A layout and a first, and "guess what Rebekah's doing now" time

I made a layout yesterday afternoon from a picture we just took.

Katie, Amy and Vivian (my sisters) came over at lunchtime to take pictures of the girls. I kept wanting to go to Sears, but last time we went Jasmine spent most of the time in tears, so it didn't seem like the most enjoyable thing to do again. So instead, I asked Katie, who takes amazing pictures (and has a really good camera) if she would come take some. The girls came too, and we had a fantastic time. Especially considering it was during naptime, they stayed pretty happy and cooperative!

This is my last layout as part of Jenna Nelson's Creative Team. I had a fabulous time on her team, but with my new role at TDC, I didn't feel like I could do both. (I'm still on Tamra's team, but since she designs at TDC it seems workable still. That, and she just had a baby so she's taking some time off!) I have had so much fun on Jenna's team, watching her technique develop, and getting to use awesome, creative things I never would have imagined using on a page.

As to my "first," I made a template based on my Swim Gear layout, and have it online for this week's "sketch challenge." So if anyone reading this likes to use templates, feel free to snag it! I'd love to see if you use it!


Rebekah is crawling all over the place. She doesn't fall much anymore, unless it's because she's trying to crawl over a leg or a big toy. And she's discovered that she has wrists, which is adorable. She looks like she's trying to do the "royalty" wave (or Miss America? I'm not up on my waves) :) I'll try to get videos soon!

Sweet Girls

Happy Friday! I'm so ready for the weekend, though the week hasn't been bad. Just long. I enjoyed having Josh around for the whole week, and it's made the time when he's at work seem a lot longer.

Rebekah is crawling now. It's slow and she still ends up on her tummy every few "steps," but she has the mechanics figured out. Give her a few days and she'll be following her sister around.

I might have mentioned that Jasmine and I have been learning some basic sign language. It's mostly worship signs, though I plan to do some "baby signs" with Rebekah that I'm sure Jasmine will pick up too ("nurse," "more," that kind of thing).

Last night as we were lying in bed, Jasmine started signing and saying "holy" and then singing, "Jesus, Love you," over and over and over. Josh was already asleep, but I heard it and just marveled. What a sweet, precious child God has blessed us with. She may stretch us more than is comfortable at times, but she has such a sweet heart, and she has given us so much more joy than I ever could have imagined.

And she adores her sister. The feeling is very mutual, too. If one of them is crying, the other one looks in her sister's eyes and grins. Jasmine says "happy? happy?" to Bekah, but Bekah just smiles at Jasmine, while their mommy melts!

Jasmine's Song and Dance

Jasmine has spent the last couple days listening to "Bert and Ernie's Singalong," an old record from my childhood.

One of the songs on the record has a dance, and she's figured it out (with some help from Mommy). I got a video of it, and thought I'd share.
(You should hear her. She knows most of the words to the beginning dialog. Unbelievable! I hadn't realized how much she knew!!!)

Big News!!

The big announcement still hasn't been made, but since you can see my picture on the staff page, I figure I can announce it here.

TDC had a call for Creative Team members 1 1/2 weeks ago, and I decided to try for it. I was nervous, trying so hard not to get my hopes up because I didn't make the past couple teams I tried for. But I've wanted to be doing something more there for a long time, and I found myself hoping anyways.

And I found out Monday morning that I was chosen! There are 10 of us new CT members, and I'm just so excited and honored to be one of them.
(for non-scrappers, the Creative Team gets the products free and then makes layouts to promote the things in the store. It is a huge privilege, besides the obvious perk of not having to buy everything there!!

You can see my name here :)

In other news, Rebekah has decided to learn how to crawl. She rocks and moves her legs, and last night she was working hard at picking up her arms (and falling over). So it won't be long until she's mobile too!!

Rats. this isn't animated here. You can see it move here.

Glory!

Jasmine and I have been learning some sign language for worship, using videos Josh's mom made years ago (Charity was 11, so almost 19 years ago). I'm doing most of the learning, but as the video below proves, Jasmine's learning some!
(And at the end she says her name; until last night she had been saying her name was "Jamins" so this is an improvement!)

Scrapping Stuff

I'm so excited! I'm going to be a part of "The Amazing Digi Scrapping Race II" starting this Sunday. My partner, Deena, is someone I've known from TDC since we both started there, and since she's on vacation now and we just got back, we should both have lots of pictures to work with.

What is it? If you don't feel like reading everything on that site, I'll try to summarize. We will have 12 "challenges" over the next 6 weeks. One Sunday, one Wednesday, both needing to be completed by the following Saturday. Everyone who completes the week's challenges continues on to the next week, and at the end, all the teams that completed all 12 challenges will go into a drawing for a HUGE grand prize.

I think this should be a lot of fun! I always (or very often always) scrap better when given parameters ("use only one paper, 2 ribbons, 4 buttons and a one-word title") so I'm really excited about this! Deena set up a blog for it, so I'll be posting my layouts there.

Other fun stuff is happening...The Digi Chick is getting a makeover coming with the new ownership, so there's a big party this weekend. I can't wait...I love parties, especially scrapping ones, where no uncomfortable small talk is necessary! So expect a bunch of new layouts after the weekend is over :)

Here's one I made yesterday using a bunch of beautiful things from the very talented Jenna Nelson:

Quick summary of our week

Here's a quick run-down of our week:

Saturday: looked for fencing. Fun (or not quite) Swam at his parents'.

