Scrap Friends - Guest Design Team November

I was astounded and honoured, as a random winner, to be asked to produce a layout for the November Sketch Challenge for Scrap Friends.

This is my youngest sister, there is five years and another sister between us. I was old enough to remember Mum going into hospital but we were not allowed to visit in those days; we didn't meet our her until they came home from hospital.

Dad didn't hang around for long after each of us was born so it was not really a surprise that he left again when she was only months old; I still remember that day. Mum had to work part time after that and there were several baby sitters until my brother and I were old enough to look after the younger ones ourselves. This sister eventually completed year 10, came to work in the same retail store with me for a while and studied part time at night to achieve the required entry levels for Nursing School. She married whilst still studying and completed her nursing training while raising two small boys. Those two small boys are now grown men, one an air force pilot, the other a paramedic.

She is extremely artistic, a wonderful mother, keeps a spotless home and saves lives everyday with her training and experience in open heart and emergency room nursing, she is also an excellent teacher and mentor.

The family moved to the USA 14 years ago and we only get to see each other every three years or so. We keep in contact by email and text but don't talk often as we both end up in tears. This photo was taken when she came home for my youngest sons wedding in April 2010; should all go to plan I will be seeing her this November in the USA when my husband and I travel there to celebrate her birthday.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Bird is the Word Challenge - Touch

One of the great blessings I have in my life is the young men of our family, my four sons and the families they now have. They have each grown to be good, generous, hard working men who are not afraid to show their love for their families and each other. I love how much they love and care about each other and each others children.

It is very rare for the whole family to be able to get together these days due to two of the boys being FIFO and on different shifts. I find it difficult to cope with not having them all together in one place at one time and feel blessed for the rare times this does happen. They make a very conscious effort though to catch up with each other and sometimes I am able to be a part of that. What I have noticed, and what means so much to me, is to see them reaching for or playing with each others children. I will look up and see them all play wrestling or playing football or cricket with the older nephews on the lawn or sitting and chatting to each other whilst nursing one of the younger nephews or niece. I have so many photographic examples of this that it is hard to choose just one.

The eldest and third sons were very close and also married to sisters; when our eldest son died 6 months before his son was born, they moved in with his wife and helped her through that first year while their own house was being built next door. During that first year the uncle and nephew formed a very close bond.  This is our third son holding our eldest son's little boy on his 1st birthday. He was there to support his sister in law and the little boy until they were ready to stand on their own.

He now has a son of his own and another child due in a month but remains close to the little boy, his brothers son. There is so much joy and love in this photo.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

Scrap Friends October Challenge - Camera Shy

Our fourth and youngest grandson; he is a lovely mix of both his parents, he has my sons hair, it stands straight up and waves in the breeze like a wheat field, big blue eyes and a cheeky grin. His mouth and chin are like his Mum's and at the moment he is shorter than usual for our family and may take after his Mum in height, we will have to wait for his 2nd birthday so we can measure him to get a guestimate of his height as an adult. All our boys are well over 6 feet.

His Mum is a teacher and spends many hours reading to him and playing with him and his Dad loves to pick him up, take him to the back fence and spend time looking over it watching the traffic go by and talking to him about his day and cars. Bath time is a shared activity but Mum has to dress him because he will not lie still for his Dad. Whenever we visit, we are met at the door by both of them and it is a race between my husband and I to get first cuddles. Pop always wins! This little fellow will have a brother or sister in 6 weeks PG so there will be one for each of us.

This photo was taken at his first birthday party and as you can see, he is anything but camera shy!

It is wonderful how big your heart gets when you have children and grandchildren; it always seems to grow enough to allow another to take up residence there.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.