Booksneeze review- Nearing Home by Billy Graham

Today I am reviewing Nearing Home by Rev. Billy Graham. The book offers lots of good practical advice not only for the elderly but for all adults. Rev. Graham covers the topics of sound financial planning, wills and living wills just to name a few.  There is also advice concerning spiritual matters woven throughout the book.

Nearing Home reminded me very much of good grandfatherly advice being passed on to those he cares about.   While the book is geared toward older folks, there are also pearls of wisdom that can be gleaned for all ages.  For some reason I found Nearing Home to be a slow read, at only 180 pages it took me  much longer to read than I had expected. That may be in part to having recently lost a parent and  recalling all that was involved with caring for someone in her final days. I guess I thought Nearing Home  would be more of a  personal reflection of Rev. Graham’s  thoughts on his own life.

Nearing Home is a good choice for those looking to get their affairs in order at any age.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Peaceful Sunday 2/26/12

 This is how the Prairie looked yesterday..... now imagine how it looks today.... with over 5 inches of snow covering it. LOL

 Oil and gas are not the only forms of energy that are abundant in ND. We also have lots of wind! We also have lots of wind turbines.

 If you look closely, you will see the steps and door at the base of the front turbine. That gives you an idea of how huge these things are. They can be seen from miles away.

 North Dakota also is home to abandoned buildings, lots of abandoned buildings! 

 Ice fishing! yep, they do that here too. 

This gives you an idea of how far out on the ice they drive their trucks. A couple of weeks ago this lake had many trucks and shacks, we were expecting a storm so there were not as many on the ice yesterday.

 This area is where Lewis and Clark spent a good deal of time, so there are many things that honor them. 

I think the Indian Head road signs are pretty cool. 

The kids have been in and out all day. I swear it takes more time to bundle  and unbundle than play time out side. :-) Hunter has said several times today that this is the best winter ever!! (And yes, they had Snow cream for the first time and loved it!)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until later~

Peaceful Sunday 2/19/12

It has been awhile since the last Peaceful Sunday post. It was beautiful yesterday and I took the camera along for the day.

 Hard to believe it is February in ND.

 Cattle in the White Earth Valley.

 ND is perfect for someone like me.. someone who loves old buildings. (I think the wood holds up because the air is so dry.) This looks like an old house.

 I can't help trying to imagine what once was at this old farmstead. It must have been beautiful with the slough in front of the house.

Love the old truck in this photo, along with the old barn! :-)

 White Earth Lake, it is hard to tell from this picture, but the lake is frozen. That is ice you see.

 An old building full of character- and I bet at one time it was filled with characters!! LOL 

 The sign over the door of the building above- it is a jail!! LOL 

I wonder why the horseshoe is hanging upside down.......

 And old building.

LOL, This cat was watching some children play in the yard next door.

 A couple of derailed cars at hubby's work. He said more would have derailed but they fell against the building. 

(Hubby does drive the train from time to time, but not at this facility. So, no hubby did not wreck the train. LOL)

Liked this shot. LOL

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until later~

Mommy's Valentine's Day cards

I shared the kids' Valentine's the past 2 days, so I guess I will share mine now. :-)
My stamp collections was seriously lacking in the Valentine's area, but I was lucky enough to find several stamp sets lately that I really liked, and I was able to catch them on sale! :-) I am so glad they now have a spot in my studio.
So, first up is the card I made for hubby. I used the Penny Black Mimi & Miles set.

I did a lot of paper piecing on this one, and a little Copic coloring. (The papers are from an old Basic Grey collection from a couple of years ago.) I really love the look of the paper piecing, but you know how much I had the fussy cutting! LOL I like the patterns on the papers, that is hard to replicate with the markers. And being a pretty paper hoarder, this technique uses very little pretty paper.

The next image is from the Penny Black Good Catch set. Aren't those bears too cute!?!?! Lots of Copic coloring on this one. (Next time I will use stickles on all of the hearts. I was in a hurry this time and didn't have time for drying. Opps, shouldn't wait until the last minute to get my craft on. LOL)

I made little 3x3 cards for the kids. (Kid sized cards for the kiddos. LOL) I used the Sweet 'n' Sassy Love from Rhubarb set for these cute little cards.

Hailey's card featured a paper pieced polka dot heart.

(The stamp set includes several different sentiments to customize the heart.) These little guys stole my heart- perfect for my 2 little heart steelers!!

And lastly, here is Hunter's card. He is colored with Copic markers. I knew Hunter really like this bear and would be just perfect for him.

