5 Blissful Minutes of Blogging

Hey everyone...well the power is back on (it was out ALL day!) but my computer is completely thrashed, cooked, done in, wasted. Pick a word, any word, it is DEAD. A wonderful friend and neighbour of mine graciously allowed me to have her laptop overnight just so I could pay the bills and I'm sneaking in a little blogging and perhaps check in on everyone at Scrap In Style. Nothing much to report without the pictures to go along...as Keli mentioned I've been scrapping up a storm and I'm almost done my niece's first year calendar. I only have 3 more pages in that one and then I am on to my son's first year book. He's 2...I guess I'm catching up a bit. In between I've been doing challanges! Andy Warhol ain't got nothin' on me baby! I love how that one came out...and if I had a darn computer I could show you. No such luck. Just go to the SIS link above and check out the challenges message board to read all about it. That's all for now...Blogging just isn't the same without pictures and stuff. I'd like to say I'll be back on line soon but if I held my breath on that one I'd turn blue and die so check back weekly. That's probably all I can manage right now until we go South again in July. Unless I can convince hubby to order the great computer Keli got on Ebay. Wish me luck because I don't think I can survive up here without a computer for a whole month. I might as well be churning my own butter.

KATES COMPUTER IS TIRED ...

Hey there all y'all, I am Kate's friend Keli reporting on behalf of Kate. It appears that her computer is currently tired and needs a hiatus from the stress it has encountered in the past few months by Kate's increased blogging and picture downloading. We are unsure as to the amount of time off the computer will be taking. Kate is currently very upset as to the loss of her computer (and it totally doesn't help that the power is out in the upper half of the province and she is currently without power and computer ... poor girl). However, I am happy to report that without her computer and without power, the only thing she can do is scrapbook. So, coming your way in the near future will be loads of inspirational scrapbook layouts for your viewing pleasure. Please stay tuned ....

Keli

GO

Here is my LO for the One Little Word challenge. And a challenge it was!


Sorry...Photo no longer available.

Breathe, Blog, Breathe!!!

I know, I know, my blog is dead. Lifeless. Without humour, antecdote or picture. My dear, sweet husband has been working mega double overtime and it was either let the house go to shambles or let the blog die for a few days. The house won. I know everyone understands...so I thought I'd try to breathe a little life into the old girl today while my son eats his lunch. It's almost nap time!!! Which means scrapbooking...I am working on a few things right now but one thing I'm almost done is my niece's first year calendar. She's six. I can hear the snickering...but when I started scrapbooking 3 years ago I started all these projects. Then they sat on a shelf gathering dust. Now that I'm in the intermediate scrapbooking category I am finally finishing all these things I had such great intentions for all those years ago. Slowly but surely I am finishing things. It's a great feeling. I also really want to get in on a couple of the challenges floating around the Scrap In Style website. One is called "One Little Word" and you have to design a layout using the word GO. The other one is called "Andy Warhol Knockoff" and you have to use 9 of the same picture in different colour washes. Should be fun if I can actually get at it before the deadline!

Sneaky Little Sheister

I live with a con artist. And he's only 2. But he's quicker and possibly smarter than me. Here's why:

I was photographing some layouts for my Scrap In Style portfolio at the kitchen table. My son was just hangin' around watching. Or so I thought. I would take a LO out of my book, line it up, snap the picture, put the camera down (there's my mistake) and turn my attention to another LO (mistake number 2). Here are the pictures I downloaded after, in the order they appeared.











And I didn't know he had done it until I downloaded the pictures. Here is the makings of a criminal mastermind. But I still love him!

Bring Back The Lost Art Of Baking

Okay ladies and gentlemen, I know you all don't usually leave comments but here is a question that requires a comment from EVERYONE (except Kel because she leaves comments faithfully every day). Who bakes? I mean really, really bakes? I'm not talkin' the occassional Christmas cookie here. I am talking cookies for the kids' lunches-sheet cake for the church picnic-truffles for a hostess gift for your boss's wife's dinner party-cinnamon buns on the weekend-baking. From scratch. At least once a week. And what is your yummiest, to-die-for recipe? Ok, those are the questions. Now here is the answer: I don't care if you haven't picked up a spatula in 8 years you NEED to make this recipe. I was surfin' around on the Scrap In Style website (where you can find me most hours of the day since the 15th!) and someone had posted a comment (several actually) about The Pioneer Woman. So I Googled her (or course) and found her site. AND I found this recipe. Oh my goodness, I can't wait to make this. I have always loved baking but hadn't been a weekly diehard until we moved. Now I am home 24/7 and I bake at least twice a week and try to make buns at least once a week. One of my hubby's friends said my buns changed his life. Yes, they are that good. Move over Martha! So a cake recipe isn't that exciting but boy this one was. Can't WAIT can't WAIT can't WAIT! Go bake something yummy for your family this weekend!!! Oh, and if you are a scrapper or a scrapper wannabe you have to check out Scrap In Style! Those women have done some serious work over there. My new favourite spot!

