"Framing" my Mother... Part 2

I am not sure why I feel like I need to get all my mom's treasures cleaned up and put back together again but my sister had this idea. She suggested that my mom was broken for years and if I fix up her stuff, I am putting my mom back together again. When she almost died a few years ago, I saved her life several times. Now, I am trying to save her by putting all the broken pieces together again. Kind of like "Humpty Dumpty."


I thought my sisters observations were interesting. Perhaps for those people who are attatchment dissorder, the way to get through to them is by loving their stuff. I had a daughter who would play at friends home's and would only play with their toys and not the children. After years of hard work, she has thankfully worked through that issue but I know some adults who haven't been able to work through that issue and would rather spend time with their things and electronics rather than family and friends.
So, perhaps as I "fix" my mothers stuff, it will touch her to realize that I love her as I serve her by fixing the things she loves. When my mother wants to show her children and grandchildren love, she gives us something. So, I have been trying to do the same for her. It seems to be working. The "Five love languages" book is quite insightful in this way. When you ask someone, "How do you know I love you?" and whatever they answer with, is their love language.

If they say, "I know you love me because you serve me." Then, you know their love language is service. My mother gives gifts and so I know that is her love language. I have another great story about love languages but I will save that for another day. :-) I know you just can't wait!

"Framing" my Mother... Part 1

When we moved my mother out of her house into the assisted living center, we had some antique dealers come out ot the house and make offeres on her antiques. Consistently, each of them asked about a frame that had a full length photo of my mother in it. The framed photo has been around since before my birth so was always a part off our lives. I figured since it was such an odd size, my brothers would undstand that ordering a custom frame of that size to replace the frame would cost much more than any of the dealers were offering for the original frame.

I got a call while out buying packing tape or something that my mother was extremely upset that my brother had taken out her photo and was going to sell the frame for about $100. We took care of the issue but the picture never was put back in the frame and the frame was broken and in many pieces after it was moved a few times to different family members homes. I finally wrote an email looking for it a few months ago. The picture was wrapped and mostly safe. It did get a few tears in the bottom which I filled in with a black Sharpie that worked well. I know that isn't the best way to repair a torn photo but it has worked on a few old photos on the black area. I colored it in and then use my finger to wipe off the shine and it meshes in quite well.

The frame was in pieces and as I transported it to my home many hours away, it was even in more pieces and by the time I moved it around and got to glueing and screwing it together again, it was even in more pieces. So, last week it got glued and then to make it more secure, I screwed in the pieces from the back.

There were chips off the paint everywhere and I had to fill in the cracks and gaps. I got some creme paints and put dabs of them on the side to see which was the closest to the color of the frame. I then painted all the chips with the closest creme color. Then, it had some gold edges so I matched the gold up in the same way. There was a brown wash over the whole frame and that was the hardest part. I ended up mixing, mustard brown, medium brown and some black to get the closest I could to the wash color. I then got the paint runny and washed the entire frame.

If you look up close, you can see where it was repaired. From a few feet away, it looks great. When I gave it to my mother this week, she cried saying that she never thought she would see that frame and picture again.

Vacation - All I ever needed.... Photo shoot # 5

While on our vacation, we have been having tons of fun. We had a suprise party for my sisters 40th birthday and did a photo shoot of all the cousins on the trampoline. We got them doing all sorts of fun jumps, flips and poses, similar to the pool diving shots we did the day prior.

Several of the dancers did some fun dance moves. It has been a great week for pictures. We went to the lake just in time for gale force winds to turn us around to leave.

We went back to the condo for swimming, hot tub and a picnic lunch. Another condo for the past few days and headed off to go camping at another lake in a few days. Very fun week with in and out of state family. I do think though with 16 kids up to 30 kids at times this week, I may need a vacation after the vacation.

Sometimes night shots are better than day as you don't get as many distractions in the background and a flash can highlight the focus of the shot. You do get some dust particles sometimes as in caves and tunnels. You can see some in these photos. If we are going to go into a cave or something, I take the photos at the beginning so there is less dust interference.

Vacation - "All I Ever Wanted" photo shoot #4

We are on vacation this week. Over the past few days, we have taken some really fun pictures. They key to action shots is timing. I had to count the jumps and sometimes the flash to get it just at the perfect second. Here are some of my favorites.

We went swimming most of the day yesterday with the girls cousins at their friends house. The girls learned to be more daring in their diving. I am proud that they faced their fears and have been able to overcome the fear of diving off the diving board.

