Over the summer, while browsing through my Auburn University alumni magazine, I was surprised to learn that all 4,000 incoming freshmen are being encouraged to read a book together: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Wow. That’s a major book club, don’t you think?

It’s part of the Common Book program that more than 100 universities are starting to participate in. This reminds me of our own community’s Big Read last spring, when we all read To Kill a Mockingbird together. Can you see how a bookish person likes me gets excited about these types of programs?

So, I had Three Cups of Tea on my mind all summer, wondering what’s so great about it that an entire university would be reading it together. Sure, it was a #1 New Times Bestseller for months, but just because it’s selling millions of copies doesn’t mean I’m going to fall in love with it.

But I did. Oh … there is something rich between the covers of this book that reached the core of me. It’s changed the way I view the world. I hope you’ll get a chance to read it, if you haven’t yet. Especially if you’re a woman. Read it, and you’ll understand.

The story begins with Greg Mortenson’s failure to climb the K2 mountain in Pakistan, the second highest mountain in the world. He almost froze to death one night when the porter carrying his heavy backpacks disappeared far ahead. Greg wandered around lost for a while, and ended up in a village called Korphe.

While staying in this village a while to recover his strength, he was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the people. There were children everywhere, and when he asked the elders where these kids go to school, he got some sad looks.

He discovered dozens of children huddled together in the freezing cold scribbling their math equations into the dirt with sticks. From this point on, he vowed that he would someday return to this village and build them a school.

The book is a page turner. He goes from one hard time to another — living out of his car trying to scrape together his own meager living and keep his dream alive. He writes 300 letters on a rented typewriter until some kind soul shows him how to use the “cut and paste” option on a computer, and then he sends out 280 more. At last he finds a person willing to back him up financially so he can build that first school, Dr. Jean Hoerni.

The rest of the book recounts the trials and adventures Mortenson encounters as he builds that first school in Korphe — which leads to launching a whole organization, Central Asia Institute, dedicated to promoting world peace through education. He builds not only schools, but also relationships with people in the war-torn regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As you’re reading, you suddenly get the big picture that schools lead to educated minds who are less likely to be recruited by terrorists, and who are less likely to strap bombs to themselves and blow things up.

You realize books lead to peace. And so Mortenson’s mission becomes your own.

There’s now a Young Reader’s edition, which has full-color pictures and a simplified text. I think this would be a fantastic book for teachers or parents to read out loud. Students can also participate in the Pennies for Peace program.

The title of the book comes from the way in which the people in central Asia conduct business. Mortenson’s mentor, Haji Ali, teaches him:

The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die.

If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to watch this short interview with Greg Mortenson. You’ll be amazed. I can definitely understand why an entire campus will be reading and discussing this book together, and who knows how many new dreams will be launched from this shared experience.

(I’ve heard the story continues, with the 2009 published sequel, Stones into Schools.)

All photos are complements of Central Asia Institute.

Note:
I’m delighted to offer you an excerpt from author Peggy Nelson’s new book, Life with Lord Byron: Laughter, Romance and Lessons Learned From Golf’s Greatest Gentleman. Peggy is the widow of Byron Nelson, a champion golfer who still holds the world record for winning 18 PGA tournaments in 1945, including 11 in a row!

If you’d like to enter a drawing to win a FREE copy of Peggy Nelson’s book, please leave a comment below.
[Update: Congrats to holymama for winning this book!]

Byron showed his sensitivity to my feelings and moods in many ways, and of course one of the most critical was golf. Having been a teacher for more than fifty years by then, he realized women need to be treated differently, and he was always gentle in his suggestions as we played together during the first year of our marriage. However I was something of a special case. I just knew I could figure out this simple game all by myself, thank you. While I certainly respected his experience, when we were on the course, I was forever thinking about my score and would brook very little distraction while I was endeavoring to make a seven instead of an eight or nine. Silly, wasn’t it?

So, even though he made very few suggestions, within the first six months Byron saw there was a little problem. I would skull a chip across the green or chili-dip a pitch shot, and he would say, “Sweetheart, try that again with an eight iron this time.”

I would reply (minus the sweetheart), “No!” Or I would try what he had recommended, and if it didn’t work instantly, I would fling the offending club back into my bag and march on to the next hole without a word. I thought things were going swimmingly, but Lord Byron knew better.