Sunday: to Canada to meet an online friend from my scrapping site. Great time! Almost got our car towed (found out when we were walking along the falls that they paid $9 a day to park at the hotel, and that the hotel had towed cars the day before. Thankfully we weren't there long enough for that to happen)
Planned to go to the cemetery where my grandpa and great-grandparents are buried (as well as someone named Gertrude), but changed our mind when we saw the bridge.

Monday: to a lovely beach on Grand Island. To the cemetery. Bought groceries for the week.

Tuesday: to my family's, and then to their zoo. A nice zoo; very different from ours.

Wednesday: rain in the forecast for the afternoon. to the aquarium near the Falls. To a McDonald's with a playplace, where Josh's mom came to watch Jasmine play. FUN! Read the Declaration of Independence as a family (Well, Josh read it to us).

Thursday: more rain in the morning. To the Toy Town Museum (Fisher-Price is based near us). Fun play area there; both girls had fun.

Friday: to Canada to see Grandma and her traveling friends, Freda and Marjorie. Great time, perfect weather. Walked around the botanical gardens (oops! we forgot to go to the floral clock!!)

Saturday: to Knox Farm, a state park that used to be a farm. Lovely walk, great pictures, awesome picnic. Lost Josh's ring when we started out. Went to "Explore and more," a fun play/learn place not too far from us. I think we'll get a membership in a couple years when Jasmine can get more out of it and Rebekah can play!

Sunday: to Canada for Cirque de Soleil. Awesome!! Dropped the diaper bag under the tent bleachers, but they must get that all the time because they were able to get it without a problem. (*whew*)

Monday: back to normal!

Miracle Accomplished!!

Josh called Knox Farm this morning...the place where the chain fell off. Someone found the ring and it's waiting for him at the office.

God is so good! I'm so relieved and thankful and happy!!!!!

Praying for a Miracle

I'll try to write a longer post tomorrow with some of the fun details from our week of mini-vacations. What a great week it was!
But I'm asking right now that you pray with us. Josh lost his wedding band yesterday. He's worn it on a chain around his neck for the past 2+ years, and the clasp broke at some point yesterday morning. He felt the chain fall off, but didn't hear/see/feel the ring disappear.

I'm heartbroken. I know it's just a symbol. But it's a special symbol. And I absolutely hate the thought of someone else with that ring.

We retraced yesterday's steps this morning, with no success. There's nowhere else we can think to look, so now I'm really just praying for a miracle. We can buy a new one (with money we really don't have right now) but it's not the same! I don't want him to go without, but I hate the thought of going into debt any further...

Thank you for praying with us!

Week Off

Josh is taking a much-needed week off of work, which means I'm getting a week off, too. We've taken day trips since Sunday, with more planned for three of the next four days (Saturday is presently undecided). I'm not scrapping, emailing, or lounging around (or cleaning more than the bare minimum). It's fantastic!

I'll write out stories (or more likely scrap the stories; I've gotten tons of pictures) but here's a taste of the past few days:

Sunday we went to the Canadian side of the Falls to meet up with Kimberly and her family, a fellow digiscrapper.
Monday we went to a beach, for Jasmine's first time (obviously Rebekah's too).
Tuesday was a trip to my family's to go to their zoo with them.
Today was the aquarium at the Falls and then to a McDonald's with a playplace.

I hope everyone is doing well and that my American readers are having a fantastic Independence Day!

Brilliance

(the following was published in this month's issue of God's Voice Worldwide, a free email newsletter put out by Communion with God Ministries).

Health Corner: A simple way to reduce your cancer risk 60% – Joshua Virkler
In case you haven’t heard, there is some astounding new research coming out about the sun, Vitamin D, and disease. The first large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study on vitamin D and cancer has shown that vitamin D can cut cancer risks by 60 percent or more! In response, the Canadian Cancer Society is now recommending vitamin D for all adults. (Click here for more on this study.)

It’s starting to become clear that the popular advice about avoiding the sun at all costs has had some unintended consequences. The primary way that we obtain vitamin D is through sun exposure, and now a large percentage of people in the United States (and likely throughout the Western world) are deficient in this vitamin. The results have been devastating. In addition to cancer, vitamin D deficiency can contribute to a host of other ailments (from Autism to Osteoporosis).

Action to take: Twenty minutes per day of sun exposure (without sunscreen, just don’t get burned) is enough to obtain your dose of vitamin D. If you live in an area where this is impractical or impossible, cod liver oil is one of the best alternatives. A quality brand available in most health food stores is Carlson, and it even has a pleasant lemon flavor (nothing fishy like you might expect). Dr. Joseph Mercola suggests one teaspoon per 50lbs of body weight, and since there is a chance you may already be getting enough vitamin D, he also suggests getting bloodwork done to check your current levels before supplementing heavily. Click here for more about this. When buying supplements, don’t bother with synthetic vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), but instead go for natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).

Exciting, isn’t it? A simple way to massively reduce your risk from the #1 cause of death in the United States, and it doesn’t even have to cost you a thing!