Family Photos: Visual Aids of Loyalty

I'm a visual learner. Most of the population is. No wonder I like to surround myself with family photos. As I sit at my computer, I look up at a wall of photos that has grown higher and wider through the years. These pictures and many more like them are sprinkled throughout our house because family photos are visual aids of loyaltly and commitment. You know how good you feel if you walk into someone's house and see your picture displayed on their refrigerator door or in a frame on a shelf? That's how kids feel when they see their pictures around the house.

Our kids grew up seeing pictures of themselves with their arms around each other in front of the Christmas tree, jumping into swimming pools during summer vacation, and playing sports afer sports. These pictures have been magnetized to the refrigerator door and stuck in frames on the kitchen counters, window-sills, shelves, and walls all over the house. I know the minimalist look is in (less is more; unclusttered is best), and I've tried to clean up my photo act, but photos matter to me. In addition to what is seen, I've got hundreds more stashed in drawers and bulging photo albums, and more recently, saved inside the computer. I'm probably a photo junkie.

Family photos fill our hearts with messages of love and loyalty. They refresh our good memories. We take pictures of happy times...family milestones and celebrations. The Kodak (or Nikon) moments of our lives. And the more we see these pictures, the more those reminders fill us up.

Christmas cards matter in the same way in our family. I'm motivated to keep taking and sending unique family-photo greeting cards each year beacause each year's card shows how my children have grown. They can become costly, and I'm sure many people on my card list just throw them away; however, I love them and will continue creating our cards each year.

From where I'm sitting I can see two of my favorite photos. One is me holding my daughter when she was nine months old. We were both dressed in white and looking like angels. Yes, I have certainly gotten older...but so has Brittany. I love that picture. The second is one of my baby boy, Tyler. He is six months old, lying in a bassinet. He has on a beautiful white jumper-like outfit, but the smile on his face is even more beautiful. I am truly blessed to have these children who are growing up more quickly than I would like, but this is why family photos are so important to me. This is my loyalty and committment!