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Friday, September 27, 2013

Scrap Our Stash Blog ABC 123 Blog Hop! "They Call Her Icebox" part 3 (Game time!)

Welcome, Scrap Our Stash blog hoppers!


Welcome to Scrap Our Stash ABC ~123 Blog Hop

You should have arrived here from Elizabeth's blog.   If not, click HERE and head back to the beginning of the hop. You will not want to miss any of the designer’s awesome inspiration and/or the details on how to enter into the SOS prize drawings!  

The design team was challenged to create a layout inspired by our choice of one of three sketches and our choice of alphas (stash items) to include on our layouts.
Here is my layout inspired by Sketch #3 and using stash items: MN: Misting & Numbers!
(Page two from this month's sketch challenge...)
                                                                      
#77 by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Junkitz, Crate Paper, Inc.; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Chipboard: Heidi Swapp, Twiddlebitz, other; Markers: Sharpie; Rub-ons: DCWV; sketch: Brenda Ragsdale #3 for Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop.


And here is the sketch:

To thank their followers and show their appreciation for the support and participation in the hop, Scrap Our Stash will be awarding two prizes for hop participants!!!

Here are the details: 
For the first prize drawing you must:  Visit each of our designer’s blogs and leave a comment.  Once you have completed the hop, return to the SOS Blog and leave a comment letting them know you have completed the hop.  You will have until Sunday, September 29, 2013 ~ 11:59 PM (PST) to leave a comment and your name will be entered to win the following prize: 


Complete the ABC ~ 123 Blog Hop Challenge and link it up on the SOS Blog, no later than Friday, October 4, 2013 ~ 11:59 PM (PST) and your name will be entered to win this Grand Prize Package:


Challenge details and rules can be found HERE

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Thank you for visiting my blog and hopping along with us!  

Your next stop on the blog is: Lee-Ann!  

Here is the list of blog hop participants:


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On a personal note, this end a short series of blogposts. 
Feel free to view the other two posts here:

Thursday, September 26, 2013

"They Call Her Icebox" part 2 (how far she's come).

You saw yesterday that Miss McKenna is doing it; she's playing football - real tackle football - and keeping up with the boys (or keeping them in line, one or the other...) I know many out there think girls don't belong in tackle. But I've never seen my girl quite like this; she's focused, she's determined, she's being challenged, coached and loved on that field (and rarely in trouble from boredom!) I highly commend and thank the league (WYFCL) for welcoming her in without reservation. No other sport has measured up to what football is doing for her. That's why we choose to spend 12 hours a week on that field.

It took a little searching, but I finally found this layout. It still hangs in her pediatric orthopedist's office. It was profound for me to create and even more to share. Here she is again, Braced for the Future:

~click layout to see original blog post.
and this, written at 4 months:

Friday, July 28, 2006

We're all better! Some of you know that my now 4 1/2 month-old daughter, McKenna has been battling hip dysplasia, which we found out at 2 weeks old. She hasn't had any dislocation, and her case seemed minor at first, but it took two braces and about 3 months to get to where we are now; we just found out Wednesday: healed! Her 3rd sonogram reveals a wonderfully shaped and realigned left hip! We were supposed to have 10 weeks to wean off the brace when we got to this point, starting with taking it off 4 hours a day for 2 weeks, but we even get to START the wean with 8 hours a day! I can't tell you how much happier she was today, with her first 8-hour break. We finally have our baby back! It's just that... she's so mushy now, I almost don't remember how to hold her!!!
BTW, on a side note: I thought that being braced would hinder milestones, but we took it off of her Sunday, put her on her belly, and she flipped to her back like a pro! She was so proud of herself, it was amazing! 

I posted a video the other day of her running the ball in a drill - it's not what she does often, but it touches my heart because of how far she's run so far, metaphorically speaking. 




Read this email I sent to friends and family when McKenna was about 7 months old (what wonderful thing technology can be, to hold records such as these to follow!):

