Thankfulness

As I sit here today I am quickly taken back to two years ago, when I paid for a class, Soul Restoration 1.  I honestly couldn't really afford at the time but God saw my heart.  I have shared here before different things that I have learned but seriously it prepared me for my future more than I could have ever realized at the time.  Teaching me that I can learn from my past while not getting caught up in it allowing myself to go to dark places.  As each thing has been handed to me the last couple of years I have been able to enjoy the journey even if it was a hurtful place.

The foundation in the class really helps you to focus on the things that are most important.  I didn't notice it so much last year because we were terribly busy settling into our second oldest and her babies moving in with us.  This year, I am seeing things so differently it is actually quite amazing.  I am not allowing myself to get caught up in the commercialized Christmas, where it seems it is a goal to have the biggest newest thing.  I am not really in a I want or need mode anymore, it is really nice.  I've even taken steps this year to cut my spending and it has made me extremely happy to be at peace.

So on this last day of November 2012 I would like to celebrate by giving away a special gift.  This beautiful book 'A Little Bird Told Me', filled with a 30 day collection of inspiration put together by Melody Ross from her Little Bird daily truth messages.  I've been receiving these little messages in my email since they have started and each one speaks to me right where I am.  So let me tell you how you can be entered into this special give away.

Christmas is a time for family and friends so as this time grows closer, tell me about a special friend and share a special memory of the two you. 


I have said many times before Brave Girls Club and the community means the world to me.  They have truly given me those special friends that I knew I was missing.


For extra entries in the give away:

1.  Link my blog on facebook and/or your own blog.  Come back here to leave a separate comment telling me that is what you have done.
2.  If you become follower leave me another comment.


The winner will be chosen randomly one week from today Friday, December 7th.  Make sure when you are sharing your memory that you leave me your contact information. 

Full steam ahead

Some days it really seems that I am going so fast that I can't keep up with myself, then I have to give out the gentle reminder that I am probably bringing it upon myself.  I have been feeling like I have been being pulled in so many directions.  This is our busy time of year and by the end of my children's days they barely have enough time to stop to eat with so much homework.  They are working hard in Marching Band and keeping on top of schoolwork.......chores got put to the back burner the first couple of weeks of school.  Now I am just trying to help them to find the balance to what needs to be done here.  I miss them when they are busy.

I decided to go back to school with Suzi Blu.....she is doing an awesome 8 month class on art journaling, you can read about it here.  I've also enrolled in three of her other classes here .  All of these classes are such a good deal!  You won't regret taking a look and possibly signing up.  Suzi really walks you through each step so you are doing it as she does it.  This is called a tower, it brought me a great deal of peace as I was working on it.  I am pretty sure it isn't complete yet, there are a few things missing but I will wait for it to speak to me.

It isn't to late to put your name into my birthday drawing, just scroll down and check it out.  It will remain open until Sunday October 9pst.  I will then pick a winner and post on Monday, October 10.  I would REALLY love to hear what you have done to make someones day!

Honor

So a lot has been happening this past few weeks.  It is stuff that isn't all good and I can't go into it here for privacy reasons.  In the midst of it all though I am remaining peaceful.  I can't tell you how good of a feeling that is, to just be peaceful.  I feel like I can breathe, that I'm not being suffocated.  I know it is hard to understand if you don't know what is going on but before Soul Restoration something like this would have just sent me into a tail spin.  I would have dwelled on it and it would have broken me.  However, I am whole and it feels wonderful!

My daughter has a school project that is coming up. She has a question she needs to answer in a form that would be visible to the public. She will be doing some mixed media, making them into She Art girls.  Her question is what does it means to live with honor?  We would be interested to hear your answers in forms of favorite quotes, scriptures and whatever else you would like.  Who knows, my daughter may just decide to give one of you a special present after her project is finished at the end of May.

hon·or [on-er] –noun

honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.” – author unknown

The winner is........

BUT first I need to let you all know how much I appreciated each one of your comments and have read them all.  They were all so touching.  Welcome to all my new followers.  I hope you will enjoy the journey I share here.

