Thankful Thursday

This is purely an indulgent post but I am still thankful for it!  Ikea!  I am thankful we have a new Ikea store here in the Denver area.  I remember going to one with Andrea and a friend in the DC area and wishing we had one.  Now we do.  Wally and I went for the first time a week ago to find shelving for our new apartment.  There is so much stuff there!  I also picked out some storage pieces for my scrapbooking stuff.  We made our choice and went back this week to pick it up.

In case you don’t know, Ikea is a huge showroom and then you go to the basement to pick up your furniture.  It all comes in these rather flat and heavy brown boxes!  But they have these great carts to load the boxes onto.  The carts are wonderful  scooters and the aisles are nice and wide!  Just don’t let your husband catch you flying down the aisle on one…he goes faster…and is very wreckless! 

Here’s something else you should not let your husband do in Ikea…lay his keys down and not realize it until you are checking out!  There’s nothing like walking through that huge warehouse after closing searching for the place that the keys may have been set down. (Sure wish they would have let us use those carts!)  And where did we find them?  At the end, of course, where we started loading up the boxes!

Well, I still love the store and am thankful we have one nearby!

Thankful Thursday

Psalm 31:19
“Oh, how great is Your goodness
which you have laid up for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!”

I read that verse in my quiet time way back in August.  I missed most of my Thankful Thursday posts in August and so far in September.  But this verse has been in my heart all those weeks and I decided that this one post could make up for all the weeks I missed.  While my life is rather chaotic right now and I have felt more than a little out of control, I have countless times recognized God’s hand active in my days.  Each time I do I  think of Ps. 31:19 and stop to thank the Lord.  I have told Him many times, “Thank You Lord for having this goodness of Yours set aside for me!”  It is like for each situation, I notice a “reserved” sign right on top of His enabling peace and mercy and encouragement and wisdom!  It is quite an awesome thought to me!   He just nudges me and says, “here, I have something that might be helpful for you in this situation.  I have been saving it for you to use just now!”

I still have quite a few disorderly days ahead of me before Wally and I are moved and settled.  But for each one, I know I will have just what I need at the moment I need it!  Now that is a “Month of Thursdays” to be thankful for!

Happy Retirement

A couple of years ago I worked at Joann Fabric and Crafts.  What made this such a good job was the people I worked with/  I still have contact with many of them and consider them to be more friends than co-workers.  I worked in the stock room and Les was the Receiving Manager.  He had already retired from the Post Office, so Joann’s was a second career.  Well, Les finally took the plunge and retired for good.  I was so pleased to get the invite for his “goodbye” party.  We went to Beyond the Border.

Sharon, Paula, Les, Mary Lou, Pauline, Marie and Nyssa

Of course, you need a card for a Retirement, right?

Les is a quilter.  He has used his vacation time to travel to different shows each year.  Now he and his wife are are hitting the road to do that anytime they want!  Happy Retirement and Happy Trails to you!

Birthday Card

Here is Scott’s birthday card. 

I took this idea from Mary Fish, a Stampin’ Up demonstrator.  Her blog is one of my favorites.  Earlier this summer she did an on line card class that I took.  If you go to her blog, on the left hand side, she has several categories you can access with ideas.  Another great resource for the paper crafters out there!

Happy Birthday Scott…when did you say your Birthday was?

August 1 is my brother Scott’s birthday.  He spent that weekend in Wyoming with his son, so we did not hook up with him for his Birthday until the next weekend.  We took him to lunch after church at Red Robin.  My parents and Jo joined us. 

I know Scott and Jo are both saying “cheese” here! Jo is probably saying “cheese-boogey”, translation: cheeseburgers!I

Scott is a real encouragement to me.  Although we grew up in the same Christian home, he did not trust Christ as his Savior until he was married and had a family.  He literally came to the end of himself before he turned to Jesus.  I will never forget the phone conversation we had when he told me he had made that decision.  I remember hanging up and calling my parents right away, hardly able to believe it!  We had prayed for him for a long time!

When Christ changes everything in your life and make all things new, it does not mean that life is without struggles and battles.  But He takes the struggles and battles and turns them into a work for His own glory and our own good!  I would not want to have those struggles and battles and not have Christ to help me.  That is what I love about Scott’s life.  I know he has a lot of struggles, but he is always turning to the Lord to help him.  I think that is what makes him a good encourager.  I learned recently that “to encourage” is to come along side of someone and give them courage to do the hard thing.  That is Scott!  I think he helps others do it because he has had the Lord do it for him so many times! 

I love you Scott and this Birthday Blog is long overdue.  But did I tell you my life has been turned upside down recently?  And even in that, you have encouraged me by being so positive about the move.  I know I know…you really just want in to use the hot tub!  Wink-wink!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Corinthians 5:17

Made It Myself Monday

Did you ever ask this little riddle as a kid?  “Pete and Repeat were out in a boat.  Pete fell in, who was left?  REPEAT!”  And then you would repeat the question.  Well, this is my REPEAT of a card I told you about here from Craft Project Central.  I was planning at that time to use the pattern again for an Anniversary card for Wally.  While Jo was visiting I also thought it would be fun for her.  She loves her photos! So we each made a card.

Here is her “sister” easel frame.  She had to do some more punching, but she got it done!  (See here for Jo’s punching expression)

 

And here is my card for Wally…

The border I used for the picture to set in is made with the Creative Memories new Border Punch System. The heart punches are also CM.

I am linking this post up for Made It Myself Mondays at You Had Me At Craft.

Crafting with Jo

Recently my sister JoEllen was home for her summer vacation.  She spent a few days with me and we did some crafts together.  I had been wanting to make an altered clipboard for awhile now.  I thought Andrea and I would do one together on my visit with her in July.  But we never got around to it.  So I thought, this will be fun to do with Jo. 

Here she is slathering the clipboard and paper with Mod Podge.

We added some butterflies that Jo punched out and then mod podged onto the clipboard.

Punching takes a lot out of JoEllen!  She’s punching really hard here!

JoEllen’s clipboard came out really cute.  She decorated the top with felt
3-D butterflies and little stick on gemstones.  Only problem is I never got a picture of the finished clipboard! 

But here is my clipboard.  I really like it.  I’m not too sure though just how functional it will be, but we shall see!