Challenge #18--Midway Reflection & Voting Reminder

Hello everyone! We have reached the midway point of Challenge #18. The theme for this challenge is all about DETERMINATION. Today I am going to share a little introspection with you all that I am also presenting on my own personal blog in my "Motivational Monday" feature.

Never Surrender

For every difficulty we encounter in life, we have two choices:  to give up or to push through to the other side.  I believe that many people don't have the strength or determination and give up all too easily.  I also believe that there are even more people out there who struggle but are determined to make it.  Which category do you fall into?

I think that I was born with the word 'DETERMINATION' scribbled into my DNA.  I, like many of you out there, have faced numerous challenges in my life.  Mine started in infancy.  At the age of 8 months I was finally diagnosed with severe asthma.  It took them so long to come up with a diagnosis because it was rare back in the late 60s for a child to develop such a bad case of asthma so young.

For the first few years of my life, my parents never knew whether I'd still be alive come morning.  I can't even imagine what they went through.  I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals during those early years.  Additionally, to complicate things even further, at the age of two I had to have my tonsils removed.  I was just so sick, there was no waiting until I was older.  Unfortunately, I haemorrhaged on the operating table during surgery and almost bled out.  Another very scary time for my poor parents.

During my childhood and teenage years, I dealt with more challenges and struggles; health and otherwise.  Then when I was 18 years old, I lived through an experience that still haunts me to this day.  Just a few weeks shy of the end of twelfth grade, a Tornado ripped through the town I was living in at the time and destroyed two thirds of the homes, as it made a swath from west to east, leaving only destruction in its path.  Three people died that day.  Several lay trapped for hours beneath crumpled buildings and many more were left homeless.

After all this time, tears still well up and over when I think about that day.  It is certainly one I will never forget.  How do you escape the memories of people's screams as they lay buried for hours under rubble; or, dismiss from memory the thoughts of blank faces in complete and utter shock?  No, those memories will forever lay trapped inside my head. Thankfully, my family was one of the lucky ones, just on the edge of the worst damage.

After returning to school later that week, we received our year book.  One of my teachers wrote down two little words in it that impacted me greatly and those words have remained with me these many years.  In fact it has become my mantra:

NEVER SURRENDER

I have faced many more obstacles and hardships since my days of youth; but, I fought through those events, and God willing, will continue to battle anything else that may come my way.   I am determined to make it through and those two words--Never Surrender--help me to remember that I must never give up.  My choice is obviously clear--as long as I have strength, I will always push to the other side.  Will you join me?

To help inspire you down the path of determination, check out the wonderful projects a few of my Design Team had the opportunity to create...

Lynda has chosen to use the image called Make Things Beautiful, which was one of the images the team got to work with from our guest sponsor for the month, Pickled Potpourri Designs.  If you are interested in purchasing this beautiful image, click on the watermark to head over to its spot in the store.

Pat decided to use Cognitive Thoughts, from Ike's Art.  This is one of my favourite images over at Ike's.  It is just so unique and the possibilities are endless for the kinds of cards you could create using it.  If you are interested in purchasing this cool image, click on the watermark to head over to its section in Ike's store.  It is currently located within the 'My Latest Designs' section.

Vicky also chose to use the image called Make Things Beautiful.  You can find the image details under Lynda's project, above.

Sandy also chose to use the image called Make Things Beautiful.  You can find the image details under Lynda's project, above.

For my project I used the beautiful Just Dance image also from our guest sponsor this month, Pickled Potpourri Designs.  If you are interested in purchasing this beautiful image, click on the watermark to head over to its spot in the store. I also used the free sentiment being offered up below.

Finally, that leaves our...

Linda W., from Scrapping Heaven, who is our guest designer this month, created this sweet card...

Linda chose to use the image called Frogalicious from our second regular sponsor, Creative Bug Digis.   Such a cute image.  He is definitely one determined frog!  If you are interested in purchasing it, click on the watermark to head over to the 'Fun Critters' page in Naomi's store.  

Clicking on the team members name (or in the case of our GDT, the blog name) will take you to their blog where you can check out the details for their inspirational creations!

So if you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for?  Create a project and/or post that is positive AND relates to determination, provide an explanation of how your project and/or post relates to the theme somewhere in your post or come over and leave a comment with the explanation.  Easy, peasy!  You can enter our latest challenge by clicking HERE.

Also, I know that the participants would love for you to go and pay them a visit.  Remember we're creating a Path of Positivity to follow one project at a time and we'd love to see you somewhere on that route even if it is just by leaving a comment on an entry from someone who has touched you somehow with their project and/or post!

If you are new to this unique challenge, you can find out the impetus behind why I started it under the 'Introductions' tab and all the details you need to know in order to participate, in the 'Challenge Details' tab (both tabs located at the top of the blog).

Don't Forget...

You still have until 11:55 p.m. tonight, to vote on your favourite entry for Challenge #17.  Voting is quick, easy and painless so I hope you will consider casting your vote if you haven't already.  Don't forget, if you leave a comment after voting, you have the opportunity to walk away with a selection of digital papers created especially with your interests in mind. To check out all those eligible and cast your vote, click HERE.  Winners for challenge #17 will be posted next Monday.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE ON DETERMINATION?
If you need some additional motivation to help inspire you, I've provided another sentiment on this month's theme (the first is available HERE), free for you to download.

Credit Notes For This Creation:
© 2014, Lisa L. Décosse.  PUO.  However, you are allowed to use the sentiment on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale basis provided credit is given. You also need to include a credit note and a link to this blog should you use any of my images in your creations and post them on your blog. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with my full terms of use found in the 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of this page.  Of important note:  Please do not share my images with family, friends, etc. Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc. Instead, please direct people to my blog so they can grab the image for themselves. If you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please contact me to obtain one. 

This word art creation is in png format and published at 300 ppi. It is quite large in order to accommodate different programs that people work with.   If you are a card maker you can always resize it smaller without distorting the quality.

Font Information:

• Clicker Script font created by Astigmatic One Eye Typographic Institute
• Budmo Jiggler font created by Raymond Larabie

Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  These fonts were listed as free for commercial use at the time this project was made.and as such, it is my understanding, that I am within my rights to use these fonts in my creations and offer them to others.  Please refer to my full terms of service for what you can and cannot do with this digital creation.

SUMMARY
Whether you are new and need to familiarize yourself with all the details,  or a returning participant and just need to refresh yourself, you can always find out everything you need to know in order to enter this challenge in the 'Challenge Details' tab at the top of the page. You can enter the challenge by clicking HERE to take you to the current challenge post where you can also find a quick summary of the details related to this challenge, towards the bottom of the post. 

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY...

Please show your support to our fabulous sponsors by going over and checking out their work and saying hi if you have the chance.  In addition to Pickled Potpourri Designs, our guest sponsor for the month...

 ...we also have our regular sponsors:

 

 

That is me and I'd love for you to visit me on my personal blog.

If you ever have any questions be sure to EMAIL ME or just leave me a comment.

We look forward to seeing you participate!