Video Story

We decided to make a video with pics of our kids, some layouts and some pic of us at our scrapbook things to the song "I Believe" by Diamond Rio. The pianist (Dan Truman) is from St. George, Utah...his brother-in-law built my house and he has given me permission to use it for whatever we want. It's an incredibly beautiful song but it makes you cry. Thank you Diamond Rio for helping make this video even more perfect and Colleen for creating the video for us to share.

Marcie's Story

Hi, my name is Marcie and I am the proud mom of 8 children (current photo here...I'm the red head). Unfortunately, my second son, Zachary, passed away just 7 years ago at the age of 15 1/2 from an unknown heart condition. I miss him and think of him every waking moment of my day. I was grieving so much and I wanted to do something to get my feelings out and to help me remember the good times with Zach, so I resumed scrapbooking and I found the therapy to be amazing! It is just what I needed! I decided if it helped me so much that maybe I could help others in the same situation, so I started "Mothers of Angels" scrapbook group.

At first it was very small and I would just make up packages of donated scrapbook supplies and anytime I heard of or saw an obituary in the paper of someone that had lost their child, I would get a package to them. My local scrapbook store has a donation trunk and have been very generous about allowing people to donate scrapbooking supplies. As the numbers grew, we decided to all get together to scrapbook. I found even more wonderful moms in the Compassionate Friends charter that my good friends (that had also lost sons) had just recently started.

Suddenly the little Mothers of Angels program I started became a regular scrapbook get together. The love we share as friends with the huge loss of our children in common has bonded us together. We laugh together, we cry together and we are there for each other no matter what situation arises. Scrapbooking our memories of our children has been the best therapy any of us have found! I am so grateful that I was already an avid scrapbooker before the passing of Zach so I could help others learn something that could help them deal with their loss also. I would be so happy to help anyone out there do the same thing and start their own group. I am so grateful to Imaginisce for this opportunity to help you and to share our stories with you! I hope you will find the same peace and joy we have found by putting your memories and pictures of your loved ones on paper.

Love to all,

Marcie

Colleen's Story

My name is Colleen Terrill and I am the mother of 5 beautiful children. On March 26, 2007 my 15 year old son, Andrew, was killed in a go-cart accident. My entire world changed. Andrew is in every waking thought. I find it hard to do the most simple tasks, as my broken heart doesn't even want to meet the morning sun.

I was never a scrapbooker. Some other bereaved mothers introduced me to the idea. I thought it couldn't hurt. My first experience was an incredibly healing one. I was able do do something with those funeral pictures that I had no idea what to do with. No one wants to see pictures on your wall of your son in a casket. But in a scrapbook, in a beautiful layout, with beautiful paper, it becomes...beautiful. A beautiful memory that I can share with others without being offensive. Many tears have been shed making and looking at these pages.

When I work on these pages, I get to share the stories and experiences of my beautiful child with other mothers that know my grief and love me unconditionally. It is very therapeutic.

Thank you for listening to my story.

Colleen Terrill

Shannon's Story

My name is Shannon and I am the mom of 6 children. 4 boys and 2 girls. My first little girl, Jessica, died from complications from sepsis at the age of 2. Losing Jessie completely changed me. She was my only little girl at that time. She had 3 brothers. Suddenly I was left with all these girlie things around and just boys. My princess, my daughter, one of the greatest joys of my life, was gone. I didn't know how to cope and I didn't know what to do. One day, Marcie just showed up with a bunch of scrapbook supplies and told me she would help me learn how to scrapbook. I didn't want to learn how to do anything at that time, I just wanted my baby back. But Marcie persisted and I am so grateful that she did because once I started, I couldn't stop! I can't even tell you how much scrapbooking has helped me with my grieving. Putting pictures of Jessica on paper and writing down my memories of her have helped me remember how wonderful life was with her here, and to not focus only on the losing of her. Thanks for this chance to share my story.

Stephanie's Story

Hello, my name is Stephanie Millett. A year ago, on March 4, 2009, I found my 16-year-old son, Matthew, hung in his bedroom closet and my world collapsed. Since then, I have been searching for ways to carry on with life for myself and my two teenage boys, now ages 13 and 16. It is a daily struggle to grasp any reason to face a day without my son. No one understands this struggle like the women I have found in a group of mothers, like me, who have lost children in all different ways, but we share a bond that none of us chose--the loss of our precious children.

