The last two days have been really busy...we finally celebrated dds 11th birthday with a great rollerskating party!! Everyone had a blast...I say finally becuase we had to cancel 2 weeks in a row due to illnesses....she was so excited to be with all her friends! I've also been busy getting layouts done for ct work and trying to work out when it is best for me to make time to get it all done.....not quite sure but I want to schedule creating time in to my schedule so I make sure I get it done!! Today I am off with some friends to shop at Whole foods.....it's a girls day out...just the baby is coming and my oldest will watch the rest of the crew for me.....I have never been to a whole foods before but I know we will be eating good tonite!!
A did another layout for the family legacy challenge at faithsister...I am really happy with how
this came out. Later I will be working on the scripture challenge for this week..our word is wait.

Yes! I have been asked to be on the creative challenge team over at www.faithsiters.com
This will be my first and I am so excited!! I am praying God uses this in my life to grow me and encourage and help others to grow too!
The ladies over there are just amazing and the gallery is full of inspiring layouts! If you have time go check it out!!

I have been studying the word beauty in the bible this week for the scripture challenge. I ended up using 1 Peter 3:3-4. God looks at our inner beauty that is what He is concerned about. And a gentle and quiet spirit is very precious in the eyes of our Lord. I try to have that gentle and quiet spirit...I really do....but in my flesh I fail so often....too often!
I can tell when I am failing because I will see it reflected back to me in my children......don't you love that! I have 7 mirrors walking around my home to remind me when I am falling short of the mark God has set for me! I will see them getting short with one another.....bickering.....and then I remember that I was short with them. A moms attitude truly does set the tone for the home! I long to always have that gentle and quiet spirit........I want to give the Lord that precious gift......so I can see that precious gift in my children too. I am getting better at it and isn't it great to know that our God is merciful and forgives us when we fail and helps us to try again.......Yes, I love that about our God!
All is grace Alisa

well today was a busy day. We celebrated my friends 40th b-day with a surprise party at Chilies. She was really surprised and it was a great time! I took loads of great pics and am going to put together a small album for her. No srcapping got done today but I did get an ehd and transfered all my digi kits onto it. I use acdsee to organize my digi stuff and I love it! If you have any questions about acdsee just go to www.digiscrapinfo.com
The ladies there are very helpful and have answered many questions for me.
Well the baby is tired and so am I so it's off to bed for us!

Well yesterday I spent the afternoon at the ER with my 9 ds ......his knee was all swollen and he could barely walk. This has happened before but not this bad. So they took xrays which look fine and bloodwork because they believe he has lyme disease. I hope not but we will find out sometime today when we get the bloodwork back. And today I am off to the chiropractor...my back has been really bothering me and now I can barely tolerate sitting and standing....not good for a mom that needs to move alot!! I am praying that the chiropractor will give me some relief!

Our word for the scripture challenge this week is beauty. I just found a neat online concordance at www.bibletab.com This is a neat tool for studying your bible, I think I will be using it alot. Hopefully this afternoon dd and I will work on our cards. I did do one layout yesterday for the template challenge at faithsisters. These are pictures taken at our churches drama production of The First Christmas. My 14 dd wrote a short play about the birth of Jesus and she then directed the youth and they performed it at our local American Legion Hall. It was a wonderful outreach project and the kids truly blessed everyone that attended. I am really proud of dd for doing such a great job!!

Show me Your ways, O Lord and teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long....
Psalm 25:4-5
I've been making plans....it is a new year and I want to make this one better than the last. And God gives me this verse. I lay it all at His feet....I need His guidance to make any of this work I know I can not do it in my strength only in His. He wants to lead me but I need to let Him do it. So often I try to do it myself. I am posting this verse on my fridge.......I believe I have found my verse to focus on this year. I love to have scripture posted around the house...in my face you might say. The kids and I are memorizing the book of James.......well we began in November and kind of got off track with the Holidays but we have verses 1-8 down and I am so proud of that!! We are picking that up again now.
I am participating in the scripture challenge over at Faithsisters.com. Every week Patter gives us a word to research...find a scripture for and make a layout. I am using the atc revolving holder to make mine. dd is also making one and her cards will go in a tin. Here are the first 2 weeks cards. We are having alot of fun learning about Gods word together.


The first word was faith
Ephesians 3:17-19















Last weeks word was kindness Hosea 11:4
I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love

I am an early bird.....hubby leaves for work quite early and so I am up at around 5am. I love it! I gather my tea and sit in the living room in the rocker in front of the bay window. My view this morning was crisp and cold....a wintry woodland. I am glad for the wood stove and the warmth it brings me. But I am more glad for this quiet time because in this house of many blessings it is not easy to find a truly quiet moment to meet with the one who directs my day.
I have a basket by my chair and in it are my bible and what ever devotional I might be going through at the time...(note to self...I finished the last one and need to find a new one) And so I begin my day with my pep talk from the Lord. I find this is essential to my day going His way......not my way...because I always mess it up....but His way. I love praying as the sun comes up and He fills my cup so that I can overflow it to the others in this house the rest of the day.
Then I get to come down and have a little computer time....I need to figure blogging into my day and how that should look. I do not want to get caught up and spend hours here so I am going to have to work on that.
We do follow a loose schedule for chores and learning which I am actually tweaking a little right now I will post our schedules when I am done.
Today is dd's 11th Birthday so we will be making homemade brownies for her and she has requested french toast for dinner! We will pull out her baby pics and videos and enjoy all that she has brought to our family. She is truly a blessing to me. Especially in the kitchen...she loves to cook and bake and helps with many meals! I am really looking forward to a fun day!

Let me share a verse God showed me this morning

I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Yes Lord I am weak and need your power, please let your power rest on me today........

All is grace Alisa

I have been participating at a 5 day crop over at The Shakerbox. It started on Friday and I have gotten so much done. I really needed this to motivate me to scrap more and it has been fun to meet new people and see great layouts. Here is the layout I just finished. It's my one year old being his cute self! You will find that most of my layouts are of my kids.....they are my life and truly gifts from God!
Well tomorrow is my dd's 11th birthday so it will be a fun day! She told me she wants to set aside time to scrap with me!!!!! Yeah!

I have finally got my act together and joined the ranks of all of you bloggers! I have wanted to start a blog for some time but never really had the time to figure it out. The kids have all been battling a virus this week and so I have had some time to sit here and work on it. We have had to stay close to home as one by one we have fallen to whatever flu this is.
I am excited to have a place to share Gods work in our lives and to be able to share some of my scrapbooking creations. I love photography and I have been a paper scrapper for 11 years. I just got into digital this past September when I took a class with Jessica Sprague........which I highly recommend! I learned so much and can't wait for the next advance class in March! Check out her site on my side bar. So now I am doing paper and digi and hybrid and loving it all. I am going to try to post some pages today.....bear with me while I figure all of this out!! Have a blessed Sunday!

All is grace.....Alisa