Angels Among Us: September 2011

I thought I may have lost my mind when I went running outside in the rain with my Canon 7D, but I was so enthralled and just completely taken back with the beauty of this rainbow I could not help myself.

I have never before seen a rainbow this BIG,

not to mention 2 this BIG!

It had been raining for the last 3 days and there was flooding about 2 hrs away. And as I stared in amazement at this beautiful display I was reminded of the promise that rainbows represent. The promise from God that the earth will never again be covered in a flood. And God called it HIS rainbow.

When you witness such incredible displays of Gods handiwork do you ever hear God speak to you? I know I do. And I did that day as well. Do you mind if I share?

When I read the Bible and look at the stories of all the characters I do not see lives free from pain or suffering or trials of many kinds. The Bible is filled with pain and suffering. But it is also filled with a loving God who brings redemption and restoration, who rescues and restores what has been lost.

And this rainbow,

on this evening,

was God speaking to me.

Telling me that the life we had once known,

the life which is no longer, the dreams destroyed and familiar comforts gone -

that God is NOW starting to repair and restore.

I debated whether or not to post about her birthday because it was very bitter sweet and I did not have my camera unpacked and so the pictures were taken with my phone which made me kinda sad. But I decided that Samantha was so mature and sweet about the circumstances that I would share with you anyway. We had been planning a sweet 16 party with all of Samantha's friends in TN. But we decided that we needed to get to GT sooner than later. Had we not left when we did, GT would not have been only 2 hrs away when the call came about the job we had been waiting a long time for.

For those of you who may not know, GT was hired as the General Manager of a used car dealership in Waynesboro, PA. They had one manager die and the other leave unexpectedly. So they called GT on a Monday morning and we decided to drive up and meet with them on Friday. We spent most of the day meeting everyone and talking about whether or not it would make a good fit. I was very concerned about moving the kids again. (We had just moved 5 weeks earlier) And the kids biggest fear about school was starting after the first day of school and then being the new kids.

The kids were all set to start school the following Monday morning in VA. So one of the prayers I was praying was for the school transition to be a smooth one if this was where we were to go. Amazingly, we had one more week until the schools started in PA. GT agreed to take the job and we drove home late Friday night to tell the kids. We told them all individually, and they all cried. Saturday morning we got up and drove to PA to see if we could find a house. There were very few. In fact, we only looked at 3.

But the second house we looked at was home. And after we got in the car to drive back to VA the kids were so excited it was unreal! The dealership had a big sale starting on Thursday and they were anxious for GT to get started. So we started packing up on Sunday morning and GT and I packed all day Monday and then loaded up the two cars with fragile stuff and drove it to PA. Then Tuesday we picked up the moving truck, loaded and left by 5pm to PA. GT got up the next morning and started his new job.

The kids and I just got busy unpacking. It was a little distracting though having friends the first day who wanted to pull them away. We are in a small subdivision that is not finished being developed and only has about 8 houses and some town homes and all of the kids have friends their own age. What a blessing. Thursday we got all the kids registered in school, which started the following Monday, on Samantha's birthday. I was really struggling with the timing of all of this and not being able to do more for her birthday. But Sam was so strong and so mature about the way things turned out. I think I cried more than she did. But I did not let the day go without at least one surprise. . . .

I decided to make her a secret box out of an antique book. And i am going to show you how I did it.. . . . .

I started by gluing the outside edges of each page together. I think modge podge works better, but you can also use Elmers glue.

Make sure not to glue the first couple of pages, I will show you why later. And do not glue the front or back covers yet either. Then let it dry overnight

After its all dry use a ruler and a razor blade to measure an equal distance from the edge all the way around. Not having glued the front or back cover will help as you will be able to cut from both sides

Keep cutting until you get all the way through. I did not glue any of the center of the pages because I wanted to be able to use the book pages for another project. I will show you that project later. After you clean up the inside and any loose edges you can glue the back cover to the book. Then you can either leave it empty or use it as a shadow box.

I had a bracelet I knew I wanted to give to Samantha, so I made a hook with the branch to hang the bracelet on and also kind of a hidden box for her to keep it it.