characteristics of happiness. I didn't say Joy because you can still be in a place where you are not experiencing peace and love but still feel joy. But, happiness comes from being at peace. When you are at peace with yourself, you are free to love.

On a clear day we can see forever!

Here it is the link to our trip we won. I still can't believe it but now it is booked. We are going over Thanksgiving. My hubby thought that would be good for his work and we are hoping that the Carter family will take care of our kids. It is an all inclusive beach front room. I still can't believe this happened to me.

http://www.riu.com/palacecabosanlucas/

This is Little Miss Bossy Boots! Her name is Tekee, not sure how to spell it but doesn't matter you can just call her Bossy Boots and she is just fine. She spent the weekend with us and my dog Larry was stalked the whole time she was here. She comes in Fri. morning and immediatly goes to Larry's toy box to take out and find his favorite toy. Once found, she horded it and when he actually tried to take it back, she sassed him so loud, he came running to me with his tail between his legs.

When she figured out that his spot was on the love seat she took that too. And when I put his food down it was all over but the shouting. She thought that was hers too! Then I discovered if I put her food down and she wasn't hungry she would sit in front of her bowl and look at me like "please take this away, I can't watch Larry if I have to watch my bowl" With this new discovery she spent a lot of time laying in front of her bowl. Hee Hee Hee!

Sunny!

Were going to Mexico! During spring break we are going to Mexico. All of us! Some friends of ours are there with their three kids living in the Baha. We are going to visit them. I guess it is a true little Mexican town and we are renting an apartment on the beach for $350/week. This is going to be a fun family vacation!

Then I bought one ticket to our church's school auction. It was a $10 ticket so I only bought one. I won the Grand Prize a trip to Cabo San Lucus. Flights for two, and an all inclusive resort on the beach for 7 nights. Now that is going to be fun. And we are not taking the kids. We have to take it between May and December of this year. We are thinking maybe over Thanksgiving. Yahoooooooooo!

Lucky!












Here is the link to a celebration of Patrick Good. This boy has been on my mind for weeks now. http://web.mac.com/boogiebear/iWeb/Patrick%20Good/Patrick%20Good.html
What a blessing his eternal life is. For me, when I watched the video I began to pray. To pray for, not only Patrick's eternal life, but also to pray for my own two children. May I never forget what a true blessing children really are.

The New Artist

Honored.

What? You have got to be kidding me you say. It's true I am using my gifts that God has given me and today I launched my 2 nd "His Story" bracelet, Patricks story, a story about a beautiful boy that battled cancer and is now an angel. See it at www.patrickstory.blogspot.com

It is a project I have been working on for weeks and it has brought me great faith. Wish me luck as this project takes off!