Clover Lane

About seven years ago, I tackled a huge, procrastinated project in my house.  I knew that most of the areas of my life, my home, were organized...except for photos.  Many were thrown into boxes, still in the sleeves from the developer, and others were scattered in ugly photo albums or stuck in envelopes.  I had a goal: to get every single photo I owned into matching photo albums.

It was a huge project, but the motivation was this:
It would only get worse!

So I did this:
1. I found relatively cheap, sturdy, classic photo albums online and ordered a bunch.  I use these. I wanted ones that I would always be able to purchase...you could purchase these 40 years ago, and so I figured I could purchase them 40 years from now.

2. I painstakingly went through every single photo, and sorted them in chronological order.  I labeled boxes by the year and threw them in there first, and then went through the boxes and ordered them by month.  It took me about a week and I worked on them every chance I got.  I did one box for Jeff's childhood pics, one for mine, and one for our dating years, engagement, and wedding.  From then on, it's just all chronological. I don't write things on the photos, or in the albums-to me, it's enough that I have them IN albums.

3. Once I had those all in order and inserted in the books I know I needed to keep them up often. Now I try to go through my downloaded photos once every 3 months and order prints.  I don't have time to make sure each photo is print perfect...sometimes I edit, most of the time I don't.  I send them to the store I grocery stop at...that way, it's not inconvenient to pick them up.  I make myself put those prints in the albums as soon as I can.

(And a big P.S.  My mom has a huge box of photos, all jumbled up, from our childhood.  No neat albums.  I love getting the box out and looking through them photo by photo.  You never know what you'll get.  So if your approach is "throw it in a box", then by all means, keep throwing!)

Album Information:  Pioneer Photo Album BDP-35.  I google that, then find the cheapest price on line.  You can sometimes find these at Michaels, but they don't keep a large stock of them, and a unreliable color choice.  (But they are probably cheap with a coupon?)

Mennonites are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ and believers in the Bible. Living a life of love, peace, simplicity and service is crucial to the Mennonite faith as is the importance of community. Mennonites believe in adult baptism. Also, for many Mennonites it is important for us not to be “of” the world as we live “in” it. This is played out across a wide spectrum with some Mennonites deliberately setting themselves apart from society while others, like ourselves, may not appear to be different, but try to live out values and beliefs that do set us apart from the wider culture.

An excellent on-line resource to learn more about Mennonites can be found here.  The site includes the most commonly asked questions about Mennonites and answers them in a very easy to understand and conversational way.


It is very important to us to attend Sunday morning church service and Sunday school every week. We pray before meals, read our children Bible stories, pray with them before bed and teach them about faith, the Bible, God and Jesus as part of their home school studies. All this exposure to faith finds us fielding some interesting questions from our children, which we are grateful for. Open discussions, even about difficult issues, give us opportunities to talk about what we believe.


I see myself as Christian first and Mennonite second. So, primarily we want our children to experience the love of God and to live a life inspired by Jesus Christ. We hope that they will grow up with the bigger picture in mind, seeing others as loved by God as much as they themselves are, acknowledging that they are imperfect but that through God’s grace they can lead lives serving and leading others to Christ by their example and their beliefs. We understand that they must make these choices for themselves and hope that their upbringing will both lay a strong foundation as well as cause them to investigate further why they believe what they believe and make it real for themselves.


Home schooling is not a “Mennonite thing”. In fact, we are one of only three families in our church congregation who home school. However, our faith does play a part in why we choose to do so. We want to be the example that our children follow (as imperfect as we are) and believe that it is our role as parents to teach them our values. We see home schooling as an extension of parenting. This is a personal decision we have made for our family and understand and respect the choices of others not to.

