Merry and Bright!

Good Morning to you all!  First I want to thank everyone for your kind words of encouragement and prayers since my last post.  They meant the world to me.  I was so touched by the fact that "strangers" would jump up with offers of help and advice.  You guys are so great!

 I am feeling so much better.  Today I really do feel "Merry and Bright."  I think there are several reasons for that.  My basement is almost completely reorganized.  We got rid of a lot of clutter.  A good purging always makes me feel better.  I don't live well in clutter and chaos. I love the way my stamp area looks now.  No, it still isn't pretty and all " matchy, matchy."  It's an unfinished basement.  However, it "feels" good.

  There are a few other things that helped cheer me up this week that I'll share in a bit.  First, I want to show my card.

I bought this stamp quite awhile ago to use for Christmas.  I finally got to ink it up....4 times.  I had to color this little guy FOUR times.  For some reason my Copics got sticky at the end when I would add just a bit more shading.  I'm not sure why.  So I would have to start all over again!  However, I think he looks adorable.  I needed practice coloring anyways.  I did decide at the very end to add shading with some Prismacolor pencils (the 4th time).  I really like that look of Copics used with Prismas.  I also added Icicle Stickles to the lights.  I just think this is the sweetest image ever!  My ribbon is recycled from a bouquet of flowers that I got years ago. I have another Christmas card to add to my stash.  Yeah!  I decided that this year I am not going to stress about Christmas cards.  I am only sending to my immediate family.  I think I may do New Year's Cards for all my extended family and friends this year.  I'm sure they only want the picture of my kids anyways.

  Let me share a story that I heard this week from my friend.  It was kind of an epiphany for me and raising me out of the funk I've been in.  It's a tiny Christmas miracle...sort of.

  My friend has a daughter who got into a lot of trouble with drugs and such when she was younger.  She has since really been trying to clean up her act.  It is not easy.  Things that she did back then still come around to "haunt" her and her family is slowly learning to trust her again.  She now has 2 small children.  My friend M was telling me that a church chose her daughter as their "Christmas project" this year.  They bought the family some of the things they needed.  All the stuff is being kept at my friends house since the entire family will be spending Christmas night together.  M realized that the diapers and wipes were something that her daughter might need beforehand so she had her husband drop them off to K...their daughter.  K wasn't home so he just left them inside by the front door.  In the meantime, K has been stressing because she has no money to buy diapers.  She didn't want to tell her mom because she felt like she had already asked so much of her financially and wanted to do it on her own.  She had been praying and praying so hard for diapers for her kids.  She didn't know what she was going to do.  When she came home that day and opened the door to find boxes of diapers and wipes she just started to cry/laugh. She didn't know her dad had dropped them off.  She had prayed and prayed and there they were.  She now knows her dad put them there, but they were definitely given to her through the wonderful little "angels" on Earth.  It's amazing how God works His wonders isn't it?

  I can't imagine ever being so desperate.  I have been fortunate enough to never know the worry of, "Where will I get  food, shelter, clothing and diapers?"  I felt like that story being told to me was a wake up call to get my butt out of slump because there is always someone else who has it so much harder. My "problems" are nothing but slight inconveniences that will all work out.  That story really reminded me of what Christmas is about. I really pray that K stays on the right track and that life will get that much better for her.  I think she is probably going to have the most wonderful holiday celebrating the real "Reason for the Season."  I know that I will too!

Many Blessings to all of you!




What's In It?
Stamps: Rachel Ann Miller Moose, PTI Holiday Tree
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Choc Chip,
Paper: Kraft, White, Spring Rain
Other: cuttlebug, embossing folder, sponge, Copics and prismacolor pencils, stickles, paper piercer, dimensionals, ribbon, trim, circle punches, circle nestabilities, button, twine