Keeping the Faith...and OPERATION JULIE Smile!...

Hey, everyone!

I am SO glad it's the weekend.  Oh, my word this week has been BIZZZZAAAAYYYYYY!

 We have some AMAZING things going on here... lots of fun things going on at home and some FUN announcements coming up from both my family and my creative path and I just am kind of bursting...but that will have to wait because I have a TGF "heART journaling" page to share with you today...and 

....it's ALL about FAITH.

My husband and I have been talking a lot about this lately, and he's been watching some shows and listening to a few radio talk shows in addition to what we learn at church.  We have had a lot to pray on lately in our personal life, some decisions we've needed to make for our family, the kids activities and even some of my creative stuff too.  I'm feeling really good about some things coming up in the next while and i am SO proud of my kids- I can't wait to share more!!!!   Anyway, I know I don't talk about spiritual stuff very much, but this week has been one of those weeks that proves that if you are being STILL..being VERY still and being OPEN to hearing what the answers to your prayers are...that you can actually read what God writes on your heart sometimes and that is pretty. darn. amazing.

So today, at The Greeting Farm, our heART journaling class is featuring projects using ONE WORD as the focus of our page/pages today and here is mine...FAITH:

Stamps: Spring Butterflies and Bubble Wrap background by Stamping bella.


This page ended up being a LOT more journaling than I had thought, LOL!   But, I drew an unfinished staircase to symbolize one of my favorite quotes about faith:
"Faith is taking the FIRST step, even when you don't see the WHOLE STAIRCASE..."  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Speaking of faith, I have a friend who needs prayers and if there's one thing I put a lot of faith in besides God and my family, it's a few of my good friends.  I have some information about "OPERATION JULIE SMILE" today that I'd like to share with you:

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A bloggin' friend of mine, Julie Ranae Murray, has been a faithful friend to me and is also involved in coordinating the Twinery team we serve on together.  Much more than that, though, we've become friends and when I heard about her recent dental emergency, I felt compelled to help.  It is by FAITH that we are called to help sometimes, and it is by FAITH that we 'get by with a little help from our friends" sometimes too...  Here's her story:

Many may know that a few weeks ago, Julie Ranae had to have emergency oral surgery resulting in the removal of her two front teeth.  The dentist at that time believed the best course of action would be to remove the rest of her teeth and replace them with permanents. (as to avoid *years* of dental work) Relieved at finding a solution to this major dental problem .. she visited the office for dental surgery the week. Unfortunately, it wasn't the visit she was expecting.  After the consultation and scheduling the surgery, the surgeon's office informed her that she would need to bring $4000 back to the appointment with her and they would proceed.  This amount would not include the 'dentures' to follow.

Here Julie is today, sitting without front teeth that were pulled with the belief that they would be replaced immediately.

It is an overwhelming experience for our dear friend and one that I hope our creative community can help with.

SO...HOW can you help?

There will be a benefit blog hop called 'Operation Julie's Smile' that will take place Oct 7-9.  There are a variety of

companies and design teams who will be participating in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit, and THE GREETING FARM is one of them!

So far, nearly $500 in prizes have been made available and will be awarded for both participants and those who donate. (paypal button on my sidebar!)

Operation Julie's Smile is now accepting designers/teams who would like to be a part of the benefit hop. If you are interested

in getting involved in this creative fundraising event, please contact Nicole Rixon at nicolehrixon@gmail.com.

  The deadline to be a part of the hop is Wednesday, Sept 28th. Participants will be notified of the blog hop order between Oct 3rd-5th.

This blog hop is an opportunity to have fun, feature your design work and raise money for a friend in need. A donation button

will be made available to all who participate. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post, and help restore a little faith to a friend who's in a tight spot.  Love and hugs to you all!

xoxo