One day in May 1987 I had just come home from Dallas where I had been working on a writing assignment for Scottish Rite Hospital. Byron met me at the door with the latest issue of Golf Digest magazine in his hand.

“Sweetheart, I just read this article called ‘How To Play Golf With Your Spouse,’ and I want you to read it. I underlined everything I’ve been doing wrong, and I’m going to change, because if I don’t change, you’re not going to want to play golf with me any more, and you may not even want to stay married to me!”

I melted, of course, as well as feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. There I was, balking at advice from the greatest golfer/teacher ever, and he’s taking all the blame for my frustration on the course. I took the magazine from his hands and sat down next to him. After a number of hugs and kisses and a few tears on my part, I read the article as he had instructed. Naturally the piece was not written for professional golfer husbands who had won five majors, fifty-four tournaments, eleven in a row, eighteen in a year, and taught other pros like Watson, Venturi, and Ward. No, it was designed more for the eighteen handicappers, who wouldn’t know “you looked up” from U.S. Open rough.

We talked about it a little bit and finally figured out that, as silly as it was, I preferred to play on my own when I was on the course, instead of thinking all the time that he was going to want me to try another club or re-do a shot. So from that moment on, he would only offer advice when I asked him during a round.

Oddly enough, that made it easier for me to ask, which I did a lot more often over the years. The result was that, even playing only once or twice a week, I went from a thirty to a sixteen. And let’s not think about how much better I could have been if I had sat at the feet of this master of golf and tried to learn all I could about the game. As he told me years later, he really wouldn’t have wanted me to get so gung-ho that I would be in single digits. He knew how much work that would take and felt it wouldn’t have made me happy anyway. Byron always felt the happiest golfers he knew were the 80-85 shooters, who made enough pars to keep them happy, an occasional birdie for an extra lift, and the occasional double bogey to keep them humble.

Tagging the Master
Oh, it was so much fun playing with him! Not only could Byron still play very well during the first several years of our marriage, but he seemed to get more kick out of my occasional ripping good shot than he did his own. One time we were playing at Riverhill in Kerrville. I was about a twenty-five, and he was about a ten. So we were on the ninth tee, a great, really tough par four, and the forward tees were only a few yards ahead of the whites. He hit an excellent drive, and for once I tagged one that rolled a few yards past his ball.

After rejoicing about my drive, Byron hit a pure little three-iron that ended up on the green about a foot away from the pin for a kick-in birdie. I, my brilliant drive notwithstanding, hit my three-wood amazingly fat and rolled it about thirty yards. Madder than a wet hen, I took out my four-iron, and thinking fairly murderous thoughts, swung blindly at that wretched white ball. Blinking in amazement I watched it sail up and straight onto the green, where it disappeared into the hole for a three. I got a stroke on the hole from Mr. Nelson that particular day!

You would think he’d be a little crestfallen after hitting two wonderful shots and getting an easy birdie but then getting beat by his floundering wife, thanks to that mysterious fiend known as “the rub of the green.” No, my champion absolutely whooped with joy over it and proudly told the story dozens of times afterwards to anyone who would listen. What a hero! “How to play golf with your spouse” indeed!

About the Author:
Peggy Nelson lived most of her life in Ohio, then moved to Texas in 1986 to marry world-renowned professional golfer Byron Nelson. She assisted Byron in the writing of his autobiography, How I Played the Game. Peggy delights in her many friends, in visits to and from her sons and their families, and in the thousands of happy memories she has of her life with her beloved Byron.

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love Peggy Nelson’s book, complements of Kathy Carlton Willis Communications. It would make a great gift for any golfers in your circle of family and friends. Leave a comment and you’ll have a chance to win a free copy, which also contains a CD interview, “Byron Nelson Remembers 1945: Golf’s Unforgettable Year.”

My five-year-old son finished preschool today and brought home his “All About Me” book. One of the pages concerned food, and the question asked, “What’s your mother’s favorite food?” He answered, “Salad and peanuts.”

Well, I guess I ought to explain, in case his teacher checks my blog! It’s cole slaw. I’ve become a fanatic lately about cole slaw, which is strange, because I’ve never been that crazy about it.

