Amongst a pile of hundreds of dollars in scrap-booking supplies I have hardly even begun to compile all the thousand's of image's I have collected over the past ten years. They are not just image's, they are sacred memories of pieces of my life, the lives of my children and my loves. I cherish my photos, I cherish them so much that I back them up on CD's, internet photo storage all so I make sure I never lose those cherished memories I have been able to capture along the way.

There is nothing like visiting grandparents, an aunt or other family member and pulling out old photos and reliving, remembering a life that is gone away. The photos that made you laugh or made you cry. The photos that captures the moments you were proud, happy and silly! Photos are one of my favorite ways to revisit memories I have made with my family.

Memories are not just made in photos how ever, we all have a heart stocked full of them. They are often triggered by a song, a road you travel, a trip you take or a conversation you partake in. Not all memories are great, we make a choice to move on from old memories, that's right a choice. We all remember things that make us sad, that we run from, that seemingly haunt the walls of our minds. I chose to let those things go in exchange for much more fullfilling memories. Life is full of "do-overs", one of the best things in life is God allows us "do-overs" every new morning we wake up and even in the middle of the day if things are going less than desired. It excites and terrifies me at the same time to know that I hold the reigns of the next generation of parents, and grandparents.

One of my favorite things to do with my children are things that I remember that made me happy when I was a child. Why? There is just a nostalgic spirit that comes over me seeing my childrens faces light up visiting a place a visited with my parents when I was young, or passing down a lesson learned from when I was a child. We have the ability to change the future as parents. Our children will carry with them all the time we did or didn't spend with them while growing up, the will remember the morals and lessons we taught them. They will more than likely teach their children the same way we taught them, whether consiensley or sub-consiensley.

The future, our children will gauge the importance of spending time with their children with the amount of time we have spent with them. Thinking about this will make you think about change. I will have a lot less to do by the time my children are grown and gone, my training years will be over. I then will sit back and watch my work unfold. Can you imagine the devestation of watching your children being pushed aside for the sake of good jobs, good cars and fine home? All too often I play witness to parents trying to give their children what they didn't have growing up. Just exactly what is it that you wanted so bad when you were a child? A nice home to invite your friends over to so you could be the kid in your group with the nicest home, or maybe when you were a child you wish your parents had a cooler car to drop you off at school in. Maybe you didn't grow up wearing name brand clothes and shoes and you will not put your children through that devestation. I can remember wanting a few of those things when I was a child, but looking back, more importantly I just wanted my parents attention. Whenever I did not have it, I showed out to get it! Most of us do want better for our children than what we had, others think; "if it was good enough for me and my brother, it's good enough for you". There is no right or wrong answer to this, it is simply how you go about it. Are you sacrificing memories with your children for the sake of a material life? Start making new memories today, new traditions that you can pass down to your next generation.

The art of memory making starts in your own heart. It can happen when you least expect it, or it can be carefully planned. Remind yourself and your family of the times that made you smile, laugh and melted your heart! Then hopefully the future will remember them as well.