Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of photographs, printed media and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks. The idea of keeping printed materials of personal interest probably dates to shortly after the invention of printing. This trend is probably similar for photographs. Historically, scrapbooking was a tradition of storytelling but with a visual and tactile, rather than an oral, focus.

When I mention scrapbooking to people, I hear the same statement over and over, “I have boxes of pictures and do not know where to promise tomorrow. You never know what might be the most treasured picture to your family.”

For my family it is a picture taken on my mother’s 60th birthday of her with her three children. At the end of her birthday party at a local restaurant everyone was ready to leave but I insisted on taking a photo.

On Dec. 10, 2006, is when that photo became a treasured memory. That is when the Lord decided He needed my baby brother more. God makes no mistakes. It is just hard as a human to understand that is when we have to have faith.

I can remember everything about that night because I have scrapbooked that page. As I grow older and my memory starts to fade, I will have a little help to remember. According to the Internet and other published information, scrapbooking is one of the best therapies for Alzheimer’s.

I would like to take time to invite everyone in the Miss-Lou to come down to the Natchez Convention Center for the fourth annual Scrap-N-on the River. This is an event that is hard for the local community to understand unless they actually see what is happening.

The cost to shop is $10 per person but you won’t just be shopping. You will actually get to do “make and take alley.”

A make and take is when you walk up to a table and learn how to do something, then take it with you. This is great for all ages from the young to old. There is also still room to come by the convention because it goes to midnight today and from 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday. Yes, we do scrapbook that long.

Because of our brother’s love and support for the young people in the Miss-Lou, last year we as a family decided to set up the Jerry D. Roberts scholarship.

We raised $1,000 for the scholarship and set up the specifications for the scholarship. The students had to write an essay, be active in some form of sports and have a 2.0 GPA.

The week before graduation, we, as a family, met at the Cock of the Walk to read the essays and choose the winner. Each one read every essay themselves and we all had a say in deciding the winner.

This was the best feeling as we chose Doug Logan as the first winner of the Jerry D. Roberts scholarship.

I know Jerry would have been proud of our selection. This year to raise money for the scholarship we are raffling a scrapbox. This is a piece of furniture that opens up to nine feet with a table inside. To see what it looks like go to www.scrapontheriver.com.

This is every person’s dream workstation. The Scrapbox is worth $1,500. We are selling the tickets for $20 each and only selling 300 tickets. If you would like a raffle ticket please contact Pam Frank at 601-597-4705 or Sue Cockerham at 601-597-2855 or come to the show.