Most of the cole slaw you buy or see at pot luck suppers is dripping in mayonnaise — uh, no thanks. It’s just soggy cabbage to me, and not at all tasty. But here’s what I’ve discovered. My aging body has become less and less able to handle junk food. If I eat french fries, I feel exhausted an hour later. Same with chips, cookies, anything high carbish. Just can’t eat that way anymore.

These days, when I sit down to eat lunch with my kids, I make myself a huge bowl of this CRUNCHY ALMOND COLE SLAW that is the best stuff! So here I share my non-recipe with you — because really, you just toss a few things into a bowl.

Here’s what you need:

One bag of prewashed cole slaw — the purple and green cabbage is already slivered, and there are lots of sliced carrots in there too.

A jar of cole slaw dressing — the grocery store has it right next to the cole slaw. EASY!

Slivered almonds (or any kind of nuts that go well in a salad, like sunflower seeds)

Grape tomatoes, halved (you have to cut them in half so you make yourself feel special)

Pepper! (Lots of pepper! Freshly milled!)

Here’s the secret. You only use about a tablespoon of the slaw dressing. So that keeps the cabbage crispy. The carrots are so yummy this way — you forget that you’re eating a bowl full of raw vegetables. Mix all this together to taste, and sprinkle lots of pepper on. I love pepper — on just about everything. The freshly milled kind will get your tastebuds going.

If you’ve never been a cole slaw fan, try this. Especially if you’re addicted to eating something crunchy with your soup or sandwich at lunch. Instead of potato chips or french fries, try this cole slaw.

An hour after lunch, instead of feeling sleepy, you’ll have energy! This really works. (Especially if you don’t drink coffee or diet soda with your lunch — but that’s another blog post).

Thank you for reading this. I’m so sad about preschool ending that it made me feel better to come sit down and tap out something that may help someone else who’s struggling with energy and weight gain like me.

Love you!
Heather

I wonder how many of you feel like I do, like you’re trying to get back on track this week.

For me, that means taking a break from all those delicious baked goods I stuffed myself with during the holidays!

I’m heading back into my high-protein, low-carb “diet” for a few weeks. I hate the word diet because it’s really a lifestyle change that I want to stick with. I’ve stocked my refrigerator with yogurt and low-fat mozzarella string cheese — and I’m trying to satisfy my crunchy-salty cravings with nuts. Almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts … much healthier than all those chocolate chip cookies I plowed through during my December stress.

I’m hoping to resume exercising this week as well — gotta love that treadmill, always waiting patiently, reminding me I’ll have more energy if I walk even just ten minutes. Can’t I at least handle ten minutes?

Our Bible study starts back this week, even though I still have a couple more posts to write about our Beth Moore Daniel study, which we finished last month! Hopefully I’ll find time this week to catch up. I’m always thrilled to hear from those of you who write to tell me about your book clubs and Bible studies.

It’s exciting to see how God works in our lives when we women get together and discuss great books!

This week at our Bible study I was reminded more than ever how much I appreciate the friendships God has blessed me with. You know, when you’re surrounded by children all the time, you sometimes feel like a castle, with a moat all around you. It can be hard to reach outside the moat — yet we need friendships with other women just as much as any time in our lives. Maybe even more than ever.

It’s hard to write about this now, since I’m still in the midst of it, but someday I want to make a special effort to reach out to women with young children. People look at me and think I’m busy and happy raising my little family, and I’m very thankful for this time of life. But my soul is thirsty. In person, I find it very hard to move beyond “small talk.” Yet I crave depth in my friendships.

That’s what I really enjoy about this Bible study. The workbook and DVDs are tools that give us women a reason to get together and cut through the small talk — as soon as our workbooks are open, we’re digging deep, plowing through the jewels of scripture, and sharing our treasures with each other.

Our discussion this week focused on how our culture has changed through the years. In the homework, Beth asked us to write the names of the presidents who have served during our lifetime. (With a little help from Wikipedia), I wrote down:

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
George Bush, Sr. (1989-1993)
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
George W. Bush (2001-present)

Beth asked, “In your opinion, has American culture and its mores risen and fallen dramatically under the direct influence of each president?”

