The Vrugginks in Asia
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Vision
  • Ministry
  • Giving
  • Organizations
  • Newsletters
  • Connect with Us

Rachel's Scrapbooking Plan

1/29/2011

 
Picture
One of my hobbies is scrapbooking for my children.  A scrapbook is basically an enhanced photo album/baby book.  Each page has a combination of pictures, paragraphs describing the page's event or theme, and if possible small keepsakes (such as ticket stubs, hospital bracelets, programs, etc.). 

I enjoy scrapbooking for my kiddos, and most people who see my scrapbooks rave about them and then bemoan that they don't have enough time to scrapbook.  Well - today I'm letting you in on my secret - I have come up with a plan to make beautiful scrapbooks for my children that only takes 3 evenings per year - intrigued - read on! :)



Rachel's Scrapbooking Plan
Picture
Albums
Three - Not too Many Not too Few

I have three scrapbooks for each child that will eventually contain all the pictures from that child's childhood (birth - graduation).  Each child has a specific color theme - Christian's three scrapbooks are blue jean and Abbie's three scrapbooks are rose. 

The reason I have chosen to only create three scrapbooks per child is because I didn't want to create an overwhelming number of scrapbooks and then never display the albums because I have too many.  The reason I have chosen a specific color theme for each child is so that they can easily identify their scrapbooks and they are a lovely set when displayed on the shelf.

Picture
Pages
Strictly Divided by Year

Each album will contain 35 sheets which (counting the front and back of each sheet) is 70 individual pages.  This means each of my children will have 210 scrapbook pages by the time I've completed my project.  The final page in their scrapbook will be their high school graduation.

I've divided my little one's childhoods into 19 sections beginning with birth through one-year-old and ending with seventeen through graduation.  For each section I will create roughly 11 pages.  In the early years I will do 12-14 pages per year and in the latter years I will do close to 10 pages per year.

The reason I have chosen to be strict about designating only 10-14 pages per year is because I don't want to have a plethora of pictures of my children when they are extremely young and have very few pictures of my children when they are teenagers.  I want to remember every part of my children's lives, and I want my children to know that they are beautiful, treasured, and precious to me regardless of their age.

Picture
Picture Taking
A Year Long Commitment

I take a lot of pictures.  I take pictures of special events, and I also try to take pictures of things my children do consistently that I want to remember.  For example if there is a stuffed animal they enjoy cuddling or if there is a specific game they like to play I try to purposefully take pictures of these because its easy to overlook those "mundane daily moments," but I know I will want to remember them someday.

I also collect any small keepsakes possible.  For example when we brought Abbie home from the hospital I stored our hospital bracelets in a safe place.  When we took Christian to see his first movie in theater I kept the ticket stubs.  These precious little keepsakes help enhance scrapbook pages when I design them.

The reason my camera is always around is because I never want to miss a precious moment of my children's lives.  I also want to constantly be taking pictures, and not take the majority of the pictures for my child's scrapbook in the month before I put their pages together because I didn't take enough pictures during the year.

Picture
Selecting Pictures:  Evening One
Deliberate Choices

Each year as my child's birthday approaches I look over the past year's pictures.  I carefully select the 10-14 themes or special events that I most want to remember from that year.  I also make sure that I have each season (summer, spring, fall, and winter) somewhat evenly represented.  I meticulously choose 7-8 pictures for each page I will create, and I have the pictures printed (roughly 100 prints).

I then take some time to write out a small paragraph for each page describing the event or theme.  This usually takes less than 1-2 hours because I post a lot of my children's highlights on this website, so I simply cut-and-paste from website posts and tweak them a bit.

The reason I wait until the end of the year to select my page themes and pictures instead of creating scrapbook pages throughout the year is to ensure that the pages accurately represent the year.  Particularly because I only allow myself 10-12 pages per year I want to be sure those pages accurately reflect the top themes and events from the previous year.

Picture
Creating the Pages:  Evenings Two & Three
Birthday Party Deadline

In two whirlwind nights I put together the pages representing my child's previous year.  After placing the pictures, keepsakes, and paragraph descriptions on each page then I select stickers or clipart to further enhance each page.

