Scrapbooks

I've occasionally cut and pasted and labeled scrapbooks of trip pictures, and it can be a messy, unsatisfying job (especially the labels - even my very best printing isn't exactly quality calligraphy.)

So it's a treat to put together a digital photo album, then get back a finished product that looks like a real book! Earlier this year, I made one as celebration of 20 years of partner church history, as a gift for the minister emeritus who was responsible for our becoming a partner congregation at the very beginning of the program.

Inspired by that project, I then made a smaller book with photos from a trip two years ago, as a gift for our Dutch hosts, and took it to them this fall, when Nancy and I again visited Holland.

Later on that same trip, we helped celebrate another friend's 80th birthday, and a book seemed the perfect gift. On the night of the party, I switched off the flash on my small camera, and circulated through the party snapping away, hoping for a good candid shot of every guest.

Nancy and I put together the book soon after coming home, and last week it went off to Dordrecht. Today we got an ecstatic e-mail thank-you, more than enough reward for our effort.

Birthdays should be celebrated!