Miscellaneous Scrapbook Pages

I've been working on some miscellaneous scrapbook pages for a different scrapbook site, Just Art Scrapbooking, using their challenges as inspiration.

I did this first page for the Big Photo Challenge.  I got the inspiration for this poem from the first line of another poem I found on the web.  I love walking down the road that leads to our fire pits, especially and mostly in the fall.  (Any other time is usually too hot or too cold!)  It is so peaceful.  I look for squirrels and birds and the beautiful leaves, of course.  The woodpeckers were really talking while I walked last Wednesday.  And the bluejays were scattering.  Neither stayed still long enough for me to get pictures of them.  And, believe it or not, I did not see one squirrel!

This page was done for the Clean and Simple Challenge.  What that means is usually very few embellishments plus a photo, title and maybe some journaling.  I took this photo at the edge of the property before entering the woods.  I love the addition of the sun rays!

This page was done for the Color Challenge.  This month's color was.....I'll bet you can guess.....orange!  :D  I love seeing pictures of the grandkids and seeing how much they have grown and changed!

I cheated on this layout, done for the Finish the Sentence + 1 Challenge.  The challenge host gives you the beginning of a sentence, which you complete.  The +1 is something the host wants you to include on your page.  The sentence to complete for the challenge this month was, "Sometimes you just have to........"   And the + 1 was to add scribbles to your page.  I had done this page originally back in 2015 for a challenge at The Digi Chick.  So, the only thing I did was add my sentence and some scribble marks which you can see behind the sentence on the green paper.

This page was done for the Mask Challenge.  A mask is a shape you "clip" your picture or something to.  The challenge host is a designer who provides the mask she wants you to use on your page.  The masks shown here are the shapes I have placed in the corners.....upper left and lower right.  I left the middle open to add the poem to.  The tree I clipped to the lower right one is another picture I took in the woods last Wednesday, as is the one with the leaves on the ground.  I changed the saturation of color on the top photo to make it coordinate with the tree more.

This page was done for the Mini Kit Challenge.  The host provides a kit for you to use in creating your page.  The photo is of a walnut that has fallen to the ground in the road that leads to the back of the property so you can enter the woods.  The walnut trees are between our property and the neighbors' property on the right side of the house.

This page was done for the Quote Challenge.  The host gives you some quotes to choose from as your inspiration for your page.  The quotes follow a particular theme for the month.  Or you can choose your own quote to go along with the theme for the month.  

I don't post all of the pages here that I do through the month.  If you want to see what else I have been doing through the month, scroll back up to the top of the page here and click on the link to the right for "Today's Scrap."  You will see the pages I have done for the site I "work" for.  What I mean by that is that I am part of the Creative Team for the O'Scraps designers.  When I create pages using their kits I post them around to different places on the web, like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., as "advertisement" for the kits.  And in doing so the site allows me to use their kits free of charge.  But for every kit I download I have to use the kit within one week of downloading it.  I also have to comment on other layouts in the gallery and be active on the site.  Not a bad deal at all, IMHO!

So, to any of my scrapbooking friends who read this, if you are interested in joining the creative team, contact Ona (wombat146 is her user name) at the O'Scraps site.  She is my "boss."

I pulled my knitting back out this week.  I started a lap blanket last year that I didn't get finished.  I want to finish it this year.  Since the weather is turning cooler again I will begin working on it.  I'm working it in a basket weave pattern.  It will be for Mark, but I don't really see him using it because I think it will be too hot for him.  But it doesn't matter.  I can use it on our couch.

We had company for dinner last Thursday, so I got the house pretty well cleaned up.  So, this week I am also hoping to do some "playing" out in my craft building!  We shall see!  It depends on how cold it gets.  The only heat I have is a space heater which I basically have to practically sit on for it to do any good!  And even at that, my feet are usually cold.  We shall see!

What kind of plans do you have for Thanksgiving this year?  We will be staying in town and going to Mark's daughter's new house.  Every other year we go to my daughter's house in Ohio.

Can you believe that we now have less than 2 months until Christmas?!  That also means that 2 months from November 1st will be January 1, 2022!  Can you believe it?!  WOW!  How time flies the older you get!

