The Bauer Hall of Fame
My house has an extended hallway leading from the kitchen to the master bedroom on the right, and to the family room on the left. There is also a small guest bath off that hallway, and the door leading to the backyard is at the end of the hall, right next to the closet where we store the vacuum. For lack of a better spot to put it, Jackson's kennel is right by the back door, along with the cat's food and water dishes, and the necessary litter box.
For years, it was just a long, boring hallway, with six doors leading to various places in and around the house. It didn't really matter, I suppose, because the hallway is mostly used by family, and an occasional guest in need of the bathroom. In recent years, though, the hallway has turned into the Bauer Hall of Fame.
Long before we moved into this house, I remember visiting a home with a similar hallway, lined with generations of family pictures. It was so much fun to look at the pictures, old and new, to see who looked like whom, and how people (and photography techniques) had changed over the years.
And so, our formerly featureless hallway has taken on a life of its own, displaying pictures of five generations of Vawsers and Bauers, and more recently, Stobels and Tylers. A couple of years ago, after Victoria and I repainted the hallway, Meagan helped me add some picture shelves, so it is easier to rearrange and add photos.
When we adopted Victoria, and then Levi, it became extremely important for them to feel like part of the family, from the very beginning. For this reason, we have always displayed their photos prominantly, along with our other family photos. We don't really have baby pictures for either of them, so their preschool pictures have taken on special significance.
The girls' graduation pictures hang on the wall, along with Bill's and mine. Not too long ago, we added a few wedding pictures, and four grandchildren's baby pictures, too. Our family just keeps on growing, so I will have to think about what to do when the Hall of Fame outgrows its space.
We have some photo albums up on the shelf in the family room, at least ten of them, beginning to show their age, just like the pictures inside. I should scan the best of them onto my computer and store them digitally, someplace safe. I have hundreds of photos saved on my phone and onto my computer already, where they will stay as long as I have a phone and computer. A lucky few have been printed and hung in the Hall of Fame.
But whatever will become of all these photos someday, when we no longer live in this house?
Photography has become so easy. Instant documentation has become the norm. It's fun to look at pictures and compare physical traits from one generation to the next, but photos don't really provide a complete picture of any person. An individual is much more than his or her appearance and accomplishments. Thankfully, the God who made us, knows each of us, inside and out, and loves us anyway. That's what really matters.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1a
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
For years, it was just a long, boring hallway, with six doors leading to various places in and around the house. It didn't really matter, I suppose, because the hallway is mostly used by family, and an occasional guest in need of the bathroom. In recent years, though, the hallway has turned into the Bauer Hall of Fame.
Long before we moved into this house, I remember visiting a home with a similar hallway, lined with generations of family pictures. It was so much fun to look at the pictures, old and new, to see who looked like whom, and how people (and photography techniques) had changed over the years.
And so, our formerly featureless hallway has taken on a life of its own, displaying pictures of five generations of Vawsers and Bauers, and more recently, Stobels and Tylers. A couple of years ago, after Victoria and I repainted the hallway, Meagan helped me add some picture shelves, so it is easier to rearrange and add photos.
The girls' graduation pictures hang on the wall, along with Bill's and mine. Not too long ago, we added a few wedding pictures, and four grandchildren's baby pictures, too. Our family just keeps on growing, so I will have to think about what to do when the Hall of Fame outgrows its space.
The grandkids love to look at the childhood pictures of their mom and aunts and uncle, and even pictures of Grandma and Grandpa when we were much younger. They are thrilled, too, to see their own pictures up on the wall.
We have some photo albums up on the shelf in the family room, at least ten of them, beginning to show their age, just like the pictures inside. I should scan the best of them onto my computer and store them digitally, someplace safe. I have hundreds of photos saved on my phone and onto my computer already, where they will stay as long as I have a phone and computer. A lucky few have been printed and hung in the Hall of Fame.
But whatever will become of all these photos someday, when we no longer live in this house?
Photography has become so easy. Instant documentation has become the norm. It's fun to look at pictures and compare physical traits from one generation to the next, but photos don't really provide a complete picture of any person. An individual is much more than his or her appearance and accomplishments. Thankfully, the God who made us, knows each of us, inside and out, and loves us anyway. That's what really matters.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1a
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
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