Unlock the Treasure

First off--- grab our new button and put it on all your blogs! I know this blog and the personal testimonies of each of you have helped mine grow, so you never know who could need the message at the right time.

Second--- I want to take a moment for Family History. The church has recently revamped the FamilySearch website. It makes it easier to find relatives, reserve them, and quickly and efficiently do their temple work. Here's an example:

My maternal grandfather isn't a member of the church; his parents are the only great-grandparents that I remember. My Grams death was the first time I had to face it; so naturally, when the time came, I really wanted to do her work. In 2006, the time came; my mom and sister prepared their names, did the baptisms and confirmations and sent their slips to Provo so that my husband and I could complete the work.

Living in Wymount, we had numerous opportunities to go to the temple, but the time we went for my great-grandparents will always have a special place in the memories of my mortality. Unfortunately, we decided to only do their initiatories and endowments, so other members of the family could participate. Looking back, I realize that wasn't our decision to make.

Fast forward to 2009, during a Sunday School lesson about Family History work I get the strong impression, that Grams and Gramps are still waiting. I then have a baby and the rest of the year becomes a blur.

Last month, we receive our weekly Mormon Times/Church News and they have {an article}, beginning a series of four, about the New FamilySearch website. As I read the article, I have another impression to look for my great-grandparents. But, I'm apprehensive; I've been on FamilySearch before and it isn't exactly user-friendly. I shrug it off and try to go on with my Sabbath, but can't because all I can think about is my Grams and Gramps---waiting, and wanting, to be together.

So--- I go to the new website. After a little bit of searching I find them both; unlinked---still waiting to be sealed for time and all eternity. Using this new site, I'm then able to link them up as husband and wife and reserve their names so we can do their work. I want to correct the mistake I made four years ago. The next time my husband and I can get away our first date will be to the temple---to do what should have been done.

Ladies, we cannot let our family members down; they are counting on us to find them and help them receive the work they NEED. Even if you think you're work is done, use this site to CHECK AGAIN. I've discovered a few holes in the other lines of my family that I hope to fix. The time is now! We are needed to help those who cannot help themselves. If you need any more nudging here's a prophetic promise:

I testify that when we do all we can to accomplish the work that is before us, the Lord will make available to us the sacred key needed to unlock the treasure which we so much seek.

~President Thomas S. Monson

Use New FamilySearch to unlock your treasures; you'll never know what (or who) will be waiting for you until you look.

Click HERE for hints on how to get started.

Write It Down

As the new year approaches, I would venture to say that we all become more reflective. We look back on the past year and wonder if it met our expectations; did we improve or did we plateau?

Sometimes as journal can help us see how much we've grown. I used to be ridiculously good at keeping a journal, in fact, I had a couple years where I wrote every day. Then, I fell out of that habit---and I wish I hadn't. I did take the chance to write the occasional entry, but I missed so many of the little moments; moments that I now try desperately to remember.

I look back at the past 20 months of my life (since my son's birth) and wish I wrote more down. He's growing up so fast and I want to remember as much as I can. I know that this blog, and our personal ones, have helped, but I have restricted my entries because I fear to say too much. Prophets have even counseled us to keep a history, President Spencer W. Kimball said:

Every person should keep a journal and every person can keep a journal. It should be an enlightening one and should bring great blessings and happiness to the families. If there is anyone here who isn’t doing so, will you repent today and change—change your life? (in Conference Report, Apr. 1979, p. 117; or Ensign, May 1979, p. 84).

So, with the new year, I'm taking the chance to start over again. I hope to start small. Here are my journal keeping goals:

1. Each day I blog, I'll write in my personal journal. (so that means I should at least have Wednesdays covered).
2. Catch up in the kids' baby books.
3. Print out the previous years' blog posts. I was using a software to accomplish this, but I think I'm just going to copy, paste, make a cover with my scrapbooking software, print it at kinkos' and laminate (cheaper in the long run---that way I can make one for Greg and I, and one each for the kids---to take when they're not kids).
4. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to make a family planner/journal for 2010 (check the link). I definitely think this sister was inspired to post about her planner and then link back to the sister who made the FREE template. After I make it, I must keep it up to date.
   

I hope I've inspired each of you to do a little here and a little there to always keep those special (and not so special) moments with you.

Making History

I am so excited to share this with EVERYONE!! I'll admit that I'm not at all a great genealogist or that I've even started any family histories, but I've always had the excuse that I didn't know how to get started or there's other family members that are doing it, right?

Well, recently my mother started trying to get my grandparents on video telling their personal histories, but it's really hard to get the stories organized or even to get them telling new stories that we haven't heard. The other day a co-worker and I started talking about this and she told me about an article in the August 2003 Ensign titled "That Happened to You?" It's a great list of questions that are easy to answer and are organized according to phases of a person's life. This co-worker told me that she just e-mails her mother about 5 questions at a time and lets her take her time responding. When the gets the e-mail with the responses, she cuts and pastes it into a document saved on her computer for her mother's personal history. She's even getting stories that her mother never told her before like the time she was 12 and decided to take the family station wagon for a spin around the block and nobody in her family ever knew.

How awesome is that??!! It all sounds so simple. I can't wait to get these questions up to my grandparents' house and start hearing all the family gossip. Even just little things like I've never learned the names of all my grandpa's siblings. I might even start answering the questions for myself while I still remember what my childhood was like. So, I challenge you all to print out the article and start with yourself. In fact, I'd like you all to answer one of the questions right now as a comment to this post.

When did you begin to have a testimony of Jesus Christ? What memories do you have of Church meetings or activities?