Faith Blog Hop

Hi everyone!!!!
I am so glad that you are here for this months Faith Hop... You should have come from  Wendy's Blog....  If you just arrived at my blog, you should go to Paper Tree House Studio in order to start at the beginning.If you are wondering what this hop is all about well every month a group of ladies gets together to share what God is doing in our lives and share our wonderful talent God has belssed us with....  This month we are focusing on God's Promises.... and how He is promises to be there for you no matter what you are going through.


Have you been enjoying the others stories about how God is faithful in their lives... well now it is my turn.... I currently live in Norway but before that I lived in Albuquerque New Mexico... we picked a neighborhood on the Northwest side of town in hope that we would have good neighbors and low crime... that was just what the neighborhood was like when we moved in... After a couple months a family with extended family rented the house next store... and to make a long story short.... there were fights, starving kids, US Marshals, drugs, overdoses, police, babies... pure craziness.  God told us to love them and show His love to them through it all.  The 3 oldest kids started coming to my house to get away from theirs.  Finally the family was kicked out after a little more than a year.  The kids were left on my doorstep with a note from the mother that asked for them to stay a couple of weeks with us until at least school was out.  Summer came and they stayed then school started again and they stayed.  We saw the mother about once a week when she could be bothered to show up.  During this time my own daughter was born so I went from just my husband and I to having 4 kids.  I loved them like they were my own... then my husband got a job in Norway.  The mother told us that she wanted us to take them with us.... we got an attorney and she signed them over to us.  Then she got in trouble and went to jail... as we waited for our court date... my husband traveled to Norway to do training.  I stayed with the kids... for Thanksgiving 2008 I was driving from New Mexico to California with the kids and we had a major car accident in Kingman Arizona... everyone lived by a miracle... one of the boys was thrown from the car and had to be flown ti Loa Vegas to the Children's hospital... one day I can share more about the accident... the same day as the accident the mother got out of jail.  Following the accident my family came and got us and took us to California.  The mother called and said that she had done a lot of thinking in jail and would miss her kids if they were to go to Norway.  She said that she planned to contest the guardianship... the kids stayed in California with my sister while my daughter and I went to Norway to try and find a house for all of us.  When my husband, daughter and I returned from Norway to California for Christmas the attorney let us know that he could not move up the court date and we still had to wait until Feb. but the worst part was that since she had filed to contest... the judge would probably not give the children back to her but she would receive visitation which meant that we could live anywhere in the US but not out of the country.  There was nothing we could do... and the attorney said we had to give the kids back to the mother.  I couldnt even turn the kids over to child protection because they said that she acted responsibly by turning the kids over to someone when she knew she couldnt take care of them.... and now she says she can so she has to be given the chance.  God really talked to my husband and I told us that the kids were in His hands that He had given us them for a time and that He would take care of them.  I continue to believe that promise... I continue to know that those kids are His and pray that the morals and teaching about God our in their hearts.  I will love them forever but God loves them more.  We dont really get to have contact with the kids because they never have a working phone.  We do talk to the Aunt from time to time on FB but she doesnt do that much with them.  So we continue to pray for the kids and miss them.  I stand firm though on the promises that God gave us.  


Just a note: I wanted to let you know the kids names and their ages just so that you could lift them up in prayer.... Antonia was 12-13 when she lived with us and just turned 16 a couple of days ago... Ramone was 8-9 when he lived with us and he will be 12 in Sept... Anthony was 7-8 and he will 11 next March....
  

During the hop you will find many chances to win prizes! All you have to do to be considered for one of those prizes is leave a comment and become a follower of the blogs you will hop through.  For the Grand Prizes , make sure to leave a comment, become a follower, and "LIKE" Paper Tree House on Facebook.  This will allow you to find out about future hops we will be having.  Your next stop on the hop is Jessie... and just in case you get lost here is the line up!

Here are the brave women that dared to share their stories:

Paper Tree House - http://mypapertreehouse.blogspot.com/

Nana - www.youniquereflections.blogspot.com

Tammy - http://www.fromme2upapercrafting.blogspot.com/

Susan - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

Jennifer E. - www.createoften.blogspot.com

Candy - http://www.sweetstamper.com/

Amanda - http://asjmade.blogspot.com/

Wendy - http://wendyscrappings.blogspot.com/

Nicole - http://scrapmethis.blogspot.com

Jessie - www.scrapbookingmiami.blogspot.com

Diane - http://dianemarra.typepad.com/

Vicki - http://mawmawsthoughts.blogspot.com/

Lynne Kirsch  --- http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Phillips - http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.com/

ScrappyZeni Pradel --- www.scrappyzeni.blogspot.com

Grand Prizes:

Stamping Things: The Topper Ink Pad Holder (http://www.stampinthings.com/stamp-pad-holder.html)

Paper Tree House Studio: Exclusive PDF file tutorial for Mini-Book Taught at CHA.

K Andrew Stamps: Stamp Set

Tombow: Grand Adhesive Set

Have a wonderful blessed day!!!!!

Giveaway at My Scrap Stuff

The super duper amazing designer Abby who's blog is My Scrap Stuff is having a giveaway... so if you would like to join in here is the link
http://braytab.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-candy.html?showComment=1311810172000#c2427184205216485541


Here is what you can win....

