You are Beautiful and Brilliant

I've partnered up with women who have a story to tell.

These women are ready to be authentic with themselves.
Their stories are shared to inspire and encourage you.
To help you validate the truth that we all know deep down in our hearts.
Sometimes we get so bogged down by our insecurities.
By our hurts.
By things that have happened to us, or choices that we've made.
No matter what you look like, or what you have or have not done, no matter the color of your skin, the size of your bottom, no matter where you were born or how you were raised, God wants you to know this:

"YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND BRILLIANT"

 Please meet my beautiful friend.

“I am beautiful and brilliant. I am beautiful and brilliant.” I can see myself now as I meditated on these words throughout my life, wishing like crazy I believed it was true. The truth was, I believed myself to be broken, worthless and an accident.

It wasn’t until my second husband left me for another woman that I was finally healed of these lies. One day, God sat me down and told me that I am not broken. I had been in horrible emotional pain for a couple of months when it happened. I was sick with betrayal, rejection and abandonment. That particular trio had left me devastated.
God decided to have a little discussion with me. He told me that I am not broken, that I am whole. Even though it did not feel true inside me, I decided to believe what the creator of the universe was saying to me. He told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. He told me to let go of the hurt, resentment, betrayal and pain. Little by little, as he coaxed the pain out of me, I surrendered to the truth. God lives inside me. He is part of me. He is all good things. If He is inside me, then I must be those good things too.
I am beautiful and brilliant.
So are you.

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If you'd like a free Beautiful and Brilliant 5 x7 print and have a story you feel led to share, (or know a group of people who could benefit from these prints) please email me at gracechrissie@yahoo.com.)  I am more than happy to share them with you free of charge!

Summer Series 2013...Week 1

Welcome to the first week of Summer Series 2013.  Read this blog post to catch up on all the deets.
Here is your first free art design.  Click and save, then print it out.  You can use as an activity for your child, for yourself, or something to do together.
Remember,

• You can color it.  
• You can paint it. 
• You can enlarge it and/or shrink it. 
• You can use it as an embroidery pattern.
• You can use it to make shrinky dinks.
• You can come up with something totally new!

The possibilities are endless!

I can't wait to see what YOU come up with!

Come back on Friday and  we will show each other what we've made.
If you are on Instagram, show us what you're working on!  Tag your pictures #summerseries2013 to play along on IG.
Have fun and be creative!  Please remember I'm giving you this drawing for your own personal use.  Please do not use it to reproduce and/or sell.
Let me know if you have any questions!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!!  :)

Announcing a fun Summer Series!!

Now that summer has started I wanted to share some family friendly art that would get your creative juices flowing!
I'm so excited to announce a fun new summer art project series for both Mommies and kids!
Every Monday, starting tomorrrow, I'll be posting a drawing (by me) for you to download for free.
All you have to do is print it out and then get creative.
It can be a project you can give your children to work on, something you do together, or even a fun project for you to do alone!  :)

• You can color it.  
• You can paint it. 
• You can enlarge it and/or shrink it. 
• You can use it as an embroidery pattern.
• You can use it to make shrinky dinks.
• You can come up with something totally new!

The possibilities are endless!

I can't wait to see what YOU come up with!

We'll also post our pictures on Instagram to encourage each other and have fun seeing how everyone is being creative.  I'm chrissiegrace on IG if you want to play along!

I'm so excited!  I"ll be back first thing in the morning with the first project!  See you then!

Summertime!

Today was the kid's last day of school! Ya-Hoooooooooo!
Look how much my middle two grew this year?  I can not even believe it!!!

I'm planning a super duper fun summer series that will be starting the first week of June.
I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about  it!  :)

Trusting the Process

(new print available here)

What a week.
Marked with happy excitement.
Heartbreaking death.
Bittersweet memories.
It's been a roller coaster of emotions and I'm happy to wake up and say it's a new day.

Some highlights:

My new work investment.  I don't know how to use it.  But I still love it.
Any suggestions on switching from a PC to a Mac?

So proud of this kid.
His team made the finals and they lost with grace.
He has come such a long way, being the new one on the team.

