Grad Journal

This is the time of year for graduations and when your husband is a youth pastor you get to go to lots of grad parties. The festivities started today for a special grad. Mel is the daughter of friends of ours that we have been in ministry with and her first post high school adventure is to go to Romania as a missionary for a year!! If you have read my blog for awhile you have read about this Romania mission team before and now they are in the final 4 weeks of preparation. It is a big deal. There are no weekend visits home, no Christmas vacation, no comforts of familiar things for a whole year. I am in such awe of them!!
Of course, packing is limited so I thought one practical, yet small gift for Mel might be a journal. I had purchased these black leather like journals at Joannes awhile back and have been slowly using them up. They were originally designed to have a monogram in the front but they were begging to be stamped instead. The stitching and the pages are pink so it has just a touch of girlie to it. I thought the image of a butterfly was perfect for a grad as they spread their wings in new directions. This is especially true of Mel. I used the PaperTrey Butterfly Wishes set. The butterfly is done in pretty in pink and the new purely pomegranate. I added some accents in sky blue then a verse from the retired set God's Way. There is Stardust Stickles on the butterfly and the flowers for a bit of sparkle. On the inside I stamped on some of the pages with flowers, butterflies and scripture stamps. I took the photo quickly before heading out the door and when I went to upload it I realized it was a poor photo. Too late to retake it now but I think you get the idea.
I won't bore you with all the details, but this has been one busy week! My hope is next week is a bit slower. I can hope, right?!!