Loves of my life... Family History

I have been blogging about the loves of my life. There are many loves of my life. I even made an album of the top 20. I am including them here but I wish you could see how cute the pages turned out. This is one of the photos that surfaced when I stared family history. It is my dad and one of my older siblings. The other photo is my great uncle and second cousin in Germany. Her name is Astrid and she came to America for a visit recently. I love family and I love history so I don't know why I didn't get started sooner.

Family History: Have you heard of the super bug? The one that is difficult to kick? Yup, it got me. I use to think it was not for me. I was a people person. I thought it better for… You know the type—comfortable shoe wearing paper lovers. I was wrong. They are not just names, they are people. Real people who are so grateful to be found. I think of the lives they lived, the work they had, the trails and heartaches. I ponder on the dreams they had or if they ever fancied me in the future reflecting on them. What words of advice would they share? What could I learn from their hindsight? I have a soft spot for the ones with no children because who is looking for them? I enjoy mysteries, and these are real life ones. Like a giant puzzle of dates and names, revealing more of how I am, what I’m made of, and where I came from. It shows the importance of journals and record keeping. Often I will be tracing a line and look over at the clock to see it is 4:00 am. There are numerous helps available that were not there even ten years ago. Most of my family lines I can trace back to the 1500’s. Aunt Susan has taught me a great deal. She is a wiz at all of it. I love looking at all the old flies and photos. Journals are a fabulous source of information and fun. The best part is that Priesthood power can seal our families to God, forever. My trials here aren’t as hard to bear, when I reflect on eternity. It’s a compass reading for my actions. Am I on course for forever family? The separation and sting of death is swallowed up in the resurrection a free gift to all. The spirit of Elijah, turning the hearts of the children to their fathers, enriches the prospect of forever. I know Jesus Christ will heal all wounds so families will want to be together. Family History helps me be a better person for with out them I am not saved and with me they are not. Each time I do a name I feel like I am making a friend on the other side. It is rewarding and humbling to know we all have the best family history direct to God, we are his children. I would love to get my degree in family history. To be a detective linking families is a joy. I would love to be able to time travel and see my family when they were young. I loved to be friends with my mom and grandma and see how they kept house and what the challenges they faced were like. I would enjoy journeying to the places I am from. It is so nice to belong. Just this year I took Scharrier names to the Temple. As I researched the names there were all kinds of weird and wonderful coincidences. For example my great grandmother testimony surfaced in New York, I ran into people who knew my dead ancestors that I had never met. There are so many blessings waiting. It is indescribable to feel the pull from the other side from family members. I’ve found when doing family names the learning is tenfold. It is coming at you so fast it is hard to keep up. I think it is awesome that the second most visited sites are family history. There were many prophesy about the latter days where the world would be filled with the desire to turn our hearts to our ancestors. I like how Present Hinckley tells us to really have a desire to know these people, to not just go through the motions but to take the time to learn about who they were. I think one of the things I love about my church is the emphasis on family and forever. One of my fears is death which is silly because everything my church does testifies that there is life after death and that is began before I came here. The Lords hand is definitely in Family History work.