3 Years, 3 Days

It's hard to believe I have three kids...and that a little over three years ago I didn't have any!! I lucked out the other day when I was taking pictures and Kessa decided to join in the fun (that's a rare thing for her these days! lol) I was really happy with some of the pictures I got of her and Grace together.


The "journal shapes" I cut out of the JB Front Porch journaling cards that were part of one of the August add-ons at Color Me Daisy. (most of this LO was done using the August kit, which is sadly sold out.)

I used Picnik to edit them. Their 1960's effect is just too fun.


Anyway as I was scrapping these pictures and thinking about the age difference of the girls (yes, 3 years and 3 days! ;) I got to thinking about how for them I'm sure that sometimes that difference is going to seem HUGE and how Kessa isn't going to want Grace following her around and trying to be buddy buddy...but I hope much more often that difference won't seem great at all...and they'll just be friends and love that they have a sister to share things with.

Totally Random

It's Saturday morning and the K and Z kids are at their grandparents. Let me just say it is WAAAAAAAAAAAY quiet around here. So not normal! It's nice to have a break (thanks Annette and Co!) but Dh and I are totally ready to have them back too.

We went to a wedding last night and obviously the littlest came with us...and she wore a dress that Kessa wore to a wedding when she was 2 weeks old! I'm itching to scrap those two pictures together. Kessa and Grace at their first weddings...in the same dress...three year apart.

I got my new Color Me Daisy kit and it's so fun! I've got tons of ideas running through my head and I'm dying to find time to play with it! Here's a sneak of it. It's perfect for "back to school" but very versatile and could be used for just about anything. (Since we're not at the "Back to School" stage yet you'll be seeing some of the versatility of this kit from me!)

And finally...we are sooo blessed to live so near to all our family. My mom has been coming over every morning while Tim is at work and helping around the house and with the littles because my Dr. was VERY strict about the whole not picking up anything heavy after my 3rd c-section.



Thank you mom. Thank you for being a godly woman. Thank you for loving my kids. Thank you for helping me become the person I am. Thank you for being here even when you don't feel like it or would rather be doing something else. Thank you for being patient with my kids. Look at my family and praise God that He has granted the first step in multigenerational faithfulness and pray he carries it on in my children.

We love you!

Bliss

If you remember this picture you'll understand why I just had to scrap it. It just melts my heart. I had the best time putting this LO together just for the fun of it. I hand cut the swirls and all the flowers were fussy cut from some Sassafras Lass paper. I inked and distressed all the edges and added pink stickles to some of the flowers. I finished it all off by layering everything and using pop dots for dimension.


Oh, I almost forgot! i also used my heat gun to burn/brown the edges of the paper a bit and then used a darker ink on the very edge to make it stand out even more.


*sigh* She's so tiny...and holding her truly is bliss.

How Sweet it Is...

P.S. Kirsten, I love that you can comment now! :)

Happily Ever After

What are you doing this weekend?

Well if you're into scrapping you need to head over to Serendipity Scrapbooks and check out their Happily Ever After Crop!!!

The DT always has some super fun challenges to get your mojo flowing (and their examples...*swoon* they're amazing!!!) AND Kirsten always has great prizes and AMAZING Blue Light Specials. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!!!

She is my Daughter

Kessa was walking down the hallway the other day, pushing her stroller with Gabby in her new fall outfit (complete with hoodie!) when she told me,

"Mommy, I put Gabby's hood up and she looked sooo cute. So I took her picture!"

he! Is that not too cute? She is totally her mother's daughter!

Celebrate: Home Decor

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this month's kit at Color Me Daisy called Celebrate (which is sadly sold out!) They do still have some great add ons left though!

Anyway, one of the projects I've been wanting to do is make a wreath for our front door. I found this grape vine wreath at WM for a whopping $3.17!!


I just LOVE the way this turned out...and it's the first thing with all five of our names on it!!!
*sigh* I love things with all of us together...even if it's just our names!

Celebrate Birthdays!

Well this August brought me not only Color Me Daisy's birthday, but also my oldest DD's birthday on the 3rd and the birth of my youngest DD on the 6th! Soo...I thought that it would be rather appropriate to celebrate birthdays for my blog challenge.

So my challenge is to either make a LO or a Mini Album celebrating a birthday!

