HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Thanksgiving Day prayer:

"O Lord, with humble hearts we pray
Thy blessing this Thanksgiving Day
And ask that at table place,
Where grateful folk say words of grace,
That Thou will come to share the yield
Thy bounty gave to farm and field.
We pray thy love will bless, O Lord,
Each hearth, each home, each festive board;
And that Thy peace will come to stay
Where candles glow, Thanksgiving Day. "

Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings to you and yours!

Hey

Summer is flying by -- we just spent two glorious weeks in Maine and Cape Cod. Now I'm back home and knee-deep in laundry! It's that time of year again...we're gearing up for back-to-school and I'm trying to get my mojo hopping for a big project I'm undertaking that will be published next year. It's been a very busy summer and I really enjoyed taking some time off to tend to things that needed to be done around the house, and enjoy some quality time with Sean and the girls. I'll be posting more art-related pics beginning September 1, but in the meantime I'll leave you with some awesome peeks from our vacation. 

While in Rockport, Maine we splurged and stayed at the Samoset Resort. Our room was the one in the middle with the flower boxes. While I am not a big fan of these big, fancy resort-type hotels (we prefer to rent a cottage or condo, but made our decision to travel too late to make the appropriate arrangements), I LOVED this place. They are very casual and had lots of activities for the kids. We could literally do as much or as little as we wanted. The staff is very friendly (I mean, they really go out of their way to make you comfortable), and the property is beautiful. Our room was actually a parlor suite with a direct view of the lighthouse and golf course. It was HUGE with a private balcony, lots of windows and an enormous marble bathroom...sweeeeeet.

A look at the very busy Rockport harbor in Maine.

Our room afforded us a wonderful view of the Rockport Breakwater Lighthouse. In order to get to the lighthouse we had to walk 1.5 miles each way over these granite slabs (collectively called the "breakwater"). As you can see, in a few spots there are huge gaps between the stones. Took us a while, but we got the hang of it and made it there and back in just under an hour. Those are Mandy's very long legs expertly negotiating a particularly tricky section of the breakwater.

Another view of the breakwater leading to the lighthouse.

I fell in love with the amazingly beautiful Maine coastline

I have always been intrigued with the beauty and history of the Atlantic Coast lighthouses. So needless to say I made sure Sean drove us to as many lights as we had time to visit. This is a pic of the Chatham Light on Cape Cod. Chatham is a very sweet little town with a bustling Main Street jammed with quaint shops and outdoor eateries (and the best ice cream shop on the Cape!). We loved it there!

Check out these surfers. They were so fun to watch...I also caught a quick glimpse of a baby seal that washed up near shore, but couldn't move fast enough to get a pic!

The sunsets in Maine were just spectacular!

Ok -- thanks for looking. See you next month!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxo

Back in the Saddle

Wow -- has it been over a month already? Summer sure is a-flying by. I want to thank all of you for your support when Allie was sick. That really threw us for a loop.  My family is so appreciative of your prayers, good wishes and advice. Allie is on medication, and seems to be doing very well. Thank you again for all your well wishes.

I've been taking this opportunity to catch up on a few past due projects and enjoy a few classes. Two weeks ago I drove over to Danbury Connecticut for a crop retreat weekend with the very fab Julie and Barb of Lasting Memories. These two are a hoot! I had the good fortune to take five classes with Angelia Wiggington, who you all know is one of my FAVORITE scrapbook artists. Can I just tell you how much I love this girl? It was so fun being in her classes and hanging out with her for a bit. She's so talented and an absolute doll to boot. I ADORE her! We made 3 mini books and 6 layouts (and I was drooling over the yummy papers and color combinations she used...OMGoodness!) Here's a pic of some of the projects, the missing ones are by my computer waiting for me to print out photos to attach. I think I'm getting the hang of this scrapbooking thing...who would have thought?  

And guess what? Shocker of all shockers...a mantel clock I designed in the beginning of the year is going to be featured in the upcoming Somerset Home magazine.  I almost fainted when I received my comp copy. The photography was exquisite...the whole magazine is really beautiful.

I still have some catching up to do, but it feels good to be back in the saddle. I'm headed to the CK Convention in Valley Forge this weekend. I'm so psyched because Sean and the girls are coming with me this year. My 14 year-old, Mandy, will be taking a few classes with me. She loves to scrapbook, I love to shop! What a team...here's a pic of my crew I took last weekend. We're lucky to live so close to the water. This was taken down at our little neighborhood beach down the block.

