Stephanie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I am a very optimistic person. My glass is always half full and I always try to speak positively. But today was one of those days that emptied my cup. I came home for lunch (after spending several hours trying to complete work on a new computer system that is due tomorrow) to find that my dogs had gotten out of the fence. After "the storm" my dogs got out a lot and I put tremendous effort into fixing up the fence. After several months of being tied up, Coco Bear, my great pyranees, managed to cut the metal tie down rope and very nicely stayed in the yard. Until today. I put them back in the yard, but they escaped again. When I came home from work at 4 after spending several more hours on that paper work that had me wanting to chuck the computer through a window, there were three people and a cop car in my yard. Coco Bear had been hit. My neighbor had seen a car pull up into her driveway to hit my dog. She called the police and reported the tags. What a huge mess! Coco's foot was bleeding a little, but he was still running around. The people were trying to get close to him, but he was too scared and kept running off. We got him put in the house and I checked him over. His foot hurts, but I don't think anything was broken, except his toenail. So we go to the lumber yard and get more concrete blocks to stack up around the fence and put him on a new tie down chain. I worried about him being tied up all summer because it was so hot, and now I will worry because it is so cold. All this and we are leaving in 9 days for our disney vacation. I know I have to give this dog away. He is a wonderful dog. He is good with kids except for the one time he growled at Trey and I don't know why he did that. Please, Please, Please let me know if you can provide a good home for a great big teddy bear of a dog.







This was Coco when he was a baby. Isn't he adorable? Ok, now I will try to fill my cup up with things like how thankful I am that he wasn't hurt worse, how my daughter loves GA's so much that she begged me to take her (telling me I could stay home and watch over the dogs), how lucky I am to be getting a trip to disney, and the wonderful aunt who loves me and spoils me so much who is taking me, and the wonderful cousins I will be going with, and how much fun my daughter will have there, and how many wonderful friends I have that will spend a few minutes reading this story and will feel compassion for my bad day, and how I finally understand how to use the new computer program and am prepared for tomorrow, how easy it will be to do the paperwork the next time, how lucky I was to have a friend to teach me use the stupid program, how lucky I am to have a great job with wonderful people, and how God cares about even the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days we have. He is always there for us, watching over us, waiting for us to come to him with our good and bad days. He knows our struggles and how much pressure we are under and He is waiting to bless us, love us and care for us. I already feel much better!

New SpringWidget

Object of My Affection

The lighting is bad, and the video is blurry, but it shows my wonderful 8 year old's skating ability. I can't believe she skates so well. I can't believe she is 8! She had a wonderful party at the skating rink today with several of her friends. She is so amazing. And the best part was that the object of her affection came to the party!!!

Letter of the Word (lotw) Swap

Finally, my letter of the word swap has come in. I did the Y in baby, the first I in inspire and the i in friends. The rest were all made by other crafters. We sent all our pieces into the hostess and she divided them up and sent them to us. I probably won't use them together as a title. Since they came from so many other people, the colors and sizes don't match. But you do get the idea of what is possible. I think they will be great for monograms for words I might use as a title on a scrapbook page. I love seeing what other crafters are doing, and I already have some great ideas. Speaking of scrapbooking, there is a great event going on in Quanah next weekend. Let me know if you are interested in going. Happy Crafting!!

Ciara's Photo Shoot

God Bless America

Voting for the president of the United States is a very serious matter, but leave it to Ciara to make it a laughing matter. I purposefully waited til school was out so she could go vote with me to see how the process works, and so that she could know that this is something the Harbin's take seriously. They allowed her to go back with me and she was all but pushing the buttons for me screaming "Mom, there is his name, click on it. Hurry up!" She didn't understand that there were also local elections to vote on. I hope the other voters got a kick out of her because I know the gals working there did.

This email really made me think about how I express my opinions in a negative way. Hopefully, I can learn to pray for the president instead of griping so much. It's a little late, because the election is over, but it still makes you think.

NO MATTER WHO WINS THE ELECTION........ In spite of the potential challenges ahead, depending on who wins the next presidential election, we DO KNOW who will ultimately win, don't we - very comforting isn't it?!! TOP 10 PREDICTIONS NO MATTER WHO WINS THE ELECTION 1. The Bible will still have all the answers. 2. Prayer will still work. 3. The Holy Spirit will still move. 4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people. 5. There will still be God-anointed teaching and healing. 6. There will still be singing of praise to God. 7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people. 8. There will still be room at the Cross. 9. Jesus will still love you. 10. Jesus will still save the lost. ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL?!!!!

What Have I Done Lately??

I know it has been forever since I posted. Life has been rushing past. Here are a few things that I have been up to. I made the cutest card for my precious cousin Rebekah. She is such an amazing little girl. You can't help but be happy when you are around her. I cased (copy and share everything) this from an idea on splitcoaststampers.com. That is one of my favorite websites to learn techniques and get ideas. I loved making the card so much that I made several. Don't know why, but if you need a toddler birthday card let me know! I have some for sale.

I also made Fall and Halloween cards for my family and friends. I used my new tool to make envelopes. I love making envelopes that match my cards. This time I did it the other way around. I made a bunch of envelopes out of fall papers and then used the scraps from the envelopes to use on my cards. I love how they all turned out. If you haven't gotten one yet, it is because I haven't mailed them yet. I wanted to send a picture of my daughter in her Hannah Montana costume, but she deleted all the pictures from the camera. When you get my card, just remember how much I love you!!


I also made some sympathy cards for the sunshine committee at school. I had so much fun working with new colors and my favorite stamps.
Now I have to get busy working on ideas for a scrap booking pajama party in Quanah on the 21st. If you want information on attending, contact me for the details.