Encyclopedia of Your Ordinary Life - F

A few years ago I had the opportunity to complete this extraordinary scrapbook album designed by CathyZ and based on the book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal. While I still haven't read the book, I love the concept of this album - a random sampling of those ordinary facts about your life [my life.] The homework involves keeping a list, A to Z, of random memories for several weeks and then gathering photos [or not] to support these memories. Love it. The album is really very simple [a la Cathy Z] and easy to put together with only two square photos per page and two to four 'definitions.' Have I said I love this album? And I want to share some of my life with you so I've committed to do just that in 2009 [keep in mind this was completed during the summer of 2007.] I'm going backwards and today I present:F

FOUR LEAF CLOVERS
Good luck? Assurance? Genetic? Mutant? Joe was always able to find them easily and I begin having this ‘gift’ in my teens – the ability to just randomly glance down and pluck a four-leaf clover up without a search. Matt has done it since his pre-teens [the photo shows Matt with some he found at a rest stop in North Carolina.] Mutant clovers have grown in the yards of several of the houses where I’ve lived [Joe and I would let them grow extra big before cutting them] – Lewis Street, Circle Drive, Clovis Road, and now Louis Drive. My most recent find – without searching – was May ’07 when I was dealing with some medical issues – I was out near my garden, where I’ve been many times before and glanced down and there it was. I took it as God’s assurance that He is always with me – just as four leaf clovers seem to be a constant in my life as well.

FIREFLIES
Lightening Bugs. Little lights of summer. [Couldn’t resist this cute photo that shows my love of other bugs as well!] When I was younger I would catch them in canning jars with my cousins. We would take them to bed with us in the ‘back bedroom’ [there were only two…] Imagine 5 -10 kids, all with glass jars of fireflies, giggling and “trying” to go to sleep? Good times.

FAITH
Our faith is such an important part of our lives. Our basic belief is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to live on earth and die for the sins of the world [the final sacrifice] but there’s so much more than that – we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – a triune God who created man to commune with and glorify Him. When we accept the gift of salvation we have eternal life, and so much joy! A God who will never leave us or forsake us – and peace that surpasses all human understanding.