Congrats Lana!!!!

I would love for you to go visit a wonderful blog by Lana http://sweetpeaspapercreations.blogspot.com/ . She is a very creative cricut board member(the cricut board is my absolute favorite place to visit).
www.cricut.com
Lana is offering some wonderful bloggy candy in honor of becoming a design team member for regina over at http://reginascutterdesigns.blogspot.com/
Enjoy all the crafy goodness.
Blessings
Jennie

Handmade Cards

I love to papercraft, scrapbooking and card making are my passion. I have come across a wonderful blog, at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/2008/10/fall-card-paper-crafting-thursday.html
Kelli has a wonderful blog full of inspiration for all areas of your home. Its such a wonderful blog to stop by and discover all the goodness. She host a meme every thursday and I have been watching for a few weeks as Im not one to share my things Im a little shy that way. But decided to give it a try this week. I hope you enjoy and make sure to stop by Kelli's.
Blessings
Jennie

Christmas is on its way!!!

Like it or not its true. Christmas is on its way. I LOVE christmas time, the meaning, the songs,the lights, the scents, the baking and so much more. Im always a little frazzled towards the end. So this year I found a great site and am so enjoying reading and gettting plans into action.
If you are wanting some organization to your christmas to do list take a look here
http://organizedchristmas.com/

Blessings

Farmers Market

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my favorite time of year is fall. And lately I have been sad that im missing out on the colors and smells I was use to prior to moving to Florida. Then today we had to run errands and one was to stop by a store at the mall and pick up something my son had on order.As we are entering outside is a mini farmers market set up, so I just had to pop over I love going to farmers markets especially in the fall. The picture I have shared is my lil goodies I purchased that totally made my heart smile, some wonderful zucchini squash, cucumber, peaches, tomatoes and a lil pumpkin for decor. Then to make things better as we are checking out we were able to find out they have a permanent location close by and of course fun festivities for halloween---sooooooooooo yay again we will definitely be visiting there.

Granddaughter Goodness!!!!

I had to share the art work my darling granddaughter sent me to hang on my refrigerator, it arrived addressed to Grandma(happy tears already) and when I opened it was pure joy, I could feel my smile inside and out.
Then my daughter sent me the picture of lil miss kylee q(a lil name I call her)after she got into some stickers I had sent for her potty reward. However she got them and decided to make herself a walking sticker book, and was even saying cheese in the picture.
It is so hard to be so far away, so these things help to ease that pain.

Have a happy day
Jennie

New habits.............

Today I'm starting a few things that I hope will become habits. The first thing is a gratitude journal. I have heard Oprah talk about them and some Christian blogs have mentioned them as well.

Researchers studying those who kept gratitude journals concluded:


At the end of the 10 weeks, participants who’d kept a gratitude journal felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the future than participants in either of the other two conditions. To put it into numbers, according to the scale we used to calculate well-being, they were a full 25 percent happier than the other participants. Those in the gratitude condition reported fewer health
complaints.

People who kept a gratitude journal reported feeling more joyful, enthusiastic, interested, attentive, energetic, excited, determined, and strong than those in the hassles condition. They also reported offering others more emotional support or help with a personal problem— supporting the notion that gratitude motivates people to do good. And this was not limited to what they said about themselves. We sent surveys to people who knew them well, and these significant others rated participants in the gratitude group as more helpful than those in the other groups.


This information was shared from http://aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things.html
which has the link to where the information is from.

Secondly I'm starting my 1000 gifts list--which is basically an ongoing list of those things I'm thankful for. I will be posting this in my sidebar as I get it going. I want to try and complete this by Christmas.

If you decide to either or both of these leave me a comment and let me know.

Happy journaling and list making,
Jennie

Bloggy Candy

Enfys is a very talented paper crafter that is from the http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/ which is my absolute favorite place on the web to go for my paper crafting with my cricut.Please go check out her blog and wonderful creations. She is celebrating 65,000 hits on her blog with some wonderful bloggy candy. The hits are no surprise as her creations are always a treat to check out.So head on over to:
http://going-buggy.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting
Jennie

My Daybook: First Edition

Thanks to my dear friend over at At Shore's End
who directed me to this wonderful site The Simple Woman
I thought I would participate in this meme.



Outside my window is partly cloudy, and muggy, however Am enjoying watching the neighbors peacocks strut around our yard, they are so pretty.

I am thinking about all the inspiration and determination I have seen on the Olympics so far. And

I am thankful that God has blessed me with a husband,children and granddaughter who are the inspiration in my life.

From the kitchen I'm preparing a yummy dinner of chicken parmigiana and salad.

I am creating layout ideas for my daughters wedding album

I am wearing blue jean capri's and a pink t-shirt.

I am reading Joyce Meyers "Start Your New Life Today"

I am hoping for no rain tomorrow so the boys can go try out their new skim boards their dad made them.

I am hearing my son playing video games, and the Olympics are on.

Around the house is pretty much all tidy and ready for dinner time. Then it will be time to light the candles(something we try to do nightly to help wind down) and watch the Olympics.