I hope you are having as wonderful as time as we are....

New Finish on Life part 3 - Getting a "handle" on things

When I started with my mom's dresser. It was missing a handle. I was at a second hand store and saw some handles on the shelf. I should have just bought them as they were $0.75 each but I wondered if they would fit the hole size of the drawer so I bought one to "try" out and see.


I went to the workshop and put it on the unfinished dresser and it fit! I liked the rustic look and went back to the store to buy them. They were gone. I had only been gone 1/2 hour or so but no one claimed to have bought them. I went to Ace hardware and looked for similar handles. I went to Home Depot looking for them. Finally, I went to a specialty cabinet shop and they looked them up from the little paper on them and they found that they were custom order handles and were over $20 each! I was upset as I needed 8 handles.


The dresser would have to do with something else. I went back to the hardware store and bought a 10 pack of plane looking handles and was resolved to use them but was so upset for myself for not buying them when I was there. I thought perhaps I could go back to the second hand store and just look one more time.


I prayed that if there were a way to get the handles that would match and would be cheaper than the one's I just bought that I didn't even like that God would open a way up for me. I went to the second hand store and went in and looked around again and while I was in there, a woman came in and commented that she was just coming in to see if they had put out any more of the cute handles that she bought earlier. I asked her if they were the ones that looked like the one in my purse and she said they were.


I asked her if I could buy them off her for more than she paid for them and she told me I could have them for the price she paid. I was so excited. However, when we went to get them, she only had 5 of them. There had been 8 more when I left. She asked if I could just use the 6 and put different pulls on the other drawer. I told her I had been all over town. She told me how you can use acid to rust regular handles if you want the rustic look. I wasn't sure what to do.


She was standing in the check out when she said, "Let me check something..., I have a friend who I told to buy handles any time she saw them for me and perhaps she was here and bought the other handles for me." She called her friend with me standing there, her friend said she did buy them and that she had them for her. I was able to get all 8 handles at the $0.75 each.


No one can tell me that God doesn't love and care about me. Stupid as it may seem to some to pray about simple things, I know He loves and cares for me. Because I ask, He provides. I have run into that same woman several times since in town and we talk and visit. I feel extremely blessed to have gotten a "handle" on how much God cares for His children.

New Finish on Life - Part two

This dresser is like each of us. When babies, we all have value, new and like a "prize" that was Won from the Arms of God. Through life, we get beat up, stained, scratched and scared from mistreatment. Others stop seeing the value unless we create it but many have gotten so beaten down that they don't know that they have value to create. They don't know that with a little attention from the right person or help with the hard parts from a "friendly neighbor" that they have value and are beautiful even with the stains, scratches and scars. It gives them character and sometimes even more value.



New fittings can sometimes be put on. In the hands of a skilled carpenter, we each can be "refinished" and "refined" to become useful and beautiful.



God does that. Christ was a carpenter. In His skilled hands, when we feel of no value and we are so beaten we are useless to ourselves and others, He sees the beauty in the whole. He can put us back together again and get us new hardware. He refines us and sometimes puts a new finish through baptism and repentance. The old is gone, sanded down, the new stain and "color" of life is applied and the finishing touches of a shiny reflective glossy finish is the finishing touch.



When he is through with us, we are useful again. Still holding signs of our past to give us experience but now we are able to hold others in our drawers and support is now in the center of our life as in the drawer. We can change out the handles and be as different as the variety of choices for handles but the main piece is now beautiful and useful to any who may need it.


Sometimes we may get started on the right path seeking the carpenter to help us, but, we get neglectful. Perhaps we are cold to each other or someone has been cold to us. Just as the shop was cold. Because of that, we can sit for months being of no use to anyone. Then, we feel guilt and we can repent. Just as I felt guilt in leaving the dresser so long at my neighbors. We can feel guilt and start again. This time following through.



Like this dresser, we can get a "New Finish on Life" each day, we can seek the carpenter and be renewed.....

A New Finish on Life - part 1

Have you ever felt that no one cares about you? That no one wants to be around you? That you aren't useful? Well, this dresser knows how you feel.

My mom needed to go to a small assisted living one bedroom apartment about 1 1/2 years ago. At that time, each of her children took what they wanted and we donated the rest to a charity second hand store. As I was getting ready to leave the house for the last time, there in her bedroom was this poor abused dresser.

