**FOUR**!!!

Nothing crafty to post today. Just continuing the countdown celebration! We have FOUR DAYS!! My sweet girl comes home from her mission in FOUR DAYS! We will get our last letter today. I will share some of it tomorrow. You can share in my JOY by leaving a comment. There will be a drawing when she gets home for some scrappy goodness. Picture for today:
Riding the collectivos is part of her daily experience. They were quite the adventure at times:



Quote:
"Now what to we hear in this gospel we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; a voice of truth out of the earth.." D&C 128:19

The Sweetest Thing EVER!!! **FIVE**

Just had to share this with you all. My little four year old grandson is giving his first talk in church today. The children from ages 3-12 go to Primary. The children in Primary will share talks with each other. It really is just the sweetest thing ever to hear these little children share what they know and are learning about the gospel. My daughter took this video of my grandson sharing his talk. *she put on a note that he had to go to the bathroom really bad, but wanted to do his "movie" first. I wish I could be there in person to see him in church, but I'm so glad for modern technology that I can at least see it this way. I am typing here with tears in my eyes. I am soooooooooo BLESSED. I hope you enjoy it too! *the title of the talk is Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer:



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If you are counting with me you know we are down to FIVE DAYS!!! Woohoo!! Five days until my sweet daughter comes home from her mission in Paraguay! Remember that I am sharing the JOY and if you leave a comment your name goes into the drawing of a giveaway that I will share at the end of the countdown! I am sharing another photo of her with the children. Being with these children always brought her joy. Tomorrow is our last email from her before she is home and it is the day she gets to read the emails from our family, too. My son also gets to send his email and read our emails on Monday. They will get the video of my little grandson, too and I know it will bring them so much happiness to see it. Well, here is the photo for today:



Quote for the day:
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 19:14

Sharing the Love!! SIX!!

Today is a fun post for me because I am sharing a brand new blog with you! I'm sharing the new "Love Sweet Love" blog full of the cutest craftiest projects you can imagine. It is brought to you by my very own oldest daughter, Angela! Yes, I'm a proud momma and when you visit her blog you will see why. So just go HERE to feel the LOVE...Love Sweet Love, that is. It will definitely inspire you to CREATE! Such FUN! Here is a sample of one of the projects you will see:



If you sign up as a follower on her blog and leave her a comment on one of her posts saying that I sent you over your name will go into the drawing I am doing (keep reading for details) two times. I guarantee you won't be sorry! You are going to LOVE it!!!
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We are down to six in our countdown!!! Less than a week now until my daughter, Amanda, comes home! Share my JOY with me by leaving a comment and I will share my JOY with you by picking a winner for all those that have left comments during the countdown. (Remember if you go visit my daughter Angela's blog, become a follower, and leave a comment saying I sent you...your name will go in two extra times!) The prize package will be a good one, too. I don't have a photo yet because I like to go buy the latest stuff out for my prizes. It will be at least a $40 value, though.

For my daughter this is what is all about...bringing souls to Christ and seeing their lives change for the better as they find joy in Him:



Quote of the day:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt. 11: 28-30

Happy Birthday Nathan!!! *SEVEN*

Happy Birthday to my little grandson Nate! He is three years old today! That equals three years of PURE JOY for this grandma! We LOVE this little guy sooo much. He is very hard to photograph as he is very much a boy on the GO! He crawled at four months...full out crawling, not even the army crawl...walked at nine months...ran at 10 months and has been going full bore ever since. He is always very sweet and loving and is very tender hearted. LOVE YOU...Happy Birthday Nater!!!

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SEVEN days = 1 Week = EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!! So excited! So busy!! So fun!!!
Come celebrate the return of my daughter with me from her mission for our church in Paraguay! I'm having a little giveaway at the end of the countdown. Just leave a comment to get your name in the drawing. Here is another photo from her mission. One of the things the missionaries do is provide service:



This quote seems appropriate for today:
"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

Just a Little Sketchy! **EIGHT**

Hi all! I'm so pleased to share with you a layout I created using a sketch created by by sweet friend, Lizzy Wurmann! She is recently coming back to scrapbooking again and was asked by Pasion por El Scrap to be on the DT and create a sketch. You can find that blog HERE to view the other FANTABULOUS projects created using this unique and lovely sketch! Thank you for including me Lizzy!
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If you are counting down with me you know there are EIGHT days until my daughter returns home from his mission in Paraguay! Remember I am doing a give away to celebrate. Just leave a comment and your name goes into the hat.
Here she is with some of the little children in her first area of Luque. She has such a love for little children and they are just drawn to her as well:


