God is so Amazing

Last friday was meet the teachers day. I couldn't help it, my eyes welled up when R's teacher told us how he has blossomed since she last taught him two years ago, that he talks a lot more, has many friends, and is so well-liked, that when he is called up for presentation in class, everyone cheers ("roaring" is the word she used) whether he did well or not. What a complete turnabout from how he started school years ago! Considering his early difficulties, the years of speech therapy, and how painfully shy he was, this is just WoW.
We had gotten used to his recent fantastic progress, and once again as we look back, we see how God is really the Potter and we the Clay. How wonderfully the Potter can make something beautiful out of His clay, fashioned for His Glory, and for our blessing! Jeremiah 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Now let me share with you my latest Shutterfly book. I wanted to try Viovio this time, but was not confident about how to do the double pages, and then shutterfly came with a discount code, so I gave in to them again. This time I chose their new 8X8 soft cover. Because I only had 20 pages, it came really thin, but the color and texture are the same good quality stuff. I do like the soft cover for its more casual, modern, magazine feel, but for durability and for passing down to next generations :) definitely go for the hard cover.
Here's the front and back, I had to rush to make the shutterfly offer, so I simply chose two photos and use them as the cover, with a digiscrapping background paper for the 'binding'. Just remember to follow their cover dimension guides!
For the double pages in 8X8, I gave the same allowance adjustment down the middle as I did for the 12X12 pages, 3/8th of an inch, see more details in this post. They turn out quite right!
Now some more pages from my Japan trip, this album is coming along really slowly, I just work on it whenever I have time, it is really nice to relive the trip with my family as I go along. Here we are at this Volcanic Park on Hakone, freezing cold yet with hot spewing sulphuric fumes all over! Quite an experience, we must say, we wanted to go nearer, but there were all these warnings for asthma patients (of which 3 of us are) that we finally turned back, not before a few photos!
Credits: Background paper is from project 365 by Brandy Designs painted over by painted mat from Miss Mint's Painted Season . Paper leaves by Jessica Bolton , twine is from Gooddaysunshine by Megan Turnidge and flower is from project 365 by L Riches both from the SYTYCD at Digiscrapaddict! Finally paint brush for title is by Michelle Coleman .
This was the night where we decided to skip Tokyo Tower (too expensive!) for the Tokyo Government Buildings Observatory (free!) for great views of Tokyo at night.
Credits: Background is from layering purple dotted paper by Nina Scrap designs over black painted paper from 'Digital Designs by lisA'. Sparkly waves is also from 'Digital Designs by lisA'. Starry sparkly circle art is by Vera Lim, and alpha is by Brittish Designs
And here's a 12X12 page of our trip back from Hakone on the Lake Ashi.
Credits: Background paper by Heralds! Overlaid with paper from sampler 3 by Jennifer Howland , rope is by Erica Zane and star is by Gina Cabrera of Digital Design Essentials.
This template is now available as a set in the store HERE