Bitter Sweet

The new year is off to a good start. The kids are back to school this week which means that I can officially begin all those projects that I have wanted to work on. I have two goals for this week. The first is to have all my closets, cabinets, and basement organized. That's not a totally overwhelming job because I just did it last August. It seems like the kitchen cabinets are always in the worst shape. The second goal is to complete the Peru scrapbook. Last June, my sister, two oldest children and my self went on a mission trip to Peru. I took a ton of pictures. I was motivated to work on the scrapbook last summer, but never completed it. This is the week! It is coming together very well. I am just ready to be done and move on to other scrapbooking projects. I got a new Cricut Expressions machine for Christmas which does way more and is way cooler than I know what to do with. This morning, I cut my first paper with it. It was very easy. My life is really good right now. I'm blessed to be able to do just what I want to be doing.

While I am enjoying my projects and time off, I am reminded that this is also a very difficult time for others. On Saturday, I attended the funeral of a man from church who found out he had a brain tumor last May. He was buried on his 60th birthday. He was a faithful Christian, so the sadness isn't for him. The saddest part of this is that he left behind two teenage daughters who had also lost their mother 8 years ago. The younger of the two is a good friend of one of my sons. I try to relate to this on various levels. As a daughter, I know how difficult it is to lose a parent. I have lost one already, though I was an adult in my thirties when it happened. I can't imagine what it would have been like to navigate my senior year of high school, college, relationships, finances, or life in general without having the security of knowing that I always had a home where I could go back. I look at this as a parent. It would be devastating to know that you are dying and will have to leave the people that you love the most in the world. Time would be so very precious! There would be so many things I would want my children to know, so much advice that I would want to give them for the future. This man also had a mother who still lives. She isn't in good health herself, but she lost a son. How would I feel if I lost one of these children that I love so much?

We all have a story to tell. I think that is at the heart of why many of us love digital photography and scrapbooking. We want to preserve our memories for our children and grandchildren. I feel even more compelled to not only take the pictures and scrapbook them, but to journal with it. I want my children to know of my family and my husband's family that came before them. I want them to remember the holidays, events and day to day life of their childhood. I want each of them to know that they truly are God's special gift to me!