If you stay angry or bitter...you are the only one that will suffer!  

      Life is scary and unpredictable. "it" could happen to me again, but do I live in fear?  Do I let my past dictate my future? Heeeellll noooooooooooo!  I look at my husband and praise God for letting him be the man I get to share my life with.  I look at my kids, amazing, beautiful little faces and weap at the thought that they would not be ours if I would have been too scared to move on!  We just celebrated 9 years of marriage and I love him more than I did when I married him!
     We all have the crap from our past that scares us into paralysis...whether it's abuse from a parent, someone abandoning you, death, or like me divorce, and I certainly don't want to insult anyone or in anyway oversimplify any of these traumas, but at the end of the day, it's up to you. Are you going to give that asshole person from your past control over how you choose your future?  Or are you going to be brave, take a leap of faith and jump?  You survived lady!!!! now get off the couch and go live!  Let your past give you streingth because you are wiser, and more resilient.  Life is waiting, be brave and live!  (or I will come to your house and give you a good dose of Gena drill sergeant!)




In case you are new around here, I am GENA
...I am a self titled "professional mess picker upper". Becoming the mother of the two, mommy titled "mess makers" was not an easy road. I've been thru the struggle of infertility, and ended up with the two most amazing children thru the miracle of adoption. 

I love my God, my husband, and my children (not always in that order) I am fanatic about keeping my family healthy...If you like to learn, but don't take life very seriously, we will get along just fine...I will never be stagnant, mentally or physically...so, Ready, Set, Go!!!

     I'll let Linz tell you at least part of her story of the months previous to this day if she wants someday...but Im going to start at my first glimpse of the EMHE bus! 

 We stalked   I mean, drove by and checked it out on a hunch...It's so stinking cool!

It was crazy to know that it would pull up into someones driveway the next day, and give that family the shock of their lives!  We hoped, and wanted to believe that it was them!!!!

On wed morning, we waited patiently for the bus to show, while Linz and the fam werecrammed into waiting patiently in a back bedroom wondering if they were going to be the family running out to "good morning McPail family!!!!!"...well apparently in Hollywood, 15 min. means somewhere between 1 hour and 2...so we waited...and waited...

 then we saw it...our first glimpse was like a mirage, and honestly I was freaking out so much, I don't even know how I got any picture of this part...I think I turned
my camera off 3 times just trying to snap picts!!!

The driveway is long, so I had plenty of time to fumble around a get it coming....

(insert screaming here!!!)

Some of the EMHE crew!!!   I don't know where they find these people, but they are to coolest, craziest, most hardworking people I have ever seen (when Danny is not sleeping under a tree anyway!)  

Oh, I'm just kidding everyone!  No sleeping here!

Even the security guards stand around and eat popsicles all day work their butts off!

I have to say...it is stinking hot!  100 plus...not a great time for our hottest days of the year!

Kara is in red and she is an EMHE designer...she and Yogi (sorry no pict...love him, Ill get one soon)

 do most of the design work in the house.  They are seriously so amazingly talented!!!  

Some of the "hero's on the job..."

Finally got a glimpse of Paige in all of her pink cuteness!  

Those legs are not even airbrushed...good thing she is too sweet to hate! ;)

This view is on top of the channel 12 van...the foundation is being poured, and it's tough to see, 

but there are at the very least, dozens of people working to make it all happen.

I had a chance to walk through the house and take a video and thought a lot about some of the special places in and around the house.  I'm not much of a crier, but I have to admit that as I walked around this empty shell, I was struck by a wave of sadness.  This home is small, it has cracks in the windows, no heat in most of it, a single bathtub that works better for catching frogs in the hole in the wall (one lives in a tank at my house now) than for bathing.  The carpet is impossibly stained, even after almost daily shampooing,  the oven catches on fire (for real!) and the seasonal crickets are enough to make a person feel like Pharaoh in the plague...but there are memories here.  Of my kids running around laughing with hers, of sitting at her computer for hours on end bringing Earth Monkeys  into existence.  Boot camp in the back yard, and scooters in the driveway.  Kids peeing jumping on the trampoline next to the sad attempt at a garden that a couple of years ago we were sure would produce enough for us to can for the winter.  (we forgot that neither one of us gardens or cans...) Anyway...I know that these are MY memories, and I am talking about this like it is my house, but I guess that is the point...this house was a home and everyone felt welcome.  Sometimes you had to move aside a pile or 10 of laundry to sit and enjoy the coffee and company, or wrap up in a quilt to not freeze your butt off (maybe that was just me?) but it's a place you wanted to be, because of the people.  This is a family filled with love and chaos, but mostly love.  So to the McPails, I am sending you a big thank you for letting me in..letting us all in.
You are deeply loved by many!

This was a chalkboard that she painted on a cupboard (so crafty!) and I had to take a picture today....
I think the irony of the verse is impossible to overlook!

PLUS it starts at only $2.99... 

And we will give you a free item with every order!!!! 

Shop our Earth Monkeys site... 

I have seen a lot of 
burlap banners and 
I have fallen in love with them!
 The great thing about this project is you can customize the banners to be your own easily! You can make any word, or name.. you can embellish them or leave them simple. 
Here are a couple that I love!!

FIRST..

Cut the burlap into triangles any size you want, 

I cut them into about 7" tall and about 3" wide triangles

NEXT...

 Get your craft paint and wipe on the paint in a triangle shape in the middle of the burlap with your foam brush.  I used a tan color....this is so you can use a marker on it without bleeding on the burlap. 

Let it dry for about 15 minutes..

THEN...

I chose to use the word "Fall" so I could use it through Halloween and Thanksgiving...I free handed the letters on each banner;  I did use a pencil first to make sure they all were the same size, then I just filled them in with the black sharpie. (you can free hand it) my kids just told me my 'L"looks upside down.. but I left it anyway!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

When all the letters are done, you can roll out your jute or ribbon and then place your letters about 12" apart, with the letters facing the table, fold the upper part of the banner around the jute or ribbon and glue it down like sealing an envelope. (editors note...don't glue your fingers into the fold like I would do!) 

After each one is dry, hang it so all of your friends can ohhh and ahhh in jealousy!!

Happy crafting!

Photos by Visualize Photography

When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

-Horatio G. Spafford, 1873