Wednesday, July 22, 2009

old home week


Tonight I went out with a group of ladies from my old church. One has moved to Iowa a number of years ago and was back in town visiting friends. The women's group from church decided to meet with her. It was nice to catch up. And the really great part was that Baker's Square was having free pie tonight so it was cheap too.


I thought it was appropriate that I had made this layout earlier today. The sanctuary was always so pretty, especially at Easter. The pictures were taken 5 years ago - long before we knew the future of the church.


Just as getting together with the ladies of the church was bittersweet so was the memories of my church home. The journalling under the picture says, "Lent is a time of reflection and preparedness for the coming Easter Season. This year Jim preached on preparing our hearts by dealing with some of the sin which was in fact the cause for the necessity of Christ’s death and resurrection.Each week during Lent the cross was used during the service to do just that. Confessions were nailed to it. Fears and failings were lovingly but seriously confronted. It was intense, but also the most moving Lent season ever experienced."
This and many of my other most recent layouts can be found here: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/coppermine/index.php

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Still Scrapping


Yes, even though I have not posted everything here, I am still a scrapping fool this month. I am involved in a cybercrop at Cooking up Scrapbooking Creations http://www.cookinupcreations.com/phpBB3/

This was a layout made for a scrap lift challenge.

Looking for food in the kitchen of someone who dosen't cook

I have been in that kitchen. Yes, there is food. No, I won't starve. BUT there is nothing to make a meal with. There are just random items, a jar of peanut butter, some cheese, a quart of orange juice and some garlic salt.

That is what looking for a church has been like. I am searching for spiritual food and all I get is a snack. There is nothing wrong with snacks, but it is not the meat that I crave either. There is no consistency when the menu changes every week. I get just enough to almost last me through the week but I am never really satisfied.

Every week is about the same. I look hopefully to Sunday. Will this be the church? Will this be the one where everyone will be content and fed? And so far, the answer is no.

The church we attended today was an example. It was just what I was hoping for - at least on paper. They had Christian education for everyone. The music was pleasant. The people were friendly and the sermon was Biblically based. It has all of that but it was only half alive. There was no meat there. Once again another Sunday morning and rather than being fed a meal which I could chew on most of the week I left only having had a snack that barely will hold me through the day.

Here is hoping that the menu will be more satisfying next week.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Church Should NOT Hurt

Our "official" church search began again today. It has been a year since our church closed and although we have found a church that was "nice" we were hoping for something more so we are officially looking again.


The day started out nicely enough. The people were friendly enough. It is a small church, but we don't mind that. In fact, I would prefer a small healthy church to a large one. The kids all loved Sunday School. Timothy even liked it - he actually said "like" not just ok.


Unfortunatly that was about where the positive experience ended. The Sunday School Tom and I attended can be summed up best by Tom's description - it was like a trip to the dentist. Getting any one to say anything was like pulling teeth. But at least there was novicane. It was uncomfortable but it didn't hurt.


The same can not be said for the church service. That was like going to the dentist without any novicane. The sancturary was more the size of a chapel. It was approximatly 20 feet by 40 feet. I don't mind a small space in fact for the number of people there it fit. The problem lies with the sound system.


Going to church should not hurt. I don't mean that it is always comfortable. There have been times when I have been convicted of my sin and that is not comfotable. I have heard sermons that I swear were aimed directly at me. Once again I feel ill at ease, but I do not phiscally hurt. That was not the experience today.


The sound system which could have easily served a room 3 to 4 times bigger than the one it was in was cranked up to high. And the worst part is that there was no balance. I think that everything was just turned on to the max. The worst was the drum set. It wasn't just a snare and a bass but a full set. I really think that just about any rock band would have loved to have. It just about drowned out everyone else. Literally we could not hear any voices at all and the piano was drowned out entirely. The keyboard and the gituar were putting up a fight to be heard but it was a loosing battle against the drums.


We were situated near the front so I couldn't see the reactions of the other people. But I did see both the daughter of the worship leader and the daughter of the minister sitting with their fingers in their ears. It was so loud that it was actually painful. I am all for exuberant worship, but this was not worship at all - it was just playing Christian songs as loud as possible. I may be wrong but I know that the last thing on my mind was worship. I just wanted to stuff something in my ears so I wouldn't be deaf before the service was over.






Saturday, July 11, 2009




There are a few rare occasions where the kids will permit me to take their pictures - so I have to take advantage of it.
When we were in Newark for the NJHS induction the kids let me take pictures of them in the park outside the theater where the ceremony was held. Although they are not the best picstures in the world, they are pictures that I will treasure just because I have them.
These and many other of my current creations are for the cooking up a challenge cyber challenge. My other work (no I have not posted it all here) as well as the work of other talented artists can be seen here: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/coppermine/index.php

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Counting my blessings


Journalling:

The Lord - He loves me the way I am but too much to let me stay that way

Tom: The only person who understands me

Timothy: Inspires me to dream and make my own path

Eva: Shows me where vision and the courage to follow can lead

Emily: Constantly shows me how much fun life can be.

Becky: A reminder that frindships can last a lifetime

Cindy: A true role model of what a wife and mom are

Sharon: Always willing to help

Patsy: proves the Christians can and do have fun

The Pets: They silently add so much to life



With a wild week of celeberties dying unexpectedly the challenge for this week was to make a top ten list about something for which you are thankful. I am most thankful for the people in my life so I made this. This and other challenges can be found at: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/

Who?


