My newest little man!

Luke and Monica gave us a wonderful little boy at 3:29 AM November 3rd. Everett Walter Rayburn weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long! He looks a lot like his big brother Nolan and is just such a peaceful little guy.

Monica is known for her rapid deliveries and this one was no different. She woke Luke up at 2 AM and they left for the hospital at 2:30 after her sister arrived to take care of Nolan. Hospital arrival time was 3:10 and Everett's entry into this world came at 3:29! Unbelievable to me!

While it would have been nice to have had a granddaughter I think I can find it within myself to really enjoy this little man! Three grandsons is just fine with me!

New Challenge from Legacy of Faith

This is the message from Legacy of Faith about the upcoming 2010 challenge.. I for one am excited to do this!!

As the year is coming to an end we are busy planning for next year. In 2010 we are going back to the basics of leaving a legacy of faith. This years challenges are all focused on YOU and your lifetime story. When you join us in this challenge you will be creating a mini-autobiography. We are counting down the days till January 6th because we are so stinkin' excited about the My Lifetime Story challenges!!! Wouldn't you to know what your grandma's favorite toy was as a child, how she felt when she met your grandpa, her favorite scripture and the song that expressed her heart? Your children and grandchildren will have that treasure when you join us in this challenge! We will start out with your family roots in January and move into your childhood in February. We will continue throughout the year with your teen and adult years as well. The last challenge of the year will be a letter to your future generations or anyone who reads your book. Each of our stories is important. This is a book that everyone should create about themselves. It will be the most treasured album of your family. As you create this album about your lifetime story you will be leaving YOUR LEGACY OF FAITH. This is an album that can make an impact in your life as you create it, but it will also create a major impact in the lives of your family both now and in future generations. As your children read your story in this scrapbook that YOU created, they will take your stories to heart. Your stories may have more impact on them than even Bible stories, because they are personal and from someone they know and . When friends and neighbors pick up your storybook and look through it you will be witnessing without even saying a word. They will read your lifetime history and discover your of Jesus, and His forgiveness and faithfulness in your life! The My Lifetime story challenges will begin the first Wednesday in January. A new challenge will be posted each Wednesday all throughout 2010. The last challenge will be posted the last Wednesday of December. Just because the challenge series ends at the end of 2010 doesn't mean your lifetime story album is finished. We will continue to offer periodic challenges to continue your autobiography and keep it current. Please join us in this year long challenge! Some of these challenges may be layouts you have already completed. That is ok! We need to get these all compiled in your lifetime storybook. Everyone deserves to be the star of their own book, including and most importantly YOU! If you don't put some time aside to create your My Lifetime Story album now, you may never find the time. If something were to happen to you, would your legacy of faith be lost forever? Take action now, join us as we create our lifetime storybooks for the next generation to see the glorious work the Lord can do in the life of a woman that loves God! Begin thinking about what size album you would like to use for your My Lifetime Story challenge. started hers in an 8x8 but now has decided that she needs more space so is moving up to a 12x12. is doing hers 12x12 also because she knew she had a lot she wanted to fit into this album. What size do you prefer? Start gathering your supplies now so you will be ready to start when we kick off the first challenge January 6th! Next week we will post a Photo List so you can start gathering photos that you will need for this challenge.

My totaled car!

Tuesday, October 6 TH I was driving along one of our country roads here. It was around 8 PM, raining, dark, no moon, no street lights.. I always look for deer because there are so many hot spots here where they cross the roads. I thought I saw something move so I squinted to see through the dark but didn't see anything. Suddenly everything in front of me went total black! It was a panic feeling..as if someone had moved a black wall in front of my car. Now common sense told me that no one did that so I proceeded with caution . Once again I saw movement and a Black Angus cow turned it's head toward me! There were two of them facing each other standing across the two lanes of the road!!!
My reaction was.."It's a cow!!!!!!!!" then immediately I heard "BAM!" I had taken the one cow out from under it's legs and it hit the hood of my car and then up into the windshield and over the side or top..not sure which.

All I know is that I braced for impact and had turned my head to the left in case it landed on my side of the windshield..I didn't want glass in my face. I called my husband in shock that I had hit a cow! Who hits a cow??? He then reminded me to call 911 which I did and within 5 minutes two State Highway Patrol cruisers arrived. Then the squad and fire department.. I was told that the cow was up and limping. That hurt me even more. I couldn't stand the fact that I had hit it much less that it was suffering now..I believe it had to be put down. I have no clue what happened to the second cow.

