Saturday, April 28, 2007

Looking for Something to Do on National Scrapbook Day?

NSD and Cinco De Mayo!! What could be better! If you don't have plans, some hang out with me at EBB :)

Here is the scoop straight from the top on the events happening at the EBB Scrapbooking & Crafts Center in Simi Valley for NSD on Friday May 4th and Saturday, May 5th. Upcoming class schedule will be posted soon. You can also pick up a class and event calendar in the store for full details. Any questions or registration please contact the store at 805-582-9150.

All Month Mon. – Fri. 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Free Cropping

Events
National Scrapbook Day & Cinco De Mayo Celebration Saturday May 5th
5% store discount on all merchandise
Spin the prize wheel with every purchase

Classes
10% off all purchases on class day

Paper Flower Class
Sat. May 5th 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
This class is for all levels of scrappers
Instructor: Julie Bergman
Includes Coffee, Orange Juice, Tea, and a morning snack $15.00

Friends Mini Album Class
Sat. May 5th 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
This class is for all levels of scrappers
Instructor: Kathy Wise
Includes Coffee, Orange Juice, Tea, and snacks $15.00

Explosion Mini Album Class
Sat. May 5th 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This class is for all levels of scrappers
Instructor: Melissa Hancock
Includes Coffee, Orange Juice, Tea, and snacks $15.00

Crops
10% off all purchases during crop

Friday Night NSD Crop
Fri. May 4th 5:00 p.m. to Midnight
Snacks provided Hourly Prizes (spin the prize wheel and win) $20.00

NSD / Cinco De Mayo Crop
Sat. May 5th 5:00 p.m. to Midnight
Catered Event by Baja Fresh burritos, taquitos, salad, chips, and salsa will be served for dinner Hourly Prizes (spin the prize wheel and win) $30.00

You can call to sign up or visit the website at www.ebbcreations.com

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Heroes Leading Us Through Dark Times

Got these two tidbits from Glenn today....a must read story and a must see video. So I read and watched and contemplated.....then went to Yahoo to check the news....great to see that our top stories were that Hugh Grant is in trouble for throwing baked beans at a photographer and Richard Gere is considered a lewd kisser!


Heroes leading us through the darknessLA Daily News ^
04/24/2007 BRIDGET JOHNSON

ALONG with exposing the darkest side of human nature, the shootings at Virginia Tech last week reminded us that there are true heroes among us - like Holocaust survivor Liviu Librescu, a professor who blocked his classroom door to allow students to escape through the windows.
After the Holocaust, the Romanian Librescu - whose career stalled, said his son, for refusing to swear allegiance to the regime - risked arrest under the Communist system by having his science papers published in the West, until intervention from the Israeli government allowed him to immigrate there in 1979. "This saga epitomizes the life of an entire generation, which has known two of the harshest regimes of history and then reached the promised land of freedom and prosperity during the era of the 'end of history,"' friend Gedeon Dagan, a professor at Tel Aviv University, wrote for the BBC on Saturday.


"The tragic death of Liviu comes as a sombre warning that this might have been a temporary lull and that brutal and dark forces are once again casting their shadow on society."
Indeed, the communism that imprisoned Eastern Europe is not done with humanity. And the heroes are not done battling it.


Last Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved a resolution introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., demanding human-rights reforms in Vietnam. At the center of the country's shameful record is Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Roman Catholic priest and editor of a pro-democracy publication who was sentenced March 30 to eight years in prison simply for peacefully opposing the Communist regime.

After hearing the verdict in this farce Vietnam called a trial, Father Ly shouted "Down with the Communist Party of Vietnam!" - and was then dragged away. Like most events nowadays that threaten tyrannical regimes, this stirring moment was caught on camera and distributed across the globe on YouTube.

Other "conspirators" sentenced along with Ly likewise vowed to continue to fight for democracy and freedom. One of these dissidents, Nguyen Phong, who received a six-year sentence, founded the Vietnam Party of Progress to work toward open, peaceful struggle against the oppressive Communist Party.