My older DD, Kessa, had her "Golden Birthday" this year (she turned 3 on the 3rd.) The Birthday Bingo cards were just perfect! I knew as soon as I saw them that I wanted to make a mini album of her big day.I used a dry brush technique to swipe paint over all of the bingo numbers but the 3, which I added some glossy accents and chipboard brackets to.

The trims ni the kit were just perfect. I love them all! And I used the edge of the Bazzill scalloped paper for a boarder on the right page.


I fussy cut the left bingo card so that it matched up with the scalloped paper I used on the previous page. There is also hidden journaling in the library pocket that tells about who celebrated with her and what she got.

I fussy cut some of the CC paper for a few flat embellies and used my Dymo to finish off the album. (I bound the whole thing together with my Bind It All.)

Don't forget you get entered in a drawing for some great Basic Grey stuff just by leaving a comment, and if you want even more chances to win some great stuff complete the challenges and upload them to the CMD gallery. Then head back to the Color Me Daisy Blog to continue on your Celebrate Blog Hop journey.

(sorry this is up a little late, I've been fighting with blogger for 2 hours...it won't upload my pics!!!)

Celebrate!

Just wanted to let you know if you hopped on over from the Color Me Daisy blog that my challenge will be up in the next few hours (by 8 PDT which is 10 am CST.) Hope to see you soon!!!

More Grace

I love that...even typing that simple title...her name is constantly reminding me of how very good my God is. He is always pouring out more and more grace on my life...changing me and making me more like His Son. There is ALWAYS more grace when I need it.

Anyway, I started this post simply to share a few more pictures of our sweet new blessing..but was distracted by her name! lol.

Here are some pictures that were taken while we were in the hospital.

and I thought this might be a fun comparison...
Kessa coming home from the hospital in this cute purple little onesie,



and Grace in the hospital in the exact some onesie...three year and three days later.

Welcome Home

Grace Helen Johnson
8/6/09 7lbs 9 oz
20 inches long
7:51AM

You can view her hospital photo here.

(All my photos are still on my camera, I stole this one from someone else's facebook page! lol. Stay tuned (hopefully tomorrow) for some better pictures of our sweet new blessing.)

Piper on Preaching

I was reading a post by Josh Harris about Tweeting in Church (incidently I do not Tweet or follow anyone on Twitter or even really know much about it) and followed a link to this post by John Piper about Not Using Twitter During Worship. Surprisingly (or maybe not since I don't use Twitter) what stood out to me had nothing to do with the main topic. I thought that Piper's description of the preaching and hearing of God's word were more than worth repeating. I hope you get as much from them as I did.

Preaching and hearing preaching are worship. Preaching is expository exultation. The preacher is explaining the Bible and applying the Bible and EXULTING over the truth in the Bible. The listener is understanding, and applying, and joining in the exultation. Hearing preaching is heart-felt engagement in the exposition and exultation of the Word of God.

We're at the hospital having Baby Grace right now (assuming this posted when it was supposed to!) so look for updates in the near future.

Why I Scrapbook

The new challenge up at Noel Mignon is to do a LO or project telling the WHY behind this obsession...err...hobby...we all have. lol.

I didn't have time to do a new LO but it was very fun to revisit this one I did a while back...and I just have to say...the journaling was spot on!!! It was a very good reminder to me that these really ARE the reasons I scrapbook.



List reads: [So they'll know...]
1.How much the Lord has done for us
2. how much I love them
3. what my hopes and dreams are fro them
4. how to live
5. little things about their childhood
6. what family is
7. how to have fun
8. its ok to be sad
9. to keep creating
10. to do what they love!

Hidden journaling behind the picture reads:
I’m not gonna lie, I LOVE scrapping. I love the papers, I love the chipboard, I love the paint and the sandpaper. I love the feeling of finishing a page and being happy with the results. It’s just plain fun for me. But no matter how much I simply enjoy it, I wouldn’t do it without my family. I scrap because God has commanded me in Acts to “go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” Scrapping allows me to do that in a creative way. In a way that they enjoy looking at now and will treasure all the more as they grow older. It allows me to tell even my great great great grandchildren of the wonders of the Lord! I praise God for making us creative beings and for allowing us to know this joy! Over all of my scrapbooking and creative work, lies the mantra and command, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Right Now

Right now I've got some thoughts I want to get down and be sure I remember...so you get a blog post! lol. Right now I'm realizing that Grace really is joining our family tomorrow. I'm realizing that I really am a mommy of three. I'm realizing that it will never just be the four of us again. It will never be just Kessa and Zeke again. Part of me wishes I had really grasped that and realized it sooner. I've been thinking these things for a few days and I've been treasuring each moment with them. Storing up all the memories of being a family of four and a mommy of two. Watching my children in awe and wonder. Throwing responsiblity to the wind and taking the time to really play with them. Hugging them...a lot. Telling them how much I love them. Having pillow fights.