Our Little Jail Bird is FLYING!!!

Emily is rockin' the free world baby!!! Thanks for your prayers! Chris writes:

Well We are breakin' outta this joint today!! They let us out on a pass last night to see how she would do, and she did great. She is still a bit weak but otherwise doing great. Thanks again for all your prayers, support, gifts and the love you have shown Emily and us. It made out ordeal and time here so much easier!

You break free little girl! We are all still praying for you!

It Tastes Like Home To Me

I love the simple things in life. Sharing special recipes with friends and family is one of my not-so-well-known hobbies. I do eventually want to put together a scrapbooked tin of all the great recipes I've picked up along the way. One of my favs is Rollkuchen. It's a Mennonite recipe my friend Jelena introduced me to several years ago. The recipe I actually use is from my friend Keli. I was missing it so I made it today with my 2 year old son. What a mess but boy, is it delicious. Deep fried dough and a huge chunk of watermelon. What more could one need?

Quick Update on Emily!!!

What a trooper! Emily is doing well with all your prayers. Chris writes:

Monday night she was allowed to start eating real food. Yesterday morning she threw up twice and again a few hours after supper. It wasn't going anywhere. They had to access her central line last night to give her some fluids, which has made a difference today. She has perked up quite a bit. She had an abdominal X-Ray today to rule-out a bowel obstruction and that was good nothing they could see. She can eat again just at her own pace and her stomach just needs to to start working again (almost "wake up again") and it will be at her own pace. Having patience is hard, she wants to go home and of course so do we. Still nothing on the pathology report about her tumor.
She is perky and in good spirits. Hope to see everyone soon. We miss you all.

We miss you too Chris! Please continue to pray for Emily's recovery and specifically for her stomach to settle down and allow her to eat good foods! We are all thinking about you little one.

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging

Thank-you again for all your prayers for Emily...but I thought since she is pretty much out of the woods and on the road to recovery we could get back to some lighter blogging. We love you Emily!

For Mother's Day my Husband gave me a day of scrapbooking (among other things!) it was fantastic. I finished a birthday gift that I have to mail today and 6 LOs for my Dominican book. Happy Mother's Day to me! They turned out okay...my favs are the Japanese ones. Those ones turned out better than I expected because I am not very good with multiple photos. Take a look:



It was a roarin' good time! And there was this older lady at Karaoke night; she was awesome! I had to take pictures of her...She was at lease 70 but I think older...Line dancing and everything! Rock on Granny!

Doodling a la Elsie Flannigan baby!

Happy Mother's Day!

I normally don't post on Sunday but it's a special day...for Mother's everywhere and especially for Megan Thiele. Megan, we are all still praying for your little princess! Emily has made phenomenal progress over the last few days. Megan writes an update for yesterday:

"Emily was up in her wheelchair twice today. She painted & played air hockey with daddy and with Jenna. She was even wheeling her chair all by herself. She is only allowed a few sips of water and no food yet, hopefully some gas or bowel sounds tomorrow so she can start eating. We are also hoping they will take out her epidural and catheter tomorrow, she may be a bit more uncomfortable at first because the epidural has been keeping her from feeling her abdominal area. But having both out means a lot less tubes to watch out for when she is up and around in her wheelchair and she will be able to take some steps. Also we are hoping to be able to move into a private or at least a semi-private room tomorrow."

Chris also sends out a Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers and paid special tribute to his wife:

"Most of all I want to shout to the world, how much I Love Megan and and how much I think she is such an awesome Mom!!! She is such an inspiration and our girls are so lucky to have her as a Mom. She has been strong and steadfast when she has needed to be for Emily and able to let go and be a scared and sad Mom when Emily was asleep or out of the room. It has been an honour to be her husband lately and to be able to be there for her too!"

Yeah, made me cry too. They are such an inspirational couple. Thank-you to all who continue to pray for Emily and let's remember how truly blessed we are. Please pray for the Dyck family again today. They have lost their little Kaylee but have to continue to be strong for their 3 month old son. Please pray for Brendan and Trisha as they struggle with this.

Thank-you from the very bottom of my heart for the support you all have given for these dear people. This is supposed to be a fun scrapbooking blog and this week I've asked a lot from you. You all gave such a tremendous amount. I am putting together a book for the Thiele Family of prayers and good wishes for Emily's recovery. If you wish to contribute your comments, prayers or favourite scripture just leave a comment here and I will include it. Thank-you again, so so much.