In a letter to the international community penned after the March 30 verdicts, Phong wrote, "In the face of this utterly unscrupulous behaviour by Vietnam's communist government, I am just an ordinary human being. But I am firmly resolved not retreat before this unjust court. I am firmly resolved to struggle even more for freedom, democracy and human rights.
"I am ready to offer my own personal suffering in exchange for these values for Vietnam."
Father Ly has spent much of his life - about 14 of his 59 years in prison, before this latest sentence - suffering for the cause of Vietnamese democracy and human rights. Ordained a priest in 1974, Father Ly was jailed by the regime by 1977 and spent a year behind bars. When authorities tried to remove him from his parish by force in 1983, surrounding the church, Father Ly got on a loudspeaker and rallied the local population about the need for freedom of religion. Catholics and Buddhists united around the church to try to keep authorities from arresting Father Ly - which 200 policemen eventually did, throwing him back in prison.
The priest has been sent to a labor camp, defied orders from the government to cease religious activities, and planted himself firmly on land to be seized by the government. No amount of police surveillance, harassment, cutting off his phone line or, frankly, prison time has stopped Father Ly. Despite a ban on leaving the country, he submitted testimony to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom for a 2001 hearing, resulting in another arrest by 600 policemen storming his church.


"If the United States and other countries truly sympathize with my ill-fated people and truly care about human rights, especially the right to religious freedom, of the Vietnamese people, you must not help the Communist Government prolong its totalitarian rule," Father Ly wrote in the testimony urging the U.S. to nix a trade agreement with Vietnam.
These are my heroes: Librescu, who stood up to evil throughout three dark chapters of history, and Father Ly and company, who continue to stand up to the darkness of an evil and repressive regime.


Librescu, who leaned against a door and took five bullets so that his students could live, and Father Ly, who languishes in dank confinement - again - so that his country might be free.
Bridget Johnson writes for the Daily News.


The YouTube link on Father Ly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzk1WmmHoBI

Saturday, April 21, 2007

It was a Great Night!

We had such a great time last night - I think G really was able to enjoy himself. So a huge thanks to Dave, Tracy, Clint, Gina, Glenn, Liz, Rachel, Jeremiah, Luke, Roy, Zya, Mimi, Elijah, Eddie, LaDonna, Lily, Tommy, Dara, Alex, Celeste, Dan, Katie, Kim, Gabby, Lynette, Ian, Sue, Brian, Scott, Cathy, Bryan, Sarah, Dan, Sara, Avery, Bobby, Sandra, Ren, Amanda, Tara, Sean and Sam for coming out and helping us celebrate!

This picture captures the highlight of my night though....when Miki came....just for a minute....to tell G she was thinking of him and loves him....and was happy to see him happy. That was the best!



So here are pics from all our fun....and here is a warning....the pictures suck! Just like Tommy told me, if you think you are a bad photographer you will be....and I was!!
























Friday, April 20, 2007

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiates says there is a season for everything under heaven....a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.....so what happens when all of these things are happening at the same time...on the same day?

Today we celebrate the life of Greg....and remember the life of Tim.




My honey turns 37 today....and we reflect on the loss of Tim 2 years ago today.

G actually wants to do something for his birthday this year....I really think it helped when Miki told him that today should also be about celebrating his life.....and Dave really planted the seed in G's mind a month ago about this too.

There's so much more I could say about these 2 guys....how I have been blessed by both of them....Greg continues to bless me daily....and remembering those last moments with Tim.....as painful as that was....there is blessing in that too.

Here is a link to Tim's Website.....the life of this man of God....incredible and you will find that out if you read about him. http://www.timgarrety.net

So today I thank God for G & T!!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Store is Open!!

It happened....after months and months of preparation

EBB Scrapbooking and Creations Center

is open!



Here are a few pics.....





I have more I need to download!!

If you are anywhere near Simi Valley you must stop in and tell E and Scott what a great thing they've done! You will go crazy over the crop room...and speaking of the crop room....there will be a "Getting to Know You" crop on Friday, April 27th and the cost is only 5 bucks!

Keep May 4th and 5th open too because we've got some fun fiestas planned for National Scrapbooking Day.

The store is located at 4437 Alpine Street in Simi Valley.