This question led to a lively discussion. We tried to steer clear of politics, but we could all definitely see a shift in our culture under certain presidents. But mainly, it’s the little things that change, bit by bit, until suddenly you see a big shift.

Beth explains, “Cultures are stronger than human leaders because they are dictated by masses and cultivated by time” and “they are influenced by unseen powers. Invisible principalities.” As we moved into discussing Babylon as portrayed in Revelation 17, I began to grasp how the powers of evil move behind the scenes — yet our God is going to win the last battle!

One girl in our group talked about how every day she is seeing little things she can do to take a stand for her faith. She mentioned how she was in a Wal-Mart recently and saw a display for a horrible, gruesome movie right next to the kids’ movies! She said, “Before this Bible study, I probably would have just turned away from that image, but instead I decided this was something I didn’t want to let go.” She went and talked to a manager about it! Who knows — if all of us can do something like this, we can take back our culture for good. [Edit: The Wal-Mart manager responded to her request and MOVED that disgusting poster! Victory!]

I shared how a few years ago, a friend of mine was complaining to her husband how graphic the magazine covers are at the checkout counter — especially the tabloids. So her husband talked to the manager of a grocery store in our area (Publix — YEA!), and they now cover these magazines up, so only the top of the magazine shows.

I was surprised to learn that “with the exception of Jerusalem, no other city is mentioned more than Babylon in the Bible.” Babylon is mentioned 290 times! It’s so interesting how the visions of Daniel compare to John’s visions in Revelation. I would never have made those comparisons on my own.

In the video this week, we studied Daniel 7, focusing on how God is called “The Ancient of Days.” Isn’t this scripture incredible:

I love these verses! They give me a concrete image I can share with my children when they ask me questions about God.

Do you know how many questions a 4-year-old can ask about God in a single day? Now when my son asks, “What does God look like?” I can say, “I don’t know for sure, but let me read to you what Daniel saw in a dream about God. Here’s what He looked like to Daniel.”

Exciting!

As a mom, I need my faith to be built so that I know what I believe, and I can pass this along to my children. It’s truly a privilege to be entrusted with the care of raising up children in my faith. There is no greater joy on earth!

Before she adopted her sons, she made several trips to Russia, walking the halls of the overcrowded orphanages and seeing the beautiful children in desperate need of “forever families.”

She recently sent me a letter from the director of TEAR, which stands for The Evangelistic Association of Russia. I was shocked to learn that there are over 2,000 orphanages in Russia, accommodating over 1.5 million children! “Sadly, current statistics suggest that 97% of all Russian orphans have no place to go upon graduation from the orphanage. Despite their efforts to avoid it, many orphans are recruited by the Russian mafia and enslaved in prostitution and drug trafficking.”

Why are there so many orphans? According to TEAR, the population in Russia is “declining at an alarming rate because working age adults are dying from alcoholism and a failed health care system.”

What TEAR hopes to do is to find 2,000 churches who would be willing to “adopt” an entire orphanage. The arm of this ministry is called ROCK, which stands for Reaching Orphan Children for the Kingdom. What will this require?

“The partnering church or (TEAR’s ROCK Partner), will then send short-term mission teams into the orphanage to minister to the children and adults that so desperately need God’s love and our help. The TEAR ministry will enable these teams by providing governmental approval, translation resources, visas, and logistics support.”

I went to Moscow on a short-term mission trip with my church in the early 90s. It was in January, and the weather was frigid, but the warmth of the people was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

We ate dinner one night in the home of a Russian family, who were so generous, they gave me a hardback poetry book right off their bookshelf. Even now, I still own that book, and it reminds me to pray for the Russians. When my mother visited Russia several years ago, she had a similar experience. A family gave her a painting right off their wall, which now hangs in her kitchen!

I don’t use my blog as a place to make general public service announcements, but I feel compelled to share this with you all, since I’ve seen first-hand TEAR at work through my personal, real-life friend. God even allowed our family the privilege of watching her eldest Russian son be baptized, after he shared that he wanted to invite Jesus to live in his heart.

Here is my question for you today: what are you doing to build up God’s kingdom that will last into the next generation? If you’re not directly influencing the life of a child, what are you DOING with your time that is of lasting importance?

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14).