No one wanted it because one of the drawer fronts was off. It was missing a handle. It had the handle holes drilled larger to fit newer handles at some point and the screws holding in the remaining handles kept pulling through. It had stains and scrapes on the top that I doubted could be sanded and the bottoms were falling out along with the support piece of wood under the drawer.

My mom started crying that this piece of furniture was going to be lost. She won the dresser when she was a teenager in her towns beauty pageant. It was a prize from a well know furniture store (which just went out of business a few years ago). She suggested that since I refinish furniture, I could take it and finish it for one of my girls. I didn't want it but she was so heartbroken that no one wanted her "prize."

I took the dresser and it sat in my garage for a year before I could find time to do anything with it. I have a wonderful neighbor that has a shop and helps me with the more difficult projects. Well, I went into his shop in the winter and sanded it down. He helped fix the support pieces, put the drawer front back on and put in a new bottom to one drawer and strengthened the other two drawer bottoms. I took the front piece to the hardware store and matched the stain trying to restore it as closely to original as possible. Zar's "Early American" was the perfect match.

Then, the shop got cold. I had stained it and it sat until this week. Many month of being to busy to give the little dresser the attention it needed to be useful again. I felt sorry for my neighbor that I left it in his shop for so long.

His shop was dusty and I didn't want the finished varnish to have dust in it so I brought it home where I could give it the time and attention required to make it useful and beautiful.

I gave it its last coat of varnish today. The holes for the handles are still a bit big. I had to buy washers to go inside to keep the screws from making their way through the large holes. I found cute handles (which I will blog about in a few days) to cover the holes. You can still see the outline of the former handle as it is etched into the wood. On the top, there are stains and scratches that I could not get out.

Still, there is value......

"XYZ" on this Cute Zipper Pencil Case!

My daughter and I were shopping today. She came across a bin of brightly colored zippers. She said it would be really cute to sew them together as a bag. We thought of making a large bag out of them but she said she doesn't often use a bag so she thought a pencil case would be of more use and still cute.

So, we got a rainbow assortment of zippers and she put them in the color lineup she wanted. We then put them end to end so that the zippers would open opposite each other. She sewed them together with right sides together alternating the zippers openings.

We thought about what to use for the back and she came up with jeans. I thought upholstery material would work well if you could find a cute pattern. We looked through my jean scraps I save for quilting and found this pair of cute pants she used to wear. We cut out one of the sayings and used that for the back.

She sewed them together with a bit of a gather on the back making the back just a bit bigger so it could hold more pencils.

She zig-zagged the edges so they wouldn't fray or get caught in the zippers. She had never sewed anything other than during her home economics class so I was really excited for her to take on such a project and finish it in a few hours. She needed some guidance on the zipper foot but came through with flying colors. I do think a bag made out of long zippers alternated would be fun. Maybe someone will try it and send us a picture or a link.

So, "XYZ" and find all the cute ways you can use your zippers!

Sing, Sing a Song.....

Many years ago, I heard a talk tape of a famous singer saying that he would go volunteer singing at an old folk's home. He would ask each patient their favorite song and then would sing it.

When I was going through my divorce, During my first holiday alone, I had the thought that I could be sad and lonely, or, I could go serve those who may be even more sad and lonely. I did have family and friends who invited me to spend the day with them but it would have been hard to watch their children and not have mine there.

I decided that since I has a license to touch, I would give the nursing home patients a foot rub and sing them their favorite carol. I went on Christmas Eve and spent many hours rubbing feet and singing their favorite carol to each patient. Many cried. I wasn't lonely and had a wonderful Christmas Eve. It helped me keep in mind that we all have times when we are down but we are lifted up by serving others.

After that, I went about once a week to sing. Then, as the years went on, I got busy and had my kids more and more as the older girls stopped going on visitations so my alone time was gone. With that, I invited them to come and sing with me. There were a few patients that won our hearts and we ended up going to sing at their home after they had rehabbed out of the nursing home. We would visit and sing to them for years. It was an older couple we followed from home through several nursing homes. Just recently they passed away. The wife would cry each time we came to sing and would beg us for "just one more" after each song.

The older girls would invite some of their male friends and we would sing 4 part harmony. The older girls moved out and the younger girls and I haven't gone as often but when we do they beg me to stop at the hospital on the way home so we can sing to the patients there as well.

This past Sunday, my 15 year old daughter was the only one home. After church services, she said she thought we should go sing at the local care center. I though how funny as I had the same thought. So, we took a bag of "dum dum" suckers and headed out.

