Mission Complete!

I undertook the project of scrapbooking my daughter Lindsey's mission to London England. I've loved scrapbooking long before it had the name scrapbooking...you could say--by looking at the scrapbooking corner of my house--that I am an excessive scrapbooker!

...I think I've been cured.

Seriously.

I never dreamed how hard it would be to scrapbook her mission. I was like an obsessive missionary mom--digging for every scrap of "evidence" I could get on her mission. I had no, and I mean NO concept of where this scrapbook was leading me when I began. I had to wait a couple of months for pictures to come in past their time, and I don't know why my brain couldn't comprehend that there would be ALOT of pictures of her mission. I was just so very very excited for the pictures when they came! I wanted all of them! She was a wonderfully complying daughter to get so many awesome pictures for me! (Thank-goodness for slideshows, because there is no way to scrapbook ALL the pictures from her mission--but I think I mistakenly tried in the beginning!)
After a while, like 60 or so pages into this project, and realizing I was only up to the 6 month mark of her mission, I started to get a little panicky! I had started out with a regular 12x12 scrapbook, only to very quickly find there was no way I could get all her pictures in that. I happened to see this really cool binder-scrapbook at Walmart--as soon as I saw it I wanted it for her mission pictures--but it was TWENTY FIVE dollars! No way!
...BUT--I take it as a huge blessing when a couple months later they still had stacks of them and had marked them down to $15. That was more do-able and I was so grateful for it. Still...I was worried that I might not be able to get her whole mission in ONE book!
On top of that, it was turning out to take a whole lot more time than I expected. I had to try and figure out by dates and from her emails and letters what was going on in the pics and who was who, cause it wasn't exactly like I could call her up and ask her or anything! So, it took a lot of detective work. Tons of time ordering the pics, then sorting them after I got them into categories and how many would fit each page, and matching the papers for the 2 pages that would show together when you open the book. Then printing out parts of her emails--with the date--for journaling...then trying to find graphics to match! These were often printed out and cut out, because there just weren't many missionary-themed scrapbooking supplies---at least not that were in my budget. I don't even want to think what I spent just getting pictures printed, because believe me---there are a lot of pictures in this book. (luckily it was spread out over a year or more so it didn't hit me all at once in the budget book.)
Tonight---I finally finished the project!! I honestly thought I would NEVER be done with it. I know there are probably still mistakes in it--but I am dead-worn out on this project and I soooo needed to just blog about this and get it out of my system! The fact that I'm done! There is nothing whatsoever to brag about in the accomplishment of this book, because no decent minded scrapbooker would make a book containing 124 pages! Yep, that's what I said. 62 protector sheets with 2 pages each---did I mention 12x12 size?! Do you know what that thing weighs??? I'll tell you! 12 lbs 8 oz!! I'm pretty sure she's not going to like me much after lugging that thing around for a while. It's painful just to hold it on your lap! Sheesh! (luckily it has a good sturdy handle on it!)

...did I mention I'm done?!!

All I really want is just a pat on the back that I actually followed through and finished it! But how could I not finish it?! (she finished her mission, I could at least finish her book!) Oh, and did I mention the other stack of notebooks I made to contain her letters? I thought one big binder ought to do it...but no, we're talking 3 big binders. And a container to put stuff in that won't go in the binder, and still other stuff. Wow. But yeah, who was the obsessive Missionary Mom who started printing out her email letters, too....yikes! I had no idea how many that would turn out to be and what hard work that would be. But it's all there--history for my posterity!

...did I mention I'm done?!!!

Here's a few pics if you don't believe me...

Yep, you can see from my corner I'm an overly obsessive scrapbooker....


Oh here...let me give you a closer look just so you can get a better idea of the thickness of this book....

And then there's the binders I mentioned.... (oh how she's gonna love me when she gets to move this stuff each time she moves and find a place for it!)
Did I mention I'm done?!!!
Now, I just gotta clean up the big mess I made---but I should probably ought to go to bed first.

...I'm thinking of retiring from my scrapbooking job.
....'cept my kids don't like it when I say that. shhhh!