Apparently the pasture gate was ajar. The farmer's insurance adjuster called me and she asked if there was anything I could have done to avoid it. There was not..If I would have swerved to the right the cow would have landed on the windshield directly in front of me and if I swerved to the left I would have hit the other cow!

It is amazing the thoughts that sped through my mind while all of this went on. Everything happened so fast but it felt like I was going in slow motion. Of course they totaled my car. It was a 97 with 240,000 miles but it was in great shape and was running good. I cried...I loved my car.... Now I have to deal with the insurance companies not wanting to give me much for it. The Blue Book is $2895 but they say they don't go by Blue Book..Which is ironic because when I buy I will have to buy according to Blue Book.

They have you over a barrel..So I am going to wait it out to see what his insurance offers and then I will determine if I have to get hateful....I know that comes to a surprise to you all but I have been known to get hateful from time to time!!! LOL!!!

So thanks to all of you who have prayed for me through this and please continue to pray that the insurance company will be fair.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad turned 81 yesterday so I thought it appropriate to complete the layouts for his 80Th birthday last year!! I wanted to be able to remember who all attended his party so I did the layout like this.. I have actually done several of the 9 picture page and love the way it always turns out. To be able to identify everyone I used just a small strip of paper with their names on it and placed then katty corner across each photo. When I finished I realized I didn't have a picture of my SIL and figured out that she was the one taking all the pictures! LOL!! Sorry Ruth!
I probably should have photographed this picture somewhere other than the concrete because the first page blends so well you can hardly see the outline. I thought I had cropped it but alas...I am not as computer savvy as I thought and I obviously forgot a step!

Where have I been?

Dealing with family issues and working just takes all the fun out of everything and it strips time away before you know it. I have gotten a few layouts completed with two of my clients. This is Kevin's layouts for his Special Olympics Track and Field this year. He did really well and is proud to have his album growing with his accomplishments. He took it to Columbus to show it off to his brother. They were very impressed. While the pages are more simplistic than I like to do they are still great pages because the guys pick their papers and assist with all the cropping and placements.

As you can see..Kevin received a blue ribbon for his 100 yard sprint and a red ribbon for his softball toss. You can't see the bottom two pics on the second page very well but it captures him throwing the ball and the middle pic shows the ball in mid air.

Post # 3 My Birthday!

Annie made my card for my birthday and it is so cute! She has a knack for this stuff. I love how she made the money clip in the upper corner and I like how when you open the card the age is on a tag. It was a treat to receive it!

I had a great birthday! Received enough money to pay 3 maybe four payments on my cruise next spring! YEA! A scrapbooking cruise for SEVEN days!! I can't wait!

Jim got me these beautiful roses, carnations and lillies and Annie got me the carnations..Look at that yellow one!! Needless to say it smells great at my house!! LOL!


Well, thanks for letting me share all my stuff! I have had a great couple of days!!

Post # 2 for the day

I took the Ju-Ju out to catch her bus this morning and when I opened the door to come back in this caught my eye!! I don't know how we kept from knocking it off it is so close to the door but we didn't.

Anyone who knows me understands that nature fascinates me..to think that this locust fit into that shell is just amazing. Because the wings are green I know that i has just hatched and is drying it's wings which will later turn black and at the bottom of each wing there will be lines that are in the shape of a "Z". If you look close you will see where the eyes were in the shell and the legs are so so thin. Yet it will take some care to pull the shell off of the wall..it is in for the long haul! lol.. A couple years ago I had taken one of my clients to the park and we were sitting in a double swing just enjoying the breeze when I looked down and saw something crawling out of the ground leaving behind a perfect circle hole! It was a locust and it began it's trek to the tree to develop it's shell so it's wings could form. As it approached the tree I noticed that the tree was covered with shells, some broken open, some still inside and yet others that had come out and were drying their new wings!! We got to see ALL the stages right there on that one tree!! It was incredible! Well, Rae Lynn wasn't amused but I sure was!! LOL!!

Each year when the kids were smaller they would take the empty shells into school for show and tell. The Lord knows that I love nature and he sends me treats all the time..For example..last week I was headed to Robert's and sitting outside the corn field in the tall grass was a RED FOX, bathing!! And then Monday I was standing at Kevin's kitchen sink looking out the window at the cornfield that backed up to their property and saw a very young Doe and right behind her were two Spotted Fawn!!! All of these live in my neighborhood..no fences, no admission price, just running free....AWESOME!!!! Thank you Lord for your creations!