this is for peggy & dee!!

Here are the pictures of the LIMITED EDITION LAYOUT!!
the layout was created with a starbucks card design in mind (check it out below). i thought it was so cute and i knew i could recreate it with my wonderful silhouette! it turned out to be a lot more work than i thought, but i'm so happy i did it...i love how it turned out!!

www.worldvision.org

Here's the World Vision story...it's a long one, so grab a drink and a snack and take a break if you need to :)

This past year, Rich & Renee Stearns (World Vision CEO), Max Lucado (along with daughter and son-in-law), Mike & Gail Hyatt (Thomas Nelson Publishing CEO), Mary Graham (Women of Faith Leader), and many others took a trip to Africa. They went to one of the areas that World Vision is able to help in search of a story. A story that can be told in a minute clip to showcase the importance of sponsorship through World Vision. They were told about a women named Wosene in a remote village in Africa. Wosene is a single mom caring for 6 of her own children and has recently adopted a young boy whom lost both his parents to HIV. Before World Vision, Wosene and her children lived in a one-room, crude shack with mud floors and thatched roof that flooded everytime it rained. The shack is approx. 6' by 6' (some people's closets aren't that small!). They would lay side-by-side next to each other at night to keep warm on the dirt floor. Wosene told the "Americans" about one particular night where she lay face down on the flooded floor praying that God would take her life because she could not provide for her children and they would surely starve. Very soon after, she was approached by a World Vision worker who signed up Wosene's daughter Seniyet for the sponsorship program. Her daughter Seniyet was sponsored. Wosene, continued to tell the American's that since that time, the same sponsor now sponsor's 3 of her children and she proudly shows her new two-room house plus corral (for the animals that the sponsor has provided) that they've been able to build also from the gifts of the sponsor. When Wosene was asked if she knew who the sponsor of her children was, she rushed over to unlock the cabinet (the one piece of furniture in her home other than the kitchen table) and brought out a huge plastic bag full of letters from the sponsor. The Americans were stunned. They knew this was a good World Vision story, but they didn't know how good it really is! :) So, Mary Graham (the MC of all Women of Faith conferences) was reading through the letters from the sponsor and was convinced that it was a "Women of Faither". So when the American's got home, the sponsor was searched and found and contacted by World Vision ~ my mom!! Mary was right, the sponsor is a Women of Faither!

Over the few years and through World Vision, my parents have been able to sponsor 3 of Wosene's children and have provided enough for the family to build a two-room house (not mud shack, a house with a roof that doesn't leak) as well as provide grain for them to farm and animals for mild, eggs, and plowing. The latest additions have been the 2nd room on the house and running electricity to the house/village so the kerosene didn't burn their eyes. With the addition of a power line to the home, 23 other homes have been able to tap into the line and get power as well as the local school and church...amazing! Now Wosene and her children have a two-room home, with a kitchen table for eating and school work and a cabinet in the corner to lock away treasures....with a light bulb in each room and a few animals out in the corral. But most importantly, they have sponsors who love them and continue to write (my mom writes to each child and sends little gifts every month) and encourage them. In addition, Wosene and Seniyet have both come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior!!

So, after World Vision contacted my mom. They said that Mary Graham would like to meet her! Apparently, the Women of Faith ladies were so convicted after hearing this story because they don't write to their sponsored children. My mom received a call from a wonderful lady at World Vision named Jenny (who is the one that searched and found my mom) and was invited to the Women of Faith conference in Dallas, Tx (1 1/2 weeks ago) all expenses paid. At first my mom didn't want to go...can you believe it!?! She's so humble about how she's helped Wosene and wants to make sure that God is getting the glory...that's my mom for you! love her!! So, I'm the lucky daughter who got the call from my mom and asked if I'd go with her. OF COURSE!! Plus, I couldn't let her try to get out of it. It's not everyday that famous people call and want to meet you! Off we flew to Dallas. We didn't have to worry about anything when we were there. We had dinner before the Friday night conference and I sat down at the same table as Rich Stearns, Merilyn Meberg, Luci Swindoll and Mandisa! So surreal!! We had prayer meeting before the conference and then were escorted out to the VIP section to watch the conference that evening. Rich Stearns spoke (he has a new book ~ The hole in our Gospel) and then they did a little plug for World Vision. Mary got up and was explaining about World Vision and their latest trip a little. So she asked Rich Stearns and Mike Hyatt (Mary's boss) to come on stage as they talked about meeting Wosene. And then Mary asked my mom to come up on the stage. Oh My Gosh!! If my mom knew she would be on stage in front of 16,000 women she would have denied the invitation in the first place. So she's on stage and Mike Hyatt says..."In that small house in Ethiopia, I said that if we find this sponsor, I would personally see to it that they are able to come to Ethiopia and meet Wosene and her children face to face." I think my mom blacked out because she stood there like...Did he just say what I think he said!!! Yep, he did!!

My mom, dad and the Women of Faith team, along with members from World Vision will be traveling to Ethiopia in January! Super cool huh!?! Well that's God for ya! He knew my mom's desire to meet her Ethiopian family and put the right people in place that could make it happen! He is a God of love and timing!

The next day at the conference, my mom again found herself on stage telling about the blessing it is to be a World Vision sponsor and to know that you can't help the World, but you can help one child and that's all it takes to start the amazing journey. (Not to mention I got to meet Patsy Clairmont, Sheila Walsh, Merilyn Meberg, Luci Swindoll, and Mary Graham, Mandisa, the Women of Faith worship singers.....the list goes on. It was....well....surreal!) And my mom was able to share her SCRAPBOOKS about the family at the World Vision booth, which created such a buzz. (World Vision set a record number for sponsorship that conference!!)

Oh and Mike Hyatt told us that Wosene never stopped smiling!

(it's after midnight and I'm sure I've misspelled tons in this long winded story, but my computer's broke and this is the first chance I've had to write about this experience!) God Bless!

it died!

my computer finally died! really dead this time although I've tried my darndest to revive it over and over again. so now you're probably wondering how I'm able to write on my blog...my hubby's laptop. i think i finally get my own laptop (woo hoo!!) considering we've had our home computer since 2002....that's like 70 years old in computer age (or older!). bummer thing is that my Silhouette designs and software was all loaded on that computer rather than my external hard drive (doh!), so i'm sure that will take a while to get back when i get a new computer.

so, the bad news is... i won't be able to post pictures of the next layout kit for a while. i'll give you a hint about what it will be like...here is a picture of what inspired me. (i know, i know...of course it's from starbucks. they make the cutest gift cards, don't you think?!)

i'll be coming to Reno the 18th, 19th, and 20th (yay!). so let me know if you want a kit and I'll bring it rather than ship it!