"One Faith-One Family" Album for Father's Day

My sister Joella and her daughter came up with an idea for Mother's Day that we decided to split into two for Mother's Day and Father's Day. The cousins made an album for my mother of all the favorite hymns of each one in the immediate and extended family (at least as many as possible!), and for Dad we made an album of each one's favorite Bible verses plus special memories.
Here are Crystal and Danny working on some of our family's pages.

The cousins decided to title the Bible verse and memory album thus.

Here are the opening pages. I made one of them, and someone came up with the good one on the left!

My children helped me copy Bible verses and decorate pages for several of the clan.

Mom thoroughly enjoyed her "favorite hymns or songs" album, including the favorite chorus of a great-granddaughter which was, "The Devil is a Sly Old Fox." My favorite was "His Eye is on the Sparrow," and someone else's favorite was "The Holy City." If the song was too big to fit on a page, the cousins just copied the lyrics rather than the whole piece of music. Then they decorated each page with scrapbooking decorations. 

For Dad's, we did some of thepages a little differently, finding pictures to illustrate the verse if possible.

Evan's favorite Bible verse was a whole parable--about the rich man who decided to build bigger barns instead of sharing his goods, with the reminder to lay up treasure in heaven and be rich toward God rather than toward our bank account.

Some of the verses we decorated with photos that Danny or Hannah had taken themselves,

such as this picture of eggs in a nest, for Psalm 91:1,

and I tried to have the children note who had copied the verse.

My dad was thrilled with this gift, and it was really fun making it.

We knew he and Mom would rather have a collection of what means the most to them--

God's Word and how it has been affecting their children and grandchildren--rather than more knick-knacks to clutter their house!

Some of us siblings wrote, typed, emailed, or otherwise sent in memories of when we got our first Bibles. Dorcas and I were given small, zippered children's Bibles when we were small. Mine was for learning to read at age 6, and I loved taking that pretty black Bible to church. It had shiny full-color pictures in it of some of the best known Bible characters in it. Others of my siblings got their first Bibles when my parents found several student Bibles at a yard sale as we probably could not afford brand new Bibles.

You can click on this picture to make it bigger. 

The above page of memories tells about this church (I got a picture of it off of google) where our family attended several years and where four of my siblings went forward to pray in one revival service with the Bloom sisters.

There were other memories, too, about the little prizes my dad would get us children as incentives for memorizing Psalm 34 or other Scripture portions when we were still quite young and living in South Dakota.

One sister remembered how there were many peaches to can right during campmeeting time in PA.

My dad sent the rest of us to camp while he stayed home and canned 70 quarts of peaches all by himself.

I can hardly wait to visit my folks again so I can see the finished product. It was a really special way to share with grandparents some of the things that have mattered the most to them and us--

Scriptures to guide us and songs to encourage and comfort us,

and memories that continue to bless us. 

My sister Joella said, "So often people wait until death to give their flowers to loved ones.

Why don't we give our parents 'flowers' while they are still alive?"

I agree. 

My parents aren't wanting a fancy funeral.

But it would mean the world to them if all of their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren make it to heaven

and love God's Word 

and continue the tradition of making beautiful music while still here on earth!