If I could turn back time

Forward Progress Challenge

It feels sooooo good to be back and finally have some me-time again. After being MIA for almost a month, I've finally been able to sit down again and just scrap ... I wouldn't have thought I would miss it that much. I've had some wonderful times with my family, just being together, enjoying each other's company and relaxing, but I've come to enjoy my own special time as well. I'll be visiting all of your blogs as soon as possible, how I've missed reading my favorite blogs in the morning, slowly sipping my first cup of coffee....

First things first now, the new challenge over at Forward Progress is all about forgiveness. How can we move forward in life if we have not forgiven (someone, something, ourselves, ...) for something in the past?

Here's my take on the challenge:


Journaling:

"I would give a lot to see you just one more time. I would tell you how much I love you, and how much I miss you.

You never asked for much, but I was too occupied with myself to even give you the little you asked.
You've always been there for me, and I'm so sorry I wasn't always there for you."

This LO is about me and my grandmother. She passed away 7 years ago. During the last years of her life, I was too preoccupied with my own life, my own new little family, to give her the attention she needed and more than that deserved. She died very sudden when my youngest daughter was just 3 weeks old. I had just had 3 children over a period of 2,5 years, and I used this as an excuse not to visit all that much. I didn't call her up all that often either, because she was getting deaf, and a lot of our telephone conversations ended up with her hanging up in tears, frustrated because she couldn't understand what I was saying. So I didn't call her that often, telling myself this would only upset her ...

I now wish I had made more of an effort to go and visit her once in a while. My grandfather had passed away just the year before, and it had left her without a purpose in life. First she brought up my mom, when I was born she took care of me when my parents had to go to work, and at the end, she took care of my grandfather, who had had a stroke a few years before he passed away, and he wasn't able to walk nor talk anymore. I should have realised how alone and useless she felt at the end, but I didn't. I was to caught up in my own life to even notice I think.

Why is it we don't see things clearly until it's too late? Why is it we don't know just what we have until it is gone? I wish I had done things differently, but I didn't, and I've been living with this guilt ever since she died.

Although I had thought this LO would turn out a very "dark" one, I changed my mind while looking for pics of her and me. I remembered how much fun she was, and how much she loved me. I wanted to ask for forgiveness, but I think in her eyes I don't need to be forgiven. I think she was hurt by my lack of attention, but I don't think she was angry about it, I think she understood and accepted it as part of life. That's the sort of person she was, and that's how I wanted her to look on my LO, fun and loving, just like she was.

I do hope you will find the time to play with us. You still have time until the 14th to submit your work. Our Forward Progress blog has a new look, a new DT and starting this month, we have sponsors. This month's sponsor is Scrapadilly Products. I would love to see some of my friends come join us!

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Glad to be back!

Around the middle of August we took a short vacation here in Belgium in Centerparcs, a bungalow park ... the kids participated in lots of activities and of course the main thing we did was visit the waterpark. Here are some of my favorite pics.

My hubby ... oh yes, he's bad LOL

Just some random pics of my beautiful girls

Me and my hubby (acting silly again)

Playing games with the whole family ...
ah, such cosy times!

Chloë getting ready to climb the "high ropes"

The "high ropes". I still can't believe she did this ... twice!

"Catch me if you can!"

My son's favorite place to hang out.

Still finding joy in the little things.
I love the look on their faces here...

Our boy turned 10 on August 24th, that's right, we now officially have a teenager in our house! I can't believe it, where has my baby boy gone, it seems like only yesterday when I first brought that tiny bundle of joy home *sigh*.

Here he is, enjoying his "breakfast in bed", a tradition we started a few years back, and one they insist on having every year since then. I know, I know, not the healthiest breakfast ever, but it's not like he eats like this every day...

Yannis is very interested in everything that has to do with the world wars, so as a surprise his dad took him to visit the trenches and musea. He loved it!




The first day of school. I was in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, while my kids were finishing their breakfast. All of a sudden they shouted: "take your time momma, we'll do the dishes!!". Ah, they can be such little angels sometimes... oh and yes, that is my ironing board you can see on the left ... Typical me, a whole summer vacation to get things in order, and still I have to iron their favorite clothes in the morning right before school starts ... will I ever learn??????


And then it was time to leave for their first day of school. They were so excited, they didn't even want to take the time to pose for our annual pic :-( Ah well, this will do ...


And of course as school starts, mom's got to do some homework as well ... take a look at mine:


For the girls I bought some paper to cover their schoolbooks, but for Yannis I thought it would be a great idea to use the sport's section of the paper, and of course I plastified it as well ... it turned out pretty cool, don't you think?

Feewwww, that was a long post! I'll try to update my blog more regularly in the future.
I'll drop by your blogs and leave you some love as soon as possible!

xxx Peggy