Well, never a dull moment here at the Cunningham House...

Last week, on June 9, my daughter Allie woke up and experienced another seizure. Now these are benign, rolandic epilectic in nature, which means they occur upon waking from sleep, usually last no longer than 3 minutes, and the patient outgrows them by age 13 or 14. They tend to cause no harm but are scary to go through. Allie's seizure was pretty textbook that day, and her history shows that this occurs every 6-7 months.  Unfortunately she had another seizure yesterday...Father's Day, and this one was more atypical in that she didn't really come out of it like she usually does. Her left side remained numb, even when she stopped convulsing, and she had a petit mal seizure even after we got her to the Emergency Room. They put her on a loading dose of meds right away to stop the seizures, and we stayed overnight in the hospital. Fortunately, she's doing remarkably well now and is back to her old self, but will remain on meds for about 2-3 years, especially since she's going through puberty. She slept really well while in the hospital, and that's the key to this whole condition....she needs quality sleep; so hopefully that will continue. I'm just praising God for protecting her and for guiding us through this whole ordeal. I had to reach the point where I surrendered everything to Him and let Him take over because it was too much for me to carry and handle on my own. I'm so glad I did because putting Him in charge was exactly what needed to be done. She woke up, knew exactly where she was and why, and declared that she was better and ready to go home! The nurses got such a kick out of her.

So, as you can guess, I'll be a little busy with Miss Allie for a bit, and will have to take some time off from blogging. I'll be posting every now and then as things settle down. Thanks so much for keeping the four of us in your prayers, and if there is anything, no matter how big or small, we can keep in prayer for you, please email me and let me know...it is a good thing to have people praying for you, believe me, I know! Here's a couple of verses from Psalms a friend gave to me today. I love this...

"If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
No evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling"
Psalm 91: 9-10

xoxo

More Celebrations...

Little Big Girl just celebrated her 11th birthday. Man, the time is FLYING by!!  Her class party was the day before so Mandy and I baked 30 cupcakes, (enough for the entire 5th grade because my little lady thinks the "No Child Left Behind" law should also apply to birthday parties!), and off we went for Allie's class party. Then we surprised her on Wednesday (her actual birthday) at dismissal time with a bunch of balloons. She was so excited. Fun times...

Well today is also a very special day...16 years ago today, at 4:00PM, I married the most amazing man on earth. Happy Anniversary sweetie!!!

Wednesday Stamper

So this week's Wednesday Stamper theme is flowers, and you'd think this would be a cinch for me, right? Well guess again...I was stumped big time...I kept cutting and pasting and stamping..then I would throw everything out and start all over again. I was getting really miffed because I couldn't find the stamps I was looking for (I have issues about putting my art things back where they belong) so after an hour of trying, I gave up. As I was cleaning up and getting ready for bed I came across a piece I started a while ago (remember that coupon book I got in the mail?) and sat down with it for a bit. This is the final result...with a wee bit of stamping here and there.  I can't remember where I found this poem, but it goes like this:

The Beauty Of A Woman

The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years only grows.

---Anonymous

I want to thank all of you who take the time to stop by for a visit. It's so great to hear from you and hang out with you for a bit in cyberspace; and it's always a thrill to see what you're up to as well. Thanks again and God Bless:-) xoxo

                                                                                                  

TGIF

Whew! It's been a crazy week!

Big Girl is finished with 8th grade and has celebrated her 14th birthday!   Happy Birthday Mandy...I'm so proud of her. After being homeschooled for two years she adjusted incredibly well to her new environment and made Honor Roll for three straight quarters. Mandy's school offers a mentoring program for new students wherein upperclassmen take on the role of Big Brother, or in our case, Big Sister, to an underclassman. Here's our Big Girl (on the left in the brown dress) on Awards Night with her "Big Sister", Chelsea (who graduated Cum Laude this year, thank you very much!).

Little Big Girl is also in full swing. Here she is celebrating her communion class graduation with her friends Madelyne and Emily ...and she was the shining star in not one, but two class plays! There are 2 fifth grade classes at her school and they both did the same play...Guys and Dolls (without all the "grown-up" parts, as Allie would say). The girl who had the same role as Allie in the other 5th grade class could not be there for her class performance, so like the trooper she is, Allie stepped in and played both roles. The kids were so dang cute! 






And guess what? I received two magazine comp copies the other day...I had 2 cards published in Take Ten, and my "Little Women" mini book was published in Gallery. Pretty cool mail surprise!