It's Been a Hectic Life!

Where to start? As most of you who have been regular visitors to my blog already know, my daughter spent the last three years in competitive roller figure skating. The first year was spent learning and training and the last two years were a whirlwind of travel all across the country, competing from Meet to Meet. Not only did we travel to Meets at least once each month (sometimes more), but we also traveled to Chicago once or twice a month for training with two World Class coaches. My daughter and I were home for a total of five days in July. The rest of the month was spent in Chicago training. In between all that traveling and out of state training, we were at the rink practicing for many hours each week. Needless to say, our lives consisted of skating, Meets, practice, training, and more skating! There was hardly time for anything else. Literally.

My daughter made a decision to stop skating after Nationals was over this year. It was not a decision that she made lightly or quickly, but I know it was the right decision for her. You see, she was the victim of bullies/mean girls who were also members of the artistic roller skating team, for the entire three years that she skated. It wasn't just one or two girls, it was the entire team of girls. We are very proud of her because through it all, she stayed strong and she never retaliated, but always treated them with kindness. Her decision was partly due to the fact that she was really tired of the bullying, even though skating and competing was her passion, and because she wanted to do other things that she never had time to do. She goes to a GREAT youth group with a great group of kids and she had to miss out on a lot of fun things because she either had to practice or we were out of town for Meets and/or training. She also wanted to be able to be more involved in church and ministry. She is now greatly involved in church and ministry, able to do fun things with the kids in her youth group, and is quite happy. A 'day' after we returned from Nationals, she hit ministry running and hasn't stopped since! In so many, many ways, quitting skating has been a tremendous blessing.

Since we knew that she was going to stop skating after Nationals was over, during our trips to Chicago, we were concerned that 'life after skating' might be a big adjustment for us. We decided to make a list of things that we always wanted to do, but never had the time to do because of skating. THAT was a great idea because after skating was over, it was a HUGE adjustment for us! We started to work on our Bucket List that we made in Chicago and had so much fun! At the top of our list was to learn how to shoot with bows and arrows. We got bows, we got arrows, we got targets (hanging in our back yard), and we learned how to shoot them. My daughter is becoming quite accurate :). Next on our list was learn to shoot guns. My husband taught us how to shoot his rifle and then she and I took a private class at a local target range with a professional. Our days have been full with church, archery, shooting at ranges, home school, and a lot of other things that we never had the time to do :).

I am just now starting to feel motivated to spend some time in my scrapping/sewing/crafting room. My husband got me a Sizzix eclips for my birthday in May and I am just now getting to play with it. Love that machine! It cuts Stampin' Up! card stock like 'buttah'! I have done a couple of little things since we quit skating, but mostly have been just enjoying doing other things with my daughter. I don't know how often I'll be posting on my blog. I guess that depends on how much motivation and inspiration I have :). I only have evenings for creating, since we home school, and that takes up a good portion of my time. But, as mentioned, I do have a couple of things that I worked on, so I'll start with those.

First up, is a lay out I made with one of my favorite photos from a shoot I did with my daughter and my granddaughter. My granddaughter wanted to dress up as princesses that day and she has a wonderful aunt who agreed to dress up with her :). This lay out was done completely in My Digital Studio Two.

If you're still out there, thanks for hanging with me this long. I soooo appreciate those of you who have taken the time to write to me and who have taken the time to leave such sweet comments. Thank you! As I mentioned, I can't promise how often I will be able to post, but my motivation is starting to come back, so we shall see :).

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
My Digital Studio Two