Pete gets a job

Lots of photo shares this week. Also some exciting news this week also - So happy for my big boy. He has been offered two positions this week. Can't wait to share with you where he will end up working next year. Just waiting for him to finally make his decision on which way he will go. It is great news though, after completing his degree in July, he now will have a graduate position to go to in 2009. It is an exciting and challenging time for him and I know that he feels releived to finally have work in his degree area.

Real proud of Chloe too. Yesterday she was awarded Service colours at school for outstanding service to the school community. This time in three weeks her schooling life will be over. It is so hard to beleive that we will no longer have kids at school. We have had kids at school for the last twenty years. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get a great photo of Chloe receiving the award, but we did get a photo. It is going to seem so strange for Steve because he has had the kids at school with him now for the past 13 years.

On the scrapbooking front - not much has happened in the last couple of weeks. I did manage to complete a circle journal for the Scrap of Faith CJ round and I am presently working on another three of them - all needing to be completed by this time next week when I fly to Brissie for the Scrap of Faith Retreat. So looking forward to this weekend and meeting Gayle from WA, Bev from NZ, Ali, Natalie, and Ingeborg from SA, Gennie and Megan from Melbourne, Tracey from Sydeny, Gail, Ro and Haylee from Nowra, along with catching up with the local girls from Brissie. Three of us are flying down from Rocky and I know that it is going to be a fantasic weekend. Also get to spend the weekend with my eldest daughter Sarah who will also spend the weekend scrapbooking with me.

Just thought I'd share a few photos from Chloe's final school basketball game - I am still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my baby has almost grown up and will be an adult next year. It only seems like yesterday that I was bringing her home from hospital.

Other family news - Chloe's guppies had babies - it is quite relaxing just sitting and watching these little fish swimming round and round their little tank. The babies are even gettng a little more adventureous and are now swimming down and around the bigger fish now. We love to sit and watch them swim.


Just thought I would share a photo of my beautiful scented candle. It reminds me constantly of the words of Jesus about being a light shinning in a world of darkness. My prayer is that my life will be seen as a light or a beacon so that others will see the goodness of God in my life.

1. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
   
   

Finally my wonderful Hubby has just made this for me - my late night ritual - a nice hot cuppa with a couple of biccies



Well it about time I hit the sack. Big thank you to all who come and visit and leave a comment. I love hearin from you all so don't ever forget to stop by and leave a mssage.

A Glimpse into today

Early start = Blood Pressure Check - All good









Followed my an early morning cuppa.














Appreciating such beauty from my Kitchen window as I prepare my breakfast.


A quick but healthy breakfast

A touch of make-up and a dab or perfume as I head for the door.


Arrive at work and logged in for the day





















Return a few books















Still working on Cataloguing and shelving all the big books. Most of the day was spent doing this.

Knock off time












A Quick tidy up before locking the door.

Then it was home where I received some really devastating news. My friend Janele's sister was digonoses with Breast Cancer when she was pregnant with her lastest child back in April. Josiah is now 8 weeks old and she has been given anywhere from 1-3 months to live. She has three little boys, 3 years, 22 months and 8 weeks, and it is just heart breaking that she will not be around to see them grown up. I would really value some pray for Leonie and her husband Steve and family - I know we serve a big God .

Well I need go hit the sack, I;m trying real hard to better my lifestyle which means much earier nights.

All the best and God Bless.

What a weekend

It's been a great weekend - a bit more low key than the last few months, we even managed to sleep in both mornings, a first for ages. I've had so many people ask for a photo of Chloe and I at her formal so have included one of only 3 or 4 that I managed to get. That is the trouble when you become the offical photographer - you are rarely in the photos.

Yesterday we had a wedding to attend, The bride is the daughter of my second cousin, and she was also Sarah's flat mate before she got married. The wedding was held at the beach, and Steve and I both enjoyed the drive down together - just a lovely time to chat together. Life here has been so
hectic the last couple of months, that we are honestly savouring these special times together. The wedding was beautiful, Avril was a gorgeous bride. Sarah and Colin were invited but unfortunately could not attend, so these photos are for you Sarah. Lots of the guests were close friends of Sarah, so have photos of Amanda and Anna here for you too.

Yesterday we also had our monthly Scrapbooking crop, but I don't have any scrapbooking to share cause I actually missed most of the day because of the wedding. I did drop in on our way home for a couple of hours but spent more time chatting and helping that doing much myself. I did get these yummy scrapbooking supplies in the post this week and am looking forward to having a play around with them. Lots of chipboard - Lusi Austin and Karen Day designs - so yummy and have been wanting to get my hands on some for ages































This afternoon we went out to visit our friends Daryl and Brenda and their family. They live out of town on 6 Acres so there is plenty of room for the kids to ride motor bikes, utes and tractors and quad bikes. Chloe drove us out - my first ride in the car with her.
Steve has a mini bike which he got when he was 15 or 16. It has sat in our shed for the last 20 years - not working. Daryl took it home a few months ago and finally got it working again, so Chloe learnt to ride it today and Daryl and Steve were like a couple of big kids riding it around too. Took photos of the young and old kids having a good play out there. It was nice and relaxing out there and made you realize you really do need to take time out of your busy lives to chill out and enjoy the company of others.
























































I just had to capture these last couple of photos of my wonderful DH and daughter - they really do have a special relationship and I am thankful that in this day and age that they do have this love and respect for each other. We are truely blessed.

