Ground Control

Grandma Char and Grandpa Bob went to the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC last week and sent these great flight suits to the boys.

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff
*Space Oddity recorded by David Bowie

The Little Galland Four

My brother-in-law and his family were here for the weekend. We had four shrieking, running, climbing boys aged 2 1/2 to 4 3/4 here. Friday night I made a bet with the Bigger that there would be an emergency room trip this weekend. He bet there would be TWO trips. Surprisingly (and happily), we were both wrong. :D

The mosquitoes were terrible this weekend for the first time this summer. My boys, especially poor Mal, blow up like balloons when they get bitten. So all weekend Mal has had this funky lump on his forehead and the swelling even reached between his eyes. He looks sort of Romulan to me. You be the judge.

Anyhoo, Kimmy and I took the Littles to the "beesh" as Mal calls it. We had a picnic and they played on the playground. Does anyone have any idea how difficult it is to corral four preschool boys for photos? It took the TV to get this and it only lasted seconds.

Car Wash Fun

New video on YouTube.

That Was a Close Call!

Today's verse on my website (in case you are reading this any day but today...) is

Saturday July 11, 2009

Today's Verse:

...it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Romans 10:15 / KJV

I don't know about beautiful feet, but this post is a reminder of the power of God. If that offends you, stop reading here.


I was driving around a bend in the road, merging with another line of cars. Though traffic was heavy, it was slow moving. I kind of squoze myself into the flow. There was a row of people motioning me to slow down, the tracks were just ahead. The last man in line told me to stop. I rolled right on by him. I kind of blew him off like, "yeah, I could have stopped, but I would have had to slam on my brakes. What is the big deal?" Then I crossed the train tracks.

The train was very close and blew its whistle. Well, that sure startled me and I began to brake (break?) in ernest. There was another train coming just ahead. Only then did I realize I could slow that truck down, but I could not STOP! I rolled down the window and shouted to some soldiers walking near the tracks, "Someone please help me. I cannot stop!" They could do nothing. The second train was quickly approaching. I was frightened. Finally, I shouted, "Dear God, please help me!" or some such variation of that. It's hard to remember when you are in a panic.

Well, guess what. The train flew off the track and crashed so close to me. I was OK. I found out my brakes had been cut. The only person injured was George Carlin. And then I woke up.

Now, I don't know why poor George was injured, although he used to be a conductor. I do know that without God, my life is a train wreck. I've been without God before and if ever there was a train wreck, it was then. I will NOT go there again. God is here. Waiting for us to call on Him in our times of need. He loves to show us how much He loves us. Go. Talk to Him. Everything else can wait.

Love,
Jodi

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes...

BeforeAfter

Shoebox Swap Results

Recently, I hosted a Shoebox Swap by Mail on Splitcoast Stampers. For those who don't know, a normal shoebox swap is when a bunch of people get together to create cards together, but instead of making multiple cards and trading completed projects, you design a card and prep for it. Then you pack paper, ink, stamps, punches, etc. that are needed to complete the card into a shoebox and everyone gets to assemble the projects themselves.

That is a bit harder to do by mail! :D What I had everyone do was design and prep card kits. Since we couldn't mail stamps and such to everyone, the stamping had to be done as well as any special techniques. Then the original was placed in an envelope so I couldn't see it (because I wanted to play along, not just host the swap). Everyone received their card kits and have been assembling their cards, using what was received in the kit and their imaginations. I did allow adding extra stuff or altering what came in the kit if they wanted.

Sara and I took two spots, so we each ended up with twenty cards! It has been so much fun working on these! I finally finished the coloring and am posting my cards as well as the originals here. Except for one photo (which I will note), the original artwork is the card in the center. Thank you girls for a really fun and incredible swap! If I messed up names, please let me know. Ready?

This card is by Mary. maryb3 on SCS. I really like the pink on black. Mary also included little sequin flowers and cute little dots. My butterfly on the right has wire antennae. I really need to practice more with wire.
Here is Diane's card. ppq on SCS. Love these happy colors and those scallop punch flowers. Here is Misti's card. misti.stowell on SCS. I seem to have been a little placement challenged the day I put these two together. This card is great. It makes me think of my grandpa. I sure miss him.This one is by Beth. mycatbillybob on SCS. I got such a kick out of the flamingo "conga line". I had to add some ribbon to the one on the left to have enough for the ribbon frame. For the card on the right, I cut up the conga line for the front and put the large flamingo inside. For those of you wondering, here is a ribbon frame tutorial by waltzingmouse.
Here's the inside.This one is by Jen. ilovebuttons on SCS. She used some kind of cool sparkly chalk-like stuff on her card. I felt bad for the frog, being in a jar and everything, so I named the one on the left Houdini and replaced him in the jar with the birthday wishes!
This one is by Megan. megsberger on SCS. Megan, I loved this card, but it made me crazy trying to figure out what to do with the green square only for Sara to finally tell me you placed it on the back of your card! I laughed so hard at myself! This is the back. ;)This one is by Diane. ldyglfr62 on SCS. These little mice are A. Dor. A. Ble. And I learned the hard way on this card that I am not a good colorer. For the one on the left, I used my classic ink. I like the one on the right using watercolor pencils much better!
This one is by April. aahannah59 on SCS. Super cute and all I added was ribbon.Here is the inside.
These are by Sara. Chicagogirl on SCS. I love these cards! I am a big fan of earth tones. The blue card is the one I messed up placement for the photo. Sara's original is actually the card on the left.
ETA: I just realized I never took a picture of the inside of Sara's butterfly card. Drat!
These cards are mine. The brown one has a shadow box, but instead of filling it, I put a brown rub on flower inside and a lighter flower on the window. It looks shadowed. For the pink card, I stamped different sentiments on each side of the white CS, so people could choose which one they wanted to use. I let Xavier help me with the stamping on a couple of the envelopes and he took it upon himself to continue stamping without me in the room. Luckily, the inkpad was closed. I kept the one he goobered up the most and hopefully no one knew a 3 year old stamped their envelopes before reading it here now. :D