"Look how far we've come my baby"

Twenty years ago today, my hub and I said our "I do's" and so today I dedicate this whole post to him. I even created my first play list on here in honor of our day. The song on my play list truly expresses how I feel about my relationship with my hub.




My darling Kev, 20 years....WOW!! I still can't believe we've made it this far. Did you know we would make it to this point? I guess you must've an inkling because you were, if I can honestly say this, was the rock in our marriage. We have so much ups and downs and have been through hell and back. There were days where I feel like just throwing in the towel and just forget about all this business of marriage but you were the sturdy one. You seem to have seen and believe in the bigger picture so you were constantly aiming for that.




Yes honey, you have been the glue that held our marriage together. It has been really rough and yes, we've put each other through the hoop and I know it has been one tough ride for you. But even though it had been tough, it has also been the best experience for me. We've come a long way and have truly grow up together and learned a lot from each other. Being married to you has taught me to put others before me. And you have set a great example of what a selfless person truly is.


Look what we've created together!!! This is the fruit of our love and commitment to each other. I am really thankful that you are part of my life and because of our commitment to each other, we've been able to bring into this world seven of the most beautiful and choice spirits here on earth to raise as ours.

Our life together has truly been blessed and fruitful. You and our kids are truly my pride and joy.

So, now that we've conquered the first twenty years of our life together, I am looking forward to the next 20 years...I'm sure it will not be easy but I know it will be without a doubt something to cherish as I've cherished all these years.


With that mind...let me just say

Happy Anniversary Honey!! I ♥ you more today than I did the day we got married!!

Love always,

Pearl Harbor Remembered and a Tribute to the Armed Forces

Today, 68 years ago, Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu was attacked by the Japanese Troop. I would have to say that is one of the sneakiest thing that an enemy has ever done..the Japanese sneaking up on U.S. like that. So today, I just want to do a little remembrance tribute to all those unsuspecting soldiers who sunk down with the ships at the harbor and for all those soldiers who lost their lives defending themselves from that vicious and sneaky attack.

For the lives lost...we will always remember you and for all you did, what you died for. To the families of those loved ones died at Pearl Harbor, me and mine will forever be grateful to you. In memory of those brave soldiers, I've enclosed a couple of videos here. Pearl Harbor will live on in our hearts forever!!

Hope those two videos were a touching one for you. I've decided to enclose one more video...this is a gratitude video. Because of all that the people in the armed forces are doing to protect the people of this country, every American should be singing this song. I'm ending this post with this last video as a way to say thanks to every soldier everywhere, from the past, present and future, for what you're fighting for, for putting your lives on the line that we as a people living as a nation can have all the freedom we have today.



I am extremely grateful for the selfless acts of individuals who care so much about people as a whole that they hardly give a thought to themselves and put their lives out on the line so this great nation can stay the great nation it is, that America will forever stand as a safe haven for any and all who seek a place of refuge. And I am forever grateful that because of the armed forces, my family, my hub and my children can proudly stand under the flag of USA and proclaim their heritage. Thank you.

In Honor of Them

I have an incredible post I was planning on writing today...I even have a really spectucular story to tell about my special day but I've just been made aware that today is a very special and memorable day for a ton of the moms out there who's ever lost a baby. So instead of focussing on myself today, I thought I'd put the spotlight on someone else.

Just so everyone knows, today (October 15th) is Pregancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. There are two blogs that I followed faithfully {although I don't comment on these blogs as faithfully} are prmoting this day (the whole month as a matter of fact) both of whom had lost their babies by stillborn. If any of you reading this post has ever lost a baby through stillborn or miscarriage, go to these two blogs. They are both courageous women who from their trials of losing their angel babies were able to talk about those darkest moments of their lives and still able to come out strong in the end. I have never lost a baby, all six pregnancies came off without any complications so I can't even imagine the pain that these two women had gone through and all those other women out there who'd gone through this trial.

So tonight at 7 p.m., no matter wherever you are on this globe, whether you've lost a baby through pregnancy or not, please remember all those sweet angel babies who've never had a chance to experience this earthly life and light a candle for them.

