Baby Update

Photo taken earlier this spring

Thank you all for your prayers concerning my baby friend! I just talked to her mom and she is doing much better. She is home from the hospital and everyone in the family is doing better.

~Christina

Note Card Update

If you are unfamiliar with this project please see here and here

My friend is doing much better then she was. They are encouraged that the disease is not spreading and she has also been spared from damage to other organs. She has been able to visit with friends more and even took a trip to another state to see friends. All of these things are so encouraging to us. She is however still struggling with some effects of the chemo meds.

As far as the card project is concerned we are fairly pleased with how it is coming along. The Spring Blossoms set has seen pretty decent sales and out of 125 sets we only have 20 some left here at home. We did give 25 sets directly to the family we are trying to benefit so hopefully they have been able to sell those and use the money. With the sale of the flower cards we were able to pay for all the start up costs...ie. first printing, clear packaging, manila envelopes to ship in, etc. and buy another 750 cards. For anyone who has ever tried to balance a project like this you will understand why we are so pleased! Now we have our "feet" on solid ground.

We are pleased to introduce to you the North Pier Note Card Set! Just a little refresher: Each set contains 2 each of 3 designs (including envelopes) packaged in clear bags. They are selling for $8 a package. We do have a shipping method in place so if you are interested please email me at criaelizabeth@gmail.com. For those of you who purchased some of the first set, we did use a different printer this time so they are not quite the same as the flower ones...biggest differences being that the new ones are glossy and have my name on the back instead of the front and we added a small message to the back as well.

Now without rambling further I will post the images included in the current set. Keep in mind that the watermark is for the internet only...these are just sample images! :)

2008.05.20

Warning: This post is about real life. Do not expect "picture perfect" images.
When I thought about taking pictures this afternoon I was already struggling with fatigue. I wanted to take some pictures and post but I was just so tired and unmotivated. The thought of going out into the yard to take even one flower image did not even seem doable. You see, not only was I so tired I also had many things left yet to do. It was only about 4.

So...I thought it would be interesting to recount my day for you...more for me to see how well I had spent my time. To understand what I had accomplished and what I had left undone.

You will all have to bear with me, I know the pictures are not lining up with my story but I cannot figure out how to arrange them how I want and it has been 6 hours since I felt "too tired to even snap a picture".
Yesterday, as I had posted, I took my Grandma to have eye surgery and then needed to stay at her house overnight. I did that and woke several times during the early morning from vivid dreams. When it was time to rise I got up and ran through my morning routine as best I could so that we could be at her eye doctor follow up appointment at 8am. We made it. The appointment went well and I tried to read some of my book on hospitality while waiting but I am easily distracted in waiting rooms.
After that we went to see my wonderful aunt at work and we were able to visit with her for a bit. About this time I started receiving phone calls. RSVPs for Josh's party on Sat. and family trying to coordinate schedules and such (never ending for us). We then met mom at KOHL's so that I could take him shopping for party supplies later. Found the frame I needed at KOHL's and ran my worn out Grandma back to her house. We did a little pre-planning and then Josh and I went back to town in Grandma's car to shop for the food and supplies for this party looming in our future.
We did great!!! I was so pleased. We were able to knock out the whole list other then the fruits and veggies today. We went to GFS where I got what I knew was a better deal and wrote down prices for what I was unsure of. Then we went to Meijer and picked up more food and compared prices some more. I was determined to get the best deal so I was armed with ads, notebook, pen, and calculator. Topped off Grandma's gas tank for 3.879 a gallon (best price around) and ran back to GFS to get those items that really were a better deal there...don't worry I didn't spend all the savings on gas, the stores are very near each other. :)
Got back to Grandma's just in time for lunch and Who Wants to be a Millionaire...no tv at home but I enjoy watching Millionaire at Grandma's. Then Josh and I went to visit a friend who is in a nursing home...didn't see him but left a note. Dropped in to check on something at a darling little gift shop (an enjoy life moment) and went back to Grandma's to meet up with mom.
While I waited for her I used Grandma's new weed whacker to clean up her yard a bit.

After we stuffed mom's car with all of our grocery stored finds we all headed off to pick up Brandi. (Yes, that is her on the porch in the above image) Got home to find the room I had left clean quickly became rather messy! Yikes! Suzanne was loving my nice clean bed so much that she forgot i was coming home. :) (She did clean it up as soon as she got home!) Got to see the prints I ordered from mpix. Yay, they were absolutely beautiful. Caught up on all my email...not much important news there...checked all of my regular blogs and generally wasted some time on the computer while I started to upload senior pictures of Josh to the mpix site. That is when I realized I needed to pull out my camera.

