I finished February's template and got the first 2 weeks of February done.... I am really enjoying these pictures and the journaling about everyday little things that might never be captured on a scrapbook page.
I have lots going on and I am trying to get into a groove getting layouts and projects done for triple the scraps....I find when I am on a design or creative team I always get more scrappin done...
LOM is going well I have all my photos from 2004 till current organized and almost all are in the binders...I spent this whole week doing that in between dealing with children with upset tummies! Almost all of them came down with the virus this week. Today is our first day of getting back to good health!! I think this weekend will be very laid back!!

Just a quick note...check out my scrap blog for my big news!!! Life Scraps Psalm 78!!
And Happy Valentines Day everyone!!!

I love Patter Cross's site Triple the Sketch!! Not just because she has the same blog header as me!!! But because she has a great group of talented ladies designing all kinds of projects from her sketches each week. And alot of the projects are faith based....great inspiration here!!!!
So any ways.... I am going to be joining her team of talented ladies....I am so excited and can't wait to get started!! I will be starting with the March sketches! So check out her site and go get inspired!!
I'm off to scrap today and spend more time getting my photos organized....the LOM class has started and I am on a roll organizing the last 5 years worth of photos!!!
Happy Scrapping!!!

While it truly is just another day....another graced to us by Him..... it is also my birthday. And as I had my quiet time this morning I looked back on my life that is almost half over.... and I can see so clearly His hand on my life.
There are certain people that stand out in my mind that were used by God. Placed in my life at certain times to direct me back to Him.

First are my parents....they planted the seed so long ago and raised me to know there is a God that cares.

Gordon...our youth group leader who helped me in my early teens to make a decision for Christ

My good friend Margaret probably does not even realize how God used her in my life.....to bring me back to a close relationship with my savior....that I had not had since my late teen years. And also to show us homeschooling...which I had never even thought about before. I met Margaret right after having my third child and we have been friends ever since. It is because of her willingness to allow God to use her that our family has enjoyed a biblical way of learning!

And another person I have learned so much from is my husband....God has used him to shape me even more into the person he wants me to become. I praise God that he has given me such a good friend to spend my life with...

And lastly my children..... every child that God has graced us with has changed and made me who I am today....I always laugh when people look at all my children and shake their heads and say you must have the patience of a saint... Ha!! If they knew me years ago they would know that God has worked that in me through my children, I have never been a patient person! God has used these children to mold me and make me into the mom he wants me to be. I grow every day through my children. As Moms we look at raising and training our children but in reality it is God using our children to mold and train us....

As I think about the next half of my life I am looking forward to growing and learning and being with the people I love most..... and letting them know every day how important they are to me.
So Brian will be home soon...(he is working nights this week) and he is taking me out for a birthday breakfast....then it's home for chores and learning and life. I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday!! I am truly blessed!!

(Picture of fresh made bread this morning)

Here are my layouts for the past 3 weeks....all caught up!!!

Our ladies bible study touched on communication for the past 2 weeks and how powerful our words as Moms are.
God has given us our words.....he gave them to us to worship Him. Every word that comes out of our mouths should be worship to him.....Wow! That was just huge to me and convicting!! Do all my words worship Him?
Our words should be so surrendered to Jesus that anyone listening to me is touched by Jesus. My words should bring healing....but can so easily bring devastation...how I communicate should be effective, gentle,and in an edifying and Godly manner.


So much of my speech is unprofitable and useless.....


My religion will be useless if I can not control my tongue....in other words my relationship with Christ will not be effective if I don't bridle my tongue....

All of my communication needs to be filtered through the holy spirit. Will this be easy? No!! It is something I need to work on continually


God tells us it is hard to control our tongues but with the holy spirits help we can do it!!


Our words are so powerful and can either build up or tear down those we speak too.


Everything we say or do should bring glory to God...every word. I need to clamp my tongue and not let anything come out until I have filtered it through the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12 33-37 it tells us a tree is known by its fruit.
for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
our hearts must change for our words to change. Our hearts and tongues are connected....

It is not easy to change!! But if we desire it God will help us and we can have abundant life....abundant speech through Him!!

change=pain=growth=blessings=abundant life!!

Idle words are useless and bring no glory to God. Others should be able to see my good fruits by the words of my mouth.
Have good treasure in our hearts at it will over flow out of our mouths! We do this by hiding His word in our hearts!! This is so important!! Memorizing His word will change our hearts!!

Now let's take all these thoughts into our homes.....
As Moms we have power. Power to speak into our children and spouses words that will transform their lives. I am responsible to see that those words are encouraging and positive .
Another point is that we can not take back our words ......we must think and filter every word through the Holy Spirit.
It is said that for every positive thing you say 10 negative things have already been said. How sad that it is easier for us to be quick to criticize then quick to encourage.....

As a Mom it is so easy to fall into the habit of always correcting, always seeing what is wrong in our child. We are the ones guiding and shaping them so we are looking to catch them and point them in the right direction. But God says we are to be positive and encouraging and always gentle and edifying to Him in our speech.

So I am purposing to turn my speech around to catch my kids when they do something good. To show them the grace that Christ shows me.

Brian and I are praying and making a list for each child of the fruits God wants to see in this childs life. What character traits need work? What fruit do we want to see? And instead of badgering and correcting we are going to start catching this child when they are showing that trait.
Because the things that we speak into our children are what they become.....they will grow into these traits and fruits that we communicate to them. We need to encourage them in these areas with grace and gentleness and be positive about it. Be passionate and sincere about it.
Will this take time? Yes!!! With 7 kids that's 35 positive things to catch them in a day.....
Is it worth it? Yes!!! Because I have the power to raise these children for Christ and this is how He would have us do it. With gentleness and kindness and a bridle on my tongue.

The speaker at our bible study said that when we speak to someone we need to leave them with Jesus. Yes, leave them with Jesus.....so bridle our tongue and our opinions and our comments and let Jesus speak through you and use you......let others see and hear Jesus in you.

This is my memory verse this week.....

Sorry it's been so long without a post.....life has been busy!! I finally figured out how I wanted to do my project 365 pictures....I have been keeping up with taking a pic a day but now I need to catch up with the weekly layouts. I really wanted the pictures and the journaling to stand out...not alot of other elements to distract from that soooo I ended up making my own template and I am going to keep that for each layout...just changing some background swirls and maybe the colors. I also decided to put our memory verse for that week on the layout....So here are the first 2 weeks of January....




Week one is a one pager because it only had 4 days...so each week after will be 2 pages. I am hoping to scrap today. I spent the last few days cleaning out my scrap room so maybe I'll take some pics before I mess it up again and post those....

LOM starts this week and I can't wait to get started!! I am hoping that by taking this class I will be soooo organized that I will have more time to scrap!! I also just purchased some great actions from Mindys Actions I have been playing with them and really having fun!!