Time flies...

YIKES! It seems like it was just yesterday that I last posted.  I see it was April 8, western Easter!  We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off during the week of eastern Easter, with tons of special church services and visits and preparation!  It was a lovely week!  We even managed to get out and see the parade full of Palestinian scouts and more Easter fun!  I've been scrapping in these last few weeks, too, of course!  What is life without scrapbooking, right?  teeheehee.  Just kidding!  Here are a few layouts I have to share!

Just did this one this morning using Indigo Nights, the gorgeous new kit by Jennifer Labre Designs and Flergs.  A picture of me that I actually kind of like from my sister's wedding.

A new favorite layout?  This one, featuring my amazing Na-na celebrating her 90th birthday!  Unbelievable!  This kit is Pure Happiness by Jennifer Labre Designs.

And this one features a few pictures of Scot and I just days before Thomas' arrive in 1999!  I used the kit Only You and I by Faith True Originals and a template, Fuss Free: Tag, You're It 3 by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.

These are a few pictures of Scoty's first lost tooth.  I used the kit, Toofless, by Faith True Originals and the template Fuss Free: Ornately Framed by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.

A fun 4th of July layout I created using Jennifer Labre Designs' Glory kit and Fuss Free: Vegas Strips by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs' template!  I made it a double-pager!

Another adorable kit by Faith True Originals on this layout from our time in Disney World!  The kid is Chomp, Romp, and Stomp:

Finally, I used  Just Chillin' by Jennifer Labre Designs for this layout featuring Thomas and his silly antics!

Lots happening in our lives!  We had a great Easter and are looking forward to the last few weeks of school and our family's transition to the US for a one year home assignment!  Which means I'm going to be crazy busy in the coming weeks doing all the things I've waited until the last minute to do!  UGH!  Packing, planning, giving away, and possibly moving out of our apartment into storage if we can't find renters to take our place!  Not a fun prospect.  We're still praying that someone will come along who would like to live in our home for a year.  Or most of a year!

In any event, hopefully I will keep scrapping and keep up with my ministry and life. Hope all of my faithful readers are well!

Until next time...

HAPPY EASTER!

I pray you all have a wonderful Resurrection Day!  It's Palm Sunday for us, as we celebrate on the Eastern calendar here, but I look forward to Holy Week and all of the events and worship services we have planned!

I heard the church bells ringing out across Ramallah today.  What a beautiful sound!  Jesus is risen!

Happy Easter, my dear blog readers!  I'll save my layouts for another day!  Today, just enjoy the love of Jesus and victory over the grave!

~~Carrie Ann

Friday

Today there is unrest in the West Bank.  I hate days like this, because my heart is sad that this land is so full of turmoil.  We had originally thought we would be going to the beach to gather sea glass, but we decided it was best to avoid travel and stay home. 

So I did what anyone in my position would do: I scrapbooked!  :D  Well, I did a lot of things, really, including helping Georgia Kate with her reading (she's doing GREAT!) and laundry and cleaning up and...you get the picture.  But I am so glad I've had to time to gather some layout inspiration online as well as create a few of my own!

First, You Are...Mine

The Kit is You Are by Jennifer Labre Designs, created for her guest spot at Scrapbookgraphics.  Love this layout!

Second, Ain't She Tweet
My cheeky Maggie!  How I love those sweet, adorable cheeks!  These pictures were taken for her 3rd birthday at Walmart.  The kit is Spring Chorus Bundle by Faith True Originals and mle Card.

Here's hoping I get another layout finished tonight!  I still have to workout.  Gah.  I hate exercise!  But it's good for me, right?  Sigh.  I'd rather scrapbook!  :D

What a week!

Phew!  The week has ended.  To say this was a busy week for our family is an understatement!  We had visitors here from our denomination around the world.  They were here specifically to see the work and ministry we do and to make some evaluations and recommendations.  There were days when we were with them from early morning until late at night.  We traveled with them, sat in long meetings, and showed them what we do, all the while maintaining, as best we could, our regular work schedule!  The final meeting took place yesterday followed by supper at McDonalds.

It's been crazy busy, but it's been good.  I am glad that it's over, but I enjoyed most of the process.  Praise God, we were affirmed in much of what we are doing here!  Thankful for that!

I managed to squeak out a double page layout in the middle of the week on a less busy day.  :)  Maggie's 11th birthday inspired me!  This gorgeous kit is A Walk in the Park by Elise's Pieces and Sugarplum Paperie. This awesome set of templates is Fuss Free: Vegas Strips by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.  I love how many pictures these templates include!

So, life gets back to normal, or as normal as it ever is here!  We're looking forward to the upcoming celebration of the Easter season with our friends in the land!  Have a great Sunday!  Until next time...

