Blog winner, Merry Christmas and Agape Love

First I want to say thank you to all who left comments during the My Paper Treehouse Blog Hop. It was so exciting to see how many bloggers left comments. The winner for my prize is Kim, please email me your email addy so that you are able to shop at Scrapbook.com. Go check out the My Paper Treehouse blog to see the grand prize winner.
Also want to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, or as I would say it in Spanish Feliz Navidad
may the Lord give you all the desires of your heart.

So today as I was doing my last minute Christmas Shopping, Yes I am a procrastinator lol I thought about Agape love. Wow how awesome is that, on Christmas Eve I was thinking about Agape love. You see last night my 22yr old daughter moved out, and though I didn't and still don't agree with her decision she is my daughter and I love her and I thought about Gods love. It was with that same Agape love that can be found in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. "

I have to have faith in Gods love, it's the only way I am going to accept this decision she has made. She knows our concerns, she knows where we stand, but she also knows more than anything else is that we love her. So I am asking you all to continue to pray for our family through this time. Again have a very Merry Christmas. 

My Paper Treehouse Blog Hop

God's Fingerprints Blog Hop 

Dec. 15th-19th

We are celebrating how God has blessed My Paper Treehouse with an awesome design team.  Please hop along with us and visit each of the DT members. If you get lost or just found the hop start here.  Each of the DT members have a wonderful story to share with you about what God has done and is doing in their lives... these are God's fingerprints.  Not only do we have a ton to share with you but there are RAKs along the way, a Great Blog Hop Challenge with a prize and a wonderful Grand Prize from Artful Delight.

First I want to take a moment to say thank you for hopping along with us at My Paper Treehouse, I am very excited to be part of this team. It has been both inspirational as well as motivating to be able to share God's love and mercy. It has not been an easy journey, but God has certainly paved the way so that I can continue to walk in His Footprints. I will tell you what I love about walking with Jesus is that He knows that I'm not perfect and yet He still loves me, how many times I have given up and yet He didn't abandon me. When I'm down I remember that He knew me in the secret place, even before I was conceived in my mother's womb. Here's one of my most recent and favorite layout created for My Paper Treehouse  titled I am fearfully and wonderfully made.    
If you click on the link you will understand how I feel about God, and how I know that He loves me. Thanks for stopping by my blog, my RAK will be a $10 gift certificate from Scrapbook.com.

 We have a blog hop challenge for you.... as you stop at each of the Design Members they will have another item that you will need to add to your layout.  All layouts need to be linked up on the My Paper Treehouse Blog by Sunday the 19th 11:59pm PST. One layout will be randomly chosen to win a prize and make sure check back on Monday because we have a special surprise for you.

Not only do we have RAKS from the DT members, a prize for creating layout, but we have a Grand Prize too!!! All you have to do is comment on all the blogs along the hop!

Our Grand Prize is sponsored by Artful Delight!  They have the most wonderful kits each month for a great price.  You wouldnt believe everything you get in the kit..... it is full of the newest and greatest scrappy items.  Artful Delight will also custom order you any scrappy item you would like to get your hands on for no additional charge.  Please stop by and see Artful Delight and dont forget to tell them that we sent you....


Here is the item you need to add to your layout  a flower.  

Next you will hop to Damaris Rios. Dont forget you need to leave a comment on each of the blogs and collect the different items for the Blog Hop Challenge Layout.   All layouts and comments are due by

Sunday the 19th 11:59pm PST.

Don't forget to stop by on Monday to see our special surprise....

this medicine doesn't taste Good..

that was Elisa's response to having to give her the antibiotics the Doctor prescribed. She proceeds to tell me that the pharmacists must have made a mistake, because she knows the doctor wanted her to have the medicine that taste like bubble gum, and this medicine doesn't taste good. Then she tells me I need to call the doctor so that he can call the pharmacist to get her the bubble gum one. LOL is really all I could do, but then that sentence stayed with me through out the next few days "This medicine doesn't taste good" I started to hear it differently and I began to analyze it. I thought wow, from the mouth of babes. Recently I have felt as though the emotional journey that I was going through was just too much. I even said last week, as I was driving back home with Chris through tears Lord I know that You only give what I can handle, well it's 25 yrs and I can't handle it no more. So You need to do something, because I am losing it. Chris is getting even more rebellious, but then Elisa's sentence came to my mind. "This medicine doesn't taste Good" and I thought God are you talking to me through my child, what are You trying to tell me? I don't understand, help me. At first I thought Spiritual Healing, so I look through the Bible and the verses I found didn't relate to what I thought God was trying to tell me, but today I found it. All I could do was jump up and down because I found through His word what he was telling me. "1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered for a little while, will Himself restore you  and make you strong, firm and steadfast".  You see in life we will suffer, go through trials and tribulations and I am human I question why now? and I realized it's because the medicine that I want, that I am seeking is a quick healing one, I too want the bubble gum flavor, but God has to restore me and make me strong so therefore it may not taste good at the moment. It's a process like the clay in the potters hand, he has to mold me, make me stronger so that I can stand firm in what He has for me. You see I have been seeking Him more, really taking strength from the word my Medicine and though sometimes the healing process takes a little longer He reminds me that He is Jehovah Rapha meaning "the Lord our Healer". In Acts 3:16 by faith in the name of Jesus, this man who you see and know was made strong, it is in Jesus name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him as you can see" So if you are maybe feeling a little sick, or have a long lasting illness tell God you need some medicine, you need healing. You want to be stronger, you want to be able to stand firm and you want to be healed. Maybe your medicine is like Elisa's right now and it doesn't taste good, but the purpose of that medicine is to bring healing to your ailment, your illness. thanks for reading and know that the scrapper in me will soon be creating a layout of Elisa covering her mouth cause this medicine doesn't taste good.