Hope you all have a great week.

The Formal

Well it is hard to beleive that Chloe's formal has now come and gone. What a great night. It seems to get more eleborate every year. It was a huge affair - there would have been over 1000 people at the cocktail party and walk through, and there were close on 500 at the Formal dinner. It was a lovely night - and one I am sure we will remember for a long time. This post is going to be long - full of photos lots of lovely memmories

THE PREPARATION

PHOTOS AT HOME

THE COCKTAIL PARTY

THE FORMAL DINNER

HER FLOWERS

DRESSED FOR THE AFTER FORMAL PARTY












Needless to say we are all a little tired and washed out today. We got home at midnight, and Steve like a wonderful father that he is took a group of Chloe's friends out to the "After Formal Party (30 minutes out of town) and then went back 2 hours later and picked them all up and delivered them home again - so it was nearly 4am when he crawled into bed. Chloe is still asleep but will need to get up soon as she needs to go to work later today. It was a great night and being the biased mum that I am - I think she looked gorgeous and we were so proud of her. Kinda sad that the schooling era of our children's lives is about to end.
Sorry for the HUGE post but these are definately photos and memories that I want to cherish.

Some Scrapbooking MOJO happening at last

It is amazing what some new papers, a clean desk and a great sketch site can do to bring out the creative side of you. This past week I have been on holidays - still busy running around doing the little things that you don't get time to do when you are working full time, but I did make sure that I took some time out to have fun too. We managed a couple of outing to Gladstone - have now picked up Chloe's formal dress and it looks gorgeous on her. I had my reservations at first when she first told me the colour she had chosen, but it does look quite stunning on her and suits her and I so can't wait to share the photos with you. 5 mores sleeps until the big night. Both Pete and Sarah are coming home to attend the cocktail party with her, so will have everyone home this weekend. Also managed to read a book, have a massage and then Friday night and most of Saturday I scrapbooked and produced some layouts that I am really happy with. Initially I got a lot of inspiration from a great sketch site I found a little while back, so if you are lacking MOJO go check out So Sketchy - there is sure to be something there that will get you going again. Embellished also got a heap of new papers in this week, and I managed to get a good assortment of papers as freebies by using my rewards card. They really have got some great stock in at the moment and I could have been very tempted to have stocked up on more - but I am trying to be good and save a bit at the moment. Anywhere here is my share

I came accross these couple of quotes this week and thought I would share them with you.

"You have everything you need right now to be vibrant, happy and fully engaged in the creative process of life. Sometimes you just have to slow down, look around and realize it!"

"When you slow down and deliberately take notice of your surroundings, you're in the present moment, and being in the present moment brings things into sharper focus. It's as though you're on a nature expedition, but you're using your binoculars to observe the details of your own life ... much of our day-to-day business can be done by rote. But when we're fully engaged, active participants in moment-by-moment creation, we're in the state linked most closely to "living" our lives."

Have a great week.

With a desk like this

No wonder there hasn't been much scrapbooking happening in this house with my scrapbooking desk looking like this. Today I got in and cleaned it up so that I can get a bit done in the next few days before my holidays end.

t is nice to have the week at home - got lots of little jobs done, been to the optomerist and had my eyes tested, managed to fit in a massage, lunch with friends, out to dinner with the girls, and today I was spoilt, my wonderful husband, spoilt both Chloe and I by cooking us a wonderful breakfast and bought it into us in bed. I had a very lazy day and spent most of the day reading a novel. I can't remember the last day I have had like this - totally veged out until I finished it this afternoon.

On Tuesday we went to Gladstone for the day for Chloe to have a dress fitting for her formal dress. She looks beautiful in it - just wish I could share it with you. Won't be long now - her formal is next weekend and then all will be revealed.

We went to dinner together at the Coffee Club - great meal great company. I don't know this week seems to be all about food. Steve has had a really bad back this week - could hardly walk for the first couple of days and has been having treatments. It has been really hard for him because it has limited what he has been able to achieve this week, as sitting for amy length of time has been really painful. Hopefully it is on the mend now.

Both Pete and Chloe have job interviews in the next few days - so a few prayers for them both would be much appreciated. Thought I would share a few photos from my week.

Hopefully will have a few layouts to share next week now that my desk looks like this.

Just another one of those emails that arrive in your inbox. Definately thought this one was worth thinking about and sharing.

Now if you’re like me you may well find many of these mailings unfunny and useless time-wasters; but every now and then one comes along that’s inspirational, or at the very least thought provoking. I believe this is one of those and I hope you agree.
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There’s a mousetrap in the house! There’s a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There’s a mousetrap in the house! There’s a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There’s a mousetrap in the house! There’s a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap…alone; and that very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey.
The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. A great many people came for her funeral, so the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn’t concern you remember that when one of us is threatened, we’re all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.