Recital is over for the year.
I love that she loves dance and has found something that has made her happy.

I got to spend a girls day at Epcot with some good friends.
I love this picture so much.  I will hold her as long as she lets me.

My first experience with french macaroons.
It did not disappoint.

Bittersweet:
My baby graduated from pre-school.He is officially a Kindergartner now.
It goes as fast as everyone says it does.  I didn't cry when any of my others graduated, but this one was a little sad for me.  We are officially in the next phase of life.  No more babies!  Waaa!

Lots of work and I am so grateful and blessed.
This is all for one household.  I would love to see it all hung!

Our sad news:
My son's best friend Momma passed away this week.
There has been a lot of sadness and confusion, a lot of "why's?", a lot of fear.
It is hard for a 13 year old to experience death, and hard on a Momma to try and help navigate him through the pain.  It has been hard imagining my dear friend gone as well, and we are praying and praying and praying for peace.

I hope all is well with you, my blogging friends.
Life is a roller coaster sometimes.  The good, the bad, the in-between times.
I'm counting my blessings today.
Every single one.

This and That

I made a batch of hand-painted crosses this week. 
It was a very special project for me.  I didn't know what I was going to paint in them...scripture wise.
I just said a prayer asking God to lead me to the right scriptures...and that each one would be special for the person who ended up buying it.  The next day I found a Marianne Williamson book of prayers...and then I prayed over all of the crosses. 

I signed up for this course. It was my gift to myself for Mother's Day!  ;)  It's an e-course and it's only $19!
I have a total fascination with santos dolls and I can't wait to make my own!

I found this cupcake idea on Pinterest.  I made them last night for one of the first of many end-of-the-year school parties.
When we woke up this morning, all the teddy grams had gone soft from too much moisture!  lol  If you make them, don't put the teddy's in until right before serving.

I really want to get out my "real" camera and start blogging regularly again.
It's something I definitely want to work on.

Did you have a nice Mother's Day?  My kids showered me with homemade gifts and breakfast in bed.  We hung out by the pool and grilled salmon too.  I even got a 30 minute nap!  :) 

Wishbone Day!

(Re-posted from August 2011)

I have OI

I've never told you this~ my blogging friends, but I have OI.
OI is short for osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as brittle bone disease.

"Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder characterized by bones that break easily, often from little or no apparent cause. A classification system of different types of OI is commonly used to help describe how severely a person with OI is affected. For example, a person may have just a few or as many as several hundred fractures in a lifetime."

There are different inheritance factors, but in my case a person with a form of OI caused by a dominant mutation has a 50 percent chance of passing on the disorder to each of his or her children. Of my four children, two of them have it as well.  My older son has broken more bones than my younger one, but he is much more athletic and daring.  As he has gotten older, he has learned his limits.  
Fortunately for us, we have a very mild case.  I have only broken 3-4 bones in my lifetime.  I gave birth to all of my children naturally, without any complications at all.  The only thing that has a huge impact on my life is a condition that come with the OI called dentinogenesis imperfecta.   

 "Dentinogenesis imperfecta is a disorder of tooth development. This condition causes the teeth to be discolored (most often a blue-gray or yellow-brown color) and translucent. Teeth are also weaker than normal, making them prone to rapid wear, breakage, and loss. These problems can affect both primary (baby) teeth and permanent teeth."

Because DI makes your teeth appear discolored, many people make the assumption that perhaps we don't brush our teeth, or have let our teeth basically "rot".  I have spent a lot of money having my teeth bonded to give them the appearance of looking like normal teeth.  I have broken a lot of teeth and have already had two implants.  We already know that we will spend a small fortune for our two children who have it, as we do whatever it takes to keep their teeth as intact and healthy as possible.

So that's my story.
I wanted to share it with you because we all have different trials and tribulations.  When I was a young girl I was a little ashamed of having this disease.  I didn't want anyone to think that I was fragile or weak.  I realized growing up that everyone has a cross  to bear, and so it became just a regular fact about me.  

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask.  I would be happy to tell you what I know...

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