The above e-mails were from late last night...I just checked my e-mail before posting this and Chris writes:

Emily got her Epidural out today, is on clear fluids, Jello and accidentally tore out her last IV in the night and they said they would not need to start another peripheral IV but could now use her Port-a-Cath if needed(right now has no IV fluids running). Now all she has left is her foley catheter (in her bladder)! We are in the play room and she is starting to walk bit by bit also!! She is looking great!!

More Encouraging News!

What a little fighter, that Emily girl! I got 2 e-mails from Chris & Megan today so I thought I'd throw in a late night update here about Emily's wonderful day. It is so heart warming to hear she is creeping back slowly to her old self. Chris writes:

This morning she was asking to get up and go in a wheel chair so she could go see the baby chicks (that they hatched here this week in an incubator) and then go to the playroom. First the surgeon said her NG (naso-gastric) tube could come out then she felt much better. We got her into a wheelchair even though quite painful she really enjoyed it, and stayed up for three hours!! She watched Beauty and the Beast in her w/c. She had some more family today come and visit and she seemed to enjoy the company. I lifted her out in the evening to sit on Megan's lap for about 15 min then she wanted to stand and try walking. We stood her up and could not walk, but stood for twenty-thirty seconds. It does not seem like much but it is good progress.

I can't imagine not being able to hold my baby. Megan & Chris, you are an inspiration to us all. Stay strong through God's love. We are all praying. Speaking of praying...we have another prayer request. A little unconventional but I know God will understand. We're praying for some wind here people. Emily's wind. She needs to start passing gas or better yet have a BM before they will let her start eating and drinking. As Chris writes: "Never more so than now (and I enjoyed it before) have I wanted and would enjoy a good fart!! Daddy loves a good fart!!" So please pray for a good old fashioned fart and let's get Emily eating some Jello! Thank-you to all who are thinking about this little one.

There are a few others we need to remember in our prayers tonight as well. Friends of ours left due to a family emergency on Wednesday and I just heard this morning that their 2 year old niece passed away suddenly. Please pray for comfort and strength for the Dyck Family. Please pray for little Kaylee.

News From Emily

I apologize for the lack of update yesterday but there were some troubles with the hospital computers and Chris and Megan couldn't e-mail me. But it came through fine this morning. Some may ask "Why didn't they call?" Truthfully, I'm glad they feel they don't have to. I am so thankful that we have friends who we don't need to talk to...they have Faith that we are praying and we have Faith that they feel our prayers. They have Faith we are thinking about them, we have Faith they know this without doubt. They have Faith we love them. We have Faith they love us. They are being so bombarded right now, the last thing they need to worry about is making a whole bunch of phone calls. E-mail is a great thing in these situations. Thank-you so much for all the praying, please don't stop! Megan writes:

As most of you know the surgery went very well. They were able to remove the tumor in one piece and all the other organs looked good. We will have to wait about a week for the pathology reports. Emily was pretty uncomfortable today but she was resting well tonight. Emily will be in the hospital for at least 5 days, but more likely 7 days and we are 99% sure she will have to undergo chemo. The frequency and for how many months is still unknown. During her surgery on Wednesday she had a central line put in for her chemo. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. Please continue to pray for Emily for a speedy recovery and for her pain as she has a very large incision across her abdomen. She is currently unable to eat or drink as it will make her vomit because her system is not yet ready to handle anything. We are hoping tomorrow she maybe able to start on a clear liquid diet, not sure though. Thank you for all your emails, Chris and I both have felt encouraged and it is a good feeling to know so many people are thinking of us and care about us.

Please pray specifically for Emily's comfort and recovery. Let's make chemo unnecessary. God can do it, we all know He can. Lord, heal Emily's body. Hear our prayers.

Praise God, He is great!

How could he not hear us with so many good people praying for our little Emily? I can't thank everyone enough...with all the other blogs involved, churches, people passing on the word, I wouldn't be surprised if we were far surpassing the "Thousands of people" praying for this little angel. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you! Emily's surgery went well and they removed the kidney and the tumor without incident. They had been concerned that it could rupture but thank the Lord everything went smoothly. She is in recovery now surrounded by her family. Thank-you Lord for keeping a safe watch on Emily. Thank-you for guiding her surgeon's hands. Their hands are your hands Lord. Thank-you for taking them through this long, difficult operation. We thank-you Lord for giving Chris and Megan peace and strength during this time. We praise you for your kindness and mercy. Envelope the Thiele Family with your love Lord and let them feel how many people are praying for them. We thank-you for your love and bringing us all together through your word.

Here are a few pictures of Emily on a family trip. Please pray that she will be back to these beautiful smiles in no time!

For Emily

Emily is in surgery right now. Please pray for wisdom for her surgeons, peace for her parents and a calm heart for Emily. Pray for God's love and healing.