Oh, this Bible Study keeps getting better every week. I’m absolutely amazed at how much we’re learning together. If anyone reading this knows Beth Moore personally, please give her a big hug from all of us preschool moms here in west Georgia.

I made it ON TIME this week to the study — actually, I was 15 minutes early! It was my turn to bring breakfast and help get the food table set up — hey, that works for getting me out the door earlier. I brought fruit, cheese, and cinnamon rolls — along with ruby red grapefruit juice. And of course I got the coffee brewing for us sleepyheads!

Our discussion focused on prayer this week, since we talked about what it was like for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to pray together, hoping they wouldn’t be cut to pieces by Nebuchadnezzar, who was freaking out in a big way about his nightmares. He got so angry he wanted to kill all the wise men in the kingdom.

I’d never thought about how the other three felt when Daniel woke up saying God had answered their prayers through his dream. Why did God choose the mind of Daniel instead of the others? We went around the room sharing experiences where we felt like God spoke through someone else with a message for us.

I was sitting next to this sweet lady who taught 2nd grade for 26 years before retiring, and she shared a story that blew me away. She said when she was in college, she was dating a boy who wasn’t a Christian. One night, she started to feel convicted about it, and she prayed about what to do. She said, “I REALLY liked this boy. I mean REALLY. I didn’t want to stop dating him. So I prayed to God about it. I asked God to show me in ‘black and white’ if He didn’t want me to date this boy anymore.”

The next morning, she walked to the lobby of the boys’ dormitory to see this guy, and while she was waiting she saw a newspaper sitting on a side table. The paper was flipped open to Billy Graham’s question-answer column. A girl had written in, “I’m dating a guy who’s not a Christian. What do you think I should do?” Billy Graham answered with great power and conviction!

Isn’t that timing incredible? This lady said it was just like God was speaking to her directly, through Billy Graham, and it was in BLACK AND WHITE. I love this story. How different her life would have been if she hadn’t prayed that prayer and been perceptive to God’s answers. They truly are all around us.

The video lesson focused on Daniel chapter 3. King Nebuchadnezzar had built a 90-foot golden statue and wanted everyone in the kingdom to bow down to it. This was as tall as an 8-story building. How weird! We can’t even imagine that in our culture.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Rack, Shack, and Benny for all you Veggie Tales parents) refused to bow to the statue, and they were thrown into the flaming furnace. The heat was so intense, the guards who threw them in were killed.

Now here is the really amazing part — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not burn when they were thrown into the hot furnace. They walked around unharmed, and there was a fourth “person” inside the furnace walking with them. Beth said the Hebrew translation implies this was a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, though some scholars believe it could have been the angel Gabriel.

At any rate, all that burned was the rope that tied up their hands. When the three emerged back out of the fire, not a hair on their heads was singed, and they didn’t even smell like smoke.

Beth taught the bulk of the study on how we go through all kinds of fiery trials. Referring to Daniel 3:3-18, there are three different scenarios that can happen when Christians face fiery trials:

1) We’ll be delivered from the fire, and our faith will be built.
Beth compared this to finding out a suspicious lump turned out to be benign, or after prayer, it was miraculously GONE.

2) We can be delivered through the fire, and our faith is refined.
Using the cancer analogy, Beth says this may be like the patient finding out the cancer needs treatment, such as chemotherapy. God brings many people safely through this fiery trial.

3) We can be delivered by the fire into His arms, and our faith is perfected.
What would have happened if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had burned to ashes? They would immediately have entered heaven, into the arms of Christ. This is what happens when a patient succumbs to disease; their faith becomes sight.

If we come through the fiery trial alive, will we smell like smoke? We will, if we insist on clinging to the past instead of moving forward and embracing the freedom that comes from Christ. Beth made the point that sometimes God will allow us to go through fiery trials so that our bonds can be burned — so that we’re set free.

The teaching was so powerful, yet several times during the video, we all laughed when Beth told a funny story. It feels great to laugh — most of us in the room live under so much stress with small children in the house! We love learning together — but it’s also great to just enjoy BEING together.

After the video, we prayed for each other. Always, I’m reminded of how much I have to be thankful for. There are so many people struggling through major illnesses, job changes, trouble with children … we really need the fellowship to pray for each other and build each other up.

