I am a Bad Blogger!

Okay, so it has been forever since I posted anything to my blog. Most of the time I feel like there is nothing that interesting going on in our lives that need to be blogged about. Then when something does happen, it usually has be so busy or over whelmed that I just don't have the time or motivation to blog. Talk about a Catch 22! LOL!

Well, in the midst of our current struggles, I have been feeling quite overwhelmed, to say the least. It is so comforting to me though how the Lord always finds a way to deliver a message that I really need to hear in a perfect way. Sitting in our MOPS meeting, feeling the world crashing around me, watching all the other pre-school moms with their perfect little children, talk about their perfect little husbands in their perfect little world (well, not really, I know they have their share of problems too, but sometimes it just seems that way), not really listening to the speaker, until she mentions Peter. Peter was in a boat in a storm, and when he saw Jesus, out in the waves walking on the water, he wanted to be with his Lord. He cried out to Jesus, asking to come to Him. It's like Peter knew he would be better off on the raging waves with Jesus than in the boat without Him! So Jesus called and Peter stepped out of the boat. Now this is the part of the story where I can really identify with Peter. Once he was out of the boat, Peter realized the fury of the storm around him; he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the problems instead. And that's when things went south, Peter started sinking; and that's what I had been doing - watching the storm and sinking in my troubles instead of looking to Jesus.

Well, I would like to say I have learned my lesson and since that day I have been resting in the joy of the Lord without worry. But I can't say that truthfully. I can say I am doing better, but I still have to remind myself to turn things over to Him daily (hourly, minutely... is that even a word? "minutely"?). :)

I have even got a got of my creative mojo back and scrapped a page, the first in quite a while. Maybe I can get it posted later for y'all to see.

Hug your kids!

This is a difficult post to write. Our 16 year-old daughter's very best friend took her own life recently. She was a beautiful young girl, inside and out. We just keep asking ourselves what was so bad in her life that she felt that giving up was the only option? And why didn't she let us know so we could try to help her deal with it? As a parent, the pain is two-fold. You have to watch your child deal with a grief you cannot take away. Anytime a child dies, there is the reminder that as hard as we try, there are things we still cannot protect our children from. As a parent, I try not to dwell on the things beyond my control and do my best to make safe the things I can. The rest I leave up to God and I try to make sure my kids know how very much they are loved. But I am sure Chelsea's friend's parent thought the same. There are just no guarantees. I do not believe God causes bad things, but I do believe that even the most tragic events can be used by Him for His glory. My prayer and comfort these past two weeks has been just that, for some friend or family member to be touched in such a way or the opportunity for a spiritual discussion to take place that otherwise would not have happened. I am so proud of how Chelsea has handled this, a terrible pain that no young person should have to endure; but she has been a true example of Christian love, reaching out to her other friends and Shelbie's family who are hurting. Scrapping has been a form of therapy for me and so it was with this page. I needed to honor this sweet girl that did not realize how very much she was loved. This is for Shelbie:

The visible journaling is from the Michael W. Smith song, "Friends" and reads, "Friends are friends forever If the Lord’s the Lord of them And a friend will not say never ’cause the welcome will not end. Though its hard to let you go In the Father’s hands we know That a lifetime’s not too long to live as friends."

There is hidden journaling behind the photo that says "You hurt because you lost your best friend. That is an indescribable pain that no young person should have to experience.
Chelsea, your dad and I mourn with you for the beautiful young life that was lost too soon. But there is an even deeper pain you will not know until you become a parent yourself. We hurt because we have to watch you suffer and we do not have the power to fix it. We are terrified because the loss of a child reminds us that it could be our own. How a parent faces that is a pain I cannot imagine. Our job as parents is to protect you, but the reality is that there are some things that we cannot protect you from and that scares us. The world will tell you lies and have you believe otherwise, but always know you are valuable, you are worthy, we are proud of you, and above all you are loved."

Please say a prayer for Shelbie's mother and father as well as her younger brother and sister. Then give your own loved ones an extra hug tonight!

Pure Innocence

It's been a while since I posted. I could blame it on the C-section, it is uncomfortable to sit at a desk or table. But just as much to blame is that I just love sitting and holding Ella! I love watching her little baby expressions; I love to hear her little squeaks and grunts; I love the feel of her curled up on my chest; I love to smell her baby scent. Knowing that I will not have another baby only makes it worse. I want to savor every single moment, and with older kids, I know all too well how fast these moments will be gone. I finally felt good enough to scrap my first page of Ella; trying to capture the feel of those precious newborn moments.

The chipboard shapes from Rusty Pickle are covered in Doodlebug glitter. Stamps are from Autumn Leaves. Title is a combintaion of Rusty Pickle letter stickers and a welded word cut with my Wishblade.

Ella Jae is here!

Ella Jae Wylie arrived at 4:44 p.m. on Tuesday, September 4th. She weiged 6 pounds and 6 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Ella with her big sisters and brother!

Ella and Faith: Faith kisses Ella every chance she gets and is so super excited to finally be a big sister!

I will post more later! We just got home and I promised pics as soon as possible so here are just a few quick ones. Ella is a perfect doll and I am feeling great! God is good!

"It's Baby Day!"

Today is the big day! Foster stayed with my parents last night and when his Granny woke him up this morning he said, "It's Baby Day!" I thought that was really sweet. I have been worried about his reaction more than the girls because he still says he really wants a brother. I told him that some day he will make some girl a really good husband since he will be so used to dealing with females. (That is if momma ever lets him get married! LOL!) It makes me feel better knowing he really is getting excited about the baby coming.

Anyway, my C-section is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, which was really nice since my other choice was ~7:00 a.m. - which would have meant getting up to go be at the hospital waaaay too early! The only drawback to it being later is that I am already dying of thirst and I want my Diet Coke, but I would rather trade sleep for a soda. I will post photos of the new bambino here as soon as I can to share with everyone, but it may take a few days. Mark is not very computer savvy and I will be in the hospital several days so please be patient.

On another note, I wanted to share a tragic story with you and let you know how you might help, plus win some awesome Rusty Pickle schtuff in the process! Another one of the Rusty Pickle chefs has a very close friend whose husband was the victim of a senseless, random act of violence. He is now paralyzed and has a long recovery ahead of him, besides a family with 9 children to take care of. You can read more about the news story here: http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/232793/3/

You can also follow Tracy's progress on the family's blog:
http://tracyarmstrong.blogspot.com/

Lance and Tasha Anderson, the owners of Rusty Pickle, wanted to do something to help Tracy and his family, so several events are being organized with everything being donated by Rusty Pickle! Legacy Scrapbooking is hosting a raffle for $500 worth of Rusty Pickle products. You can purchase raffle tickets online here:
http://legacyscrapbooking.com/catalog.php?category=298

There are also 2 local events being planned for Utah and Arizona. Lance will be teaching classes donated by Rusty Pickle. Watch the Rusty Pickle blog and website for more information on those!
http://rustypickle.typepad.com/

Well, I have some last minute nesting to do before it's time to head to the hospital. I honestly have an almost surreal sense of peace, now that it is almost time for her to be here. Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers through my pregnancy. Please keep them coming, because I keep telling my husbamd - it's not over, it's only just begun! LOL!