I believe that there is a God that knows what each and everyone of us needs to continue on our own journey.  He puts things in our paths that can result into beautiful things.  When I went to the Random generator I plugged in the numbers, then went back to my list of comments.  I counted and then relized that one of the most touching comments for me was the person who received the blog gift.  This is so like God to provide something special to help someone along their way. 

So to number 35, Kristy you are the winner!!       
Kristy said, "I am so loving this BG blog hop ! Being able to read your stories and sing praises for SR at BGC is wonderful .I am so excited to say I am signed up for the April session. IS it April yet ? I have been so touched by your story and for being brave enough to post it. I am happy to add you to my following list. I would just die to win this amazing gift. I am on a journey to heal after the death of my dear husband in July 2010. On a journey of discovery and being Brave in my new "Widow" walk. I am over the top with joy that you girls put this together. What a wonderful gift to all of us !! Hugs.. KRisty ...Krissi57 at BGC...You can reach me at my blog...http://myhealingthroughartstory.blogspot.com/ "

I linked Kristy's blog so you lovelies can go leave her some sisterly love.  Her artwork through healing is amazing, which makes God pretty amazing!!  Blessing to you my new Brave Girl Sister!!

What it means to be a Brave Girl

Welcome to the Soul Restoration blog hop - if you're following from the beginning you came from Leslie's blog  to continue hopping on your way you'll visit Kai's blog.  If for any reason you get lost or a link is broken you can go here, here, here or here to get yourself back on track.  Several of the ladies are having give aways, so have fun!  That is what it's all about making special connections.

As you go along this blog hop journey you are going to see my sisters hearts, please be kind and leave lots of LOVE for them.  We would love to see you join the most powerful and fun online workshop taught by Melody Ross.  This class is being enjoyed and loved by women all over the world and the one thing in common you will see is it is all about connections.  Connections between other women who get you and to the little girl that is still inside of you waiting to be healed.  Soul Restoration online classes have now been expanded to TWO sessions:  Soul Restoration Part 1 - Finding your truth(6 weeks) starting April 5, 2011  Session $99 Registar HERE and Soul Restoation Part 2 - Living your truth(6 weeks) For graduates of Soul Restoration 1 only June 7, 2011  Session $99 Resister HERE 

You DO NOT need to be an artist to do this.  Melody is so awesome and she walks you through it all.  After watching all the technique videos if you are still having trouble, go to your sisters for support.  That is what it is all about lovelies.

I personally have been following Melody and her journey for years.  She speaks truth with her words and those words have helped me more than she will ever know.  When I heard that she was starting a Brave Girl Camp I was over the moon and back excited.  I knew with the price tag, I was going to have to wait for quite awhile for my pennies to be saved.  Then it was announced that a special Brave Girl Community would be opened and that Soul Restoration six week course would be offered.  Have you ever just been not able to get something out of your head?  That is what happened with me when I heard about it.  The decision to take this class wasn't something I took lightly.  I knew I would have a lot of soul work to do and it honestly wasn't going to be easy.  Life style changes are rarely easy but in the end rewarding.  

 

My sister died when I was nine years old, this is my favorite picture of her and I.  I loved her so very much and since then I have at times felt like I've been lost.  I only knew for a short time what it was like to have a sister and I have searched for years for that bond.  The bond of undersanding that only sisters seem to have.  A peace comes over you when you a relize you don't have to search empty faces anymore for someone who will be your sister.  That is the peace that I have received from Soul Restoration, my restless sisters heart is at peace.  I don't have to search anymore because I have hundres of sisters who get me.  They are there at a moments notice when I am having a horrible, no good, very bad day.  They center me right back to where I need to be.  I so LOVE each and everyone of you, my heart is full.

Now for the fun giveway that I have put together for you!  In this giveway you will receive the above things to start or continue you on your art journey of healing.   I will choose a winner Sunday 3/6,  9pm pacific time and post the winner by Tuesday 3/8.  Be sure I have away to contact you!! 