I was thinking today about how this Bible study is kind of like a gym. You go to the gym to build up your muscles and increase your physical stamina. When you do this, endorphins are released that make you feel good — and your health is better.

With our Bible study, we’re coming together to build up our spirits, increase our knowledge of God’s Word, and increase our perseverance to head back out into the world as women of faith. It feels wonderful to get together — and we can’t be spiritual wimps if we’re going to survive in our modern-day cultural Babylon.

Each of us has our own sphere of influence. Most of us still have young children in the house, but some of the women in our group are grandmothers and are directly influencing two generations. Will we be wise women and use our toned-up spiritual muscles to help spread the Gospel? Because of this Daniel study, I know at least the women in THIS group will.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us women opportunities to get together to grow spiritually and learn more about your Word. Thank you for the legacy of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You saved them from the fire, and we know you’ll also refine us from whatever fiery trial we’re going through. Give us wisdom, Lord! Sometimes we feel so spent, as if we’ve given everything away. Only you can refresh our spirits. We praise you for your Word that knows no boundaries. Amen.

I want to thank the devotional writing team at Laced With Grace for honoring Mom 2 Mom Connection this week as their featured blog. That was very nice!

Since this is my last week of blogging for the summer, but maybe longer, this was very encouraging to me. (Thank you, sweet Iris!)

Our last guest of this blogging season is Tasra Dawson, an award-winning scrapbook artist, personal discovery coach, and author of Real Women Scrap.

I recently reviewed Tasra’s book for Christian Women Online and loved it. It’s one of the most INSPIRING books I’ve read all year. You cannot read her book without feeling rejunvenated!

Tasra Dawson is a mother of two who loves showing women how to use key elements in scrapbooking to create the lives and layouts they’ve always wanted. She’s also the founder of Real Women Scrap TV. An avid reader, runner, and scrapbooker, Tasra lives with her husband and two children in northern California.

Hi Tasra. We’re thrilled to have you share your insights with us here at Mom 2 Mom! Why do you think scrapbooking is a good activity for moms to get involved in?

Scrapbooking is so much more than pasting photos on paper and adding a few stickers to dress it up. It’s more than being crafty; it’s about tapping into our creativity … creativity that is often dormant and undiscovered in many women, wives, and moms.

Too often we spend our days on the mundane tasks of living, the ordinary, rather than the extraordinary. Scrapbooking opens up the door to taking the plain and making it something to talk about and remember.

In a recent blog post, I answered this question with three specific reasons. Here they are:

1. Preserving Memories: I don’t know about you, but my memory isn’t what it used to be. If I’ve scrapbooked the photos and memories, I can go back and relive the moments.

2. Creative Outlet: Having a creative outlet is a source of retreat for many busy moms. They can relax, yet feel productive and have a sense of accomplishment with the pages they complete.

3. Building Relationships: Scrapbooking allows us to reconnect with family members and show them how much we love them. After a tough day with our kids, sometimes scrapbooking is the one thing that reminds us of why we choose to go to work or stay at home. It can boost self-esteem, and they can read and look at their book and realize that things aren’t so bad.

Do you have any suggestions of easy ways for moms to get back into scrapbooking if we’re … um … say, a few years behind?

Of course I do. The first thing you need to do is watch the Real Women Scrap TV episode about organizing your photos. Getting those photos organized is the first step and doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

The Real Women Scrap TV episode walks you through the process and recommends the best and easiest products to use to make it happen. You can view it online for free here.

Once you have your photos organized, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start with a simple project. Maybe it’s a small album or an ABC book that will help you get started and back in the creative groove.

The key is to enjoy the process and the product, and not allow this to be one more area that guilt takes over and robs you of the joy that scrapbooking is meant to be.

What are the long-term benefits of preserving our family’s memories through scrapboooking?

So much of motherhood involves things that are recurring: laundry, dishes, wiping noses, changing diapers. Scrapbooking and finishing a layout or scrapbook provides a sense of accomplishment because it’s something we can finish and know that we are leaving a legacy for future generations.

Most women are overcommitted and overwhelmed. We’ll never “find” time to do things that are important to us; we have to make choices about living intentionally and planning our lives so that we can do the things that fill us up in order to continue giving to those we love.

Do you know any mothers who scrapbook with their children? How do they help make this happen?