One of my favorite things is hearing my granddaughter talking or singing to me via the phone, since they are sadly over 1200 miles away.

A few plans for the week are to work on my daughter's wedding album, reading some of the wonderfully inspirational blogs I have been finding. And just enjoying what is around me.

Proud to announce...................

The Movie Maniac

My son's blog.
I have been telling him he should start one to share all his reviews, and such on his passion of movies. To say he is Thee Movie Maniac is an understatement. He loves everything there is to do about movies. Whether he is adding them to his rather large collection, seeing them in the theatre, reading movie information in his favorite movie magazines(more on those on his blog) or just sitting talking about them its always fun to see what he has found out.
Im so glad he started his blog and his link will always be on my sidebar which I just love the one he created.
So be sure to go check it out and sit back and enjoy the show.
http://theemoviemaniac.blogspot.com/

Scrapbook Happiness

Since Im waiting on photos to share of my daughters wedding I thought I would share some scrappy happiness.
One of the site I love to frequent and get inspiration from is Dee Dee's blog
http://deedeecampbell.blogspot.com/
Make sure to pop over and see all her crafty goodness.
Happy Scrapping
Jennie

In Honor of Nicole and Royal

This sings my soul saturday is in honor of my daughter Nicole and Royal's wedding.
Im so blessed to know my daughter is happy. Today is filled with emotions happy and tearful for me.
A lil bit of background, they had planned to get married by just going to the city hall and really that was it. Then three weeks before the date Royal's aunt was kind enough to bless them with a small ceremony at her house. Sadly with only three weeks I was unable to have the funds to make it there, though my precious daughter understood it tore my heart apart more then words can ever describe.
My daughter and me have definitely grown in the last several years in our relationship and have become very close.Praise God for this.
We were able to talk nightly about the wedding,her nerves, her dress, the music, rings,and so on, it made me feel so good to be able to be there for her emotionally. I was also able to go and buy kylee's (my darling granddaughter)dress for the wedding and get it shipped to her,with ribbon for nikki's hair along with their wedding gift:)
I look forward to sharing some pictures with everyone as soon as they are uploaded and sent my way.
Please enjoy the song and
Congratulations to the new Mr.& Mrs. Fennell

Then sings my soul.........

My good friend melinda pointed me to-- then sings my soul saturday http://signsmiraclesandwonders.blogspot.com/2008/07/then-sings-my-soul-saturday-stomp.html
I really Love the song Praise you in this storm which i posted on thur. so im going to let that song continue for today.
See post below for song and video.
Blessings

Praise You in This Storm

Songs can do so much for you spiritually and emotionally. Lately I have gotten back to listening to songs that I used to listen to. It has renewed so many spiritual feelings in me. I wanted to share a video of one of my many favorite songs, however it was tough to choose. Finally I decided on Praise you in this storm by Casting Crowns. For awhile now our life has been turbulent to say the least and sadly I lost focus of who could protect us-the one and only God Almighty!! It is a blessing to know he never left us and no matter if we make a wrong turn or have trouble remember who is in charge he is still there to pick us up and carry us, and was all along. If you look deep enough you will see all he did even in the hard times.
Please enjoy this video, listen to the words and remember to Praise God!!!

Uplifting

Over at Mel's World http://melissamashburn.blogspot.com/ you can always find some inspiration today this is one of the verses she shared so I thought I would share it with all of my readers as well since it really is encouraging.

The first is a prayer from David and the following is what we can cling to in our uncertainties



Psalm 86:1-7
1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant
who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.

Psalm 92:4-14
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.

A bit of inspiration.....

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.

Dont Quit Author Unknown

Cherished Moments

Its been awhile since my last post, I apologize. Its been crazy busy lately. Fathers day was wonderful we got a wonderful 3 foot glow in the dark puzzle and put it together while watching the nascar race. Watched movies and just enjoyed time together with Joe. And as a belated fathers day gift we are going down to Key Largo to snorkel well Joe and the boys, Im taking pictues and reading. Joe has been thrilled to show the boys snorkeling and they have cherished every minute together, and now he wants to get them ceritified to dive so they can go with him and experience that too. They even took our underwater camera out which is 18 years old and took some pictures they came out good and if you can get the camera away from Josh then someone else can take a few too LOL.
Remember to cherish the moments as they are what make our heart sing.
Blessings
Jennie

Amazing song......

This song has been a favorite of mine and brings tears to my eyes. After all we have been
through lately this song couldnt be more true. Blessings and hugs to those that have been there for us.

Time goes quick and

I think its time to take this blog in more of a scrapbooking/cardmaking blog, with a mix of family happenings.
I have blogged about me and my family, though admittedly I tend to have long lulls in them(due to being a lil shy with the blogging still) Im hoping the crafting will give me something extra to blog about and its something I love to do.
It will probably be slow going on the papercrafts at least until we get all of our stuff out of storage in Ohio. But I will be doing a few in the mean time.
If you have any layouts, cards or any papercrafting items you would like to share please feel free to let me know so I can go check them out.
Blessings
Jennie

Check this blog out....