Speaking of getting older, my dad would be 93 today if he were still living here on earth.  Happy birthday in heaven, Dad!  Love and miss you!

And that's a wrap for me today!  Praying each and everyone of you has a blessed week!

Obituary

Jeanne Adele (Day) Schneider, age 88, of Columbus, Ohio, joined her husband, Kenneth Schneider, her parents, sister, and son in heaven on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, at Mt. Carmel-Grove City Hospital. She was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania on September 7, 1933, to the late Harry and Adele (Demarest) Day. Upon graduation from Meadville High School, she went to work in a small doctor's office where she met her lifelong best friend, Muriel "Murt" Collier of Highland Haven, Texas. Until her passing, the friends emailed every day and stayed in close contact. As a young woman, Jeanne married Charles "Chuck" Day of Taylorsport, Kentucky and had to forever explain with a smile that while they shared the same last name, they were not related and met while he was a young man serving in the Navy. Jeanne went on to graduate from nursing school and had a long career as a nurse caring for others. Upon retirement, she enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Jeanne's love of the Jersey shore came from spending many summers at a beach house in Pt. Pleasant Beach as a child. That love of the shore was passed to her children while the family lived in Pt. Pleasant for many years. Preceded in death by her parents, her husband, sister Phyllis (Ben) Goble, and oldest son Timothy Day. Jeanne will be deeply missed by daughter Jennifer Day, sons Jonathan (Leslie) Day and Jeffrey (Linda) Day, forever daughter-in-law, Vicky (Mark) Whittemore, niece Cindy Ottervanger, nephews Larry Goble and Gary Goble, grandchildren Jessica (Terry) Jones, Michael (Jessica) Day, Elisabeth (Brad) Palmer, Nathanael (Samantha) Day, Christopher Day, Amy (Billy) Byrnes, Brandon Day and twelve great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to one of Jeanne's favorite charities, DAV - Disabled American Veterans, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301. Please visit www.schoedinger.com to share memories and condolences. Funeral arrangements entrusted to SCHOEDINGERNORTHWEST.  Both places record this obituary and photos and comments.

Photos of Jeanne spending Memorial Day Weekend 2021 with family in North Carolina.

Photos of Jeanne as the family gathered in Kentucky to celebrate the 90th birthday of Charles Day, her children's father.

I pray you are resting in peace.  You will be missed!

A Vapor

James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
James 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (KJV)

I began this blog in 2008.  I was just getting into digital scrapbooking pretty heavily with an online presence.  I wanted a place to display the family pages I was creating.  I took a Project 365 challenge of creating a page a day, hence, the name of my blog.  I was not the only Project 365 blogger, so I added my name to distinguish the difference.

I especially posted here for my mother-in-law, Jeanne Adele Day Schneider.  She loved seeing the photos of her grandchildren and their children, her great grandchildren.

Since March 3, 2003 when I lost my dad I have really come to know what it means in the verses above when it says life is as a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.....like it was never here.  That's not totally true because the life that vanishes has touched someone else's life, so while they are no longer here, they have not vanished because they live in your memories and your heart.  I am always remembering some of the things that dad said and I quote him.

Then I lost mom on June 29, 2005.  But, really, mom was lost to Alzheimer's several years before she actually passed away.  I would not wish that disease on my worst enemy!  Mom would have been a great Great Grandma.  She was already several years in the throes of Alzheimer's when her first great grandson was born in 2001.  When Jessica visited her in the nursing home with Michael, mom would smile a huge smile at him.

These two losses of the most important people in my life made me realize how soon life can end....even if you are not ready for it to happen.  But, "if the Lord will" (v.15) they would still be living.  My consolation now is knowing that I will see them again.

And life goes on for those who remain.

In 2008 Tim was called to be the pastor of the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Winston Salem, NC.  In 2012 it was discovered that he had melanoma and his first surgery happened on May 12th, 2012.  The melanoma was in a lymph node that they removed behind his right ear.  From there life returned to normal.