Keep it simple.

I think it’s important for mother and child to each have their own projects and let their own creative energy go to work. One thing I find is that I have to let my daughter be who she is and that means letting the paper be a little crooked or the pages be a little too busy for my taste.

But the point of scrapbooking is that it’s your personal mark or unique fingerprint on an event or person. So, my suggestion for moms is to create the space, time, and opportunity and then create together but separately.

How can we apply the techniques we learn in scrapbooking toward creating a richer, more fuller life? Can you tell us some of your personal story of what led you into writing your book?

There is an uncanny connection between scrapbooking and life, and it surprised me when I discovered it. I never would have recognized the similarity unless I had finally slowed down long enough to hear God’s whispers from the scrapbook page.

The first chapter of Real Women Scrap talks about how my life had spiraled out of control and I finally ended up in the hospital with doctor’s orders to rest for two weeks. It was during that two weeks that I let myself relax and get creative again.

Those moments of rest and silence taught me about boundaries, simplicity, focus, and comparison. As I looked more closely at my scrapbook pages and projects, I realized that the answers had been before me the entire time; I just hadn’t seen them. Each chapter in my book is a different life lesson that we can all learn from the page.

What kinds of things do you have going on over at your blog?

This month is National Photo Month, so I’m going to continue giving tips and ideas for how to improve, organize, and embellish our photos.

I’ll even be talking about the importance of keeping yourself in the picture. We’ve always got contests, challenges, tips, ideas, and inspiration, not to mention the weekly episodes of Real Women Scrap TV.

It’s fun, practical, and full of great resources. We’d love to have you join us!

Thank you so much for stopping in here, Tasra! I’m inspired to start organizing my photos and working on some simple scrapbooks this summer. You’re an encouragement to us all!

You can learn more about Tasra Dawson’s scrapbooking enthusiasm at her website, Real Women Scrap, as well as her blog, Lessons from the Scrapbook Page.

Mary DeMuth tagged me for a blog meme, 8 Random Facts About Me. Hey, you’ll have to go check out her list and see the cover of her mom’s devotional book in KOREAN! Mary, I hope your dream will come true of leading praise & worship someday — you should do it!

Here’s how you play:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

OK, here goes:

1. My favorite snack is this Atkins’ Protein Bar. It tastes like a chocolate candy bar — yet it’s got enough protein to prevent that sugar high-low thing that makes me crash.

2. We have six chickens right now. I could seriously spend all day watching our chickens peck around the backyard. They’re so much fun to watch! Our two-year-old daughter calls them “chich-ens.” And she runs around trying to “catch the chich-ens.” She caught one yesterday and sat down and petted it for about half an hour. Poor chicken!

3. I want to go to Venice someday. I have several paintings of Venice on the walls of my house. I love looking at the canals and boats — I dream of gliding along in a gondola someday with my husband.

4. I’m reading Caddie Woodlawn out loud to my daughters right now, another Newbery winner that I missed reading growing up. It’s by Carol Ryrie Brink, who wrote about her grandmother’s childhood growing up in late 19th-century Wisconsin, told from a first-person point of view. It’s great!

5. I went to the same high school as the actress, Julia Roberts, who was two grades ahead of me. We did NOT have a drama program at our high school — but she was good at making political speeches for school elections.

6. I have trouble motivating myself to exercise, so I’m keeping track of how many miles I walk/jog on the treadmill. I’ve figured out it’s 268 miles to reach one of my favorite beaches (Tybee Island), so I subtract from that number every time I treadmill. My goal was to walk to Tybee by the end of May — then I’d fit into my old bathing suit — HA! It’s looking like I might get there by September, when pool season will be over and I can once again hide in my sweatpants.

7. I just finished reading Tracey Bateman’s novel, Catch a Rising Star, book one in her Drama Queens series. It was funny! If you like to watch soap operas, you’ll love this one.

8. I spent a summer driving a delivery truck in Lake Tahoe, California. I worked in a copy shop and had to deliever flyers and marketing materials to Caesar’s Tahoe. Lake Tahoe has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

That’s my eight. Now I’m supposed to tag eight of you. Hmmm … if you’re interested in this meme, consider yourself tagged — and let us know you’ve blogged it!