We sang their favorite hymn in 2 part harmony. It was so much fun and my daughter is getting really good. I was so glad that I listened to that talk tape by Michael Ballam years ago where he made the suggestion of singing at the old folk's home. I just googled his name and I guess he is still doing concerts for the elderly. Here is a link.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,355014358,00.html

When my mom was in ICU, a man came in with a guitar and sang the most beautiful song to my mother. He said he has been going every Sunday night for years. I can't imagine the lives he has blessed with his beautiful talent.

So, my suggestion is "Sing, Sing a Song!"

Quotable Quotes to Create....

When I have been short on money or I wanted to give someone a personal gift, I have created a wall stitched saying or a couch pillow with a cute quote that reminded me of the person or a quote I liked or some I have made up.

I have a group of women that I have been friends with for 16 years and we have a bunko group. I stitched a bunch of my favorite sayings as prizes one year. However, to find those quotes, I went through three or four containers of quotes and typed them up. I then asked a few friends to help me judge which to make out of the top 20. These were the winners.

I made up the saying, "When I look at you, I love what I see!" and created one for myself to put next to my girls picture on the wall.

Here are the other winners: "If you are going to laugh about it in twenty years, why not laugh about it now?" "Put your face to the "Son" and all shadows fall behind." That one actually used the word "sun" but I thought it had a double and more true meaning replacing the word "sun" with "Son." "The "bonds" of matrimony aren't worth much unless the "interest" is kept up." and "If you haven't done so yet, decide to decide!"

It is very easy to make a saying into a wall hanging. Find a frame. I sometimes use one I have by lightly sanding it with steel wool and spray painting it. All of the frames above I spray painted.

Print out the saying with the type of font you want. You can go online and find cute little flower patters, houses etc that you can easily make from simple stitches. I like hearts because they are easy to stitch and go with most sayings.

Cut out the muslin or whatever color fabric you want about 2 inches bigger than the opening of your frame. If you are using white or light muslin, I use the fabric double thickness so the threads don't show through from the back from letter to letter.

Tape the printed quote to a window and then tape the fabric over it. I usually fold the fabric in half and half again to get the center of the fabric so the saying is centered. Once the fabric is taped up, start tracing the quote to the fabric. If you are using light colored fabric, use a pencil and go over it very lightly so you can erase or wash off the pencil. If it is a colored fabric, you can use a chalk pencil used for quilting. Once you have the sayings printed on the fabric, put it in an embroidery hoop for stitching. You can find these for less than a dollar at a craft store in all shapes and sizes.

Then, stitch with any type of embroidery floss, needle point yarn, colored string for crocheting or thin yarn. I sometimes go to a thrift store and buy up old needle point kits and get the string or threads out making the project very inexpensive. I also get the frames there sometimes and just paint them over.

When finished, erase any showing pencil marks. Don't carry the thread from word to word or when you iron and frame it, the thread will show through if it is a dark color. Tie off each word individually. Center the stitching on the backing of the frame. Flip the whole thing over and tape it down. I make sure I tape the whole thing so it is taught and has no raised areas. If you want to make it so the tape on back doesn't show, I use a thin piece of cardboard like the back of a legal pad of paper and put that over the back so it is a solid back on the frame and the fabric is hidden under it.

Happy Stitching!

Gods Grace for my girls to see the circus

My youngest daughter heard on the radio that a circus was coming to town. She asked if we could go to the circus. I didn't have the means to provide tickets. I told her to give gratitude for what she had and to pray for what she would like.


That week the radio station I listen to was giving away concert tickets and would call you at home. I entered. One morning, they called me and asked me a question. I got the answer and won two tickets to a concert. They told me the date of the concert and I realized I wouldn't be in town that day. I told them I could give them away.


The same station was also having a contest for elementary kids to go on the air and tell a joke. I entered my youngest online telling this joke, "Why can't blonde's double recipes?" the answer, "Most things burn at 700 degrees." I got a call the next morning that my daughters joke had been picked and she won 5 tickets to the circus. The workers recognized that I was the winner of the concert tickets and offered me 5 more tickets to the circus if I wanted to trade in the two concert tickets I wouldn't be able to use. I was thrilled. That way the girls could go with their cousins.


I had my brother-in-law pick up the tickets and somehow ended up with ten circus tickets AND the two concert tickets. I called the station and they were frantically looking for the lost tickets. I told them he could drop them off but would they be willing to give us two extra circus tickets for his trouble to return them. They were happy to give us the extra tickets.