In 2013 he discovered a lump in his left cheek.  He went to the doctor and found out that the melanoma was now considered metastatic melanoma because it had spread throughout his body.  That began 4 years of every treatment available, to no avail.  There was one treatment of a combination of 2 different meds that reduced the tumors but never completely removed the cancer.  And eventually the tumors became resistant to the treatment.

The doctor had told Tim that the lumps under his skin would not kill him.  And Tim had said he would be willing to take the pills the rest of his life.  One of the reasons Tim had so many scans was to make sure the cancer never spread to his major organs.  That fear became a reality when the cancer broke through the blood brain barrier.  Radiation did not work.

Five years, almost to the day, Tim underwent brain surgery to remove a golf ball-sized tumor.  It happened on our 41st anniversary, May 8th, 2017.  Three months to the day later he died on August 8th, 2017.  I felt like my life had ended, too.  After the funeral I spent time away from the parsonage with three of our children.  When I was home I spent the nights at Ilene's because I couldn't stay in the parsonage by myself. 

I didn't know who I was or what my role in life was any longer, but I knew I needed to get settled somewhere.  That is when the idea came to me (of the Lord, I am sure) that maybe I could just live with Ilene.  The times that we had spent together had been wonderful and we were so compatible!  I think we needed one another to comfort each other in our losses.  She was more excited than I was, I think, about the idea!

So, in December 2017, upon the approval of the arrangement with her children, I moved as much of my earthly possessions into her house as I could.  And our journey together in widowhood began.  And what a journey it was!  We traveled together.  We shopped together.  We worked puzzles together.  We cooked together.  About the only things we did separately were when we went somewhere with her family or I went to visit my family.  Tim's mom and sister even came and spent the weekend with us.

We shared a lot of memories with one another.  We even discussed if we would ever get married again.  Both of us agreed that we probably would not marry again.  One day this discussion came up again and the Lord prompted me to answer another way.  I said I probably would not get married again ..... unless it were someone "like" Mark who was very faithful in his service to the Lord.  

Quite frankly, I never understood why or how it was that Mark had never married again after his wife died.  I even said as much to Tim and he had agreed.  Well, we all know now why he never married.  It was because the Lord had other plans that included me!  And the rest is history!

Jeanne was really upset at first.  She wanted to know how I could have forgotten her son in such a short amount of time.  I had to assure her that Tim was and always will be in my heart and memories.  It can't be helped.  When you love someone as much as I loved Tim for 46 years that doesn't just go away!

I'm happy to say that everyone, including Jeanne, accepted Mark "into the family."  Jeanne called herself my "forever" mother-in-law!  I loved that and I loved her.  And I believe she loved me, too.  But she sure missed Tim, as we all do....even Mark!  Mark loved his pastor!

Jeanne turned 88 on September 7, 2021.  The last time I saw her was on July 25th at the birthday party of Tim's dad.  I'm so glad that I got family pictures of the 5 of them, Jeanne, Chuck, Jon, Jeff and Jennifer.

On September 25th Jennifer emailed me to let me know her mom had been very sick with a UTI and had been back and forth to the doctor to no avail.  Finally the doctor ordered Jennifer to take her to the ER where they admitted her for 8 days receiving antibiotics for a bad kidney infection.  She was taken from there to a nursing/rehab facility.  She had become so weak that she couldn't walk.  They would not let her go home until she could walk again.

She just kept getting worse.  She wasn't eating and wasn't getting any better.  She ended up in the hospital again on Tuesday, October 5th, with pneumonia and low BP.  They gave her antibiotics and fluids but the infection ravaged her body.  On Monday, October 11th, they moved her from ICU to palliative care.  They were still giving her antibiotics and oxygen.  She died peacefully early Tuesday, October 12th around 2 a.m.

I cried!  About the last thing Jennifer said she said was that she just wanted to die and be with Tim.  She missed him dearly.  He emailed her everyday.  She went on vacation with us a couple of times!  I pray that she is walking those streets of gold and that she has reunited with her son!

I have to say that heaven is looking sweeter all the time!  It will be glorious to see the face of my Savior!  And it will be so wonderful to see my loved ones again!  I am ready for eternity to begin!  But, for now, it is my Father's will that I am still among the living!

