Grand Opening Hoopla

So, I've recently told you how much I love digi scrapbooking. Pixels and Company is my virtual "home". They are having their Grand Opening celebration starting today. Check out the awesome festivities they have planned for the next several days. Big sale, give aways, chats, speed scrap, etc., etc. The fun goes on and on. You can read all about it HERE. Come play!!

Good things:
--Grand Openings!
--Fridays
--Awesome friends

Hey! Check Out the New Pictures!

Just thought I'd draw your attention to the new photos on the left. Not a bad looking bunch, if I say so myself. :D

Now just to work on updating the walls... ;)

Good things:
--New family portraits for the first time in years.
--(Finally) sleeping children
--Peppermint ice cream

Something I'm Really Excited About and A Request for Help

Some of you know how much I adore scrapbooking. I was a traditional paper scrapbooker for many, many years. But, as we had more kids and the pressure of being in school built, I slowly gave up scrapping entirely. I really, really missed it, but I just didn't know how to fit it into my life at the time.

My sister-in-law, with whom I used to "crop", made the transition to digital scrapbooking in 2008. She kept encouraging me to make the transition to digi scrapping. I finally took the plunge and completed my first digital scrapbook page in March of 2011.

Fast forward two years and a few hundred layouts later and I am a devoted digi scrapper. I'll choose digi scrapping over watching TV and several other hobbies that used to claim my time. Don't get me wrong, I still love playing with paper. However, I'm much more likely to save my paper crafting for cards and other projects and leave my scrapbooking pages digital. It's always fun to combine them and create "hybrid" projects that combine digital and traditional supplies.

The whole point of me telling you all of this is share something I'm really excited about. After digi scrapping for a couple of years now, I finally built up my skills and confidence enough to apply for Mye de Leon's creative team. Mye is a brilliant digital scrapbooking kit designer. I really, really love her kits.

Here's the exciting part: I was accepted to Mye's 2013 creative team! For the next year I get the privilege of showing everyone how awesome Mye's digi kits are work with. I'm thrilled. So, instead of creating pages that I only share with my family and those who hang out at the same digi website I do, I'll be much bolder about sharing them with everyone.

Now, here's the request part...

Just after I received the exciting news that I had been accepted to Mye's CT, Mye gave birth to a baby boy.  December 27, 2012 was supposed to be an exciting and happy day for Mye and her family. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a day of shocking news. Mye's son, Alphonse, was born with a heart defect that will require open heart surgery to repair. Without the surgery, he will die. Unfortunately, they are without insurance and will have to raise the $12,500 needed for the surgery on their own. You can read the full details on Mye's blog. The post is called An Innocent Heart.

The digital scrapbooking community has rallied around Mye and her family. They are doing everything they can to help Mye and her family raise the funds they need to save baby Alphonse's life. Over 100 designers have joined together to create a HUGE collaboration digital scrapbooking kit called An Innocent Heart.  It is for sale at my digital scrapbooking home Pixels & Company. All the proceeds from the sales of this kit will go directly to Mye and her family to help them pay for the surgery. If you digital scrapbook at all or have ever considered learning...please buy this kit. JennCK, another digital designer, has also offered all the proceeds from her retiring kits to Mye's son. You can read about that here.

Now, I know there are some of you out there saying, "But, I don't digi scrap!" Never fear, you can still help. Please, please, please consider making a direct contribution at Help Alphonse Get His Surgery. Mye is one of the sweetest people I've gotten to know through digital scrapbooking. Baby Alphonse needs our help.

Thanks for reading my epic post! (Now I just need to update this place...The Baby Boy over there to the left is now two and looks a lot different!)

Good things:
--Digital scrapbooking!!
--New babies.
--The generosity of strangers.

Sweet

I shouldn't have bought them. In the first place, they are most definitely NOT on my sugar-free diet. Secondly, they were expensive, and I didn't know where they fit into our new budget. But, as I looked at that bag of Jordan Almonds, I thought of my dad. So, I bought them, because in that brief moment they made me feel closer to him.

When all the kids were settled back into the van, I handed out the gummy worms they had begged for. Then, I handed each child a Jordan Almond, explaining that they were my dad's favorite. (At least, I think they were. I remember that whenever we bought candy at movies, they are what he would choose.) Then we were off for our next stop, the grocery store.