So, a little child shall lead them straight to the circus. Her faith that God would provide tickets for her to go to the circus was answered and the fact that she ended up with 12 tickets for free allowing her favorite friends (her cousins) to go with us.


That is truly something for which to give gratitude.

Photo Shoot Girls number 3

Have you ever been given a challenge for photography?

We (a group of families) were given an assignment to come up with a picture that would be cute on the side of a truck. It was a contest. So, I came up with a few ideas and here is what we did.

When I am going to get pictures taken, I usually go to Wal-Mart and buy matching clearance tops. Sometimes I keep my eyes open for matching shirts year round and buy them on sale. I never pay more than $3 a shirt. I have done this for years. Depending on what color shirts we get, we pick a back ground accordingly.

I found lime green shirts so I thought this photo shoot would be good outside. Here is what we came up with. We didn't win the contest but we sure had fun taking these pictures. I use one for my screen saver.

Try to be creative and to get action shots as often as possible. I do sometimes use a little eye and lip makeup to give color to the face if they will be wearing something that will wash them out.

Lots of times, just the things around the yard can make nice pictures when you zoom in.

Credit Card Nightmares.....

Someone stole my credit card. Not my actual card that is in my wallet but somehow they got a card that is actually my number on a card in their possession with the actual number of my card and all I can say is they drive a BIG Gas Guzzling car because they spent over $500 in gas on my last bill.

Apparently, they did several months grocery shopping or bought a new TV at Wal-Mart because when I arrived home tonight at 11 p.m. from a week out of town, I was greeted with a phone call from the credit card fraud department.

I was not alarmed as they have questioned my purchases before. However, I realized having been out of town that the bill may be due and I didn't want to pay fees. I open said bill to find the total almost as much income as I get in a month.


I don't know who or how someone stole my card. I have heard there is a page online that one can post stolen card number on for others to use.

Whatever the reason, I was up all night talking to fraud people and they assure me my new card is on the way.

So to those living large off my credit card number.... Beware, the jig is up!

I hope your day starts better than mine did! Keep smiling and remember, things could always be worse. I am grateful that I didn't have to pay the charges!

Inasmuch As Ye Have Done it Unto one of These...

A few years ago, I turned 40. It was one of the hardest years of my life. I had 11 floods in my home in a two year time which took some remolding to kitchen, two bathrooms, several times in my laundry room, a storage room and my family room. I got some weird biting bird mites that we finally got rid of after a year. My mother almost died and I spent 4 months in ICU, Rehab hospitals and nursing homes nursing her back to health.That combined with the stresses of being a single mom of five and court issues with the ex along with service to my church, I gained lots of weight and was burnt out.



My oldest and youngest sister did something I will never forget. They threw me the surprise party of surprise parties. I couldn't have been more surprised. If I had known, I would have gotten dressed up, put on some makeup and done my hair. lol As it was, it was all people I loved and they didn't care what I looked like.


My youngest sister found and brought a dunking booth to represent the flooding in my life. They set up a "wedding ring toss" where they had a ring toss game. They had a toilet paper roll toss into a real toilet to represent the bathroom remodels. They set up a fortune telling booth in which my mother played the part of the fortune teller representing a dream I had about her almost dieing and the four months I spent helping her heal. They set up a dance canopy to represent the singles dance club I go to on the weekend sometimes. They had a puppet show depicting my last year of life in a humorous way.


They rented a cotton candy machine, a popcorn machine, a snow cone machine and bar-b-cued. They had fortune cookies at the fortune telling booth. They had face painting representing how I had kept smiling through the year regardless of the trials. They had a dart game and about 5 other carnival games all to do with my life that year. The also rented a bounce house to represent all the "ups and downs" of my life that year.


One of my favorite games was a suggestion game called, "Rub a dub dub, Three men in a tub, a doctor, a baker and a home maker, Which should her husband be?" They made copies of the poem and left blanks for people to make their guess and suggestions. There were some funny answers. One said, "Why choose, date them all."



My sister slyly got into my email account and invited everyone in my address book. She got my kids to distract me taking me to the mall to build-a-bear to make me a stuffed monkey. They then took me roller skating and then back to the house where everyone was waiting to yell surprise in the back yard. I really had no idea. She had friends I have known since Jr. High school show up. It was a wonderful beginning to a bright new year leaving the trouble of the past year behind.


