For the first time in a very long time, I am planning to get in my scrap room and actually work on both of these albums. I really need to work on these and get something done for a change! With all the things we have had going on in our lives over the past several months I have not had a chance to actually do any scrapping. I have, however, had a few chances to get in there and actually do some straightening up at least. Now it is time for me to get myself back into the scrapping business! I enjoy it so much and I love the relaxing feeling I get when I am creating new pages!
These two projects that I have going on, an album for our church over the building of our Family Life Center. I plan to have a lot of fun with this one, keeping the theme of this album in such a way as to honor God. I thank God for the opportunity to scrapbook and use my ideas and put them on paper and to have them turn out to look the way I had hoped. To have my pages be viewed by others and complimented is an honor that I would not have if it were not for God. I give Him all the glory, honor, and praise.
I also praise God for the opportunity to create an album for a young family who recently had to live through one of the worst possible experiences imaginable, the loss of a child. During her pregnancy this mother learned that her baby had a birth defect. He had hydrocephalus and a significant portion of his brain was either not developed or under developed. He was not going to survive long after birth, IF he was born alive! This family was so heartbroken but rather than do what most people do in a time like that, which is they turn away from God and blame Him for their circumstances, this family turned TOWARD God. They are already a Christian family, but this brought them even closer to God.
As soon as I found out about it, I believe God laid it upon my heart to create a memorial album of Baby Thomas for this family. You see, they were not total strangers.
I had the priviledge of meeting Holly Milner when I was employed at Jasper High School as the school nurse. I found Holly and her sister Amber to be such special young ladies, it amazed me. Even then, as young teenage girls, they had such a strong faith in God, it was truly a blessing to see. They were a blessing to be around. Naturally, as soon as I found out this involved Holly, one of "my kids from the school", I knew I wanted to do something for her and her family, but I was asking myself what.
It wasn't long before the thought came to me that I wanted to create an album for them. When she shared ultrasound pictures of what appeared to be a perfect baby lying in her womb in the perfect position for a full body shot, I knew. I knew then that to create an album to honor Thomas, and preserve these precious memories for this family, was something that God wanted me to do. And when God asks you to do something, you don't just say, "um.....gee God, I don't know if I am going to have the time or if I want to give away any of my stuff on a project like this, especially when I am trying to MAKE money in my scrapbooking business." But God doesn't take no for an answer, so I decided it would be best if I just listened to Him and did the project. At the same time, I felt honored to be the person who was chosen to do this. To be the person that God chooses for such a special and very important task, words cannot express my feelings. I was humbled to say the least.
I followed Holly's blog all the way up to and through Thomas' birth, very short life, and death. I prayed that someone had taken pictures at his funeral service, which Holly and her husband Aaron decided to have more of a celebration instead. I think they had a fantastic idea and from what I have seen of the photos and heard from others who were there, it was a very touching service and a wonderful celebration of Thomas' short life, and the affect his short life had on so many people.
Through her blog, Holly was able to share God with many people without the reader realizing it! I think sometimes that is what is needed to turn someone around from a life without God, to a life WITH God. I believe Holly, and her words, stories and photos on her blog, most likely turned more people toward God than she could ever imagine. It is for that reason that I feel she is an inspiration to me. That is also why I feel so honored to be the one who gets to preserve these beautiful, and the sad, memories for her.
Now I just have to get my behind in there and get busy!! There is still much more to this story which I will share with you at a later date, perhaps tomorrow?! But for now, I have to get busy!!
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