Feeling Scrappy Once Again! :D

So, I did get to scrapbook!  I did not, however, get to Maggie's birthday pictures yet.  They're next on the list.  These are some memory lane kind of pages!  I don't have many of my pictures from pre-2004 digitally.  Back then, to get them digitally I had to scan each picture in one by one. And the quality was dubious at best. But, the few pictures I did scan in were precious to me, so I started to wonder why I wasn't scrapping more of them!  I pulled out some of Thomas' yearly studio pictures and some of Maggie when she was just a baby, and I came up with these 2 layouts.  It was super fun to look back on these photos, but it made me think about how quickly time moves on.  I can remember when they were all this small, and how I found out when I first had Thomas that, in spite of my lack of baby experience, I simply adore babies!

This first layout is a double pager using Elise's Pieces lastest release: Well Read.  Love this kit!   These are pictures of Thomas, beginning with his first birthday in the year 2000 and continuing through until 2011. It's it amazing to see the progression in just 11 years?  WOW!

The second uses Faith True Originals and mle card's latest collaboration, Daddy's Girl.  Appropriate, seeing as how Maggie is her Daddy's girl!  :D  Both layouts used Fuss Free: Third Time Is the Charm templates by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.  These are pictures of Maggie when she was just a few months old, from the summer of 2001.  Love her precious smile!

Finally, a layout featuring my cat, Jesse, and a kit by Elise's Pieces called Lucky Me.

Well, that's all for today!  I'm supposed to finishing a monthly financial report which is already more than 10 days late.  I will get it done soon.  Today.  Right.  Until next time!

Happy 11th Birhday, Maggie!

I've admittedly been in a blogging funk.  Davy's passing made me sad.  Then we hit the ground running with a visiting team, preparations for another team coming to evaluate our work and ministry on the field and 2 weeks without a single day off!  I feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water!

Yesterday morning we sent the last of our required reports to the office. And yesterday was Maggie's 11th Birthday! Perfect timing!  Maggie was super excited about her birthday, as all kids usually are!  (well, not just kids...I get super excited about my own birthday, too!  :D)  It was a low-key kind of birthday.  As low-key as it can be with 4 kids!  My mom called early in the morning to wish her happy birthday and my sister was able to Facetime in for the birthday cake time.  She requested Moulekhia for her special meal (that's Jew's Mallow over rice and chicken) instead of something we ordered out, which was fun!  My little Palestinian.  :D  Maggie had a wonderful day and was just beaming as she went to bed.  She's growing up into a beautiful girl and I'm so proud of her!  Thought I'd share some pictures which will hopefully be scrapped later today!  I'm feeling inspired!

Scrap Theray. Or how much I miss Davy Jones. :(

I scrapped wto Monkees and Davy Jones related pages over the last few days.  It helps to remember.  Because of all the fun memories, while talking with Mara last evening, I laughed as much as I cried.  These two layouts are only the beginning.  I need to get more of my memories digitally so I can scrap my Monkee life.  But for now, these will have to do.

The kit is Love Is All Around by Elise's Pieces and the template is Fuss Free: Yesterday Once More by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.

And this kit is Snap and Scrap by Faith True Originals.

This page is not related to The Monkees. :D  The kit is Family Rules by Jennifer Labre Designs.  The pictures were taken and designed by my friend, Babs.

My heart is still sad and likely will remain so for a long time.  I have lost my first love, the crush of my childhood...the entertainer I loved more than any other in the entire world.  I'm forever grateful for the joy he's brought me..for the music, the laughter and the childlike innocence and love.  Missing Davy. 

Rest in Peace, David...

February 29, 2012 my world changed. Laugh if you must, but the news about Davy Jones' passing has made me profoundly sad. I refused to believe it at first.  I saw a blurb run across my Facebook wall.  "Davy Jones of The Monkees dead."  My breath caught.  I immediately googled, hoping to find it was another of these celebrity death hoaxes.  Sadly, it was not.  My heart broke.

My love for The Monkees is something I have never apologized for. From the moment I heard them on the 5th grade playground in 1986 I have been smitten.  And Davy Jones is the one who stole my little girl heart.  I have loved him with all the passion and fervor an 11 year old girl has for her first crush.  That innocence and love has stayed with me all these years.  Concerts, meet and greets, book signings, traveling the East Coast with my best friend, listening endlessly to their music on both record and cassette, The Monkees have been a huge part of my life and have brought me endless amounts of joy.  And the butterflies in my stomach never subsided no matter how many times I encountered a Monkee.  Sheer, unabashed adulation and joy.