Subject: Lil' Miss McKenna 
Sent: Tue, Oct 24, 2006 8:50:31 PM 



Dear Friends and Family,
It seems we've finally come to the end of a very long road.
I think we're finally ready to tell the complete story of McKenna's story.
December 23rd, 2005, I went, 25 weeks or so pregnant, to the OB's for an unrelated checkup that resulted in an ultrasound. My initial worries were unfounded; however, mom and & I were drawn into my doctor's office for some other reason. It seemed that a "cystic hygroma" was found on the baby. Opening his medical journals, I read that it was not genetic, but for unknown reasons during development, a blockage happens in the baby's lymph system. The mortality rate for such cases is 100%. We asked awful questions, and no one had answers. He got us into, mind you 2 days before Christmas, a specialist in maternal/fetal medicine at a well-known hospital nearby (thank goodness for living in NY.) We had level 2/3 ultrasounds for the next 17-18 weeks, every to every-other week tracking this "thing" and the baby's progress.
She appeared healthy and of normal weight and I of normal pregnancy. I found just 2 support groups that had more information than any doctor we had talked to. Cystic hygromas, soon after called lymphangiomas, and now most often lymphatic malformations, are found at all stages of both pregnancy and child development, are no longer fatal, especially if found later, and are most often found around the neck/face area, with the second most often area being under the armpit. McKenna's was on her thorax, and appeared to be outside the ribcage.
After much deliberation, and not knowing where our baby girl was to be born even days before she came, Doug & I decided that a C-Section at our home hospital was better than vaginal delivery at a strange hospital with new doctors. We had 4 days to prepare for her and on March 13, 2006 she was born, pink and beautiful, with a little bump on the left side of her chest. She was, of course, rushed for a chest x-ray and returned to us with no situation imperative.
We named her after 2 days, and we all left the hospital 4 days later and life began its new normal. We began seeing a pediatric surgeon - which, although I may have said those words before, the trueness of what these doctors actually do never dawned on me - until we stepped into the O.R. of Westchester Medical Children's Hospital with McKenna at 6 weeks, at 7 o'clock in the morning for an MRI, as her doctor greeted us with smiles and scrubs, assuring and reassuring, handing tissues and reaffirmations.
All appeared fine, and still nothing so serious that couldn't wait until 6 months. Of course, it was right around/before then that we found out about her hips and she ended up in a hip harness for 12 weeks; 1 doctor, 2 braces, 1 e.r... Her apparently complete recovery brought us to exactly 6 months of age and then into the O.R. we went. (side note: we have a checkup of her hips tomorrow.)
To have surgery and say it's a harrowing experience is pretty much the norm. To watch your child go through a surgery that is not normal, not very well known, and is, in most parts "exploratory" is unexplainable. To see a 6-inch scar on a tiny baby's chest is shocking. To hear a doctor or two say, "Well, it was much bigger than we thought and we think we got it all..." is scary.
We stayed with Lil' Miss McKenna overnight at Westchester and, needless to say, all of the nurses with the exception of one, were absolutely amazing - just what we had heard.
We've been home a month now. Last week we got the pathology and it was just as we had hoped. The short of it is "tissue and fluid concurrent with lymphatic vascular malformation. There is a chance that this LM will return and also a chance of nerve damage affecting her left side. We'll cross those bridges if and when we get there, but at the moment, she looks amazingly healthy. Yesterday we got the go-ahead to live life and not see her peds surgeon for 6 months. Relief has new meaning in this house.
Last week, just after she turned 7 months, she picked up where she left off the day before the surgery, now and again rolling, babbling and possibly saying dada, belly crawling, following her big brother all over. She's still wonderfully mild and easy-going, also a great sleeper and just all-around happy girl. Big brother Matthew is SO proud of her - so protective and playful and even has his own little "little sister voice" for her. He makes it his job to tell us to be careful of Kenna's boo-boo and to keep quiet when she's sleeping.
Our entire family knows that only prayers have gotten us this far, with our two amazingly beautiful and happy and healthy children. I don't know that we will ever be able to thank each and every one of you who prayed for us daily, in silence, out loud, alone, in groups. We'd also like to thank those of you who have been patient with us, sensing and understanding that we've needed time, space and silent prayer to endure this last year day by day. We'll catch up with each and every one of you in the next coming year.
I hope this finds you healthy. Photos will soon to follow.
God Bless.
Yours in prayer and hope and family and friendship,
The Krauss House
Lindsey, Doug, Matthew Daniel & McKenna Michelle

So hopefully you can now tell why this is more than a seven-year-old girl wanting to play football. It's another step in her journey, and another example of what a fighter she's been her whole life!
xoxo

Creative Thursday ~ SOS/Sketch and "They Call Her Icebox" part 1

Hey there! It seems I'm in my niche with a very busy job and a very busy life at the football fields lately! But if I can squeeze out a page, you'll probably still see the kids. :-D

Here is my cutie all ready for football practice!

Come on back this weekend to read the entire story of how we got here and page two of this layout...

But for now, here is a SOS-sketch inspired page!

They Call Her Icebox by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies: Paper: Junkitz, Crate Paper, Inc.; Cardstock: Bazzill, other; Stickers: Making Memories; Chipboard: Heidi Swapp, Twiddleybitz, Best Creation, Inc.; Markers: Sharpie; Ink: Staz-On, Marcella By K; Mist: Tattered Angels; Rub-ons: DCWV; Sketch: Rochelle Spears for Scrap Our Stash.
And the Scrap Our Stash sketch...

Monday, September 16, 2013

Musical Monday ~ Victor's Crown

Just wanted to let y'all know what I've been singing lately, thanks to our amazing worship team. You should hear McKenna sing it, too. :) Have a great day.

Be amazed.





In case today is a tough day for you:

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.james 1:12

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Creative Thursday ~ lil lady liberty at SOS!

Ohhh, it feels so good to scrap again. :) My 20th page on the year, can you believe it? I used to do 20 a month so many years ago... Thank goodness for SOS, or I'd probably never get to add any scrapbook pages... ever!

Anyhow, the time out felt good and this one is working for me (even though it's yellow!)

Scrap Our Stash told us: At least one of the following premade embellishments: airplane, train, bus, car, or boat AND...you must also include a travel signage embellishment.

As I searched through my papers to find something to travel with, I ran into a little Basic Grey Urban Couture (who needs new supplies, lol!) and held on to the yellow I'd normally run from. Thought about the cabs, thought about this pic, and found those super old NYC stickers in the stash I have tucked away for my husband's NYPD books.

N.Y.C. lil lady liberty by Lindsey Krauss.
Supplies:
 Paper, Sticker letters: Basic Grey; Cardstock: Wausau; Rhinestones: Kaiser Scrapbook;
Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas, Frances Meyer, Stickopotamus; Rub-ons: _____;
Chipboard stars and letters: ScrapWorks; Bracket: _____, Mist: Tattered Angels.


Just a few tips and tricks:

  • I had about dozen of the cab and Liberty stickers. To give the sticker just a bit more dimension, I layered the same stickers to the left and to the right, and then centered the top sticker.
  • Also, I really envisioned checkered paper on this layout, but couldn't find any at all! So I used the old CM punch and made my own - in two sizes. ") hey - whatever works!
  • Lastly, I realigned the number line to put the date in the middle of the line, then bracketed it. :)
Um, doesn't it look like the Lady Liberty's torch is smoking? Didn't plan that one... 
Have a GREAT day. 
p.s. the real layout is *not* crooked...

PEACE.



Feelin' sunny yellow:

The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17