Even if you can't physically make it there...it's still open 24/7, 365 days a year at http://www.ebbcreations.com

Hope to see you there!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Just Have to Sneak

you a peek. Some of you know that Kathy and I were asked by the guys at EBB Creations to help design their kits. It is so amazingly fun!! So here is a sneak of an upcoming April kit that will be available for sale on April 15...something better to look forward to than paying taxes!

I love this kit....just makes me happy!!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Happy Easter!



Be kind to the Peeps!

Monday, April 02, 2007

You Must Read This

I got this letter via email from a dear friend a few days ago. My friend's son made a bad decision a few years back. A choice with huge consequences. His trial just ended in March....sentencing happens April 5th. Things look bleak. But then I read the letter from Nick. You see, Nick was always a great kid. Never even had a parking ticket. One bad choice....one terrible decision. But these years in prison have not broken him....they have led him back to becoming the man God wanted him to be.

This letter was truly convicting for me. Hopefully it will speak to you as well.

To my family in Christ Jesus who have supported myfamily and me with your love and prayers:

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

It has been a long road traveled up this point and there have been many days when
this weary traveler has wanted to call it quits; but I am a Christian, a soldier of Christ, and so quitting is just not an option. There were times and are times
still when in the flesh, I want to give in to self pity, but where is the value in that for the spiritual man, for it is through the Spirit of Christ that I now
live. Christ endured so much for me on the cross, paying the price for my sins by the shedding of His Blood. He did nothing for His punishment...what right do I have to pity myself? Instead, I pity those who are still lost in darkness as I once was, slaves to sin, held in bondage by their flesh, those who remain enemies of God and so cannot partake of the joy and peace that comes from faith in the precious promises
that are ours, given only by grace through Christ Jesus who redeemmed us with His precious blood.

I pray everyday that the Lord will give me the strength to live a life worthy of the calling I have received; that I may bring Him praise, honor and glory. It is my duty - not performed out of duty, but out of love for Him - to be an example to those who are still searching for a better life and greater hope. There is a saying, "You may be the only Jesus that people ever meet", and I realize that this may certainly be true in here. It is written, "Be holy because I am holy".

Never did I think that I would be preaching or teaching the Word of God (let alone incarcerated)butI have found it to be the greatest privilege and honor. Knowing that the Almighty God has chosen even me to be a temple for his Holy Spirit and that I am an instrument of righteousness through which He can yield His power, gives a man purpose in this life. Christ is not A reason to live, He is THE reason to live.
For me, this is the ultimate truth. This life I live, I live in Christ whether I am free or in prison.

I do not want any of you to be discouraged by the outcome of my trial, for it is written: "And we KNOW that ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called acording to His purpose".

Like the man, Job, the Lord has allowed Satan to test my faith. Satan must have thought, "Surely if God allows me to go down and make this jury find him guilty on ALL counts, giving him no chance at life outside, he will lose his faith and curse God to his face!" Surely not! My faith was tested and found genuine. I do not curse God, but praise Him all the more. I do not run from God but only tighten my
embrace. I do not lose my conviction but only strengthen my resolve. I will not take my eyes off Jesus but focus on Him even harder. He has not destroyed my testimony but given me a greater one. Faith in the worst of circumstances. I will never give up on God because He promised to never give up on me.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement. I encourage you all: abide in His love, rest in His grace, be joyful in hope and walk by faith. Pray. Pray more. Then keep on praying. Everything is ours in Christ Jesus - our heart's
desires, our deepest longings and all His promises.

I love you all.

Your brother in Christ,

Nicholas

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Something California is Doing Right

I love California...wouldn't want to live anywhere else (well there are a few places out of the country) but I heard something cool today.

Last weekend was Freedom Day in Costa Mesa. Over 1,000 people attended...learning more about helping end modern day slavery. Then, this week, there was a huge slavery ring bust in Orange County. Twenty massage parlors were shut down. Who's working in these massage parlors? Young girls and woman that have been trafficked to the US from China. Most of these girls were sold into this bondage by their families....if they were sent home to China chances are they would be sold again soon.

But the justice system in California does not force them to return home. They are offered Visas to stay in the US. So now these girls have a second chance. And their are organizations like JustOne out there looking for ways to help them. I am so happy to part of JustOne.