Sunday, April 15, 2007

Hobby


I just started doing this fun thing called Photo Hunters. If you click on the Photo Hunters logo above, it will take you to the instructions on how to participate. The founder of Photo Hunters, TNChick, also has a blogroll so you can go check out other people who are posting photos if you like. There is a new theme each Saturday. This week's theme is "Hobby". TNChick has a schedule posted for all of 2007 so if you want to participate, you can see ahead of time what themes are coming up and you can take your pictures and get them ready. Of course I'm not that organized so I am posting a picture of one of my Creative Memories Scrapbooking Retreat pictures from a couple of years ago. I am a CM consultant because I LOVE to scrapbook, meeting and helping people and I LOVE discounts. hehe... This is a picture of us showing off some of our favorite pages we made during our weekend.

Left to right in back: Mona, Reesa, Denise, Julie
Left to right in Front: Me and Valerie

I have so many hobbies that I don't have time/money/room to do them all. Did I mention that my hubby is building me a craft room? I like to paint, sew, sing, play the piano, scrapbook, make cards, write in my blog, take photos and other artsy/crafty things. I showed off several pieces that my hubby and I made here. He does the woodworking and I do the decorative painting.

Update: Well, this isn't really an update, just something I thought I would add. The first few years of Jessica's life were very difficult. She was hospitalized over 35 in just the first 3 years. She would get deathly ill from just a cold. She also had two heart surgeries and suffered strokes which left her blind, paralyzed, and other very difficult complications. With a lot of love, tears, and endless hours of therapy she was able to recover most of what she had lost. Those days were very stressful and as I look back on that time I mainly remember the difficult times. Once I started scrapbooking, I found a lot of pictures of Jessica smiling and having fun. I hadn't taken many pictures of her when she was very sick, I had mostly taken pictures on the good days. It was therapy for my soul to be able to scrapbook the good memories. I really enjoy getting those albums out and seeing her beautiful smiling face when she was so little. There are times that I wish I had taken a few more pictures of her in the hospital - mainly so others will know what she went through and what a strong person she is, but at the time I knew I would never forget and I didn't want pictures to remind me how awful things were for her. I have done some scrapbooking for my sons, too and I am having fun remembering them as little guys. I am currently working on my youngest son's album. I have realized that whether a child dies or grows up they will never be this age again - so enjoy it NOW! I take a lot of pictures and really enjoy posting them here on my blog and putting them in albums.


9 comments:

Andree said...

I went to one of those parties and I had a wonderful time and learned a lot. You sure are creative to be able to do that.

Anonymous said...

Those pages are so beautiful!

Cats~Goats~Quotes said...

What a fun photo!
Lucky you, getting a craft room. Looks like it will get filled quick with your hobbies :)
Welcome to Photo Hunters!!

~Jennifer said...

I popped over to thank you for your comments on my blog. I just read about your daughter, Jessica. I want you to know I'll be praying for all. Head over to my friend, June's blog if you get a chance. Her son has CF. Maybe the two of you can share coping strategies or if nothing else enjoy each other's blogs. :-)

Anonymous said...

Great photo hunt idea Nancy! :) I didn't get mine up this week. :)

Journo June aka MamaBear said...

Nancy,

Glad Jennifer pointed you my way. We definitely do have much in common. During a hospitalization last year I set out writing the story of my son's history of medical stuff. I have a hard time keeping it short! I decided to do a book about how goofy and fun he is FIRST. All of the things he's done in SPITE of his challenges. (Safety pins all over his face, kind of like orcs, ping pong balls cut in half to make google eyes, making a goofy face while wearing reindeer antlers, the list goes ON and ON!) Then later I'll write out the whole story. I don't take pics of the rough times either.

I'll be praying for your family and put your blog in my favorites!'

(I can't see the photo. Is there some link to click?)

Nancy Jensen said...

Hi June, thanks for coming over. I didn't realize that something happened to my picture! It was there earlier. I'm checking on it now to see why it's not showing up. Thanks for letting me know there was something wrong with it.

Nancy Jensen said...

The picture seems to be working now. I have no idea what happened to it. Blogger must have not liked it.

As far as writing or talking about my daughter's medical history, I have a hard time keeping it short too. Plain and simple... her history is not short and if I give many details at all, I can get very long-winded. But when I need to, for instance when she had an endoscopy this last December, I was able to give the anesthesiologists the history they needed pretty quickly - in fact, having gone through so many procedures with Jess, I knew what information they needed before they even asked. hehe.. I think some of us experienced moms can converse with some of the best of doctors - as long as it's on the type of experience that we've had. Right? And I agree with scrapbooking about the good time. I want to remember those times the most.

Journo June aka MamaBear said...

Now I can see it! What a fun pic. I put some up on my blog, too!

Yes, I sometimes know more than the docs when we go to the emergency room near us. Most of Kendall's care is at Denver Children's and that's about an hour away. I always call them first before hitting the ER at the USAF Academy.

OK, I really need to get to bed now! :-)