Month: August 2011
Getting To Know Your Family
When I first started my research on my paternal side, I was looking for names and dates of great grandparents, and their surrounding family. I was literally shocked to realize how far I was able to trace back my lineage, and even more surprised as to the locations in which my family had arrived from. I never thought in a million years, that I would discover and find so many answers to the questions about my paternal side. From the smallest question as to Where did I get these ears from? There were much more significant answers that I received, such as, Why did my paternal side of the male family drink so much? I even received an answer to a surprising question, as to why am I slowly losing some of my hearing now? Well, come to find out, my paternal side had known Hearing defects in our generations past. A few family members even opened up world renowned Schools for the Hearing Impaired.
Researching my family members has created a sense of loyalty, and established in some sense a relationship or connection with them. There have been surprises, interesting facts, and disappointments along the way. I have discovered that sometimes you create a person in the image that you expect them to be, and often times, with further research back, you discover facts about them that can be somewhat disappointing. For example, while doing research I discovered that my great, great, great grandparents were married a very long time, and had many children together. I discovered that although they were together, the ggg grandfather also had a whole separate family in the same town! The perception that I had created in my mind, was not based on the genealogical facts that I discovered.
To take my research to another level, I like to analyze the socio-economics of the area that they lived in. What was the time frame in regards to world historical events? Was there something sufficient going on that would effect their standards of living? The Depression era, disease epidemics, local and federal politics? All surrounding facts that could help create the culture of that particular time.
One last thing, take the time to study and analyze the vital records of your ancestor. You will be able to determine a lot about the person they were by studying birth, marriage, and especially death certificates. Census records hold so many unknown facts about the family as a whole: location of where they lived, their profession, education, social status, people they associated with and so much more!
I encourage you to get to know your family members better, research with open eyes, an open heart, and you will be surprised at all the interesting facts that you discover.
Alexis Medical Explorers Camp
I feel differently now……
We look around the people we love are aging, the new material things we purchased are old, our children are no longer babies, yesterday is the past, and today is a rush for things we are hoping will happen tomorrow. We surround ourselves with people we have no close relationships with, often due to a career, or an opportunity that we think we may have, while the people we love are often waiting for the opportunity to spend the precious time with us that we so busily push away.
I learned a powerful lesson today, our Bishop was talking about a person’s significance. The questions that we spend a lifetime asking ourselves, do I matter? What am I here for? We develop such a longing for a positive answer that we will often seek it anywhere, from anyone…… The answer to that is yes, we matter to God first, We are significant to him, and the happiness to life is knowing and stopping here in our search for the answer to our “significance” issues.
Yes, we matter to the family and friends that we have relationships with. The problem starts when we forget that even those that are close to us love us, we are dealing with people with just as much issue with their own insignificance issues, as well as their own imperfections. We often make the mistake in building and relying on others to show to us that we are important and matter, and when they fail to do that, we begin to internalize that how they make us feel, must be true. Until we realize, that we are are internalizing unhealthy thoughts that should not have even been materialized as our feelings, can we begin to realize the true source of our strength, is only found in God.
Sometimes, I have to look around and realize that it is not the responsibility of another person to provide your own self-worth, and when you can put all this in to perspective, you can get back to the importance that God has placed in your life, by having relationships with other people. This is the distraction that the enemy creates, confusion, to who and what roles people should play in our lives, and what part we will play in theirs. The problem is created when the value of the relationship, or the role in which it will play in our lives becomes twisted, and the desire to please them is more than it is to please God. We must realize that the people in our lives, and the relationships we have with them is a gift from God and it should not be a source of pain in our lives. Take the time today to thank God for His love for you, and the people that he has placed in your life, while they are here. There is always a time and season for that relationship, treasure it, and treasure Him.