Yes, I'm still leaping for joy!

Welcome back to my blog (for me, too)!! Well, I've learned that blogs are funny things....I love to read them and I'm really glad I started mine, but then it greets me everyday with a blank page.....not unlike the day the Lord had made today! And then the obligations come in and then the choices are wide and open and things get juggled and the list grows and morphs and here we are...end of September!! These certainly have continued to be busy months! We have thankfully "recovered" from our Algonquin wilderness trip! (Let's just say we weren't the ONLY Leaches in the water!!) I promised a pic or two so here you go! You'll see one of the sites we stayed in and what early morning looks like on the water. See our ultra light tents??? You pack really really light when you carry everything everywhere everyday!! All the water you see....we paddled through and back!!
We got back from Canada and spent a week downloading our stuff, our knotted muscles, our brains, our pictures and our days!!












Now fast forward to September and along with getting back to school, this last month I've been planning for our church's yearly missions emphasis for the month of September...the last four Sundays! It's been a lot of planning and juggling speakers and fun and exciting mission focused stuff....but it is time consuming....today was the last day and it was just AWESOME!! We had speakers this month that minister in China, all of Latin America, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, the middle East, Egypt, Turkey, Kazakhstan, even in Rochester, NY and every country in between! When we realize that God has given us the charge of spreading his word of love, peace and redemption for eternal life to the entire world, I get fired up!! :) (My husband will tell me this is the first sign of trouble! :0

But I loved the summer, finding time to stamp, usually late night when I'm just not tired enough for bed...I've recently joined the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) forum on Splitcoaststampers.com and the WISH RAK as well....so I get to send lots of cards and grant image wishes to people I don't even know!! It's such a blessing to use my stamps to make others happy! If you are a stamper and have never been to SCS it can be overwhelming at first--it was to me....so I decided to take it one step at a time....and what a wonderful group of people! I have already received three welcome to SCS RAKs, one welcome to Wish RAK from my mentor, Dorothy and some Bella images, too. Being part of this reminds me that I have a big family of people I DO know who don't get enough cards from me, so I am going to start RAKing them and see what happens!! (Good things always do!)

Since school has started, though, even finding time to sit in one spot and breathe is hard to do! So stamping has taken to only the weekends....at least til soccer season quiets down! I did manage to stamp a few cards for a swap I am in on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum; I'll try to post a pic of one as soon as the recipients receive them! I did make a card for a sympathy card swap, but neglected to take a picture! Here are some cards I stamped this summer:



This was a b'day card for my friend Sandy....the stamps are Gina K's sea friends and the sentiment is Hero Arts. I used all in colors '08 from Stampin up and some Cuttlebugged paper my friend Kathy G let me emboss with her machine (I am SO getting one for Christmas!!)

My favorite part of the card was the little guy on the envelope....I drew in the cupcake (tee hee!)






This one I made for a "Cards for the troops" contest. I love this God bless America 9/11 commemorative stamp from Stampin up. The backgrounder is Cornish Heritage Farms (retired) and the 'hero' word is my own handwriting! SU Brilliant blue and Real Red are the inks and the sentiment is also Hero Arts.

Please please pray for our troops in all the world...we just had another young man from our church go out and we want the hand of God over all their lives!! We cannot thank them enough for their daily sacrifices!!

Well, I should go do my homework now! I am so hoping to check in more often and share my cards and musings! thanks so much for spending some time here! And thank God for another new and shiny day tomorrow to fill with new and exciting stuff! Blessings to you and your family!!

PS Forgive the space issues on the blog....I'm still a newbie with layout and what I see on preview is not what I set....ah well, at least it shows up :) Thanks to God for the blessings! :)