It is true that the older you get the faster the years seem to pass.  I really don't want to live to be 90!  I'm ready for the Lord to return!  I feel the time is close at hand, but that hour is only known by the Father!  I'm so thankful that He made a way for us to spend eternity with Him.  And that Way is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through His sacrificial death on the cross.

Yes, my life, too, shall be as a vapor that vanishes one of these days...I don't know what tomorrow holds for me.  But this I know, "If the Lord will, I will live, and do this or that!"

How about you?  How do you answer the question, "What is your life?"  It will be as a vapor, too.  But what will happen to you after that?  Where will you spend eternity?  Do you know that you are a sinner and that Jesus came to die for sinners?  Have you asked Him to forgive your sins?  Can you trust that He died on the cross in your place so that you could live in heaven with Him forever?  Believe it!  Receive the free gift of salvation today!  Repent of your sins and turn to Christ!  He is the answer to the question!

Our Weekend

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Mark left work at noon so we could get everything done around the house before heading to Myrtle Beach to see our newest grandson, Kingston Gauge Whittemore.

On our way out of town we went to Ryan's soccer game at Gospel Light Christian School.  They lost 7 to 2.  The other team seemed to be way more experienced.  The game was supposed to start at 4 but the officials didn't even arrive until 4:40!  The game was over around 6:15.  Here are some pictures:

Warm Up and Practice:

The game:

When we left the house it was pouring rain.  We figured the game would be called, but it hadn't even rained at Gospel Light.  The longer we sat there, however, the more sprinkles turned to a light rain....stopped for quite awhile and then sprinkled some more.  Never enough to stop the game.

I took these pictures trying to capture a rainbow, but it was not colorful enough for the camera to pick up.

We ran into more rain as we traveled, but it wasn't too bad.

We stopped for a potty break and to eat at Hardees around 7:30 and were back on the road again by 8.  We arrived here at 10:30.  It was 2 or after before we finally got in bed.

Friday, October 8, 2021

Happy 66th birthday to me!

6 Months

1 year

2 years

Almost 3 years

1962

1963

1964

We slept in this morning, rising at 9:30 with a phone call to wish me happy birthday!  I was mainly awake, anyway!

We ate breakfast at the house and hung around until maybe 12:00 when we headed to Sunset Beach to walk a bit and get some pictures.  Then we came back to Calabash to look for a restaurant.  We passed a couple of thrift stores and Mark stopped for me.  But we found nothing!

We ate lunch at Beck's Seafood Restaurant.  Mark got seafood and I got chicken strips.  Very good!

Do you see it?

We didn't see any rain during the day, but while we were waiting at the house to leave for Jase's football practice Allen let us know it was raining and that practice had been cancelled.  So I put on my comfy lounging clothes.  Then Allen invited us to come over, so we went and I just left my lounging clothes on.

We held the baby.  Allen and Brittany fixed supper and we just hung out til around 9:45 before coming back to Calabash.  We did our nightly devotions and I worked on the computer while Mark finished watching a movie he had started before we went to Allen's around 6.  Our night will NOT be as long as it was last night!

The night sky was beautiful as we headed south from Calabash, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC.

These are pictures Jase took.  He did a good job!  Zorman, the dog, was funny as he posed for the pictures on the top corner of the couch.  He is a mix between a Jack Russel and a German Shepherd.

And, that was my birthday day!

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Today we hung out at the house until the afternoon when we left to watch Jase play football.  We ate freezer meals that I brought and played games and watched TV and worked on the computer.

At 4:00 we got ready to leave by 4:30.

It looked like it was going to rain, but it never did.  It certainly was chilly, however!

Videos:

 

After the game we went to Little Tokyo Restaurant where we met Brittany's mom and dad.  It was fun to watch the chef do his "tricks" with his cooking utensils and the food!  I took a video of his antics, but it is too large to post.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Today we travel back home.  We slept in, finished packing up and cleaning up.  We listened to our pastor as we traveled.  It was a good weekend and it flew by!