Ter over at With An Angel on My Shoulder is doing a wonderful and beautiful thing in memory of her baby girl who never made it by sending a traveling teddy bear to any moms who had lost a baby to spread her love. That bear is embarking on his journey today where he will be travelling to any bereaved blogging moms for a whole year. I thought that was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done. I wanted to do something and send some cards with this bear but of course as always, my good ideas usually come too late to be able to do anything about them so I thought I'd spread the word here on my blog. If you want to know more, check her out on her blog and read her story...she really is an incredible woman.

Emily (who happens to be best friend's sister) over at Stepping Stones is also doing something wonderful on her blog. She's started a newsletter on her blog to help those whose suffered the same loss she did able to cope, basically to help any bereaved moms have a place where they can meet and talk about how they're doing in dealing with their loss and know they are not alone and that they should never have to feel that they had to hide how they feel. Another thing I thought was really beautiful about what Emily did was with the help of her sister Swirl, they started a blog called Aloha Remembered where people(women) send in the names of their angel babies to them and they (in this case Swirl since she lives close to the ocean) write the name of the sand and take pictures of them and send them back to the bereaved moms as part of a memento to keep for their babies. Isn't it that just the most thoughtful thing you've ever heard?

If you want to know more, check out those two blogs listed above or go here and here and read their stories. And if you are a bereaved mom or know of any, check these two ladies out....their blogs are really great places to get together to remember the little ones who've left us. I can say that from reading these two ladies, I have learned what things I can say and not say to someone who's just lost a baby and that I don't feel so stupid around them anymore.

So, please remember tonight, in any time zone, any where you are on this globe to remember all those little ones and light a candle for them. I'm sure all of us have experience the loss of a little one either by our own or from someone who know and love, a friend, sister, aunt or mom.

God bless and ♥ to all!!

Card Challenge & Mother's Day Tribute to my Followers!!

Ok folks...Ter's card challenge is back and I am really excited to participate in it again. I made two cards so I decided to submit them both to the challenge. Our group card exchange was held last week and this is the card I made for the swap. The theme was Mother's Day or Father's Day card. I chose to make a Mother's day for the swap and since this weekend is Mother's day, I decided to enter this card in Ter's Card Challenge. Very appropriate, don't you think?

I have so much fun making this card...had a little bit of a challenge trying to coordinate the colors the way I want them. The emboss look of the background paper was done using cuttle bug and then I used a scallop circle tie cut in pink to make that cute pocket. The flower was done using water color crayon. I tried to make this card using different technique and it was really fun.

This is what the outside looks like.
I stamped the Happy Mother's day inside.

This is the card I made at the swap. My friend wanted to show the ladies how to do resist technique and that is done by first stamping the images on glossy paper using Versa Mark then using a brayer, you roll the ink over the Versa Mark image a few times til the paper is covered with the green color. Wipe off any excess ink and it'll bring out the image in white.
Another idea for this card she wanted to show the ladies was how to make a pop-up card using our Word Window punch. This is what it looks like on the inside. Very simple yet has a bit of an elegance to it. When the card is opened, the flower popped out, isn't it cute? Another fun card to make.
So there you go folks...those are the cards I'm submitting at Ter's card challenge for this week. If you want to see cards other people submit to her challenge, go here and check it out.



Now.....if you are one of my followers and you can see it on my right sidebar if you are and of course I know who you are, the rest of this post is for you. If you are curious and would like to see what the rest of the post is about but you are not on my follower list, then take a short step to my right side bar and put your name on my follower list and then proceed on to the rest of the post....I am not trying to bribe anyone but I just thought I'd like to do something special for my peeps.

So to those special and wonderful people who are following this very humble blog, I want to return your kindness and love by giving you something for this upcoming special occasion. In honor of Mother's Day, I want to send each of you a beautiful home-made card made by yours truly and the ladies in my card swap as a token of my appreciation and love for your time and thoughtfulness in signing on to follow my blog and leaving me comment love. It may be something insignificant to some of you but it means a great deal to me so that's why I am doing this for you.

I will post a slide show of the cards I will be sending you wonderful ladies on my sidebar so you can see what you will be getting. No two people are getting the same card...each one of you will be getting your own. So, go to my profile and email me your mailing address so I can mail each of you your card before Mother's Day. I know, I procrastinate a lot that's why I am just posting about this now...but I am hoping that y'all will respond quickly so you can get your card before Sunday.

Oh yeah, those local followers, you know who you are, I can easily find you so you don't need to email me your address..lol.

Ok...I'll be waiting on your email folks...mahalo!!

God bless!!