My apologies...

I am so sorry for the lack of content on my blog as of the past couple weeks. I have been dealing with several personal problems along with my own health issues. (I will be needing surgery in the next couple of weeks-but more about that later). My father as well as a dear friend-Shelly have had their cancer return after previous treatments. Another friend- Mary Ellen, just found out she has cancer after having major surgery to remove a large tumor as well as parts of her colon. She will be having a port put in to begin chemotherapy next week. And another of my son's friends' Mom (my friend too) Denise is ready to begin radiation for breast cancer after having had a tumor removed over the holiday.

My dear brother in law Eric, lost his Mother and her husband Jack this weekend in a freak accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. They perished after leaving the car running in the garage of their home. It is so very sad and so unexpected. They were not that old, I believe in their late 60's. It is so sad to lose someone in this manner. My blog seems to be turning into a grief blog at times...but the Lord has made grief my ministry, so I must tend to the people in my life who are grieving with my heart and soul. My dear nephews will greatly miss their Grandma and Pappap Jack. I send my heartfelt sympathies to Eric and his entire family. They are a loving wonderful family and JoAnn and Jack will be missed greatly.

Concerns for family members who have lost loved ones or whose health is failing have taken precedence over my hobby. I can't help but feel overwhelmed at the thoughts of what my dear friends and family members are enduring and it has certainly left me feeling less than creative. Their problems are so much larger than mine...but I do have to deal with my own surgery as well and the fact that we will soon need to sell our beautiful home that my husband built for us, due to the economy. It saddens my heart greatly, because Brian built it just for our family. Though these things pale in comparison to cancer and losing loved ones.

I have been stamping some swaps for SCS and as soon as things settle down a bit, I will be posting all of those goodies for you all to see. There's some fun stuff there, like bookmarks, cards and Artist Trading Cards. House Mouse prevailing, of course.

I pray the good Lord finds ALL OF YOU in good health, with little worries such as these I have listed above. When things are good, we must take the moments to jump for joy and be thankful and grateful. A dear friend - Lena, on a SCS thread reminded me that I need to stop and even count one good thing through all of this sadness and write it out to share. It made me stop and think of just one thing that was giving me joy at that very moment. It turns out it was our newest "fuzzy" family member - Gizmo who was wriggling in my sweatshirt at the time. I will leave you curious as to just what a Gizmo is! But rest assured, he will be featured soon on this very blog! He's just too cute not to share! And no...it's not a hamster like the little fella holding those flowers at the top of my blog.