My youngest sister made a scrap book for the event and had all the guest write thing to me in it and someone followed me around the whole night taking pictures of me with each person that came so I would have the comments they wrote and a picture of me with each person.


Even to this moment when I think about how much effort and time went into making that event happen, I am overwhelmed with the love and support of my family and friends. So many made long drives to be there to support me knowing what type of year I had.



How blessed am I? I pray that each of you have someone so loving and kind in your lives. I also pray that I can learn from their example and "Do unto others as has been done to me!!"


Life is a circus. It has its ups and downs. I pray we can learn and enjoy both the ups and the downs. May you have more ups than downs!


Thank you Heavenly Father for sending me some AMAZING sisters in an amazing family!

Amusement Park Faith for Tubes Moment

As I was writing my last post and looking up photos for it, I was reminded of last year when we got free tickets to the amusement park and because we were going to the water fun part of the park, I left my wallet and my camera in the car.


I had set the girls up on chairs in a shady spot and then realized I had forgotten to bring in money for the tubes. The park slides and lazy river aren't any fun unless you have tubes. I said a quick prayer that the Lord would provide us 4 tubes so the girls would be able to ride the river. I turned not 10 seconds after saying the prayer and there was $10 on the ground next to me. I asked around and no one claimed the money.


When you rent the tubes, they give you a wrist band and when you return the tube you get $2.50 back. So, I approached several people who were walking toward the redemption booth and asked if I could buy their 4 tubes for $10. They gave us the tubes.

The girls had a great day riding the slides and we took turns on the tubes. I realized then however that I could have asked the Lord for 5 tubes and then we could all have had fun on the tubes. I have learned that when I limit the Lord in what I ask for, he gives me just what I ask for.


When I ask him to solve a problem and don't give a solution as to how I think it should be solved, he always surpasses what I would have done or expected. I have several situation that I will share for things I have won and when I let the Lord deal with it, he gave me much more than I expected or asked for in my prayers.

So, I found a wrist band on the way out of the park and I kept it to put on my gratitude frame. The little pink person riding on the inner tube down the slide.... It is a reminder that God answers prayers sometimes as quickly as you can ask them and also that I should remember to not limit what He can do.


Put Him to the test. Always give gratitude for what you do have first, then ask Him for what you need or would like and allow Him to work miracles in your life! Don't give him a time limit. Be happy with the outcome either way. Just giving gratitude allows you to realize that you are blessed if you get what you asked for or not.


Whenever I feel myself wanting something or feeling sorry for myself for not having a nicer whatever, (lets use car for example) I start giving gratitude that I have a car that runs, has heat and air conditioning, has a radio, etc. Then, I picture the car I would like to have. It doesn't matter if I get it or not, it matters that I gave gratitude for what I have.

As a loving Father in Heaven, God wants us to have the desires of our hearts but he wants us to be grateful for what He has given us and appreciate Him and give the praise to Him.


Does it matter if I get a new car? No. What matters is that I am grateful for what He provides for me. However, if my child tells me how grateful they are for what I have given them and then tell me of their dreams for other things, I am sure going to try to help them with their dreams if I feel appreciated.


Give God a try! He loves you. He is your Father! Happy Miracles!

Gods Grace and Gratitude at Work Again part 2

I got a call this week saying my daughter was the winner of 7 tickets to a local amusement park. We like to go every year but the cost is about $40 a ticket for a day pass so we thank God for what we have and that we have been able to go in the past and then pray for them. We do our part by trying to win them and asking around for tickets.


This will be at least the sixth year we have gotten free tickets for our family to attend. This year and last year we won them from a contest with local radio stations and businesses where each business participating draws a name from a box.


The year before that, I have a friend in a local state that runs a book store. One of their sponsors was promoting a book and she got extra tickets and didn't think it was worth the drive so she called and offered me the tickets and mailed them to me allowing us to go for free.


Three years in a row before that, one of my best friends Nancy worked for an advertising agency and got "perks" from clients and the tickets were easy to get for her so we would get some that way.


God surely cares about the children. I personally would be fine skipping the four hour drive each way and the gas and food costs but the kids have so much fun going that it makes the effort worth it.


We are eagerly planning when we will be able to make it work. With the extra tickets we won last year as we didn't need all seven, we sold them at the gate for $20 giving the buyer a discount and paying for our gas to get there. This year we will probably do the same thing. God sure loves us to give us a fun day with no expenses.