I Hope You Dance Video

I Hope You Dance lyrics - Lee Ann Womack lyrics

Lee Ann Womack Music Videos

Music Video Codes by VideoCure

Update on Emily

Late Tuesday I received an update from Chris and Megan. Emily goes in for surgery today at 11:30am. So things are still scary but going as well as can be expected. The doctors say that Emily is a textbook case for this condition and seem optimistic. We still need a lot of prayer here. My friends always tease me about my Google addiction...and as soon as I heard more details of Emily's condition I of course jumped on the computer. To learn more about what is affecting this little girl check this out. And this. This is a lot more technical but informative as well. Chris and Megan send a very heartfelt thank-you to all who are praying and have these specific prayer requests:

1. clean and complete removal of the tumor

2. wisdom for the surgeons

3. for God to allow them to see any other indications of tumors/ cancer elsewhere, (if there is any more), while they are in there during the surgery.

4. We need prayer for Emily's understanding, keeping her calm and trusting in what Mom and Dad are telling her, keeping her pain under control, no complications

5. peace for us during her surgery.

Thank-you to everyone for your help. It is so deeply appreciated. If you wish to leave a comment of your support and good wishes, I will be forwarding them on to the Thiele Family.

Please God, bless and keep them.

This Just Should Not Be Happening

I won't be posting anything "Scrap-Related" today. What I really need is for you all to pray. Call your prayer chains, care groups, church families. We need to get every available person praying for the Thiele Family. Chris and Megan stood up for us at our wedding and now have 2 gorgeous little girls. Emily is 3 1/2 (Meg was pregnant with her at our wedding!) and Niomi is 1 1/2. Emily has just been rushed into the hospital and her doctors suspect it's cancer. She has a large tumor on her left kidney and will be having scans today to see if it's spreading and will have surgery tomorrow to remove the kidney and tumor. These are not random people we see on the news. These people are our dear, close friends. Our children play together. We pray together. And we need you to pray. Call everyone you know. Please pray for this darling little girl. Lord, keep Emily in the palm of your hand. Take away her pain and fear. Protect her and keep her. Guide her doctors hands in surgery, Lord. Help them to remove every bit of the tumor. Help her through Chemotherapy with no pain. Give them peace and relieve their heavy hearts. We all pray that you let the Thieles know that we are all praying for them. Touch them with your love Lord.

The Thiele Family Christmas 2006


My son's little girlfriends


Megan, Chris, Emily & Niomi we love you. We are praying for you. Keep the Faith. God will protect you.

Things Seem Trivial

I said I'd post the after pictures of my scrap room makeover today but after reading this it all seems so trivial. Unimportant. Silly. So let's all please take a moment to pray for the Coble family and their horrible loss. We may be strangers but we are friends through Christ. Keep them in your hearts and prayers. They are going to need it for a long time.



I hope everyone had a great weekend treasuring their families! I spent a good portion of it scrapbooking with my son. He's 2 and doesn't really get the concept yet but he loves to paint, draw and glue. That's quality time...when he's gluing himself to the table and using permanent marker on the carpet. I'll try not to ever complain about that again. Again, so trivial.



Here are the after pictures of my new space. It's amazing what some baskets will do. I imagine it will evolve again and again as I find new and interesting ways to store my supplies but for now this makes me happy.

Oh Happy Day!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day everyone!!! Any big plans? I have 2 glorious hours set aside this afternoon to try to finish my scrapbook room makeover and start on my Mother's Day projects. I'm sure everyone has seen this but it's something I haven't done yet so I'll be making exploding boxes for our Mums this year. I thought about using my new Zutter machine that I won at Just Scrap It last weekend but I made 4" x 4" brag books for them last year. :0( Don't want to double up, they may get tired of my little projects!

Speaking of JSI, I wanted to say again what an amazing time we had! Ralna, Deb and the girls really know how to put on a good time. Chocolate volcano...need I say more??? Here are some highlights:

Meeting Wilna Furstenberg!!! Are you kidding? That was fantastic!


Keli...the scrap diva that she is!


Keli and I fooling around with the costumes...nice knockers babe!



Go create something and celebrate our wonderful day!

Scrapbooking is not a hobby

It's a passion...a creative outlet...a way to document the family and friends you love! It's my relaxation...my stress...my favourite thing.

My husband finally gave me the go ahead to have a public blog...for scrapbooking only. I said done and done! For those of you who know me, you also know why this was such an issue. But I'm here!!! I am so excited to be in the blog world with people like Keli Klassen, Wilna Furstenberg, Jennifer Johner & Ralna and the girls at Just Scrap It! just to name a few.

I was reading the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc. and it highlighted Erikia Ghumm's scrapbooking room. It was a fantastic article and I thought "I can do that!" so today is day #2 of the Scrapbook room makeover. Here are the before pictures. The after pics will come probably next week. Keep in mind that I took these pictures after getting home from the Spring Fling at JSI. It's not normally this bad! What does your scrap space look like?