For the quote of the day, I am going to quote part of her last letter home:
"Probably one of the hardest weeks of the mish... we got rejected so many times this week! it was incredible, I´m talking worse than Asuncion rejected. Looks like someone is trying to get me discouraged and desanimada (I´m sorry, I can´t translate that..I just spent like 5 min trying to think of the word in english). But that is NOT going to happen. And everyone keeps saying this week will be even harder, igual no mas. I´m so excited for this week! MY LAST FULL WEEK in the mission field, entonces OBVIOUSLY (like Nick obviously lol) it is going to be AMAZING. Time to step it up, go BIG or go home!! Ha and home is going to have to wait a week and a half. So I´m just going to work my hardest, with the goal of going home TIRED...they might just have to send me home on a stretcher, perfect."
I have no doubt she will finish up STRONG!
Hope you are feeling STRONG today, too! Hugs, Cheryl

Last Post For GCD Studios Sniff, Sniff! *NINE*

Oh my...this is my last post for GCD Studios...so I write this with a little bit of a heavy heart. I have sooooooo LOVED working as a DT member for them! Their products are DIVINE...they are SUPER GENEROUS...and I can't even begin to say how much I ADORE the sweetest of sweet, Heidi Sonboul! So my heart, though a little sad at my DT departure, will ALWAYS hold a BIG space for GCD Studios. This might be my last post for them, but this certainly won't be the last time you see me showcasing their AMAZING product!
Something else I LOOOOVE is SPRING and one of the things I LOOOOVE about Spring is the ROMANCE in the air!



Don't these new paper lines (I used a combination of the Soul Food and Material Girl collections for this) just put a feeling of Spring in your heart?! Sooooooo LOVELY!!



So with a heart full of so many things...I bid the GCD Studios DT a very fond adieu.

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Woohoo, we are down to NINE days left until my daughter's return! Remember I am sharing the JOY and there will be a drawing at the end out the countdown for a prize package I will put together...just leave a comment and your name goes into the drawing! Here is a photo of her with her sweet trainer Hermana Case:



The quote for today is another favorite scripture of ours:
"Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, REJOICE" Philippians 4:4
She is truly one who rejoices in the Lord. Even when a week was hard her letters were FILLED with joy because ultimately she knew that the Lord was watching over her and He knew the BIG picture and it was ALL good. What a beautiful thing...to be able to REJOICE ALWAYS!

Cheer Up! *CCCB* **TEN**

Hi all! I just LOVE the challenge this week from our hostess, Ros, at City Crafter Challege Blog! The theme is "Cheer Up" and the challenge is to create a Get Well/Thinking of You Project AND to USE SOMETHING DIGITAL. To brighten someone's day is really the most rewarding feeling of all! To think that perhaps with my little creations (that bring me such joy to create) that I might have the ability to bring a little sunshine into someone's day is just THE COOLEST! Aren't we blessed with our little hobby?!!! You are going to LOVE our FANTABULOUS sponsor this week...Digital Delights. They are so aptly named...these digital stamps really are a delight! When I first saw the image I used on my card, "Rainy Day Dilly Duck", it just made me smile it was so cute. All the digital stamps are and the winner will get THREE of them! Get on over to City Crafter Challenge Blog and see how the DT used these FAB images!
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Now for something that brings me great CHEER...a countdown until my daughter gets home from her mission for our church in Paraguay....10 more days my friends! I will post a photo from her mission each of the next 10 days and a little related quote.
Leave a comment and your name will go into a drawing for a prize package that will go to the winner after she gets home. Everyday that you leave a comment your name will go into the hat again. I soooooooo want to share this JOY I am feeling!
Sending her off--This is when we took her to the Missionary Training Center-



Now for the quote. It is a tradition that when a missionary leaves they have a plaque on the wall of the church with where they are serving and when they are leaving and when they will come home and it has there picture on it. The missionary chooses a scripture that they would like to be on that plaque. This is the scripture that my daughter chose. It is her favorite and has always been a favorite of mine too:
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
I hope you are all feeling of GOOD CHEER today! Hugs, Cheryl