So many thoughts are a swirlin!

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my stuffed up little head. Where to start!

I follow several different blogs. I find great joy in going to each site and checking in. As nosey as this can be...I still find great joy in it. I love to see how different people live their lives. I pray for each of these families and think of them constantly. My heart goes out to several of them who are going through very difficult times. I am encouraged by their enormous amount of faith in God for strength, guidance and leadership. I am struck by the realization and understanding that my faith is not anywhere close to where it should be. I do not go straight to Jesus when I am going through a struggle. I do not turn straight to Him when I am hurt or confused. I know what I am supposed to do and what I should do as a Christian but for some reason, I tend to hold back. The part about this that strikes me the most is that some of the people in which I admire that do the things that I should are all going through very hard times. Either their children are ill, their pregnancies are not going well or they have lost a loved one. Here is what gets me....The faith that these particular people have is not just due to their circumstance. They have a genuine deep rooted love for Jesus. A personal relationship. Something I yearn for.

I love Jesus and I know He loves me. I know that He holds me in the palm of His hand and wants to protect me and care for me. For some reason...and I think I have an idea of what it is...I cannot break through all of my insecurities to get what God is trying to give me. The super frustrating part is that once again....my past is holding me back. I am so afraid of being let down or disappointing God that I tend to not invest what I should into that relationship. How stinking selfish is that! I am thinking about how I could get hurt and how I could be let down as opposed to the fact that I am hurting God and I am letting Him down.....which makes me start to think about why He would want me. Why would He want me when I do not give Him what He deserves? My answer to this.........because He can! because He wants to!

Anywho....I felt like I needed to write some of these thoughts out. To put my thoughts into a blog so that I can reflect apon it.

God, please help me to move past my past...to yearn for You more. I know you know my heart and take comfort in that!

Ok..time to wrap up...my mother in law is fussing for me to hand over the laptop.

Toodles for now!

***I think this post is pretty much all over the place and may not make much sense. So goes the life of me...Katriana!

Three Amigo's

Can you guess which one is unhappy?

This is a rare moment.

Usually when in the presense of each other, these 3 are full of laughs!

Alex, Karleigh & Blane love each other very much. We are all super sad that Blane has moved out of town...but the good news is that they are only 1 hour 45 minutes away. We can sooo do that at the drop of a hat!

It will be no problem at all to drive over to visit with the Duplissey family. Afterall, they have 3 of my favorite people! 5 if you count the grandparents...which we do! D Family- We love you guys!!!!

Golf anyone?

He's ready anytime you are!

Introducing Corbin & Phoenix

My two youngest brothers recently welcomed new babies to the world. Bobby brings Corbin Wayne and Zach brings Phoenix Ray. These new cousins are only about 2 weeks apart with Phoenix leading the way. PLEASE include these sweet babies in your daily prayers! They are both in sensitive situations and need all of the prayers we can offer! God is good and has a wonderfull plan for the lives of these two angels.

He skips on water....sort of

Alex's #1 summer past time...hanging out at Unk & Aunt P's waterpark. He LOVES it when Tripp throws him high to the sky!


Just look at that sweet face!

Alex's boo boo's

It is only to be expected!

Alex was the ring bearer (so sure that I misspelled that word since it looks so wierd no matter how I type it...) in a wedding this past weekend for Tripp's brother Joseph & his new bride, Charly. In the days before the wedding, anything that could happen to Alex's sweet face happened! He jumped off of the ottoman and skinned his nose on the carpet, ran into a corner, and poked himself in the face with a stick on the playground at school. I still cannot figure out why I was so surprised that all this happened days before the wedding! Tripp and I have enjoyed every moment of our free spirited, imaginative, playfull little man so we should have seen it coming! Each time someone at the wedding asked what happened to his face, my reply was, "He's all boy!" That summed it up quite nicely!

Sweeet Moments with Papa, Nanna D & Aunt Ami

Tripp's dad, step-mom and sister came in town for Joseph & Charly's wedding this past weekend and Alex LOVED getting to see them. He has a precious relationship with his Papa...which is truely unique as they do not see each other very often. We were able to get several sweet moments of them together.

How sweet!

Aunt Ami & Alex could play together for hours! Alex loves to show her his room, wrestle with her and just all around give her a hard time. When he realized she was gone Sunday after church, he cried for her. Awh! Aunt Ami, Alex is yearning for you!! :)~

Alex + Golf Lessons= Good Times

Alex started golf lessons a few weeks ago and so far so good. Well, about as good as to be expected. He is only 2 1/2 and most golf professionals like to wait until the child is at least 3 years of age to start lessons. Alex is focused for the first 15-20 minutes...and that's about it.

He really likes it though! He gets super excited everytime he hits the ball!

Tiger Sparks in the flesh!

Guess what I just learned to do?

I just learned how to seperate pictures with text! May not sound like to a big deal to many...but for me..excitement! For forever, I have been posting several pictures and texting at the bottom of them all. Now I can seperate them! Whoo hoo! Just want to celebrate for myself! Toodaloo!

More Recent Projects..

Yippee for me! I have had the chance to work on several client projects lately as well as some fun stuff on the side. One of my client/friends recently had a super adorable set of boy/girl twins and she came up with the cutest idea for a door hanger. I wish I would have come up with it! Way to be creative, R! I also got to paint name boards for over their beds. So happy with them!



She happens to have a super sweet sister with a precious step daughter. B asked me to paint a canvas for M and picked out some cute bedding for me to match. I love the results!

Now comes the extra stuff. For Christmas last year, my sweet hubby got me Cricut machine. I LOVE IT! I am sooo amazed at all I can do with this thing! It is very easy to get addicted! I only wish I had more counter space...or since I am wishing, how about a HUGE craftroom? That would be great. Anywho, these are a few of my latest creations: covered clipboards. (I know the idea is not a new one...but for what these things cost in Canton, I knew I could make my own and make them cuter while I was at it!) I decorated both sides differently and was super pleased with how they turned out.