Good News and Gratefulness for another blessed year.

It seems as if this year has been frought with pitfalls for my family. But we are grateful. Lots of really great things have happened too! As many of you know, my parents left for an extended vacation to Mexico on Saturday morning. On Monday Mike got a call he needed to go back to the airport to pick them up.

They had been there only a few hours when Daddy lost his vision for 15-20 minutes. He went to the local Hospital to get checked out. They determined that his eyes were fine and he needed a MRI to determine what was happening. Since the closest MRI machine was a 6 hour trip away in Guadalajara they decided to fly home.

They came home Monday and we went straight to the hospital. He has been there since waiting on an MRI. In the mean time they have completed multiple other tests on his heart and head including a CAT scan. Monday night the doctor told us it appeared that he had a stroke in the portion of the brain the effects eyesight. The MRI that he is still waiting on is to rule out other things so they may determine that it was a stroke.

God is truly good. Daddy does not appear any different, only bored from being in the hospital for a few days. His eyesight has mostly returned. There is only a small place on one side of his vision he cannot see. Things could have been a lot worse. Although this has happened God took care of them and has returned them back home to us safely.

Were are awaiting the MRI and results. If anything different comes about I will update you. If you would pray for Daddy that his eyesight would be fully restored the family would be grateful. He is really doing fine other than wanting to get out of the hospital.

On that SAME day, I recieved in the mail something WONDERFUL! I got an advanced copy of Somerset's ART Journaling Magazine! I got an advanced copy because my article and artwork are in it! I feel so HONORED to be in this fine publication! As with all their wonderful books and magazines, it is an awesome piece, and really quite inspiring for anyone who might be interested in journaling or even people who have been journaling for some time! I feel it's an absolute DREAM come true for me to see some of my personal art in a Stampington publication!

If you would like to check out the magazine (NOW AVAILABLE) here is the link. http://www.stampington.com/html/art_journaling_w09.html

Rough Patch

Sorry to have dissapeared, but life ate my family whole. Within the last 3 weeks, I've had all 3 grandparents fall and have to go by squad and be hospitalized (Grandpa twice, now being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.) They have needed extensive support resulting in many full days and nights with them. I've had my cousin and her family from CA stay with us for a week, I've had a serious accident, and suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my hand and arm- resulting in a trip to the Urgent care and several Drs. Oh, and the kicker was our 3 year old water heater had to be totally replaced. During this period, my parents were out of town, my Dad was in the jungles of Central America on a mission trip, almost unreachable. He struggled for 3 days to get home with the snowstorms. Oh- did I mention the 22 inch snowfall and blizzard? 2 stuck 4 wheel drives later...

In the midst of all of this rough patch, I have clung to hope. I have had bright patches. Supportive friends and extended family, Wonderful artists who have volunteered their time to finish swaps for me, a friend who cleared our 1/4 mile long drive after the blizzard, a hairdresser who worked me in since I can't do my own hair with my hand being so bad.

I pulled out these pictures that Mike and I took in January as we played on the beach, and they makes me smile-despite the snow piled high outside.

Altered Book of Hope

For a while now, I've been working in a themed altered book, and I finished the last spread recently. I purposely chose the subject to lift my spirits, and it really did! Not only is it a collection of hundreds of wise sayings about hope, but it also was a place where I tried out new techniques with no preconceived notions. On the Dove spread in particular, I was working with home-made rice paper, and copying sketches from my sketch journal onto it. I loved how the paper disappeared into the background, but gave me my dove's outline to embellish.

For the cathedral spread, I just liked the mindless playing with stamps. It was one of the "background" pages I did that sat unfinished for a while. Then one day, it seemed as is the idea jumped out at me as I was flipping thru, and caught site of that un-blank page.