FOR PARENTS
By Kelly Gettys
In March of 2007 I decided to create a book about my parents’ first 20 years of marriage to give to them for Christmas! I had no idea what I was in for! I scanned in over 700 photos on my flat-bed scanner (groan) on weekends when they were out of town. So they had no idea this project was taking place. At this time the template gallery did not exist, so the book was created from scratch. And between scanning photos and creating pages, this project became known as my 9 month baby! All of my friends were so sick of hearing me talk about how I had to get my book finished. They just wanted me to be quiet or get it done! Christmas came and I couldn’t contain myself. It was killing me to know that the book was wrapped under the tree for my parents to open. I had them sit next to each other on the couch, and I gave them their gift. Tears started welling up in my eyes. (They probably wondered what in the world was wrong with me!) When they pulled the book out of its jacket and saw their wedding picture on the cover, I don’t think they realized what they had. As the pages began to turn, my mother began to cry and my Dad was speechless. Of course at this point I was in tears as well. My mother continued to cry all day—each time she thought about her gift. She knew how much time and love I put into it, which made it that much more special. They were amazed I was able to find the photos in their house without them knowing! Through the years I have had many special Christmas memories that I cherish, but this Christmas will always be remembered as the one where I gave the very best gift I could ever give anyone! Three more copies of the book have since been ordered: a copy for each child. A true treasure in each of our homes! Had I never heard about Heritage Makers, I never would have thought to do something like this for my parents. And I was able to accomplish two things: one was to provide a very special gift, and two was to have my parents’ photos stored someplace safe—on a computer. I am in the process of creating another book—all about my Dad and his life. And I have learned so many things I never knew about my father. I found out important family history that, were I not creating a book for him, I possibly would have never known. I just hope this project doesn’t take 9 months like the last one! With the wonderful template gallery I am sure it won’t!
FOR A PRINCIPAL
Jennifer Gray of Virginia made a 100 page 11×13 book for the principal of her children’s school as a retirement gift. She filled the book with letters from the students saying “thank you” and that they love her. The book was a hit. Mrs. Carter, the principle, received the book at the last school dance and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Jennifer’s son later told her that Mrs. Carter “gushed” over it during the morning announcements for five minutes, thanking the students for their “wonderful letters.” The teacher told Jennifer that Mrs. Carter carried it with her everywhere around the school. When Mrs. Carter spoke to Jennifer, she said the book was the nicest gift anyone had ever given her and she would treasure it always. Jennifer replied that it was worth it. Jennifer says of the experience, “It felt like 100 Christmas mornings wrapped into one moment, and I knew moments like these were why I do Heritage Makers.”
FIRST GRADE FIELD TRIP
By Christine Saurez
My daughter loves reading and has been reading fluently since the age of four. Her first grade teacher has each student write, illustrate and “publish” books in class. I wanted to take the idea a step further. I went on a field trip with her and took a bunch of pictures. I allowed her to “write” the story and use HM to create it. I helped her place the pictures and a few pieces of art. She learned how to use text boxes and choose fonts, as well as change the font size. I didn’t change the grammar or spelling because I wanted it to be hers. She read it to the class, and the kids loved seeing themselves in a REAL book!
THE GIRL’S GIFTS
By Mary Ann Rotchford
This [last Christmas] was a special Christmas for our family. I had just joined Heritage Makers in the summer of 2008 and did not do much with it at first. We were busy in the summer, and then fall time came to do canning, preserving etc. Around the end of October my daughters (ages 10 and 11) decided to start making books for our family and my daughter’s friend in Saskatchewan for Christmas. It was so exciting around here. We did all the books as surprise gifts for each other. Of course I knew. But the others had no idea. As soon as someone left to a friend’s or [to] work etc, we ran for the computer. When we heard them open the front door [coming home], I ran for the door while the other person shut the computer off and ran for a book to read, or [for an] other item we placed close at hand to look busy. I can honestly say the books each person received were the highlight of the morning. Each person read their book over and over again. Cory (our son who is currently working at CSR) was just amazed with his book. He kept asking questions like: Who wrote this for the girls? Who told them what to say? What pictures to put in? How did they do this? He couldn’t believe they did it on their own. He laughed at their humor and he had tears reading other parts. The same reaction came from their dad and older brother Shawn. I remember the roar of laughter when Shawn read the part about “bird, bird, bird is the word.” (Family inside joke.) When [the girls] opened each other’s gifts, there were squeals of delight to know that they too had a book from each other. There were many happy tears shed when each read their books. I’m sure we spent 20 – 30 minutes just going over the books again and again. In fact, after everyone had looked at Cory’s book he took it upstairs and placed it in his suitcase to take back with him. When asked why by his sisters, the reply was “So I can always have it with me and show it off to everyone at the ranch. I’ll be the only one with a gift like this!” Oh, did I say that my gift to our family was a yearbook? As we all went over it, we also laughed at the accomplishments and memories of good, funny and not so funny times. Karilynn also got a phone call from Becca and her mom in Saskatchewan thanking us again and again for such a beautiful keepsake. Thank you Heritage Makers for showing us that “YES WE CAN MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL THAT WILL LAST FOREVER” for our family. And age does not matter.
