The Best Parenting Advice I Can Give

I've been thinking a lot about parenting lately. How do we figure this parenting thing out? Because I bet if we are all honest, we have ALL felt like bad parents. We don't have the answers or know what to do. We buy the parenting books. We listen to the advice given on tv. We even seek out "Christian Experts" who will guide us on this parenting adventure. So why are we not getting it right? Why do we all feel like failures? I know I do. My boys have been acting out lately, and I just can't seem to get control of it all. I can't seem to find a way to change their behavior. I actually recently bought my first parenting book but I haven't read it yet. But I have been praying and thinking and listening. And this is where I am at right now...

I think that the one thing we can do that makes us better parents and better wives is to change our focus. Instead of focusing on our kids misbehavior, our lack of parenting skills, or our failures....focus on God. It really may be that simple! I'm not even talking about looking for "parenting" answers in the Bible, or about praying specifically for our children (which of course are good things to do), but I am simply talking about working on our own relationship with Christ. Growing in His love, spending more time in prayer (about anything and everything), spending more time in His Word! When we focus on God, other things seem to fall into place. The more time we spend with Him...the more we start to reflect Him ourselves. And isn't He the perfect Father?

My Fat Dog

Ok...so my dog is a bit overweight. He is such a good dog, but he is fat...sorry Terrell. I love these pictures I took of Eryn walking down the street and I LOVE that our awesome dog (Terrell) just stayed by her side. He really is the best. But Kelby says that when he looks at these pictures all he sees is how fat our dog is. Makes you wonder what he sees when he looks at pictures of me, hmmm.... Anyways, so I am giving you a warning before sharing this page. Yes, my dog is fat.

I thought I would play along with a sketch challenge that was issued on the Jillibean Soup blog.

Here is their sketch:

And here is the layout I made for the challenge:

And some close up's:

Almost everything is from Jillibean Soup.

So now that you have seen it....do you notice the adorable girl? Or are you like my husband and you can't see much but the fat dog?

Have a fantastic Thursday!

I feel like a kid again!

So last night I did something that made me feel like a kid again. Remember those old school days when you had to make a diorama for some project. I did always enjoy that kind of stuff. So last night, I turned this...

Just some random empty box, into this...

Here's another view so you can see more of the dimension. :)

Isn't it fun! :) That fabulous line of papers and die cuts is called "Imaginary Friends" and is from My Little Shoebox. You will see more of it from me. :)

Well I am off to do a million things today.

Have an awesome Wednesday! Oh and Happy St. Patty's Day! I guess I should have posted something green huh...well I guess you could call this project "green" as in recycled. :)

Proceed with Caution :)

No..not really...I am just thinking about "caution". Where does one learn it? I have two boys and one girl. With both of my boys, when they were learning to walk/run/jump/etc they just proceeded full on with no caution. They had to learn things the hard way. I still don't see much caution in them at all, which is even more clearer to me after watching my little girl. Now she has caution. She is in a climbing stage, she is climbing everything. But I am going through something different with her because she will climb up on something and then cry for me to get her down. She doesn't even try to get down. It's the same way with the stairs. She goes up them, but she never tries to go down...it's like she knows she will fall. I don't know if it is a boy/girl thing or perhaps it is their personalities that make them different. Anyways, so the boys have been asking me to make something to hang in their room and I was inspired to do just that. :)

My husband says that I should have put "with a lot of caution" but I don't want that either...some people live life with too much, and miss out on a lot. But a little is good.

The papers, letters and twine are all from Jillibean Soup. I can't wait to make some layouts with this line...it is perfect for boys. :)

Hope you have a fantastic Tuesday!

Sketch 190

Oh man...woke up late this morning and now I am running behind with everything. I hate that. :(

Well here is the new sketch for this week:

And here are some fabulous samples from the SC girls..

Annie--

Catherine--

Cathy--

Debi--
Ilene--

Katrina--

And this one comes from our guest designer this month, Star:

And this one comes from our featured member this month, Theresa--

And something new I will be doing with my sketches....here's a two page variation of the sketch for you:

I have had many requests for two page sketches so I am just always going to post my one 12 x 12 sketch (which of course can be adapted to other sizes) and I will also post a two page variation of the sketch. :)

Well if you use the sketch, we would love to see it! Leave a link here, or for a chance to win a prize package from our sponsor, post it in the Scrapbook Challenges gallery! :)

Have a fantastic Monday!

SSCC #30

"The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." Psalm 29:11

That is the verse that our challenge comes from this week on SSCC. And the challenge is to make a card (or project) that shows peace or looks peaceful to you.

Here is the card I made for the challenge.

Hope you can join us this week for the challenge!

Have a blessed and relaxing Sunday!

Supplies:

Cardstock--American Crafts (white) and Bazzill (kraft), Papers--Prima Marketing and Sassafras Lass, Flowers and Pearls--Prima Marketing, Stamps and Ink Pad--Stampin' Up!, Glimmer Mist--Tattered Angels, Thread--DMC, Black Pen ("you")--Sharpie.

Scrap and Stamp Saturday

The challenge this week at Scrap and Stamp is another sketch challenge. The challenge is to use their sketch AND use stamping on your layout. I do hope you go for it. By the way...in case you don't know, I LOVE stamping on my layouts and I encourage you all to get those stamps out and use them! And not just on cards but on scrapbook pages (and more!). :) Ok, here is the layout I made for the challenge...

I had a lot of fun with this one! :) Here are some close up's:

Check out all those Prima flowers...I love it! And that paper is from Prima too. The stamps are from Unity Stamp Company.

Well, I do hope you join us this week for the challenge!

Have a fantastic Saturday!

Supplies:

Papers and Flowers--Prima Marketing, Stamps--Unity Stamp Company, Ink and Embossing Powder--Stampin' Up!, Chipboard Letters and White Cardstock--American Crafts, Yellow Ribbon--BasicBasic (Michaels Stores Inc.), Buttons--Rusty Pickle, Glimmer Mist (on airplane image and on red flowers)--Tattered Angels, Thread--DMC, Computer Program (for journaling)--Microsoft Word, Computer Font--Felt Marker.