Looking back . . .

When we take a minute to stop and look back to times when we were children, we may find ourselves comparing how it was “then” to how it is “now.” Maybe you younger gals don’t notice a lot of change right now because you have not yet reached an age to have many years to look back on. That’s okay; you’ll get there. :)

The other day as I was scanning pictures of my newest scrapbook page creations, I was thinking about how much scrapbooking has changed since I was a little girl. Back “then” a scrapbook and a picture album were definitely two different things. My Mom gave me my first scrapbook when I was in the 5th grade. I kept all sorts of little treasures in it – birthday cards, notes from girl friends, cutouts from the newspaper, perfect attendance certificates from school, and other memorabilia. Photos that Mom snapped and gave to me were put in my very own picture album (it was a big deal). Of course, this still can be done separately. However, the popular trend of scrapbooking today has grown to mean a creative page with the combination of the two. It’s a lovely way to express memories.

For quite a while, it was hard for me to break from tradition. I just could not bring myself to leave out any pictures by just choosing the best ones for creative pages, and I certainly couldn’t “crop” a picture! Holy cow, that would be as bad as writing in my books, or worse yet – writing in my Bible! Of course, I overcame those last two hang-ups a long time ago.

What finally started me with creative scrapbooking was my trip to Israel and walking through the Holy Land. It had such a spiritual impact on me that there was no way that I could just put the pictures in an album and call it good. I wanted the memories of what I saw and did to vividly come to mind when looking at the pictures. I wanted to see the keepsakes along side the pictures, and I had to have journaling – bits of history, emotions, descriptions -- words to help me remember.

So here I am – scrapbooking away and having a gloriously fun time! Although the two pages I’m showing you today are not of happy times, visiting the Holocaust Museum was part of my trip and I want to include everything I experienced. So that's why I want to share with you how I memorialized the day spent at Vad Vashem.

On the first scrapbook page, the middle photo is of the young men and women in the Israeli army. They are very young -- just like our own young soldiers -- it breaks my heart when I think of war.

The Memorial Pen at the bottom right on the second page symbolizes Vad Vashem's message -- Remembering the Past, Shaping the future. The barbed wire stem recalls the pain and trauma of the Holocaust, while the leaves stemming from the wire symbolizes rebirth and hope.

Will you remember to pray with me for our armed forces?
Annie

"We are . . .persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed . . ."
II Corinthians 4:9