Scrapbooking Retreat

This past weekend I headed out to Columbia Valley up above Cultus Lake for our bi-annual Scrapbooking retreat. My good friend Jan has been organizing these weekends for more than 10 years and we all look forward to them. We rent the Dogwood Lodge at Stillwood Camp and Conference Centre where we have a large room with lots of tables and light. Upstairs there are dorm rooms for sleeping and we are royally fed by the camp staff in their lovely dining room overlooking Cultus Lake. We can't carpool up to the camp because we all take so much with us that we each need our own vehicle to accomodate all the equipment necessary (?!) for scrapbooking.

Once we've unpacked all our gear, we get right down to work.

When a page is completed, it is held up for all to enjoy. Some gals are making albums featuring their grandkids.

Others are building memory books for their grown up children.

Me - I'm still making travel albums. I haven't gotten organized enough yet to start on the albums I'd like to do - there are years of negatives to go through. So I go back to chronicling our road trip to Newfoundland several years ago. It is almost finished now after this weekend ( I completed 28 pages!). Hopefully when the next retreat rolls around in October, I'll have the pictures sorted and ready to start on my kid's albums.

So here's a sampling of the pages I did.

Saturday afternoon, I had visitors! Harv came up bringing our kids and grandkids from Seattle with him. We made fun cards for them using my new "Cricut" machine,

and then headed up the trail for a hike. We found treehouses with ladders to climb and rope bridges

and the children had lots of fun in the playground before heading back home. It was fun to have them come a visit.

It is a real gift to have friends with similar passions, and to be able to get to know new friends as well. We compared notes, asked for and gave advice, checked out each other's tools and paper, caught up on each others' lives, laughed, ate chocolate, and even cried once or twice.

Thanks Jan for all the planning and organizing that made our weekend so fun and productive. We can hardly wait for the next one.

Time ....

I've been wrestling lately with time management. This is an old battle which rears its head every so often and I'm still not sure how to win it. It especially plagues me when the new year comes around as it is always on the top of my resolution list. ie:"This year I will be disciplined in my use of time"

The way I see it, the things I fill my time with can be grouped in 3 categories.

First there are the things that have to be done or they visibly pile up and seriously disturb my peace. They are my responsiblity at this time in my life.

Things like:

• making meals
• washing dishes
• keeping ahead of the dust and clutter in the house- there's always something that needs doing to keep the space we live in comfortable and inviting
• loads of laundry (I still do Harv's laundry - after all he keeps the car maintained for me)
• gardening and yard work
• and of course all the personal maintenance that increases with age
  My work in the office also falls in this category - apparently I get paid for this (at least that's what the accountant tells me) - I mostly enjoy this - it's good to be involved in our business.
• paying bills
• sending out invoices
• keeping records
• banking and filing, etc.

The next category could be titled "things I really need to do but don't always make a priority" Things like:

• exercising or walking
• reading my Bible
• visiting the elderly and shut in
• reading to learn and enlarge my mind
• gardening (this definately falls in more than one category)
• entertaining and cooking for friends (another 2 category item)

Then there are the "Things I want to do" category. These are the kinds of things I am always stealing time from the other categories for and then feeling guilty about.

• card making
• spending time with kids and grandkids (this is guilt free fun- and becomes my top priority each time they come over)
• scrapbooking
• sorting through pictures and negatives so I have something to scrapbook!
• entertaining and cooking for friends
• on line stuff - blogging, reading blogs, emailing
• reading for pure entertainment
• having coffee/lunch with friends
• shopping and bumbering with friends
• holidaying, motorcycling and boating with Harv
• watching a movie ( very low on the list but still there)

This year I decided to try to take Thursdays for this last category. My reasoning is that I may never have guilt free time to tackle this list if I don't dedicate time to it.

But then I remember that my time is not my own. God has given me a set amount of time, just as He has everyone else and my priority should be doing what He calls me to do.

I'm afraid I don't always listen and obey and perhaps that is why I have this ongoing battle with time.

I am grateful that God is not a joyless slave driver -

He created us with talents and desires;

instilled in us the need for work and play;

the ability to give our job our all out effort

and the ability to lay back and enjoy our rest;

the fortitude for self sacrifice and the abandonment to pure pleasure.

Lord, be my time manager.
Direct me to the activities that most honour and glorify You.
Fill my hours and minutes with worthwhile things.
Give me satisfaction in hard work,
perserverance in mundane tasks,
and delight in play and creativity.
Keep me committed to making time for relationships
with You - first and foremost,
with my family and friends,
and with those You bring across my path.
I place my time in Your hands Lord.

Overwhelmed

Are you feeling as overwhelmed as I am this week?

Hearing over and over again of the devastation in Haiti I am sick at heart and

as I see pictures in the media of the immensity of pain, loss and chaos the people there are going through, I can do nothing but weep and pray.

How often during my day do I complain over some small thing that's upset my comfort zone?

I have to repent and remind myself again of all I have here in North America and how often I take our peace, stability and wealth so for granted.

I don't understand why such a poor country as Haiti has been the victim of hurricanes, excruciating poverty and government corruption and upheaval all these years and has now been hit once again, this time with an earthquake of horrific proportions.

I just have no answers for why this has happened or what God hopes to

accomplish through this.

I do know that because I love God and desire to serve Him,

I will contribute to the relief effort by giving what I can and

by praying earnestly for those who are suffering as well as

for those who are called to physically help the Haitian people.

What I am sure of is that God has far more love and compassion for these hurting people than we can ever hope to have.

I am trusting that in the end we will see the other side of these painful and confusing events;

the complete picture as God sees it and

we will find that there is a pattern of undescribable beauty and grace.

Happy Birthday Harv

Today my husband of almost 39 years celebrates his birthday.

Happy Birthday Harv.

You are the butter to my bread,

the icing to my cake and

life with you just keeps getting better.
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Psalm 15 describes the man who is acceptable to God

and I think it's a good description of you.

"He whose walk is blameless and who does what is right,

who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbour no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,

who despises a vile man but honours those who fear the LORD,

who keeps his promises even when it hurts,

who is generous to others and defends the innocent."

(my paraphrase)

I'm so blessed to have a husband who I can look up to,

laugh with, cry with and trust implicitly.

I love you.

Have a wonderful day!