It's been great being the four of us...but ALL of us are exciting and ready to be a family of five. Even Zeke is getting excited about Grace coming to live with us (even though I'm sure he really has no idea what that's going to entail!) God has blessed us so much. He's been so gracious in showing us how very very true the words of Psalm 127 are. Children ARE a blessing from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

I'm giddy about getting to hold this little girl...and be reminded of how very tiny newborns really are.

I've got some posts all schedule for you for the next few days while I'm in the hospital...and if we have WiFi access I'll be sure and get you some pictures too!

Until I'm a mother of three (out of the womb) children...have a blessed day!

3 Years Ago Today...

this beautiful little girl turned us into parents. I never realized (and I still don't think I fully realize) how much that one little word encompasses.

She has grown into a fun enjoyable little gal to be around (most of the time! lol) She's taught me to let go and have some fun no matter what else is going on.


She's taught me that it's ok to let the dishes sit sometimes. She's taught more patience than I ever thought I'd need in a lifetime and she's continually (and I do mean every day!) being used by God to sanctify me and teach me what it truly means to have a quiet and gentle spirit.



She's a great big sister and a wonderful little "mother." She takes such good care of her baby Gabby that it just melts my heart. She's VERY stubborn and very much a leader...but at the same time when it comes to trying new things she's not very adventuresome. She loves green. She's obsessed with cereal and she would rather eat steak than pb&j. She is her own person and I am amazed by the things that God could do with her life if she has a heart fully submitted to Him.



I love you more than life Kessa Bear!!!!

Currently Reading...

Just Do Something, A liberating approach to Finding God's Will, OR How to Make a Decision without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc. book by Kevin DeYoung (foward by Joshua Harris.) I'm truly loving this book and his very clear and even entertaining writing. I believe he's got a very biblical view of God's will, and honestly, what's not to love about that subtitle?!?!

And just to wet your appitite, I thought I'd leave you with this little tidbit I just read.

"The most important issues for God are moral purity, theological fidelity, compassion, joy, our witness, faithfulness, hospitality, love, worship and faith. These are His big concerns. The problem is that we tend to focus most of our attention on everything else. We obsess over the things God has not metioned and may never mention, while, by contrast, we spend litle time on all the things God has already revealed to us in the Bible....
Of course, this doesn't mean we should be thoughtful in choosing a career, nor that we should ignore how God has wired us or the command to do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). My point is that we shoul dspend more time trying to figure out how to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (as instructed in Micah 6:8) as a doctor or lawyer and less time worrying about whether God wants us to be a doctor or lawyer."

Summer Heat

Just thought I'd pop in and share some Summer Heat. The August kit is up over at Scrap-Tastic and I had so much fun playing with it!!!! Totally fab. PLUS this month there is an add on kit!!! Can you say Hambly? It's totally fab!!!

Here are just a few of the LOs I did this month.
These are some ultrasound pictures of Grace taken about two and half weeks ago. I plan to add some hidden journaling under the pictures. The stamps are from the Boutique Grunge set by Inque Boutique. I just love the way this hanging LO turned out. I saw someone do something kinda of like this and when I saw this Prima die cut paper in the kit I knew it was meant to be! I added a strip of CS all the way across the back for some added stability.
I'm totally loving paint lately and this LO was no exception! My little guy just melts my heart...he's a totally cutie and when I saw that I had gotten such a great "splash" shot I knew it needed it's own LO.

Now, don't hurt me, but I'm going to be honest. I got this Lime Rickey paper last month in my Color Me Daisy kit...and then again this month in the Scrap-Tastic kit...and I hate it. I really do. So I challenged myself to use it anyway this month (last month I cut one bird from the whole sheet and called it done! lol) And ya know what? It's not so bad on this lo! lol

Happy Weekend (even though it's half over! lol) We'll be celebrating Kessa's birthday with my family tomorrow...and she'll REALLY be three on Monday. *sigh* I can't believe she's that old!!!