Scraps of faith

• By RELMA HARGUS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 11, 2008 - Page: 1E - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Jamee Brennan photographed her son at sunset and framed the snapshot with an overlay of flourishes — and a psalm.

Her own words couldn’t explain the way the Prairieville mother felt about the Florida beach scene — not like Psalm 19:1 could.

“The heavens declare the glory of God,” matched the emotions evoked by “the most beautiful sunset ever,” she explained.

Scrapbooking — a hobby to some — is a spiritual discipline for Brennan and others like her.

Photos, colorful papers and fancy lettering — the tools other scrapbookers use to record memories of vacations and family gatherings — can also serve the purposes of those who want to record spiritual experiences and confessions of faith.

That’s why Shirley Martin, a grandmother who also lives in Prairieville, scoured the Internet for two hours for a likeness of Jeremiah matching her mental image of the Hebrew prophet who taught her “how to love God passionately.”

And that’s how Carole Burchette, whose business has her splitting time between Baton Rouge and her home in Jacksonville, Fla., could look at photos of her destroyed church and create pages to process the pain and celebrate what did survive.

Brennan senses God’s presence in “any conversation, any situation” of her life and said, “It’s just natural it would come out in my pages.”

Individual chipboard letters form the title, “I am blessed,” on one page, where a photo of Brennan with her newborn daughter Micah and son Peyton is bracketed by two handwritten verses: James 1:17a, “Every good and perfect gift is from above,” and Isaiah 65:18,
“Be glad, and rejoice forever in that which I create.”

Like many parents who scrap  Brennan said she also sees her pages as a way to pass her faith on to her children.

That’s one reason Martin is creating a layout to honor her father, the late Hal Frazier.

Many of her beliefs were shaped by her missionary father and she wants that story told for future generations.

To do that, Martin designed an open-ended album to which pages could be added. “I wanted it to be able to evolve,” she said.