I have never scrapbooked. I have thought about it. I have a large box of pictures I search through occasionally when I know I need to cry and let the pain out or it will explode inside me. The opportunity to organize these photos in a beautiful way that would bring me peace would be a blessing that words could not describe, so that when those moments come that I need to look back because I don’t think I can go forward anymore, being able to look at a scrapbook that I have put my time and love into would be such a more peaceful experience than searching through a box of pictures.

Thank you for your kindness and compassion for a group of broken women searching for a way to express our love for the children we miss dearly and a way for us to channel our pain into something to bring us peace.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Millett

Lora's Story

My name is Lora Clapham and I wanted to share my story with you. My son Joshua was a beautiful red-headed 16 year old boy with asperger's syndrome. On March 13 2009, he passed away after 3 weeks in the ICU and following a snowmobile accident while on a scout outing. This has been the hardest year of our lives. One way we, as parents, cope with the loss of our children is to spend time with others who have been in the same place. As a mother I swallow my feelings until I am able to talk to other mothers who are dealing with the same tragedy.

Scrapbooking gives us an outlet not only for our pent-up feelings, but it also gives us something to do with the pictures that can be so painful to look at. When we scrapbook, we pour our feelings out and work through difficult emotions. It also helps provide some closure for the bad times and helps us remember the wonderful times we had with our children.

I have only been able to go to these sessions a few times because I cannot afford the supplies, but those two times I was able to get the photos of Joshua's hospital stay and his funeral pictures in a scrapbook and release some much needed emotional strain.

Thank you for any help you can give us.

Lora Clapham

Amy's Story

Hi, my name is Amy Spencer and I just want to tell a little bit about why I scrapbook and why it brings me so much comfort. I am the mother of 4 children, 2 whom are angel children now. Lincoln and Savannah. They were 7 and 4 and were traveling with a family friend and were hit by a drunk driver head on. No one survived the crash. My life stopped in one breath. I lost a son, a daughter and a very good friend all because of someone's mistake to drink and drive. My only comfort comes from the fact that they didn't suffer. They were both killed instantly. My friend lived for 2 days and then passed due to her severe head injuries. They were all wearing seat belts. It is still very difficult for me to talk about.

I found Mothers of Angels through the scrapbook store here. I walked by their donation trunk so I asked about it as we had just moved here and nobody knew about the accident and loss of my children. The clerk was kind enough to give me Marcie Ogilvie's number and I called her. I had scrapbooked a little, but couldn't afford the supplies anymore as I couldn't go back to work after my loss. I just wanted to stay at home with my 2 remaining children. Marcie listened to me blubber out my story and then she brought me 2 boxes of donated supplies. From that I started to scrapbook again and I found that what I couldn't talk about, I could scrapbook about. I am so grateful to your company for reaching out to a group like ours and letting me tell you how important scrapbooking is to me. The few years I had with my angel children are so precious to me and scrapbooking has been the perfect way to remember and enjoy those memories. I have also learned to take a lot more pictures of my other remaining children and we are hoping to add a 5th child to our family soon so I will be scrapbooking for a very long time. Thank you for this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Amy Spencer

Mary's Story

Thank you for providing a creative way to preserve memories of loved ones through scrapbooking; especially for children who have passed away.

As children leave our lives, the memories become more cherished and it is through the pages of scrapbooking that parents find solace and comfort.

I always look forward to preserving my son's memories in our scrapbooking circle. It is time of reflection filled with tears, laughter and most of all beautiful pages that keep my son's memory alive.

Sincerely,

Mary Swensen

Carma's Story

Scrapbooking has helped me remember the many good times I had with my son. I am able to look at the pictures and make such neat pages of him and his life. It is also great to be able to then show those pages to my grandchildren and talk with them about their Uncle and what a great guy he was. The time I spend with the other ladies is also so helpful. We are able to talk about things that other people just do not understand. I hope this helps other moms out there like me.

Thanks, Carma