I Heart Faces, People's Choice (Best Face Photo From January)

So here is my quick entry from my January Faces. I didn't have many to go through as I spent so much of my time working on my course. However I still had fun going through the few I had been able to take and settled on this one of Jordan from when we all went sledding. She had such joy on her face that I kept going back to it to smile too.

Check out the other entries this week over at

For Such A Time As This

In these days we have to work hard and stand stronger for those things we believe in. No matter your faith the world is in turmoil. Standards have fallen, values are being pushed aside. People are being forgotten and worse over, material things! Those who stand for something different are being punished. We are few who believe in family and people anymore. There are more and more stories of the pain and suffering that are being inflected on others because so many don't care anymore how we feel. It is easier to hide away and not say anything than to risk the wrath of others. Like so many scriptures the story of Ester has more meaning today than ever before. Will you have the strength to stand for what you believe knowing what the world will do to you?

I Survived!

It was a long 2 weeks and a lot of hard work as I spent my time studying with H&R Block to work with them this tax season and possibly others in the future. They phoned me up about after I had inquired about theirs classes last September. They offered to pay me to take their January Speed course. This course is where they take what they usually spend 3months teaching and condense it down into 2 weeks! It was frustrating at times and really consumed most of my time. My family did the best they could to pick up the slack around here to keep the house under control. I am very grateful for all they did. I managed to pass the course and not next week but the week after I will start working for the season. It will only be part time as that is all I wanted to help pay off our debts a little faster and to help pay for my photography classes and business. I have missed posting my photo-a-day challenge and will catch up on those next week. I was not able to take a photo everyday but did get a few in :) I missed my friends and family and keeping in touch with them. I plan on spending all next week catching up with everything. I also plan on starting into a new venture with my cousin Julie and Heritage Makers. You can check out her Blog here to learn more about it. I will be having an Internet get together on February 23th. Stay tuned for more details :)

Well I am going to catch up on some house work and get the dinner prep going so I can relax for a few hours on the net afterwards. And what post is complete without a picture so here is a peek into what my last few weeks was like crumbs and all.

I Heart Faces - Winter Wonderland

This weeks Theme for I Heart Faces is Winter wonderland, which we sure have a ton of up here. Right now there is snow that is taller than my daughter outside. So I have a lot of fun pictures I could choose from but the one I love the best so far this year is the one of Ben Breaking down Icicles in his sunday clothes. So that is what I am going to put in as my entry this week.

Please don't forget to check out the rest of the fun winter photos at

 

 

What are you doing today?

So today I am catching up on some long awaited projects.. mostly pictures I took last year that I wanted do special things with before I scrapbooked them. Not that they took a lot of time to edit but still time that is hard to find in this house fun of kids needing this and that and of course a house that needs this and that done, not to mention the many other things in my life. So today I figured I would get a few more done in my flip book of Barkerville from last year done. I am doing this project with Heritage Makers that Julie introduced me too that makes it so all I have to do is pull out my computer and not worry about Claudia running off with my scissors, glue, or paper. I love it. I have a few projects on the go and will go more into it again soon, but for now I wanted to share the pictures of the church at Barkerville. After I am done these I am going to paint my bedroom and touch-up my living room. What are you doing today?

What More Can I Do??

