Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER:

I do not read every book/author I spotlight or book tour I host!
Readers, Please research and use wisdom before buying

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

#TuesdayTreasures with Kathleen Neely

Good Morning!

Today's guest has shared treasures with us, been in our spotlight and shared thoughts with us twice so please welcome Kathleen Neely back once again with something she treasures....

Joy in the Journey

I was married in 1972, and raised three sons in the age before digital photography. That explains why I have photo albums with clear pages that contain years of photographs, sticky pages that loosen if you peel them back to rearrange the photos. Before digital photography, we took rolls of film to the pharmacy to have pictures sent away to be developed. No one-hour pick up. There was no option to peek and select the best of the roll. The result of that is multiple photos of the same pose, just to ensure that we’d get a good one. I never could bring myself to discard photos, so the extras ended up in a box, often with the negatives in an envelope, just in case.

Then came digital photography. The advent of photo books. No more sticky pages with pictures falling out. The first one that I created was my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding pictures. I knew that I wanted the same beautiful tribute to the years of raising my sons. The problem was, I had no digital photos. I had a disorganized mess of a dozen haphazard books and two boxes of jumbled pictures.

My sister and I set ourselves to the enormous task of creating three photo books, one for each of my sons. The book would highlight their lives from birth to adulthood. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. We spread photos over a long table and began sorting, selecting, scanning, and downloading. Then we set ourselves to the task of creating.

Another wonderful perk a photo book is the opportunity for creativity—adding quotes, embellishments, borders. I scanned and included newspaper birth announcements, scriptures, and some snippets of things they had written.

The joy of creating the books was topped by their pleasure when they opened them at Christmas. This little story contains so many things that I cherish. The years of memories when my boys were young, the time spent with my sister working and reminiscing, the fun creating, and the joy of giving. At the onset, the project felt overwhelming, but the journey became my treasure.

How precious, Kathleen! I've got a ton of photos that need to be in albums and a ton more on computer, phone and CD's that need to be printed and put in albums. I think we can all agree pictures are something to treasure. Thanks for sharing.

 Kathleen Neely is the author of The Street Singer, Beauty for Ashes (4-26-19), and The Least of These (5-30-19).  She is a former elementary teacher. Following her years in the classroom, she moved into administration, serving as an elementary principal. Kathleen is an alumnus of Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and Regent University in Virginia. She held certifications in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Principal. As a long-time member of the Association of Christian Schools International, she attended numerous leadership conferences. In addition to teaching children, Kathleen taught staff development workshops and led forums for teachers.


Among her writing accomplishments, Kathleen won second place in a short story contest through ACFW-VA for her short story “The Missing Piece” and an honorable mention for her story “The Dance”. Both were published in a Christmas anthology. Her novel, The Least of These, was awarded first place in the 2015 Fresh Voices contest through Almost an Author. She has numerous devotions published through Christian Devotions. She continues to speak to students about writing. Kathleen is a member of Association of Christian Fiction Writers.
 
She resides in Greenville, SC with her husband, two cats, and one dog. She enjoys time with family, visiting her two grandsons, traveling, and reading.

Website – www.KathleenNeely.com
Facebook – www.facebook.com/kathy.neely.98
Twitter - https://twitter.com/NeelyKneely3628



The Street Singer is available at:
PBG

Beauty for Ashes will be released on April 26th. Watch for the presale coming soon. 




Hope you enjoyed today's post friends and that you'll drop by often to see who's sharing what!

Until next time take care and God bless.
PamT

7 comments:

kaybee said...

Kathy, what a precious post. I also have hundreds of photos from the pre-digital age -- my own, and I inherited my parents' archives when they died. I am in the long-term and tedious process of scanning them in, but it brings me such joy to handle a faded black-and-white of someone who has gone before. You are right, the process is as rewarding as the product.
Kathy Bailey

Diane Burton said...

Kathleen, you & I were married the same year. At first, I was diligent about putting photos in albums...until my kids were ending high school. Now I have tubs (and not little tubs, either) of photos. Thank goodness for digital photos. The only space they take up in on my phone or computer. What a lovely time you & your sister had going through those old photos. What a treasure for your children.

Barbara M. Britton said...

Hi Kathleen,

I was so good at making picture books when my boys were young, but now with digital pictures, the pictures get lost in the tech world.
I loved "The Street Singer."

Jacqueline Seewald said...

I also put together many family photo albums. But since digital has arrived I receive precious hard copy photos of grandchildren. I make my own from the digitals.

Kathleen, congrats on the success of your writing endeavors!

Erin Lorence said...

Loved your post. Brought back good memories! Congrats on all yours successes.

SPOT Coupons said...

Real Time Offer: It is an innovative solution which optimizes real time offers while enabling the organization to extract the customer´s untapped business potential via any relevant channel including the internet, mobile devices, interaction centers and so on.

Erin Unger said...

I too have tons of loose pictures. But years ago I made every one of my kids their own albums to cherish as they grew up. I'm so glad I took the time to do it.