Trusting In The Lord For All Things: Long, Sad Week.........Glad it's the Weekend!

I'm so glad the weekend is here! It's been a very stressful week. Saturday Ben turned 18 which made me cry, then Sweet Sarah had some difficulties, then Sweet Sam died..........I just wanted to rest somewhere quiet where no one could find me. God did however.
Thursday evening, God sent my dear friend Val to stamp with me. She and I can talk like best friends no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other. We talked, cried and prayed together. We both have teens who are having difficulties which are driving us to the Lord constantly. I sure needed that crying time and that hugging and praying time with my dear friend.
Friday God sent Emily to have dinner with us, and stamp with me. It was another blessed evening. Emily is a teacher of first graders and having similar difficulties with families and students. More and more students have difficulties due to family issues, lack of family involvement, lack of exposure to books before school, and the amount of time in front of tv or electronics. I feel sad for the new teachers out there. They won't make it to 30 or 35 years in this profession with the amount of work, stress and lack of parent participation or support. So glad I'm retiring, I'm tired of being told to do more with less and in fact do more with your hands tied behind your back. More and more restrictions, more and more testing and less and less time to do the teaching we were hired to do.

Today I went to church from 10-2 to set up a display of our Card Ministry cards to sell while the church had a Nursing Home Ministry training all day. Then I came home and cleaned up my messy craft room. I cleaned the table area but several boxes remain on the floor.

Here are some cards I've made lately.
Here's my card for the sketch challenge. I used serene silhouettes stamped in concord and pear pizzzazz. I used Sunshine and Sprinkles design paper with a lacy border made by a Martha Stewart punch. I used the Lacy Brocade embossing folder by SU and added mambo paper behind the flowers.

I made this at the same time I made the other card like this with Growing Wild, by Technique Tuesday. The flowers and other images are different.

This is a card I made Friday night with Emily. We made several for baby cards then I made this one using the sayings with the set from Inky Antics.

Here's my card for today's challenge. Here's the inspiration for my card. http://www.lucinda.com/shop/product/flower-pin-01/
I loved the combination of pink and purple. I'm soooo ready for spring! I used markers on the stamp which is Growing Wild by Technique Tuesday. The poppies look so soft in pastel colors. I cut out the ovals with Nesties and sponged the white oval. I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the white lace border. I embossed the background with flowers.