Ok it is no secret that I struggle with organization and maintaining a super clean home. There are times when I get so over whelmed that I have to take some time off and just let it go and then get a fresh start the next day. I struggle teaching my kids skills that I too am just learning sometimes. So this year I was starting our home our fresh. I have been giving paint touch-up to those places that need it and spent hours sorting through the kids toys and finding the right bins to buy and place all those little things into. Cleaning out those clutter corners and spots that everyone else thinks is a good place to just put things when they clean because they don't want to walk to where the stuff goes. I think my home is starting to look like a place where I can feel like I don't need to feel uncomfortable having people just show up to visit. I was feeling really great about it. Yesterday Mike mopped all the floors except our bedroom and I thought this looks so nice in here. Then my landlady showed up to do an inspection of things needing to get fixed so she could send the list to the owner who STILL won't let them come in and do the repairs. I am feeling pretty great. Sure I haven't finished priming the window in my bedroom from the black hand prints that where put there with my good oil paints 3-4 years again, and all the bed sheets were getting washed. Sam hadn't cleaned under his bed yet.. but really. So many minor things... at least to me. As she is leaving she turns to me and says to me that I have a lot of cleaning to do and I better make sure it is done in too weeks for another inspection with her boss, oh and make sure the beds are made. What!?! First of all I didn't think I could get judged from my landlord on whether or not my beds were made?? Isn't that something child welfare is to concerned with? Am I just not seeing how bad this house really is? Am I what is called clutter blind? How can I feel so good about myself and my home one second and then so low? What it they are looking for in a house of 6 kids? I was folding laundry on the toyroom floor, should I be doing it right into the kids drawers even though they are all different rooms through the house? I can barely move where the washer and dryer are to wash the clothes let alone fold them there! I know I have used beds and dressers, that my stuff in my house doesn't look like it was just bought and delivered. We LIVE in our home. I was once told by a child welfare worker when they cam to help us as we struggled with Sam that if they ever came into my home and saw it looking perfect they would worry about child neglect. Maybe I need to have her here with me when these people who expect such a perfect house when they come back in 2 weeks. I know there are those of you out there who seem to have it all together with lots and kids and have these amazing homes as well and how there are times I wish I could be like you. The truth is I am not and this is one of my many struggles. I can do sooo many amazing things with these amazing talents I have, and I know and enjoy every one of my kids and they talk to me about those things that most kids don't tell their parents about. I know of Ben and his heartache when his first girlfriend broke up with him and how sad that made him. I know how Josh feels like the cast away at school as he watches all these people with tons of friends walk by laughing about some inside joke that he feels is about him. I know of Sam's Joy over having his first really good friend this year and that he now has 2 of them. I know how Matt wants to be top of his class and sometimes finds it hard to let others be first. I know how proud Tom is to be talking better and having people at school understand him more and more each day and the frustration when they don't. I know how lonely Claudia is when her brothers are gone and the happiness when they return. I know how She loves to play tea with anyone that she can get to sit down with her. Do these thing not mean more than having a perfect house? I having the walls go unwashed for a couple of days as I help kids who are struggling with homework and heal broken hearts a bad thing? What I need to learn is how to not let those people who don't see those things get to me, but how when they control whether or not I have a home to raise these precious kids in. So I am going to share the peaceful picture I took on Sunday of the moon just as the sun was setting and I am going to keep that in my mind as I try to get over the disappointment I feel right now.

Packing it all away...

Yep it is that time of year where Christmas gets put away. Now I admit most years I don't do this this soon. I usually have so much decorating out and I try as hard as I can to keep that quiet spirit that comes with having those special displays out. This year as you know I struggled to get into the whole swing of Christmas. Part of it being I didn't want to push myself to hard and laps back into hiding in my darkened basement on pain. The recovery from that simple infection that took me down so hard has been long and slow. So it was a simple year this year. That also means it isn't that much work to take it down but just as sad. The putting away of the Nativities and Jesus' gift stocking for a whole year, locked away in some cold plastic bins out, out in my cold dark garage, almost seems like I am turning him away. I know it's not the case, but when you watch you kids bring all those statues and figures to life, and the thought they put into their gifts to him just make them all feel like they help bring his spirit even more into our home. I could wait like I have in years past but I have been working hard on creating an organize and happy home, free of clutter, and leaving these out would be the exact opposite of what I am working towards. So away they go. Cloe is having a tough time with it too and getting in every last second of play with all of her favorites before they go out to garage tomorrow. How many of you feel the same way? Sometimes I feel crazy like I am the only one. Anyways to add a bit of fun to this post here is a picture of Cloe putting her gingerbread stuffy to bed for the year.. yes that is a rainbow bright book she used for his pillow.

Goals for this new year

So I have looked back on past goals since I started this blog and I realized that a lot of it had to do with my self image and as I have learned my body has it's own mind about that topic so this year I have decided on a more fun goal this year.

As I have been reconnecting with old friends and learning new things like Photography I become a fan of my friend Rhonda's Blog. She has always had an amazing talent that she now uses in photography. Last year she started a project called "A Photo A Day" that I thought was great but didn't I could do something like that. She got the idea from this other Photographers blog. So as last went along I started thinking, Why can't I do that? So here I am at the beginning of this and that is my goal.. something fun to focus on do. A Photo A day! So I have created another blog page that I will post the pictures on for all of you and when I am done this year I will put them in a book for our family to enjoy for years to come. Who knows it might become a great tradtion! So HERE is the link to the photo page that I will update at night after a day of photos has come and gone.

What are your goals? Secretly I hope it is to comment on my blog when you stop by because I know there are 18-24 people coming by everyday but there are not many if any comments from you ;) Just so you know it just makes me smile when you do.

Hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Here's a fun photo of what the kids gave Mike as their New Years Fun.. This candu is REALLY SOUR!