After we had finished at the grocery store and were all buckling up to head home, I got a big surprise. 'Lashes asked, "Can I have another candy almond?" Immediately, all the kids wanted more. Bob said, "Since I'm named after him [my father], I think they are my favorite, too!" Sunshine Boy added, "After you suck on them for a little bit you can bite them and the candy coat just melts around the almond making it so delicious!"

I was almost speechless. I hadn't expected the kids to like the Jordan Almonds; they just don't seem like "kid candy" to me. And yet, not only had my kids liked the almonds, they had really liked the almonds. And, for may be the first time ever, I knew that my kids had made a connection to their grandpa in a real, tangible way.

I will forever remember this moment in my life as --SWEET. 

Good things:

--Jordan Almonds

--Remembering the good things.

--Princess Bug playing with my camera to help me get the "perfect" picture of the Jordan Almonds.

What I Learned This Easter

I want to share a music video with you. I've watched it multiple times in the last few days to the point that, in my quieter moments, I can hear it playing in the back of my mind. The first time I watched it (ok, the first several times I watched it) I found tears rolling down my cheeks. Its message was just so amazingly beautiful. It was such an incredible testimony of Christ's atonement and resurrection. I was blown away.

As I've pondered this video and discussed it with Renaissance Man, I've come to realize just why it moved me so very profoundly. I want to share what I have learned this Easter with you. It's going to take me a bit of explanation to get to the point, so please be patient while I get there.

Christ's earthy mission was two-fold: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). Christ's triumph over the grave completed the first part of that mission. We too will be resurrected, reunited with our physical bodies, and live forever. The atonement of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross accomplished the second part of His mission. The atonement is what allows us to enjoy eternal life, which is exaltation and eternal progression.

I've understood intellectually and felt in my heart for years that Christ's atonement, His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, were personal. He paid the price for MY sins, he accepted the weight of MY griefs and heartaches. I know that He is there for ME. He would have been willing to make that sacrifice even if I had been the only one in the world. His atonement was for ME. I know that I can repent and I know that I can hand my burdens to Him and that He will carry them for me.

My understanding of Christ's resurrection has been a bit different.

As a child, no matter how often you are taught about the true meaning of Easter, I think it's very difficult to grasp the significance of Christ's sacrifice. At least, that's the way it was for me. Even after I no longer believed in fuzzy bunnies delivering eggs, Easter was still about the goodies in the basket.

My first real experience with death was devastating. My dad died when I was just fourteen. It wasn't until after he was gone that I began to understand the beautiful promise contained in the resurrection of Christ. Because He died, my dad will live again. As I've gotten older, more of my loved ones, including grandparents, friends, mentors, an uncle, and even a precious still born daughter, have passed through the veil. It's very strange to think that there will come a day in my life when there are as many of my loved ones waiting for me on the other side as there are with me in mortality. Each Easter I have thought of these loved ones and rejoiced that one day they would be resurrected and that we would be reunited. I have been comforted by this testimony time and time again. But, something shifted for me this year. I've realized something on a deeply personal level that somehow I've missed in previous years.

Perhaps it's because it's because I'm getting old enough to be gaining a sense of my own mortality. (At my current age, my dad only had five more years to live.) Or, maybe it's because I'm old enough to recognize that my body doesn't work in exactly the same way it did when I was younger. But, when I heard the lyrics of this song, I wept. I wept because for the first time in my life I understood that not only is Christ's atonement personal, so is His resurrection. Because of Christ's triumph over the grave I will live again. I will rise from the grave, not just the loved ones who have gone before me. I will have a glorious perfected body and I will be reunited with the loved ones that I will leave behind when it's my turn to pass through the veil.

This Easter I learned that I Will Rise.




This video comes from Alex Boye, if you aren't familiar with his music, you should be.

I'll be back to update our pictures soon. :D

Good Things:

--I know that my Redeemer Lives!

--Music that touches my spirit.

--Blogging again, finally.

Just so you all know...

I am really and truly working on that huge update post. It's saved in my drafts folder right now and I'm working on it as I can.

In the meantime, do you like my new decor? I did it all by myself. :) I know, I know, it's the small things.

I know, I know...

My first post in months and it's to share a link to a digi-scrapbooking class/contest. Can you tell how much I want to win?

Scraphic Design 2 Class give away

And, I'll get busy composing a massive update post, shall I? Yes. I shall. :D