Our chains may stretch a little sometimes, but they never break.

Lately I've become nostalgic for my family that lives far away.
I have a large family  K'H and a huge extended family.
(One day I will make an effort to take pictures with each of  my neices and nephews etc, and make layouts galore.)
It's not easy to keep up with everyone.
We live in different parts of the globe.
Isreal, Australia, Canada and more.
We are fortunate to live in this generation, though.
Technology has significantly changed how we connect with each other.
"A'int no mountain high enough to keep me from gettin to you..." is not such an impressive statement anymore.
We 'see' each other on Skype whenever would like.
We speak to each other across continents like we are talking to our neighbors.
It took the generation before us a little bit of time to grasp the fact that long distance fees no longer apply.
The paradox of it all is now we don't have enough time to spend connecting
Too much technology, taking up more time, to do things more quickly than before!.
So I do it the way I know best.
I spend time creating.
Quality time.
Almost like meditating about myself and this person.
In my heart I feel close to whomever I'm concentrating on.

I hope my sister's other children won't feel slighted that I chose this nephew to scrap about.
I love them all.
But I especially love this one.
I think about him more than he knows.
I was so lucky to be in New York at the same time as he was.
Some time after that we actually visited with him and his family in Italy.
What a great experience that was.
To our great disappointment the weather was horrible.
But staying by Mendy and Chanchi was worth every cold rainy second.
I feel as comfortable with them as I am with my own children...
This next layout is one of their first 3 children.
It's a scraplift from one of my scrapbooking magazines.
I don't know these children at all.
But I love them anyway.
Because they belong to my very delightful  nephew and neice.
This is a wonderful layout to copy.
Easy and fun.
Anyone can do this.
Practice writing between the stems.
Use any color combination you like.
A black and white picture is effective here.
But you can do it any way you like.

There are friends that I consider my family.
Some of my children's friends have become mine too.
The first time I met Rina, Rochelle's friend, I fell in love with her.
Ane now she is my friend too.
I wait every year for Pesach.
Not only for my family to be together.
But for my 'extended' family.... Rina and Moshe...

Note to my nephew and neices (or anyone who wants one): if you send me a picture that you have of us together, no matter how old it is, I will be happy make a beautiful, meaningful layout.

Like this one....

This layout was created 6 years ago.

WOW.

Time does fly...

But for the moment I look at it, time does stand still.

And that makes it worth it for me.

And it will do that for you too.

Go for it.

Noone has to see it.

You can show it 6 years later too!