Full circle

 
I didn't think it was possible to get over the hurt. I say this to you today, because I was looking through past layouts and found my layout titled Sad, as I read it I remember clearly how angry and hurt I was. 3 yrs have past since I created this layout  Sometimes we forget that it's not in our time, but in Gods time. He made a promise to me a long time ago and today he reminded me of this. Thank You to my Paper Treehouse for a wonderful challenge. I am going to share the journaling here
"Look at me, a grown woman sad. For the past 2 weeks this is how I have felt, so much has happened in the last 2 yrs in my life, and now is when I'm finally facing the decisions that have led me here.
Two years ago I made a decision to leave the congregation I was attending and a member of. I was not just a member, but the treasurer, president of the woman's fellowship at the local church and asst. treasurer for the Women's fellowship of the church council. My responsibilities were many, but at the time I didn't mind I enjoyed doing God's work. It was never about the titles, but of how we as a church can grow. I had such a passion to please God, but somewhere, some how I lost my focus. I place my confidence in man, forgetting that it was God in whom I had to be confident. Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to trust in man.� You see man will fail, and I forgot that.
Was I ignorant, did I believe that by making this decision my sisters and brother's in Christ would support me? NO, but I did believe that they wouldn't totally abandon me. My so called sisters who loved me while I was an active member who called me their friends are no longer around.
Was I surprised; YES because we shared I thought the good, bad, and sometimes the ugly. We talked, laughed, cried; now it's gone. I question were they really my friends. Did they really love me, would they care that I'm sad, because I feel abandoned by them. I don't know the answer. I have tried to reach out to them and I would get the Oh I'm busy or can I call you back. Still Waiting? NO. Do I understand  that they may not want to socialize with an outsider. NO. I thought we were friends, no wait I thought we were sisters in Christ.
Have I changed? Yes, sometimes so much so I feel bitter and sadness because yet again man has failed me. Did they forget the hurt I went through? YES!
I wonder yet again if they have forgotten the parable of the Prodigal Son. Do they have no hope that the Lord will touch my heart once again and make me whole again? Do I forgive as God has one so many times (70X70); I'm so desperately trying to. It's hard feeling the way that I do.
I called upon God today, and asked him for strength, forgiveness, and healing and so willingly He answered. You have been forgiven, I have loved you from the moment you were conceived, and I have your life in my hands. I will mend your heart; put your faith in Me. I will not forsake you. I love you, I will take away this sadness, and I will bring you joy; just put your faith in Me."


Wow, is all I can say when I read this, but then I realized Thank you Lord because You have brought back that joy. If you're wondering have I forgiven those who I believed at the time hurt me. Yes I have, I am now going back to that same church. I realized that with so many changes going on in my life and decisions that had to be made concerning Chris that I needed God, that I needed to fellowship with people who guess what? Still loved me, yes they do. They put our family in their prayers, I have such peace now but that is only because God was able to heal, and mend my broken heart. Because even in my darkest hour I was able to reach for God. I journaled when I was upset, put it down creating my layouts and you know when they say creating memories for the future it could be just 3 years later just to see where I was and where I am now. My current layout is about being confident " Be Confident of this very thing that he which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" So I just want to say be encouraged and even in your darkest hours seek Him, and He too will show you how you have grown, how to forgive.
Thanks for reading!

My altered boxes and thank you!!!

So a few months ago my friend Debbie created this really amazing cake made out of pattern paper and hat boxes I thought it was fabulous. I spoke to her recently and told her she inspired a project I was working on, I really loved the outcome of my cake. Thank you Debbie!!! I created this for a DT tryout, but guess what happened, last night while I was creating my finishing touches I took a photograph and thought let me upload now and then work on the other project well needless to say that my last few images would not upload unto my computer, I was going crazy last night. I just couldn't get it to fix and figured why even finish the other project when it was due at Midnight it really made no sense. So I go to sleep at 12:35am and wake up at 5am and go to my camera delete a few pictures and now viola it uploads. UGHHHHHH why didn't I think about that last night I tell you why I was tired. LOL So I wanted to share what I created. Products Used: Imaginisce Twitterpader line , Imaginisce flowers, Prima Marketing butterflies, flower and spray. Helmar 450 Quick Dry

I also wanted to post here a thank you to my local friends who have made cards for Evelyn, and to my online friend Julie Tucker-Wolek who is just the most generous, loving friend. Who I have never met, but know that one day at CHA I will. She is a faithful blog follower, and when she saw my post about Evelyn she wanted to help, well she not only made a card for Evelyn but she also posted my story on A few of my Favorite things challenge blog well needless to say I have received many emails asking me where to send their card they made for Evelyn. I was touched by the overwhelming response. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart I know that when Evelyn receives these homemade cards, these cards made from the heart, these cards made with passion and concern and prayers that she will be overwhelmed with happiness! Thank you!!!!