The reason I put the pages together quickly is because it is always my goal to have the scrapbook ready to be looked at during my children's birthday parties.  It has always been special for my children and their birthday party guests to be able to see pictures of my children from birth right up to the month before their birthday party. 

As my children get older I will obviously stop displaying their scrapbooks at their birthday parties (or they would die of embarrassment), but I hope that regardless of how old my children get that we will always take time on their birthday to pull out their scrapbooks, cuddle on the couch, and review the blessing of the years God has given them.

Conclusion
You Can Do It!

Scrapbooking is a big commitment, but it's also a very special way to help your child feel treasured and to help your child remember their past.  Scrapbooks are beautiful keepsakes you, your children, and even your grandchildren will cherish.  I hope that by reading how I do scrapbooking it seems more doable to you.  It just requires you to keep your camera handy and choose three evenings to select the pictures and put the pages together.  You can do it! :) 

Abbie = Amazing

1/8/2011

 
Picture
Picture

Adoption Waiting Lists

1/4/2011

 
Great Post:  Adoption Waiting Lists in the United States?

Greg and I were confronted once about the fact that we have no infertility problems but we are choosing to adopt anyway.  My friend basically felt that we were lengthening the adoption line for potential parents who couldn't conceive, and therefore she felt Greg and I were being selfish in choosing to adopt.  I really appreciated the above article because it tackles this myth. 

"The adoption market is built around healthy white infants.   If you're willing to remove even one of those conditions, the waiting list is short to non-existent.  There's no shortage of children to adopt; the waiting list exists solely because adoptive parents want to wait for the 'right' kind of child." 

Once we complete our paperwork, Greg and I will most likely be waiting months not years for a baby.  Why?  Because we are choosing to adopt a non-white baby.  There are thousands of babies that need a home.  Please don't perpetuate the myth that adoption is only for infertile couples.  Adoption is something that everyone should be involved with because God commands all Christians to care for orphans!

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."
James 1:27

Does this mean that all Christians should adopt?  No!  But it does mean that everyone who claims to follow Christ should be involved in caring for orphans.  This could be through financially helping a couple who feels called to adopt, through providing free babysitting for a couple who has adopted, through sponsoring orphan children oversees, and the list goes on.  What are you doing to look after orphans?  What are some ways Christians can support orphan care?

"The King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.' 

Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?  When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You?  When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?' 

The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.'"
Matthew 25:34-40

Christmas Day and New Year's Day

1/1/2011

 
We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas Day and New Year's Day in our new home!  On Christmas morning there was a pile of presents under the tree for Christian and Abbie.  Greg and I bought one of those presents, and the rest were hand-me-downs from friends and a couple new toys form Grandpa and Grandma.  Our children have truly been blessed with many generous people in their lives!
Picture
Christmas morning I attempted to feed the kiddos breakfast, but that didn't last long because Abbie saw Angelina Ballerina sticking out of her stocking and couldn't wait to cuddle her!  So we opened our stockings, acted out the Christmas story with our Little People Nativity set, and unwrapped the pile of presents!
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The one present Christian and Abbie received from Greg and I was a Chinese Noah's Ark.  While living in Beijing we purchased it but we waited to give it to Christian and Abbie until this Christmas.  They love acting out the story of Noah's Ark with their "Chinese Little People Animals" as they call it.
Picture
Picture
I also made my first feast!  In past years we either spent the holidays with our team in China or with Greg's family in Michigan so I never had to cook more than a couple side dishes, but this year it was my responsibility to prepare a little feast for our family.  I made a ham, mashed potatoes, candied yams, corn casserole, and rolls – it was delicious!
Picture
Last night in celebration of the New Year our youth group had a Chinese dumpling making party – a first time event at our new church (that will hopefully become a tradition :).  On the way to church Greg and I were so blessed to get a special phone call from our Dayton Chinese Christian Church youth group teens – we miss them!  The kiddos and I cut out of the New Year's party earlier, but Greg and Pastor Wayne led the teens in sharing goals for the upcoming year and praying in the new year together - what a wonderful way to start 2011!
Picture
We were so blessed to be surrounded by
so much love over this holiday season! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    Have these blog posts emailed to you! Enter your email address below and click “Submit”:

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    March 2020
    November 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010