There are no universal customs or restrictions in the Mennonite church when it comes to food. Enjoying food, particularly sharing a meal and fellowship with others, seems to be one of the things many Mennonites (from all over the world) do well. Both my husband and I were raised eating mostly homemade food, a portion of it being homegrown. This is not necessarily a Mennonite trait per se, although many of my husband's and my ancestors farmed, gardened and preserved their own food. We find ourselves in awe of God's creation. The miracle of watching a seed become a plant, produce flowers, bear fruit and yield seed (starting the process all over again) is amazing. The sheer variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs that have been created for our pleasure is overwhelming. We want to respect and relish this by participating in the process first hand. We talk more about our food choices and reasons for them here.


The most common misconception that I have come in contact with is that people imagine us to look Amish, wearing coverings and full beards. Some Mennonites do choose to set themselves apart in appearance, but many, many of us don’t. We look very ordinary. I feel fortunate to say that I have never been dismissed or offended because of being Mennonite (that I know of). I remember back in public high school friends were curious about my beliefs particularly because I professed faith but wore combat boots and had a partially shaved head (even Mennonites push boundaries at times). These friends were very respectful of my stance. That’s been the story of my life and I am so thankful for this knowing what many others experience because of their faith. I have done nothing to deserve such an easy life in this way.



There have been times that I have felt distanced from God, but I do not believe I have ever seriously questioned His existence or my faith. Beth Moore, a Baptist writer and speaker has said (I’m paraphrasing here) that when we don’t feel God is near, it’s not Him; it’s us- our feel is just messed up. I believe this- He is always there.


I can’t think of one in particular, but there have been many times in church when we are singing four-part harmony (acapella), when I have been outside in nature or gazing into my children’s eyes when I feel an overwhelming sense of peace and of being loved. It moves me to tears and I seem to float through the rest of the day or week.


Yes, I do. My husband is also Mennonite. Our similar beliefs and values about commitment, honesty and forgiveness have helped us through some difficult times. The fact that we agree on the lifestyle we want for our family and the rules/expectations of our children lessens the stresses of day-to-day life. This does not mean we always get along. Who does?



We experienced two ectopic pregnancies, both requiring I have emergency surgery. You can read about those experiences on my blog. They rocked my world. Because of the circumstances surrounding the first one, I consider myself lucky to be alive. Surprisingly, I wasn’t angry with God. I was angry at the circumstance, but my faith has enabled me (thus far) to see tragedy not as something God inflicts on us, but as something that happens because we live in an imperfect world. I fear that if I begin thinking that people or entire countries deserve the tragedy they’ve experienced, I am assuming I know the mind and will of God. I do not. So, while I believe that God does not inflict it upon us, He does enable us to grow and become better in spite of it if we are willing. Without my faith, I’m not sure how I would have reconciled those two loses in my life.

Oh… I have many favorite Bible verses. The Bible is full of wisdom and answers. One of my many favorites is…

This is what the Lord says, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."
Jeremiah 6:16


A few other favorite quotes are…
“There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in- that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible”. - Mother Teresa

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." - C.S. Lewis

“If we knew the power of prayer, we’d be afraid to get off our knees”. - Unknown

No, this all can't happen every single day, it DOESN'T happen every day, but it makes me feel so good when I can make several of them happen. It allows me to feel like "job well done"

It's easy to find excuses but none are really as important enought to interfere with me being the mother I have the intention of being.

Jeff and I had the chance to fly out on a quick jaunt to sunny Arizona a couple weekends ago.

I loved the air, the sun, the food.  Fit people hiking, biking, walking everywhere.  The food was so good!  Did I say that already?  We hiked and hiked and hiked some more.  The sunsets, the air, the mountains.  People were nice and friendly, without being too nice and friendly.  Just the way I like it. 
Now I realize that when anyone goes on vacation they think they want to move.  Of course...you aren't living real life on vacation.  But really, that wasn't it.  I don't feel this way often.  I just LOVED the sun. 

Sun makes you look better and feel better.  It makes you happy.  It makes you want to be outside and be active.  It makes you want to eat big salads and lots of fruit, instead of serotonin producing carbs. I NEED the sun...some people can get by without it...not my body chemistry!  I want the sun the majority of the year, not for half of it!