A moment in the life of an abused child who has grown up

This has been such a long and trying month. I've sat down to the computer a dozen times trying to let you know where I've been but haven't known where to start. I grew up in an extremely abusive home, physically, verbally, emotionally and sexually, and this has affected every moment of my adult live whether or not I've been aware of it. It has affected each of my brothers and sisters also. You think that when you grow up and leave the house that it is over, that you have finally won, that you are out and safe. Not so, not as long as I allow them to influence every step that I make. Not as long as I stay silent and watch others suffer through the same abuse that I went through. Do you realize that most children who are abused as children grow up to marry abusers and to be abusers themselves? You are what you are taught until someone teaches you better! Thankfully I realized this at a young age and had the influence of a wonderful friend and her family to teach me what a family is supposed to be like. I have a wonderful husband who would never think about raising a hand to me and has never said one disparaging word to me. My parents have guardianship of my younger sisters children due to substance abuse, neglect and domestic violence. They have been abusing my two nieces and my nephew and I have stood by. During this time I have tried to talk to my parents about their behaviour and they have refused to acknowledge what they are doing. I made an effort to help right? I tried to help right? that's enough right? I'll just love the kids and provide a safe place for them to visit. That's enough right? They'll make it through, we did, right? I don't have to turn on my family to make a change do I? I don't have to tell others what's going on do I? I was not doing enough! My husband and I had to stop it. After talking to my sisters and being told that they wouldn't help, that they wouldn't tell the truth about the abuse we had to do it on our own. We went to the state on my parents. My sisters have turned their backs on us and sided with my parents because they don't want to be embarrassed, they want their pasts left alone. Then something amazing happened, my niece and her husband stood up with us. They are a young, married couple with a 2 year old and a baby on the way and they stood up with us. My niece talked to the state, told what it is like at my parents. She is amazing - she is my hero. At 22 years old she is doing what I didn't at her age, what I convinced myself that I couldn't. She is choosing right over wrong and she is suffering for it but she is standing fast and strong. I am so in awe of her. This past month my husband and I became licensed Foster Parents in the state of NH and on December 19th one of our nieces and our nephew will be removed from my parents home and will be placed with us. We will be petitioning the court at that time to have my other niece's case reopened so she can also be removed. At the end of a long month my "family" is smaller but stronger and I can finally say that I am doing enough to stop them. This post is long and rambling but you have been so kind to me. Once this is all settled I will be online more and will post more cards and visit your blogs. Thank you!!!

Christmas Card Dilema . . . .

Each month I hold a Christmas Card Class. During each class (from August to November) we make 12 Christmas Cards, 3 each of 4 different designs. If my stamping girls attend all 4 classes they will have 48 cards to send to family and friends. This month I have a dilemma. Class is tomorrow and I only have 3 of my cards designed. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as I work best under pressure and often design my cards the day before an event (or the morning of - lol). But . . . I am also trying to put the finishing touches on my new stamping area in the basement so I can use it tomorrow for class. I decided that I wanted to finish cutting the counter tops (ssshhhhhhh - don't tell my husband). It needed to be moved onto the cutting table but since it already had a couple of brackets screwed to the underside for me to hold on to, I decided that I could move it all by myself. Well not entirely by myself, I had three 2 year olds looking on. I grabbed hold of the brackets and lifted and as it started to lift off the floor I remembered that it weighs over 200lbs and is just over 10 feet long and realized that this was not my brightest decision. One end started to turn to the right and the other end decided to quickly jump into the air and my right thumb got stuck in the bracket and twisted at an unnatural angle. I'm not sure if it is broken but it hurts and hurts bad! Now I can't use my right hand so I can't stamp the last card. I think that I can cut the card stock for class and if not my dh will help when he gets home from work. So, my question : Do you think anyone will mind if they stamp 4 cards of 3 designs instead of 3 cards of 4 designs? Here are the cards that I already have: I bought this set, Holiday Trim, after seeing an amazing card by JanTink on Splitcoast. The colors are Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Mellow Moss and Apricot Appeal for the star. I've been wanting to use a pink and green color combination and really like how this turned out. The colors are Green Galore and Pink Passion. To color the ornaments I used Gable Green and Pixie Pink instead as the others came out too dard. The stamp sets are Ornamassortment and Crosshatch with a little white gel pen thrown in for good measure. This is probably my favorite of the three. I really like this set, Peaceful Wishes, it is so versatile. The colors are Garden Green, Rose Red, Night of Navy and Silver. I also used Itty Bitty Backgrounds to create the stippling of Navy and Silver. I didn't want to use my Metallic Silver paper when so little of it is showing so instead I took another sheet of navy and used my Zig Painty to color the edges silver and then matted it. No one will ever know if you don't tell them and it is so much cheaper. Thanks for looking!

And the Winner is . . . . .

Rose Reynolds!! Email me with you address and I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. Congratulations!

Contest!! Free Halloween Layout!!

I had one no-show yesterday and instead if letting this layout go to waste I'm going to give it away!! Here's how to win : post a comment on this posting between today and Thursday, October 26th at 12:00 noon EST. Then I'll take the number of comments, print them out and have one of my daycare children pick one out of a hat! Good Luck!

Halloween 12 x 12 Layout

I have my 3rd Scrapbook class this afternoon and am really pleased with the layout that I came up with. (Click on the picture to see a larger view)

I used almost all of the different style papers from the Halloween Night Designer Paper from the Holiday Mini. It does take a little time to stamp the words so I hope that it isn't too much for first time stampers. What do you think?