The challenge at Cooking up Creations for 7/7 was to use 7 wallet photos and 7 words of journalling. The hardest part was finding the 7 wallet pictures. I ended up using pictures of myself spanning from about 6 months to 16 years.
The journalling that I used was my titles at that time. That got me thinking. Who was I then? Did those titles matter to me? How have they changed - well most of them are now obsolete at least as a title. No one will ever call me niece, daughter or granddaughter anymore as I have no living aunts, uncles parents or grandparents.
That of course got me thinking about who I am now. I think of all that has happened in the invervening years and how many things have changed and how some things have stayed the same. Some were for the better, some were for the worse. Each and every one though has made me into the person that I am today,
As you might have guessed, part of who I am is an avid scrapper. You can check out the rest of my current creations at this site:

Wednesday, July 8, 2009


One of the challenges at Cooking up Creations this month was to scrap something that was new - Scrap a layout about starting something... starting school.. starting a new job... starting a new phase in your life.
Having kids certainly is a new phase - especially at Christmas. There are toys to buy, things to assemble, gifts to wrap and the seeing of Santa. Before children we were in bliss full ignorance of all of these.
Yes, it was a challenge but since that first Christmas with kids we have since repeated it another 15 times and adding 2 more kids into the mix. At times it has been a challenge, but we have survived and in fact even learned to enjoy Christmas morning with our biggest blessings.
Here is the link to Cooking up Creations to get involved in the fun: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=399&start=0

Monday, July 6, 2009

Discovery Days


We use a virtual school = Ohio Virtual Academy. Every spring they sponsor Discovery Days. In Cleveland that means a trip to the Great Lakes Science Center. It is a great museum with all sorts of hands on exhibits. we went this year in May and the above are some of the pictures I took of the kids learning and having fun.

This is a link to the gallery where you can see these and many other of my scrapping layouts:
http://www.cookinupcreations.com/coppermine/index.php

Back in the Saddle again

We have been attending the same church for about 6 months. It was the one we were happiest with of all the ones we looked at. However we don't want to "settle" for something. We want to be where the Lord is leading us. Right now we do not know exactly where that is but we feel that at least for the present, he is leading us away from that church.

SOOOOO exactly a year after this process began we are in the active part of searching for a church again. I really do not think that I am being too picky we have a short list of "have to haves" but we just can't seem to find a church that has everything. Just to show that I am not being nit-picky here is the list:

1. Well delivered, biblically based sermons.
2. Sunday school for EVERYONE (Tom and I too).
3. Opportunity to worship as a family (children are present for at least part of the service)
4. Bible study (at least most of the year - I can live with it if they take the summer off, but I am still looking in the Bible to see where it says that Satan takes a vacation between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I haven't found it yet)

Sure there are LOTS of other things that would be nice - pews instead of folding chairs, a combination of traditional and contemporary music, VBS, congregation the "right size" etc. but none of them are deal breakers.

So we are off and searching, again.

Awana Awards


I took a ton of pictures at the Westlake Bible Fellowship Awana Awards - and I have finally done something with them. Here is Emily at the awards ceremony - with her part and receiving her award.
Here is the link to where it is posted if you want to read the journalling: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0

Friday, July 3, 2009

J


Jeffrey is Tom's Godson and was born when Tom and I were still dating. Because of that, I have had the pleasure to be able to watch him grow up. I took this pictur last Thanksgiving. It struck me when I saw it how much he has really grown.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Growing up


Emily is growing up there is not doubt about it. She is in second grade now. She flew up from Daisies to Brownies. She is no longer the youngest kid in the neighborhood. So please tell me, where did my little girl go?
This layout has pictures from the Girl Scout ceremony. It was made for Cooking up Creations.

One of the worst things about summer


The challenge was to make a lay out about something I didn't like about summer. I chose sand. Here is the journalling:

THE BEACH IS A GREAT WAY TO COOL OFF ON A HOT AND STEAMY SUMMER DAY.HOWEVER GOING TO THE BEACH DOES HAVE ITS DRAWBACKS AND THE BIGGEST ONE IS THE SAND.


SAND STICKS TO EVERYTHING. IT IS UNCOMFORTABLE AND IT WORKS ITS WAY INTO THE MOST UNWELCOME PLACES. IT GETS INTO HAIR. IT GETS INTO SHOES, SOCKS, POCKETS AND PURSES AND EVEN UNDERWEAR. IT SETTLES BETWEEN TOES. SAND IS AN ALL AROUND NUISANCE.


THE WORST PART ABOUT SAND IS THAT IT IS NOT SATISFIED TO STAY AT THE BEACH. IT INSISTS ON COMING HOME TOO. THE SAND SEEMS TO MAGICALLY MULTIPLY AS SOON AS IT IS REMOVED FROM THE BEACH. IT STILL STAYS STUCK TO WHERE IT DOESN’T BELONG BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT ALSO INVADES THE CAR.


IT IS A NOT SATISFIEDWITH STAYING THERE EITHER. UPON ARRIVAL BACK HOME THE SAND WILL THEN ATTACK EVERY PART OF THE HOME: THE CARPET, THE BATHTUB, THE WASHER AND DRIER EVEN THE KITCHEN SINK. AFTER SEVERAL DAYS OF CLEANING IT IS POSSIBLE TO ERADICATE MOST OF THE PESTILENTIAL STUFF, AND AT THAT POINT,ONE OF THE KIDS WILL ASK, “CAN WE GOTO THE BEACH TODAY?”
This and my other crations for this month can be found here: http://www.cookinupcreations.com/

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I am scrapping again!


Yup it is time for a cybercrop and I am up and running.


this one is for a wonderul website called "Cooking up creations" which was started by a friend of mine - and what could be better friends and scrapping. Of course I am there. You can be too here is the link:



I have already started scrapping. This lay out was my first for the cyber crop. I hope you like it.