Fall Madness!

October always finds me running in several different directions and by the end of it, I'm grateful for winter coming.  Our family is panting as we near the finish line of another fall baseball and softball season.  School has been full of pumpkin patches, art co-op, reading time in the gazeebo, Classical Conversations co-op, weekend family day trips,  Cub Scout Den meetings and on and on. 

I'm always grateful for winter days spent at home schooling, without the harried schedule of fall sports.  I enjoy the baking, stamping, scrapbooking and reading-filled afternoons and evenings. 

I'll add some pictures to this later today, but for now here's what's been going on in my home recently.

1.  I read a book last weekend called Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman.  It's a life changing book that all should read.  Mary Beth lays out her life of struggle and pain and how the Lord has met her and her growing brood.  Reading her book has allowed me to feel, in a new found way, the pain we are experiencing as a family.  The  new normals that take time to process and understand appear to be a common thread for families in trial.  A deeper, new way of looking at and viewing Christ in all of His sufferings has drawn me even closer to Him.  I've been singing Steven Curtis Chapman's song You Make All Things New in my head the last 2 days.  He redeems and He restores. 

2.  We did finally take that trip to Harper's Ferry last Monday for Columbus weekend.  It was wonderful.  We had a great time hiking another section of the C/O Canal, talking with park rangers, eating a late lunch and learning about John Brown.  Fascinating! 

3.  After 5 years of waiting, I finally have a treadmill!  Woo Hoo!  I've been kicking up my fitness and weight loss efforts here and ran 3.9 miles yesterday.  Thankyou Craigslist! 

4.  I am attempting to get ready to leave on Thursday with  9 other girls for the annual Scrapbooking Retreat to Massanutten!  I've printed about 500 pictures and hope to complete 2 albums or at least come close to it.  This winter, I want to complete 1 more album I'm designing.

5.  Bible Study with some local homeschool Moms a couple of times a month is going great.  I really enjoy getting together and encouraging one another in this narrow road of education we feel called to for our kids.  They are a great group and I can't wait to see them all tonight.

6.  We have orders!  Kuwait is a very real thing now!!  No turning back once the orders arrive.  The preparations will pick up steam around the first of the year.  Stay tuned for more updates.

7.  In keeping with our Total Money Makeover here, we sold my Ford Edge this month.  We can't take it to Kuwait with us and it just seemed silly to continue to make payments on a car we truly don't need.  Our debt reduction is now down 50% on the year!  If you have financial struggles....just 'do Dave Ramsey'  It's so worth it!

8.  Adam has been moved to a 3rd facility to continue to work on his mental health issues.  The situation is quite grave for us as his parents and John and I would just ask that you continue to pray for us.  Thanks!

 Time to start school....off to a busy day!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

First Paper Trey Playhouse Challenge

In order to keep the creative juices flowing through the upcoming winter when life can get gloomy, I decided to join a group of crafters from Paper Trey Ink. Our new group is the Paper Trey Playhouse. For our first challenge, we were to use felt on any project. Well, I'd not used felt before! This was a fun challenge. I decided to incorporate it into a new Birthday Binder that Paper Trey released on 15 September. I hope to finish the inside of the binder in the next couple of weeks.

All products are Paper Trey Unless noted below.

Inks:  Vintage Cream and  Basic Black (SU)
Card Stock:  Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avacado
Felt:  White
Twine from SU
Raspberry Fizz button
Stamps:  Wreath for All Seasons, Calendar Basics
Dies:  Mat Stack number 3, Top Note (SU)