A fellow cricut messageboard member has a great lil blog with her wonderful creations.
Take a minute and go browse over at http://bellaaideesmom.blogspot.com/
Be sure to leave a comment.
Blessings
Jennie

Differences

Today we had a full day back to normal routing of homeschooling.This was a huge relief after all we have been through with moving/relocating, out of work, and just a lot of life changing/eye opening events. Through this we have all become stronger individuals, and with the grace of God things will start to look up. We have always been a close family however the past four months have brought us even closer-I honestly didnt think we could get any closer but here we are.
We have spent way more quality time together, worked together to get through the tough spots and just been there for each other to lean on. I thank God everyday for this.

Last night as I laid in bed thinking and unwinding I was realizing the differences in our life now to four months ago. There are some times I wish we were still in the Carolinas and things hadn't changed. But then I see how far in strength we have come and the joy the simple things in life have brought us. We have realized what you can do without, and how blessed you are to have the things you do have. Our life is in storage and yet we are surviving with minimal items and I do mean minimal. We look forward to getting on our feet and getting our possesions out of storage.
I thank God and pray to God daily for things to turn around yet to always let me remember what I have learned.

Im sorry if this seems rambling but I have lots of thoughts right now and I thank my readers/friends for taking the time to read and email me there encouraging words and prayers.
Hugs to you all and Blessings,
Jennie

Feelings of Limbo

Is all I can think of to say how I feel. Some of my readers are aware of the chaos our life has been in, and we are at the point where we feeling like things are trying to take a turn for the better but yet we feel like we are trapped in the middle of falling and climbing back out.
On top of all this I had to visit the emergency room as my blood pressure was extremely high and they couldnt get it to come down and stay down. So finally when all was calmed down, they sent me home with new bloodpressure meds and some pain meds for the migraines. To say the least this has been an interesting few days being drowsy and getting headaches from the new meds,however they seem to have subsided thankfully.
So all in all today feels like a good day, the sun is gorgeous, the weather is beautiful and we have taken a few more steps back to a normal life.
Well Im off for the day to finish homeschooling and enjoy the weather.
Blessings

Life is still on hold

or so it seems. Hubby is still looking for a job, thankfully he has had a few minor side jobs with his handyman business so that is starting to get going. Iam of course anxious to get his work going and get in our own place. Though through this all I have learned many things which I will touch on here and there im sure. One thing is enjoying the free things in life much more, we always enjoyed each others company however we have made it a point to go to a park or the beach and just talk and be. Im so blessed to have my hubby and kids they keep me strong.
As I sit here typing Joe(hubby) just got another call to go price a small job yeah for hubby!!!
Well the weather is beautifully sunny and breezy at 81, so we are going to take a drive before the appointment.
Take time to enjoy your day.
Blessings
Jennie

American Idol and Me time

Well it has been an emotional day for some reason. Alot of crying and just alot of emotions flying around. And now that everyone is fed and the kitchen is clean it is time fore "me" time.
So I have gotten comfortable in the wonderful recliner on the couch, with my laptop, a diet caffeine free pepsi, and watching http://www.americanidol.com/ I love this show!!!! So that is it may not be exciting to some but for me it is making me feel calm and I need that today.
My friend at http://www.ragtagbeliever.com/ shared a wonderful video today that I really wanted to share with my readers as well however I was having trouble posting so Im adding the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZI2gOBvBHk please take the time to enjoy!
Blessings

Menu Plan Monday

This is something my good friend melinda over at http://www.ragtagbeliever.com/ shared with everyone.
Be sure to visit http://orgjunkie.com/
Im going to enjoy browsing the site and trying to keep up the menu plan monday as well as other tips.
Here is ours for this week: not to fancy we are currently staying with my brother and it is hard with so many different tastes :)
Monday: 16 bean soup
Tuesday: Beef stew
Wednesday: Hamburgers on the grill, fries, and salad
Thursday: Pizza
Friday: Grilled cheese sandwiches, and soup
Saturday: I have to be honest im not sure for sat. or sun. hope to fill this in soon.
Sunday:

Thanks Melinda

This is a post to thank my good friend over at http://www.ragtagbeliever.com/ for being such a dear friend and encouraging me to get blogging and guiding me on tips and such for getting started.
Make sure to check out her blog as she has lots of good places to share. In my next post I will share one that she shared on her blog and Im enjoying.
See you soon!!!

We have arrived!!!!

Well I have started my hand at blogging by starting new. Life has taken a turn for the worse and I will be talking and sharing the road to our recovery, and just life in general.
As life continues on its crazy course. The Lord is in control.
Life has taken us to Florida, we are looking for work and trying to get an idea of where we want to settle in. For now we are staying with my dear brother whom i totally admire and Love dearly.
The weather is absolutely beautiful here and I feel we are on the path that will soon lead us to the road to recovery.
Blessings to all.