SEM Challenge #4

This is the layout that I created for Challenge #4 over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles...

Here is the challenge...

Music is amazing... you can hear a song, maybe even for the first time, and it can cause emotions to well-up... have you ever had a song that you hear and it just speaks to your heart?  Sometimes God uses music to show you His blessings and miracles in your life. Music is a powerful way God can communicate with us. God can use anything, anyone to teach you something new or remind you of something you already know. Create a project that shows how a song inspired you to see a miracle in your life…

Scrap twist: Use fabric somewhere, somehow on your project.

Great Challenge... I chose the song Where the Streets Have No Name by U2...  everytime I hear that song I am reminded about Africa... since I was about 16 I dreamed of going to Africa and doing missions. My dream came true in 2001 when I got to go to Nigeria... My trip was cut short due to the fact that I caught Malaria and ended up being very very sick in a Nigerian clinic.  My life though was changed forever and I still talk regularly, pray and support the friends I made in Nigeria.  I dream of going back with my family and of adopting a baby from Africa... God has given me heart for Africa and especially Nigeria for a reason and I believe that He will guide me and show me how He wants to use me and my family.

As we traveled through the town people wanted us to take there pictures so badly... these kids in the picture were so excited and their parents were literally pushing them into the photo... Next time I will bring a Polaroid type camera so that I can give some of the people their pictures right then.  Some of these children said that they had never seen a white person... I used colors in the layout that reminded me of Africa, ribbon from Paper Loves Glue (which is our wonderful sponsor), a fabric button from Purple Pumpkin Crafts and the bottle cap is one that I saved from my soda that I had in Nigeria.... Finally the letters were originally orange (some that American Crafts released for Halloween last year)  I wanted them brown so I first painted them brown and then drew with a white pen on some of them and lastly painted them with clear nail polish so that they would be glossy... (little secret nail polish works great to paint letters that you want another color... you can buy it cheap at the dollar store!)

Cookin Up Creations DT Scraplift

I created this layout as a scraplift from another member at Cookin Up Creations... each month the DT picks a layout from a member and we all scraplift it so... head on over to Cookin Up Creations to see the original layout and what the rest of the DT created....

I painted white paint behind the title so that it would stand out more and then I used clear stars stapled behind the stickers just for fun... it is kinda hard to see so I tried to capture it in my close ups....

Purple Pumpkin Guest Designer Competition

Purple Pumpkin is having a competition for 2 guest designers... I thought I would enter this layout... but if I have time I might create another one and enter that one instead... but we will have to wait and see....

Purple Pumpkin Sketch...

Hi Everyone
Hope you are having a good weekend... I created this layout from the sketch over at Purple Pumpkin... Guess what everyone that completes the sketch by the 22nd will get a free pack of buttons.... I even used one of the their buttons on layout... do you see it?  Yeah the cute little owl sitting in the cloud... I also used a sticker from SRM stickers who happens to be the sponsor over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles and you can win a great prize for entering our challenge over there... so super fun!

Polkdot Door Designs July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Polkadot Door Designs' July Blog Hop.  Each month they chose a group of ladies from those that complete the challenge to design for them and hop the following month.  I created a completed the hop in May so I was asked to design June as and July.  If you just found the hop you can start at  the Polkadot Door Design's blog be sure to work your way through all the blogs and see what the design team has created using the wonderful inspiration photo. As you hop be sure to leave a comment on every blog.  


Not only are there great prizes for you to win but if you liked my layout the best please go back to the Polkadot Door Designs' blog and vote for me as your favorite project.  

POLKADOT DOOR INSPIRATION CHALLENGE

Create a project that is inspired by the following...

Here is what I created

Here is the lineup if you get lost along the way....

Jennifer
Nicole
Valerie
Diana
Sabrina
Nicole B.
Court
Tenny
Tammy
Dee Dee
Mazlina
Lindsay
Smitha
Polkadot Door Designs

PRIZES

Our Challenge winner will receive a

 some incredible flowers from Accents and Pearls

Our blog hop winner will receive

$20 gift certificate to the store Scrap bits!

As well, six to ten authors of the most impressive creations
will be chosen to serve on our July Design Team and Blog Hop, one of whom
will receive a prize from Scrap4mygirlz!

Inspiration Details : 

• Create a paper crafting project (card, layout, off-the-page item), based on provided inspiration (photo, sentiment, or element : scrabble tiles).
• Post your creation on your blog or an online gallery (using a code PDD), and link it here with the Mr. Linky widget below. Please provide a direct link to your post, not an entire blog. 
• A new challenge is being posted the first of every month, and you've got until midnight on 15th to submit your entry.
• You may enter as many times as you like, but you're asked to provide a newly designed project. We ask that you combine this challenge with no more than 3 other challenges.
• We will choose one winner  from the list of players who will receive the prize provided by the sponsor(s). In addition, the authors of the six to ten most impressive creations will awarded the design team positions for the following month, as well as the opportunity to be our featured designer. Special consideration will be given to participants who use all three of the inspiration elements. 
• We will announce the Inspiration Challenge winners on the 20th. Design team members will be contacted before then by email.
• Above all, have fun - and be inspired!