I wanted to somehow represent my day so I decided to take some pictures of different bags and packaging involved in what I had been doing. My bags from coming home (clothes, computer, camera, and books...pictured somewhere above), the mpix packaging, grocery bags, etc. Only when I got to the kitchen I found out that Josh had not put the food away! Everything but the frozen food was still on the floor and counter. So I went to work putting that away...as much as possible seeing how it is all for the party on Saturday.

Then I managed to rebound for my 15 (broken up) minutes. Read the book of Galatians. Everyone who knows me knows that I love ice water so the pic below is me taking a water break. Also got a load of laundry in. I was on my way to the clothes line when mom called to see if I could whip up some dinner. Sure! I was praying and praising God in order to move past my fatigue. In the midst of this we got our new shipment of note cards in. (Tomorrow I will post about that) Started supper and enjoyed getting the table ready while I thought about my role as a woman, daughter, and sister. I wanted my family to be encouraged and feel loved when they came in from working so hard.

Had supper well under control when I made it back to my wet clothes. Grabbed the basket and stepped out the door just in time to feel raindrops. Set the basket of wet clothes back in the house and ran to the line to get the dry clothes. Wet clothes in dryer and dry clothes folded. Swung by my room pick it up some more. Ah, everyone is finally home so we can enjoy my long completed meal. One a beautiful table...at least it made me happy!! :)

Throughout the meal there were some business items and such to discuss and then I had to return another phone call. Financial work. Josh and Suzanne both needed some senior portraits ordered (hope they get here in time!) so we did that. Then I had to upload today's pictures and I have spent far too much time writing this post...not to mention I have probably bored you to sleep. Now I need to take a shower and get some sleep before I get sick.

Writing this all out is very informative for me. The Lord has been convicting me about several areas of my life. Time, discipline, attitude, love for others...this essay has helped me to see how I did and what the results were and more. I hope this made some sense to you...I am learning so much through my everyday posts.

~very worn out blogger

Prayer request

I just found out that this beautiful baby, whom I love very much. Has been in the hospital for several days! She also has a genetic condition that makes her sickness even more dangerous then normal children. Please pray that her stomach would settle and that she would have an appetite so that she can eat, get well, and go home. Also keep her mother in your prayers as she struggles to balance everything else that is going on including some members of her family going to camp this week, a funeral, and just everyday life with 8 wonderful children.

The picture above is of the baby and her oldest sister taken last time I visited them this spring.

~Thanks

2008.05.19

Two birds-one stone. This morning I have several things that need to get accomplished take pictures, exercise and post on blog were just a few of them. So I decided since I didn't have time to take the pictures I wanted (that would require leaving home) I would take pictures of me exercising. To make sure I get at least a minimum of exercise I Rebound for 15 minutes everyday (well most everyday). So for my photo assignment I set up my tripod and camera again to try and capture the movement of my feet. Using a slow shutter speed gets nothing but blur and a fast shutter speed and a flash caught my feet stopped in the air.

Now onto other things:
Grandma is having eye surgery today and I am going to stay with her. So, if I don't get home tomorrow there will be no post.

~loving every minute of this crazy life I lead

2008.05.18

Today I took a break, I rested. It is Sunday and I actually did take a few pictures...but they were terrible!
The above pictures I set up last night. It is me in the pictures but I was using my tripod and the timer on my camera. It is hard to make it look natural and take the picture! on a moving swing, (and my skirt looks so short!). Oh well, I did enjoy the evening swinging and studying.

~Christina, trying to live a purposeful life for Christ

2008.05.17

The plan this morning had been to head back to the beach and take more pictures of kite boarders with the possibility of selling them...as suggested by the guy I shot last night. But alas when I got there it must have been either too windy, too cold, or too early because the sky was not a sea of kites like I was told it would be! I might go back for another sunset shoot this evening but in case I don't I figured I better take some pictures and get them posted!

Siblings taking a minute to pose in the midst of cleaning the porch.

Suzanne and Josh constantly pose together. From just about every photo shoot we do as siblings I have one of him carrying her. In fact, when I was looking through Josh's senior pictures I realized that Suzanne was missing! So these two should help make up for all those pictures of him without her. :)

Still trying to figure out just how much light one should use for the most dynamic images of the ever popular dogwood blossoms.


I may take a break tomorrow because it is Sunday...I am not sure...

~Christina