...oh this poor little blog of mine. I really have not given it any love lately. Shame on me. Some days I think I should just get rid of it, but the thing is, I really LIKE to blog. When I was in high school and college I used to journal extensively. I just don't have the time for that right now and so this 'lil blog is the best I can do. I love being able to just ramble on without fear that I am boring people. Not that what I have to say isn't boring, but each and every one of you have the freedom to just quit reading when you are tired of my ramblings. But when I am talking face-to-face to people it isn't exactly polite for them to just walk away, and so I rarely share stuff with people out of fear that they have ten places they would rather be. So my dear blog readers, where would you rather be right now?
Me? In all honestly, there isn't anywhere else I would rather be right now. Of course I would love to be back in India someday but right now I am SO HAPPY to be where I am. As we walked through the process of resigning at Dalat and applying for job and ending up in Nebraska, we were sure that God was leading in this direction. We weren't sure of the reasonings but we had confidence in His direction. And now that we are here, He continues to affirm that HE brought us here and He has amazing plans for us.
Our first week in the dorm has been WONDERFUL. These girls are amazing. I just love them. Love them all. Even the ones that might be prone to a bad attitude have been so amazing to us. And best of all...they have totally loved on my kids. Nothing makes my heart so happy as to see other people love my kids. I am so excited to be with these girls this year...all 22 of them!
In family news, we are learning to adjust to our new life. Jason is working as the assistant cook at the school so he is out of the house a lot. None of us are used to that so it has been a bit of a struggle. Overall, though, I think it is a good thing. Jason seems to be enjoying his work and I enjoy the fact that I get to MISS him. He's always been around so I have never really had the chance to miss him. Makes our marriage good.
The kiddos are loving their new life here in Nebraska. I already mentioned the doting dorm girls...many many trips to the playground! They are also loving the freedom of the wide open spaces and the fun of sleeping in the same room.
All of them are just growing up sooooo fast. I just want it to stop. I told Alaina the other day that she and the boys had to stop growing or I would just cry. Now she comes up to me with her sassy little smile and says, "Mom, we're g-r-o-w-i-n-g!" Then she laughs and runs away. Cheeky little monkey!
Caleb, who by the way has a FEW words that he uses on a regular basis, has started to lecture us. When we do something he doesn't like he starts to babble really loud with lots of inflection in his voice and shakes his finger at us. I have absolutely NO idea what he is saying but it is just the funniest thing EVER.
Levi turned four months yesterday. Can you believe it? FOUR MONTHS! How did it go by so fast? My little baby needs to stay my little baby because if he doesn't I'll start thinking about having another but I can't since I haven't lost the weight from him. Maybe I shouldn't have had that second brownie tonight...
Have I mentioned all the crazy internet woes I have been having? We are connected to the school server which is really great because we don't have to pay for internet. However, the school has lots of filters on the net and so a bunch of sites were getting blocked. I wasn't even able to DL a bunch of kits I was supposed to work with. Well, I was about to plunk down $60 for a personal connection but then I talked with our tech guy and he said he could just give me a new IP address that was different than the school and he would take all the filters of my address. So, most sites are now working for me. But for some unknown reason I am still having major problems with Scrapartist. Hmmm...maybe Jason got all techy on me and blocked the site so I couldn't shop. Hmmm..
Anyway, I have a bunch of pages to show you. It is so crazy. Before, I would make a page and I couldn't WAIT to post it in my galleries. I LOVED the praise! But now I dread posting at all the different sites and so I haven't done it in days. I am soooo far behind. Need. To. Catch. Up.
For those of you are into digiscrapping, you know how popular the new sketch templates are. For those of you who don't scrap, they are these awesome things where the LO is basically done for you ~ all you have to do is add the papers and embellishments for you. They are great for those short on time, short on inspiration, or dare I say, short on talent. Gina Miller sent me one of her and I had so much fun playing with it that I wanted to make my own. But then I couldn't just make one. I think I made nine. And then I had to do LO's with them to see how they looked when done. Then I got into overachiever mode and made some page border templates. Then like a crazy woman I made a preview of them in case I ever wanted to put them up in a store. Doubt it will happen, but it was fun anyway. Maybe now that I have access to YouSendIt I will try to do my first blog freebie. I'll have to figure out how to do that =) And now, may I present to you my first templates:
And now the close ups of some of those pages. Actually, these were really fun for me. Most of them weren't my usual style. So it was fun to get some different kinds of pages!
Blue Water kit by Lynn Grieveson coming Sunday to Designer Digitals. Oh, by the way Sally, do you like it? I meant to send it to you.
Summer Sweetness by Mindy Teresawa
Lucky Star kit by Shabby Princess
OLIVIA COLLECTION by Shabby Princess, Michelle Coleman stitching
There are some others but that should be good for now.
Have a great night!
Oh WOW Janet!!! These templates rock!!! You are so very talented! I am so glad you are enjoying your new home in Nebraska and your kids have the cutest little personalities! Have a super weekend:):)
--Hollie
Posted by: PaulineLucille | August 19, 2006 at 09:14 PM
Ok.. It took me far too many tries to get this dandy lil comment box to pop up haha. Technical difficulties today !!
Anyways, I ABSOLTELY love that last layout- ok I love them all, but that one is by far my favorite. I don't know if it's the photos, or the paper, or both, but it's simply gorgeous :D
Posted by: lauren grier | August 21, 2006 at 12:44 AM
Congrats on your templates Janet! Those are wonderful! And I'm glad you guys are happy with your move. That can be a hard thing to do!
Posted by: Julie (mrs2a50) | August 21, 2006 at 12:52 AM
Janet, the templates are super! As good as any I've seen and I think I've seen them all. Marci
Posted by: Marci | August 21, 2006 at 04:36 AM
Great Templates. Unique style. I would love to use them. Hopefully you can load them to yousendit. I love all your layouts also. You have a beautiful family.
Posted by: Laura (brechasemom) | August 21, 2006 at 05:40 AM
Janet, you should sell your templates! They are amazing! ive always been inspired by your work and this is no exception! I completely giggled when I read abt your comment abt Levi growing up too soon and that if he grows up too soon you might think of having another one which shldnt be the case since you havent lost all the weight yet.....guess what? ME TOO! LOL.
Posted by: Aggie | August 21, 2006 at 07:38 PM