In class you will choose your truth teller symbol to remind you of the things you have learned.  My truth teller symbol are birds because they are what God uses to slow me down.  This little guy was found in my garden one day when I was going out to my car.  Yes, he let me get that close with the camera on my phone!  It looks like he is smiling and that is what I like to imagine God doing when he looks at me.      

Please join us in the beautiful Brave Girl community, that Melody and her sister Kathy have created for us.  If you would like to read more about the community, please click on the Brave Girl button to the left. 

What a week

For the first time in 18 months my wonderful husband is away for work more than one night. I am enjoying my late night time for scrapbooking but I sure miss him lots. I'm looking forward to come home day tomorrow!

For those of you that are looking for special blog give aways, you might want to check this one out over at Whimsical Creations. She is showing one of her favorite Etsy stores and I will have to agree that Kim's store is going to be one of my favorites too! I just love bracelets that make me happy and she does just that.

LOAD is going well for me. I am extremely happy, to the point of wanting to cry just a little. Why? Well, I haven't felt this much joy in my hobby in a long time. It just feels so good to make memories real on paper. If you have never done LOAD I believe you can still sign up or you can join us in May when we will be at it again. You will not regret it! So here are layouts from the last couple of days.

Day 2.......Prompt - Dig into your stash and use something you forgot about. I used some Heidi Swapp flowers, which I didn't really forget about because they are in a jar above my desk along with some buttons. Another page for my oldest daughter's wedding, a sweet photos of my Granddaughter.

Day 3......Prompt - Oldest thing you can find in your stash and use it. I relized there are some things I have grown out of as a scrapbooker and it would be these Birthday stickers I used. They do fit well with the page so that is a good thing. A double 8x8 page for my youngest's Birthday album.

My Highlights and apology

LOAD for me may not meant a layout a day BUT it did mean I got a lot done! Final count for me was 32 layouts with at least 10 more pages planned with paper and photos chosen. I fell in love with creating pages again for my children's albums. It just makes you feel so good.

Day 29, Have fun with your page.

Day 30, Collections. The collection that is close to my heart is my bears. My DH started giving me Teddy Bears for Christmas 25 years ago. This is a start of my pages.

The month of October also held me to finish a couple of projects that have been sitting waiting to be done for more than a year. They were projects that I wanted to do for my blog give away. So to the ladies that won my give away, thank you for being patient with me and I hope you are enjoying your gift. This is what they received with a few other things thrown in. Only differance between the two is the colors, so I am showing you only the covers of both of them and the insides of one.

And the winner is.........

BUT before I tell you who the winner is I must say Thank you to everyone for stopping by the last few days!! It has done my heart good to know that at least a few people read what I write.

Mother's Day was relaxing, which was so nice to not have to do much of anything! I had already purchased my present from Royal Totes so I wasn't expecting anything else. My husband did make me a wonderful Pork Sparerib Dinner with our favorite special sauce.(right from Martha Stewart....lol) He ended up making them to spicy so he made me some plain ones. My son in law brought my daughter, granddaughter and grandson over to spend a little while with us while he went to work for a few hours. It was nice and Miss Piper was on her best behavior, if I do say so myself.

Today has been spent tiding up the house for the realtor walk through tomorrow. I made a trip to Costco and bought some muffins to set out for them. Along with some bottled Starbucks frappicinos and water, hopefully it will make them feel welcome in my home and above all help them to remember my house!!

So with my small highlights out of the way, I will now tell you who has won. I started by printing off everyone's name, cut them into strips and then placed them into a favorite small bucket. My youngest daughter Michaela drew out the name..........Kelly Westlund!!! Now, since Kelly and I are good friends, I decided to choose one more name because well I just LOVE making people happy!! So my second winner is Judy Anderson!!! These two lovely ladies will receive a handmade mini-book and Making Memories paint in there go to colors. Both of you please email me your addresses so I can get your Mother's Day present out to you.

I promise as soon as I know these ladies have their books in hand I will post them so you can see too. Enjoy ladies!!