How to dance in the rain...

I recently received this in an e-mail at work and thought that I would share it with all of you. It made me stop and think!

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and re-dress his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, and that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know who I am, but I still know who she is." True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have. "Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain ."

I hope you all have a blessed week!

March 26th SAD - Dog Bones!

Grab the camera and get the DOG! It's Dog Bones!! A fun new kit just for dogs and it's on sale now in the store at 3Scrapateers for just $2.00. Post your creation in the SAD gallery by midnight, Thursday, March 27th to receive the rest of the kit free as your posting bonus. But don't forget to come to the CHAT on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26th at 10:00PM EST! We will talk about the kit and you will receive a great freebie just for coming!

A Blessed Friendship!

In my last post, I mentioned my new friend, Charlene and said that she deserved a post all of her own. Well, this is it! The question in my Blog Prompt at 3Scrapateers is, "Have you ever been somewhere that you were not sure that you wanted to be, and met someone that instantly became your friend? Are you now glad that you WERE there? Would you have become friends with this person under different circumstances?"

Ahhh....Such is the case with Charlene. Charlene and I met by chance when we both entered the "Last Scrapper Standing" compitition at Divine Digitals. I made a few comments on her first layout and she PM'd me to thank me for my kind words. She, at that time, had no idea that I was in the compitition too! This was the beginning of our wonderful and blessed friendship!

Now, I am going to tell you a little about Charlene and I know she is going to see this and want to choke me but maybe she won't mind to much. First and formost, Charlene is a horse breeder and trainer. "After Dark Farms" has breed and reared some of the most beautiful Champion horses that you will ever see! Most times when I hear from her, she has been to a show or has just returned from the stables where she has been tending to a few mares that are about to give birth. She is a lover of animals and animal rights and a very avid supporter of the "Toronto Police Mounted Unit". If you will visit her web site, you will see some of the horses that have been such a big part of her life. You can visit her web site here: http://www.afterdarkstallions.com/

Charlene is also a designer. Not in the aspect that I am a designer but, as you visit her web site, you will see what I mean. Charlene designed most all of the graphics that you will see there. She is also what I like to refer to as a "Graphic Layout Artist". In my business, which we all know is scrapbooking, that means that she creates digital layouts. Charlene has created some of the most beautiful layouts that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing And I would LOVE to show you some of them! Let's start with the layout that brought the two of us together!

To show how committed she is to the Toronto Police Mounted Unit, Charlene also created this tribute to a Police-Horse(if you will) named Brigadier. If you would like to learn more about Brigadier & the Toronto Mounted Unit, you can go to Anne De Haas' excellent blog at http://brigadiersmemory.blogspot.com/

Getting back to the question at the beginning of this post.... Am I glad that I was where I wan't sure I wanted to be? YES! I would not have met Charlene at this point in my life if I hadn't been there! Would we have become friends under different circumstances? Well, this is what I believe....Wherever you are at any given moment in time, is right where GOD wants you to be at that moment. EVERYTHING happens to us for a reason, though sometimes that reason is not clear, it will become more clear as time goes on. So...given that....YES, Charlene and I would have become friends no matter the circumstance. Our friendship is blessed and she has been a blessing to me. She has given me encouragement when I needed it the most. She has lifted my spirits when she didn't even know that I needed a lift and she has given me inspiration with her creative talents, her stories and her genuine love of life. Even though we live thousands of miles apart, it's as though we are right next door and there is a little bit of Northern Sunshine in South Mississippi.

Now, I will leave you with some more creations of my good friend, Charlene. Oh, and one more thing. Charlene rescued a baby skunk last week and made that little guy famous. He is now recorded as the first baby skunk rescue of the season! Perhaps soon, I will be able to share some photos of the little guy. She did send be a few but for the life of me I cannot find them anywhere! (I think my DH has been messing with my e-mail agian).

If you would like to see more of Charlene's beautiful creations, please visit her gallery at Divine Digitals located here: http://www.divinedigital.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/6743

Where have I been?

OK...I know that I am the worlds worst blogger! I always forget that I need to do this on a regular basis and now...I have been tagged! What in the world does that mean? LOL! Oh well, I will get back to that!

Where have I been? It has been so crazy around here that I am not sure if I am coming or going! BUT....for the past 4 ....YES 4...weeks, I have been in the most intense scrappers challenge that I think I have ever had the PLEASURE to scrap in! That's right! I LOVE IT!

Now, you all know that I am a 3Scrapateers girl...HEART and SOUL... but I just had to enter this contest at Divine Digital. The Last Scrapper Standing Challenge. Man...I am so glad that it is over with and I can get on with LIFE!!!

Here is the amazing part......I made it to round 4!!! You may not think that is the most wonderful thing in the world but in a competition of only 5 rounds....it's pretty amazing to me! More especially because I do not consider myself the best scrapper in the world and ...well...now I know that I am NOT the "Last Scrapper Standing"!! LOL! Those girls that I competed against were some pretty terrific scrappers!

Anyway, I posted all 4 of my layouts over in my gallery at 3Scrapateers tonight and I wanted to share them with you! So here they are!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
Week 4

Some folks do not like competitions and that alright too. I must be one crazy gal 'cause I don't enter them to win! I enter them to scrap! To see if I have what it takes AND to make friends.
Good friends are in rare form these days so when I see an opportunity to possibly make a few good friends, I jump on it! Did I make any friends during this competition? I made several, but one VERY good friend. Charlene. She and I became friends the very first week and we have been e-mailing each other since. She is a wonderful person with the best personality and she is an AWESOME .....DIGITAL ARTIST! I am so glad that I met her and I have to thank her so very much for all of the support that she has given me over the past few weeks. I hope that we will remain friends for a long time to come! As a matter of fact, Charlene is so special that she deserves a post all her own!

Later my friends!