Hey there friends!

Whether you grew up in a small town like I did or in a larger city, you probably remember how many of your parents and the parents of your friends served as volunteers.

In fact, many of the activities that shaped my life wouldn’t have been possible if someone’s mom or dad hadn’t taken time out of their busy schedules to be a Girl Scout leader or lead a Wednesday night church group.

In this issue I’ve pulled an excerpt from my book that guides you to recall how your parents served their community. I bet you’ve all got some great stories to pull from those memories and record for your children and grandchildren. Those are special legacies that need to be remembered and shared.

Don’t miss seeing the photo I used for this excerpt. My mom is right in the middle of the photo that was taken at some sort of Girl Scout campfire ceremony in 1962. From other photos taken at the same time, I think it was a pinning ceremony. Mom is the beauty in the middle wearing the stylish turquoise capris and a white blouse.

Did you grab the Digital Photo Log spreadsheet I shared with you last week? If not, scroll on down and you’ll find the link again.

Happy weekend!

(Enjoy this excerpt from The Simple Guide to Writing Family Stories.)

I went back to my hometown for a class reunion and spoke for a few minutes to one of my classmates, sharing memories of growing up in our hometown. His older sisters were in the same Girl Scout troop as my older sister. As we spoke, I began to remember that my mom was actually their troop leader.

My mom’s time as a Girl Scout troop leader was so much fun for me even though I wasn’t old enough to be a scout yet. I tagged along to all sorts of gatherings with her and the older girls and even spent some time at Girl Scout day camp. It’s no surprise that as soon as I was old enough I became a Brownie Scout and later a Girl Scout myself. But what I’m most proud of is that she served her community in this position.

STORY SPARK

Write a story about how your family served your city or faith community when you were a child. How did their service affect your own participation or volunteer work when you grew up? What impact do you think their service had on your community?

ENHANCE YOUR STORY

I hope you have some photos or home movies that tell the story of your family’s volunteerism. If not, look for some memorabilia to add to this story. Don’t forget about your fathers and grandfathers. Many of them were members of organizations like the Lion’s Club or Rotary that were good for networking but also performed community service.

Did you miss this free resource?

I’ve been giving you guidance on finding and organizing your digital photo files. But, it’s not enough to just organize on your own computer and/or in a cloud storage location. You need to make sure that both you, your current family, and future generations can easily find those photos in the future.

To help with that, I’ve created a photo log spreadsheet for you in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. I’ve kept the spreadsheet pretty basic for now and hope that you will expand it to meet your own needs. Click the button below to go to my website and download a copy of the version you need.

Important: If you choose to use the Google Sheets version, you will be given the instruction to "Copy document" when you click choose that version. Then you'll be prompted to open up your Gmail account. The Excel version is just a simple download of an Excel file.

Hey Ebook Builders! This week we’re focusing on Step 8 in the Build An Ebook series - Create a Table of Contents.

With guiding your reader through your ebook as a top priority, you’ll be able to not only decide whether a Table of Contents is needed but you’ll also create one that makes navigating your ebook a breeze. Click the button to read more.

Available on Amazon for Kindle and as a paperback.

Things that delight and inspire me this week ✨

I’m delighted this week by how, even though summer is winding down, nature still gives us beauty. In the photo below I combined a blue feather from one of my backyard blue jays or perhaps a bluebird, a gold leaf that fluttered down while I was picking up the feather, and one of my beloved zinnias.

I’ve got another great book recommendation for you this week, but this time it is focused on nature photography and wise words - not scandal and an accidental death (murder?). Check out Stephen Proctor’s “Wild Wonder: What Nature Teaches Us About Slowing Down and Living Well.” I got my copy this week and it’s gorgeous.This book truly inspires me to slow down and enjoy God’s beautiful creation.

✨What is inspiring and delighting you these days?

#delightedandinspired

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