So, it's no secret that I'm playing catch up this holiday season. I've been crazy busy with my book project, but I finished and turned in my manuscript Thursday, did a second photo shoot yesterday and I'm now focused on making Christmas happen.

It's been a very long time since I've published a list of FUN christmas gifts. This is one reason I'm super happy that Uncommon Goods asked me to take a peak at their current product line, and pick some favorites, because I REALLY need to get gifts and guess what? I found (and ordered) awesome gifts for each member of my family, so how super convenient is that ...

I am thrilled to be a part of Al Carraway's blog tour today. I have never met Al in person, but I feel like I have, because of her gigantic open heart and the come-in-sit-on-my-sofa-and-let's-talk tone of her blog and now her book. Al has become a Mormon sensation over the last four years, because she has so openly and honestly shared her journey to finding faith in Jesus Christ and learning to trust God.

I'm blogging today from Seattle as I sit at the back of a CreativeLive studio. I was invited by my dear friends at Close To My Heart (CTMH) to fly over and teach a short, 20-minute segment on the importance of telling our stories. The crazy thing is my Keynote slides didn't get loaded in the production room, so when I stood up to talk, there were no slides and I had to wing it, live! I don't really have a hard time talking, but this was a test of my professionalism, because I REALLY wanted to make a "T" with my hands and shout  "Time Out!" I presented a couple weeks ago at the CTMH Album Retreat in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I tweaked my message there for my segment today. As I look back on 20+ years working in the scrapbooking industry, there are a few things I've learned about storytelling that will help you stay focused on what matters. 

I'm delighted to announce, or at least help announce the release of a new Deep Dive audio course, produced by Izzy and Noell at Paperclipping.com and featuring ME. The three of use have spent 7+ hours over the last month or so recording the newest iteration of the Photo Freedom message.

Nine years ago today, October 20th, my family (consisting of me, my husband, Geoff, our four sons and my mother and father) stood at the top of a set of escalators in the SeaTac Airport, near Seattle, Washington. We were waiting (anxiously) for our new baby daughter (sister and granddaughter) to arrive from Seoul, South Korea. Today is the day, it's GOTCHA Day! If you are an adoptive family, or you know one, then you likely know the emotion that is associated with remembering that day—that moment really—when a child is placed in your arms that you have never met, but in so many ways, have always known. It's hard to describe that first time that you hold this tiny person, the first time that you smell them, the first time that you know for 100% certain the two of you were meant to be. It's no more or less magical than giving birth, but it is a different kind of miracle, because there are so many other people involved in the process of bringing an adopted child to the life she did not choose, but will know for the rest of her life.Today, I'm particularly mindful of Addie's birth mother.

As I was working on the Deep Dive course with Noell and Izzy from Paperclipping.com, I had this thought: "Why don't I create a serious of blog posts that share some of the basic information for people that are eager to set up a Library of Memories (or LOM) system!" (Duh.) I've always had an online repository for this kind of basic info at Big Picture Classes in the archived Library of Memories classrooms and/or community, but now that that has changed, there really isn't a place where you can find this stuff, like links to essential products/tools, or downloads that are super helpful. There is so much that I'm eager to just give away, because I want to see people get started and be successful in organizing themselves in a way that will support inspired storytelling for themselves and their families. 

Last week, I was a guest on the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast with Tracy Banks. The host and producer of this scrapbooking audio show are Izzy and Noell Hyman and together we chatted about the topic of telling stories in our scrapbooks. Specifically, we were invited to share a recent page, and talk about the process of storytelling. Where do these ideas come from, what sparks them and how do we find the motivation to stop and tell them? Has the type of story we tend to scrapbook remained the same, or evolved/changed in any way since we began scrapbooking? These were the questions we were asked to think about before recording the show. 

To be honest, I haven't scrapbooked all summer, as my basement studio is still not finished. I have had the itch to scrapbook for sure, so the invitation to come on the show and talk was the very motivation I needed to clear a space and make a page. My favorite type of story to tell is a connection story—a story that draws on memories over time to help us discover and articulate change and/or growth in ourselves or those that we love. I'm not sure I'm in love with that definition but it will have to do for now. This post shares the scrapbook page and the story that I talked about on the show ...