Conversations with Kids

Conversations with your kids - do you journal them? Do you scrap those treasured conversations for a memorable keepsake? The years of discovery, probably through age 6 must be some of my favorite memories of time spent with our children. They are so full of questions, learning, maybe not quite pronouncing a word correctly, and sometimes they ask profound questions. Many times the phrase "from the mouths of babes comes truth" is all to apparent as they share their most honest thoughts in an open way. For our son I have journal snippets of conversations, things he said. I was not scrapping back then, but somewhere I have those treasured words in a journal. Our daughter is more fortunate in that I began scrapbooking when she was young. I started a digital 8x8 mini album a long time ago to record our talks. The album is called "Conversations With Abby", and I expect I have at least two more years of capturing amusing and profound conversations on paper. This will be a treasure of an album, and I hope you will consider starting one for your children if you have not already done so.

This week I scrapped one of those overheard conversations between our son (shared above), when he was age 5, and our neighbor girl. It was one of those moments when as a parent, you overhear a conversation, and your heart leaps for joy. It is a moment when you realize that as you teach and sometimes wonder if they get it, that they really do. It was an awesome conversation, not intended for my ears, but one I was thrilled to share.

In the NOW time, I experienced another one of those conversations this week (April 1), this time with our five year old daughter. Here is how the story goes:
Bedtime…
Abby asked me if her friends knew who God was. I replied, “I am sure some do, but some probably don’t, but you can tell them.” “I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?”, I asked. “Telling my friends about God.”
“That’s okay,” I said, “you can pray about it and ask God to help you.”

Two story books later and it was time for prayers. Abby told me she wanted to pray alone instead of with me, and asked me to leave. I asked her what she wanted to pray about, and she said she wanted to pray to God about telling her friends about Him.

Next day… (4-2-08)
I pick up Abby and another friend from afternoon pre-school. It was sunny and the car was warm, so I had the windows cracked. The girls both wanted their windows down as far as they would go. With the wind blowing and their hairs going wild they were having a great ol’ time laughing and feeling the wind – as only 5 year olds can do. Abby’s friend held her hand by the window and said, “Thank you, Lord, for the wind!”
Abby, with a sound of shock in her voice said, “Lord? You mean you know God?”
“Well, yeah!” said her friend, in a “well of course I do!” tone. (LOL)
Abby was all excited and she replied, “My whole family knows God, too! Me, dad, mom and Kyle - isn’t it great!” And then both girls returned to being silly and enjoying the wind in their faces.
Of course I just kept driving with a smile on my face, taking in the conversation, the tone of their voices, and laughing with them at their silliness in the wind. Now, the perfect photo would be these two girls in the back seat of the car with the wind blowing their long hairs all over the place. Still trying to figure out how to capture that - since I am driving. I think I may need a friend to drive with me someday and take over the wheel!

Hey, remember a short while ago I was excited to share that Scrapbooks, Etc. had printed a thumbnail of one of my layouts in their most recent issue? Well, today I discovered in their e-mail newsletter that my layout, "Flirt with Red" is front and center of their newsletter - knock me down with a feather!!! Thanks to my Fiskateer friend Melita for pointing it out, because honestly, I have so much on my plate right now I would not likely have opened the newsletter.

What am I doing, you may wonder? Of course it is scrap related. My parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 8 days. I JUST started a digital presentation for the celebration party - but not a boring presentation. It is a digital, beautiful scrapbook. I was absolutely blown away by the appreciation collaboration kit that FaithSisters bestowed on their creative team. When I made the last minute decision to do a digital album I had to start opening the zipped files that I had not even peeked at yet, and was blown away. To keep my project from getting out of hand I chose a small portion of digital elements to be used in the album. 12 pages down and probably 50 more to go. So I better stop blogging and get into my Photoshop! I can't wait to share the album when I am done. Thanks for stopping by and taking a moment to walk with me on my journey. Scrap those conversations along the way that make you smile, or scratch your head. (LOL)