Mistletoe Moment freebie

download

Christmas WA freebie

download

Home

download

Amazing Grace

I'm so proud of my niece, Amye, today. She had the understanding of God's hand in her life, enough to know to pray for the courage and grace to accept the loss of her unborn child. We are all grieving today as she waits for her body, heart and spirit to heal from this unthinkable sorrow. She had a week to prepare herself, in between sonograms, for the doctor to give her the official word...that her baby had stopped growing four weeks ago. We had all rejoiced in the news of her pregnancy and now mourn with her and her husband as they adjust.

In a message from them yesterday, they acknowledge their sadness and disappointment, but tell us that they will never forget this baby, whose heartbeat they never heard. I'm so very very sad this morning with this loss...this, too, will heal because we all know that God is in control, and with Him, we can get through anything.

Blessings on your day,
Melanie

download link repaired

Things Unnoticed (freebie)

I stumbled across this quotation this morning, and it reminded me of countless conversations with my mother in recent years, since we lost my dad. There are so many things my siblings and I remember about our childhoods that my mother does not. She and my dad were just busy BEING...busy going about the day-to-day activities required to take care of a family of seven, stretching the money as far as it would go, making clothes for us girls...so many things, so little time. So little time to notice the things that would someday become memories for their children.

I think that's a gift for us--their children--and a gift we can give our mother now in turn. Special memories.

Let's take note of these memories-in-the-making every day, shall we? :)

All the best,
Melanie


download

Christmas Is More...freebie

A few weeks ago, the lovely Kate sent me another layout she'd done. This morning, while working on unfinished business from the past several weeks, I realized I had not posted it to show you how she used my word art. And--as it so often happens--re-reading her note to me this morning was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, Kate, for your gracious comment!

Melanie, Just for you, I hope you like it. Your word art makes all the
difference to a layout – gives it meaning. Love Kate

And here is her layout:

Today's gift word art is another way to share my beliefs about what Christmas really means. I used the phrase in a layout I prepared using KimB's Christmas First kit. Hope you can use the word art, too.

Blessings on this lovely day,

Melanie
download

Chill out freebie

download

Recycled Freebie

DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: Wetfish Designs
Please take time to visit Cyndi's blog this week. Her December 1st posting is an inspiring writing of a fresh start she is making in how she views her life. You'll also find freebies in her December 2nd posting, with a reminder that Divine Digital has a terrific kit which you can collect through the Download-a-Day in its forum. It's called Holiday Madness. The preview below is just a small part of this cheery kit. Cyndi always adds more on her blog when it's her turn to provide the daily download gift.

As I work on word art to commemorate this oh-so-special time of year, I was reminded of a word art I made last year. I call it Christmas Means..., and it still summarizes my thoughts about this meaningful season. So I'm posting it again in case some of you new to my blog may have missed it.

blessings on your day,
Melanie
download

COOKING WA freebie

Some time ago, Debbie (from Scotland) requested a "cooking with Nana" word art. So, I'm finally getting around to that! As it happens, my mom is called "Nana" by her grandchildren, too, so I'll need to find a pic to fit it myself.

blessings on your day,

Melanie

download

December 1st freebie

Whew.

The last of my company left Sunday afternoon. We had a good visit with everyone, and as much as I love my family, it's always nice to have our house back to ourselves. I took yesterday "off" and did very little except for a bit more cleanup, and prepared a few random leftovers for dinner for my husband and me.

This morning, I'm still feeling as sluggish as 4Shared is acting...so I apologize in advance if you have any download issues with today's freebie.

I'll talk to you later, 'k?

Melanie

download