I really  hope you enjoyed seeing our Valentines. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Until later~

Hunter's Valentines

Hunter was excited to make his own Valentines for his classmates this year. He is not as diligent as Hailey about finishing things once he has started. He is easily sidetracked, even though he started his cards on Friday- it was Monday night before he finished them. It didn't help that he needed to make 21 cards.

 Hunter went with 3 different images for his cards, and he colored each one different with his recipient in mind. This was the card he made for the helper his class has everyday, one of the High School students. (Because our town is so small there is one school building, Pre-school- 12th grade. Hunter and the boys in his class love Having Cotey in there class, and I think it is good for them to have a time with an older boy.)

 The boys each got a truck card. (It was funny, he made a pink truck for Eli because he said Eli would freak out. LOL)

 The girls each got a bear. (He didn't need to make a special one because he left his heart in Ohio. No one can take Abby's place.)

 Hunter, like Hailey, loves all things artsy. He is a very good drawer and can make the most awesome things from paper. I love helping kids get crafty!!
Thanks for stopping by!!
Until later~

Hailey's Valentine's

This mommy is thrilled to have her kiddos in the studio with her! (I will admit though, it takes 4 times longer for me to get my projects done when they are in there with me. LOL) Hailey decided she would get her class Valentines done on Friday since she had all day to work on them. I had ordered the perfect stamp set to make her cards, and I had ordered some cute envelopes for 3x3 cards.

 I stamped the images for her and she got to work coloring them with colored pencils. You can see she was very serious about card making, she scribbled a bit of color on her scrap paper to see which colors she liked best. :-)

Taking time out to smile for the camera.

This Sweet and Sassy stamp set is perfect for this girl. She is addicted to "peajelly" sandwiches. She has at least 2 every day!! LOL (The picture was taken before she colored the Peanut Butter.)

 Concentrating on her work.

 I love the look on her face when she completes a project and is pleased with how it turns out!

 Awww, how sweet!

Finished cards.

 I think she loves being creative!!

 Creating is all about the details- adding a stamped heart to each envelope.

Stuffing the "emelopes." 

She was one happy girl yesterday, it was her class party and she was super excited to give her handmade cards to her friends.

I love that girl, and her love for crafting!! I pray that she will always want to be creative. (And that I will always encourage her.... and be patient with her when I have to stop what I am doing to help her. ) If you have little ones, take the time to create with them. I am sure you will have fun too!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until later~

Fair Food Layout

One of our favorite things about fairs is the food. Everything just tastes better at the fair! :-) Maybe the attractions of fair food is it is something you only have once or twice a year. In our family we each have our own favorites- Hailey loves corn dogs, Hunter likes the gigantic slices of cheese pizza, hubby like the funnel cakes and I would vote for the sausage sandwich with peppers and onions. We usually follow it down with an over sweetened lemonade.
Today's layout features some fair food. (Because hubby was a judge for the State fair we were always provided food in the Governor's building. Prime rib with all of the fixin's. LOL)

 I used several Cricut cartridges on this one: Country Life, Baseball, Carousel, and Indie Arts.

Wow, hubby has lost almost 50 pounds since that picture was taken!!  

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until later~

Today's layout is yet another one from 2008. One of the first things Hunter spotted at the fair was the huge slide. He made up his mind that he was going to ride it. He didn't even mind the climb to the top either.

 I hand-made a trio of rosettes and used sticker letters for the title and date on this layout. (Wow, can you believe I didn't use my Cricut? LOL)

The designer paper is from an old collection from K&Company- Hopscotch. 

The ribbon and photo mats are from Paper Trey Ink.

 Yea, looks like he likes the big slide!

One of my rosettes. (I would have added a little something to the center but it is pretty bulky already.) The Scor-pal sure makes rosettes easier to make! :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Until later~

Wild and Wooly Layout

 A double page layout today....you guessed it from the Ohio State Fair 2008! LOL

My pictures today are from the petting zoo area. The kids enjoyed feeding the animals. Hunter was a little leery letting the camel eat from his hand but Hailey had no reservations! :-)

 I love the tenderness Hunter is showing while petting the sheep. So sweet! 

I used the Country Life Cricut cartridge again for my die cuts.

 I have a little confession- the whole time I was working on this layout I was thinking that these were llamas. Once I finished my layout and looked at it yet again I realized these guys are camels!! LOL

The middle picture was popped up on pop dots.(I like doing this when it is a tight squeeze fitting my pictures into my space. This way I can slightly overlap my pictures and I don't have to trim them. It looks nice too.)

I love the sheep die cut on this page- it reminds me of the primitive sheep that I think are so cute!

I wonder what Hailey is thinking, and I wonder what the goat is thinking. :-)  I guess we will never know! LOL

Don't forget to see the photos larger you can click on them.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until later~