Davy has always been a showman, an amazing entertainer, so sweet and kind with fans.  Having interacted with him after shows and during Learning Annex and book signing events, I have always felt like a million bucks after every meeting.  Davy was nothing if not a gentleman. He took time with each person, he listened to ridiculous prattle, and he always, always smiled.  And every time I saw him, my heart would race and I would often not be able to find my voice.  I would shake and sometimes cry.  That 11 year old little girl would come out in full-force.  And yet he smiled.  The very first time I met him, he walked me through the entire experience.  "Do you want me to sign your book?" Silence, nodding through happy tears.  "Do you want a hug?"  More nodding.  "Do you want a picture with me?"  Carrie, find your voice!  Nothing.  Just a nod.  And then he ended with, "It was nice to meet you, Love."  Sweetness.  Kindness.  And my heart soared.  I don't believe I uttered a single word to him, but I walked away on cloud nine.  I had met Davy Jones.  I could die happy.  I was 13.

Every concert experience was worth its weight in gold.  David never missed a beat. He was charming and entertaining.  He was funny and ridiculous.  He loved the spotlight.  He came alive the moment the stage lights came on.  You never left a concert disappointed.  And Mara and I always cried when he sang "I Wanna Be Free."  And "Girl."  And "It's Nice to Be with You." And...and...and...and...

In many ways, Davy was the face of The Monkees, the number one Monkee.  He embraced that role, and though he always enjoyed talking about Broadway and horses and his other interests in life and performance, he never hesitated to embrace his role as Davy, The Monkee. 

How can he be gone?  3 days later I'm still in shock. 66 was too young.  I dreamed of seeing The Monkees performing until they no longer remembered where they were!  I dreamed of seeing silly old men.  I never, ever dreamed he would be gone so soon.  He had at least another 20 years left to keep the world entertained!  I miss him.  I miss knowing that he's alive, making someone else happy somewhere in this world. We lost an amazing entertainer and a kind, loving person. My world will never be the same.  I can't stop crying.  The Monkees have always been my escape, my fun.  Life gets stressful? The Monkees make em smile. Now, there is melancholy where there was joy. The beginning strains of Daydream Believer will forever echo hollow in my ear.  David's light in this world has dimmed.  Rest in peace, David.  You are much loved and will be greatly missed.  Thanks for all the smiles....

Things that make me LAUGH!

It is no secret that I spend a significant amount of time laughing!  I laugh at silly things and often I laugh at inappropriate times.  It's my way to ease the tension and I don't apologize for it!  I have people tell me I laugh to loudly or that my laugh is obnoxious.  Maybe I should be embarrassed, but I am not.  I am me.  And I love to guffaw!  So, yesterday I discovered a blog via a friend's facebook post.  This blog made me laugh.  Laugh until my sides hurt!  I couldn't stop laughing!  The blog?  Food on my Dog.  The premise? A guy sticks food items on his dog's head and takes pictures.  No funny quips, so witty captions.  Just pictures of a sweet, adorably pathetic dog with food on her head.

I roared with laughter!  Perhaps this means that I need a break!  The stress is getting to me?  Maybe.  But this blog is FUNNY!  You must check it out!

http://foodonmydog.tumblr.com/

Next, I've got a layout that makes me smile!  This kit is so full of cuteness!  I just love it!  These are some pictures from Georgia Kate's 6th birthday back in October.  The kit is Hello Birthday and Hello Birthday Bits by Faith True Originals, and the templates are Fuss Free: Like Totally 2 and Fuss Free: Square Pegs, both by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs.  This was a fun 2 page layout to create!



So, if you want to laugh, I'm your gal!  Even if others accuse us of being obnoxious or immature and just plain stupid, I am not afraid to enjoy a laugh.  Wild, uproarous laughter is one of the most fun things in life!  If you haven't let loose and just laughed as loudly and as long as you can, then you're missing out!  Laughter really is the best medicine.  Now I'm going to look at some more pictures of Tiger with food on her head.  ;)

So much lost so quickly...

Yesterday I got a phone call just before picking my kids up from school.  Don't go home to Ramallah, my friend said.  There's been a tragic bus accident on the road.

She had heard from a coworker who had heard it on the news.  A school bus full of preschool age children collided head-on with a semi-truck.  The bus flipped over and caught fire.  I've heard conflicting reports about the number of children who have died, anywhere from 5-9 and teachers, too.  And the children were between the ages of 4-6. This happened on a stretch of road we travel almost daily. According to witnesses, it happened so quickly.  Passers-by attempted to help pull children from the burning bus before emergency crews even arrived.  Many remain in critical condition.

It broke my heart.  So many lives lost.  And others affected forever.  The trauma suffered by those who survived.  It's just so sad.

So that is my blog post for today.  Life can change in the blink of an eye.  As a result of an accident, our entire world can crumble around us. Be thankful for the life you have.  Kiss your husband, your kids. Call your mom and tell her you love her.  Honor those little ones who have died far too young by living your life to the fullest.